Mary’s history is a bit of a mystery as I can’t quite confirm her maiden name. Ancestry keep throwing in a McCarthy on me and when I search Mary Kavanagh I come up with nothing. So she may be referred to as Mary McCarthy Kavanagh on some trees.
We know from her convict records that she was born in Cork so I am taking a "best guess" at Bantry...
Mary Kavanagh was born about 1803, in Bantry, Cork, Ireland, the child of William? and Mary?.
Mary worked as a dairymaid and married James Cremin in Cork, Ireland. They had a child (a daughter I think) before her conviction and transportation to Australia for stealing clothes.
This must have been devastating for her. She was licenced out to a Mr Muir in Maitland upon arrival and later George Spark.
Mary met James Hennessy within 2 years of her arrival and it transpired that James and Mary had a child, James Hennessy Jnr, out of wedlock but not before applying for permission to marry which was refused multiple times due to her marital status.
The permission was not granted until 2 men signed a stat dec stating they saw her previous husband dead and buried. I actually have a feeling he did die before she was caught stealing.
James went on to become a constable and watch-house keeper in the Maitland area and the couple had seven children in total.
Their seven children; James, Ellen, Frances, Mary, Ann, William and Thomas, were educated with their sons going on to start businesses and farms. His eldest, James (Jnr), seemed to be some sort of an Irish activist, William; a prominent farmer in Braidwood and his youngest Thomas owning two Sawmills in Kempsey.
Their daughters married carriers and ‘postmen’ mostly. Their 3rd child Frances is my 3x Great Grandmother. Frances' husband Harry went overland but the other daughters seemed to have had a taste for the sea. Their husbands were sea captains and Mary (Jnr) eventually becoming the great-grandmother to Errol Flynn.
In 1846 at the age of 43, Mary found herself a widow with 6 children under the age of 14 when James died at age 50. He is buried Roman Catholic Section, East Maitland Cemetery.
Not surprisingly Mary remarried a Mr Charles Kennedy (her 3rd husband) and settled in Sydney to be a support to her daughters over the years. Charles eventually died in an asylum in 1864.
Five years later Mary was one of the first to be buried at Rookwood Cemetery in Sydney and some of her children were later buried near her.
| Additional Information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Date of Birth | 1st Jan 1804 (circa) | VIEW SOURCE |
| Date of Death | 1st Jan 1869 | VIEW SOURCE |
