Does anyone know anything about John Sweeney/Sweeny, born somewhere in Tipperary about 1842 and migrated to Australia at some time in the 1860s? He married Maria Crowley in Mudgee, New South Wales in 1868, had 3 boys - Edward, John Patrick and Jeremiah - then died in 1872 by being accidentally killed by a dray. He was 30 on his death certificate and his parents were Edward Sweeney and Margaret Brennan. I have been unable to find a John Sweeney with a mother called Margaret Brennan (although lots with a father Edward/Edmund). The closest I have come is Margaret Banon in Thurles, but I can't find any evidence that they had a son John. His wife Maria was born in Australia and the Crowleys were from Cork, so he wouldn't have known her before moving to Mudgee.
Thanks
Shelley
Shelley
Sunday 6th Nov 2022, 09:13AMMessage Board Replies
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Shelley,
A check of Subscription site www.rootsireland.ie did not reveal any John Sweeney/Sweeny in the years 1830 to 1850 in County Tipperary
with parents Edward Sweeney and a Margaret.
Sweeney is a very common name in parts of Ireland.
There is a record of a John Sweeney in Mudgee in 1865 and his marriage to Marie Crowley in 1868.
Do you have a record of their marriage.
You should consider checking on the 1865 record to see if it relates to your query.
Regards,
McCoy
Monday 7th Nov 2022, 09:46AM -
Thanks McCoy. Yes, I have the marriage certificate but no parents' names or occupations or even a birthplace are listed for either John or Maria. The certificates in those days were very scant on information. The witnesses were John Hays and Ellen Crowley, so no Sweeney family as you might expect if other Sweeneys lived in Mudgee. I haven't seen the NSW Government Gazette record, so thank you very much for that.
John's parents' names were on his death certificate. I presume his wife was the informant although she is not named, only a certification by the coroner in Mudgee. It could well be that she didn't know his parents' names accurately, as I have found on other death certificates, where mother's surnames were sometimes incorrect.
Tipperary was noted as John's birthplace on his oldest son's birth certificate so I have always assumed that would have been correct. His age at the birth of two of his sons and on his death certificate indicates consistently that he was born in 1842.
I have been searching for John's birthplace for years, including trawling through all the handwritten parish records for Tipperary before they were available as transcripts. I travelled to Ireland 10 years ago and learned then how many children were given to relatives to bring up when the birth family was too poor to cope with yet another child. This may well be what happened to John and the parents on his death certificate were those who raised him, not those who baptised him. John may not even have been his true name if that was the case.
Unless there is a descendant in/from Ireland from John's family who knows about his story, I think I might be stuck with this puzzle forever.
Regards
Shelley
Shelley
Tuesday 8th Nov 2022, 02:38AM