Mc Veigh and Han(d)lon families from Armagh.

I am keen to find family members of two of my great, great grandmothers, Sarah McVeigh and Ann Handlon from Armagh.

Sarah McVeigh arrived in Australia in 1854 as a domestic servant, and from the birth records of her latter children, we estimate that her birth year was about 1830.  Her shipping records state that her father was named Patrick McVeigh and her mother was Mary Ann Hatherton.  We believe that Patrick died in 1883 and Mary Ann died in 1885 (Swords), but we have no idea if Sarah had siblings or not.

  Ann Han(d)lon arrived in Australia in 1849, aged 25 and is listed on shipping as a housemaid and laundress.  These records state that her father's name was James Han(d)lon and her mother's name was Mary (nee Dawson); 'living in North Killally'.  Travelling with her is a Mary Ann Hanlon, aged 25 from Killally Armagh, daughter of Patrick Hanlon and Agness (both dead).  We don't know of the connection with these two girls, nor do we know anything about Mary Ann once in Australia.

 My Ann Han(d)lon had come to Australia to find her mother's brother, William Dawson who owned an Inn.  Our family folk-lore story tells of Ann, having arrived in Melbourne and finding no-one there to meet her, set off on foot to walk many miles only at night to find her Uncle, as she was too scared to walk during the day through the thick bushland where she could be attacked. She eventually met her husband, William Peters, and the two married and went on to have 12 children. 

We would love to find anyone at all connected to these two brave and adventurous women, as there must have been someone who waved goodbye to these two girls knowing that they would never return to their native land.

Rap