Peter Higgins

Dear  hellybelly3

Welcome to Ireland Reaching Out!

I have forwarded your email to our Roscrea volunteers. I hope they will be in touch shortly

Best wishes

Clare Doyle

Genealogy Support 

Helen:

I'm not a volunteer from Roscrea. I'm sure you will hear from them later.

I checked Roots Ireland www.rootsireland.ie and found a 1822 Peter Higgins baptismal record in the Roscrea RC records. The father was Denis. However, when I added either Mary or Hogan the record went away which means that the mother's name for this record was not Mary or Hogan. I could not locate a similar record for a Mary Higgins in the years right before 1822.

Roots is a pay site to view the transcription of the church record.

Roger McDonnell

Thanks Ireland XO Volunteers! Best of luck with your search Helen

Best wishes

Clare

Genealogy Support 

Hi Roger - Thanks so much for your help.

It looks like that the shipping records have taken his age from his application age rather than the age he was upon reaching Australia. Born in 1822 would make Peter 20 instead of 18.

Maybe his mothers name wasn't on his baptismal certificate or she died and his father remarried to a Mary Hogan. I found Hogans in the town he settled in Australia so am assuming they were relations. I know he also had brothers here in Australia - I do not know their names. Maybe they would give an insight as to the birth mothers name.  

Would it be possible to find out if Denis Higgins had any other children? I guess I will have to join the site you suggested.

Thanks again.

Helen

Thanks Eamonn - would have a 12 year old be listed in the Tithe Applotment Books? Am thinking these Peter Higgins were relations of a his fathers generation.

Thanks so much for your assistance

Helen Campbell

Thanks Eamonn - would have a 12 year old be listed in the Tithe Applotment Books? Am thinking these Peter Higgins were relations of a his fathers generation.

Thanks so much for your assistance

Helen Campbell

Helen:

I checked Roots and there were no other baptismal records for children of a Denis Higgins in Tipperary North which includes Roscrea from 1812-1832. The 1822 record for Peter could be for a different family.

Roger

Hi Roger - that sounds strange. Could it be that Mary Hogan married another Higgins and that the translation of the writing to Denis is incorrect and it is actually some other name?

I have found in the past that when they are translated they arent always correct.

Thanks for all your help.

Regards

Helen

Helen:

Not sure. Anthing is possible. 

I don't know how close you live to a Mormon Family History Center. www.familyhistory.org 

The Mormons have microfilmed the parish records for Roscrea from 1810-1832. You can order the film from Salt Lake City and it is shipped to a local FHC where you can visit and review the film for your family members. See link below.

Roger

https://familysearch.org/search/catalog/225150?availability=Family%20Hi…

Sorry to drag up a very old thread, but I've been doing some family research and found some additional details that could help the search - so wanted to put it all together. in the hope the original posted might see it and we can collaborate on trying to figure it all out.

My connection is with Peter's sister Mary - she ended up on arrival moving to Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia where she lived for the rest of her life.

Her first marriage was to a Charles Philip Carman in 1843 (NSW Births Death and Marriages 3880/1843) - he was my great (x4) Grandfather. After his death she married again (John McDonnell), and lived to 1901 and is buried at Bathurst. - see attached. That page from Australian Cemeteries lists her parents as a Mary Ellen Hogan and Dennis Higgins. However, her death certificate has her parents names as Ellen and Dennis. Interestingly, according to the death notice in the paper she was 84 -  making her born in 1817, and listed as born in Queen's County rather than Tipperary. But others have her listed a bit younger at around 81...

Just to make it all the more confusing - her brother Paul Higgins also ended up in Bathurst - he died on 18 August 1891 (available on National Advocate, Bathurst 20 August 1891 - see Trove) 

On his NSW Births Deaths and Marriages short form it also has parents names of Dennis and Ellen for - but as per this page on the cemeteries page, it has them listed as a Dennis Higgins and a Ellen Dooley. His calculated birth date of 1816 makes sense alongside Mary's Birthdate of 1817

Anyway, a few more clues to the puzzle. I will keep digging, but wonder if any of those extra details/potential variations will do anything to help with searching :)

Cheers

Matt

PS: I have the external links for the pictures I can add but when I tried to add them I got a 'you are not authorised to add external links'. 

Hi Matt - my 4th or 5th cousin!!! So happy to hear from you. My email address is hellybelly3@bigpond.com so please feel free to email me. 

Peter Higgins eldest daughter (my great great grandmother) was named Ellen and so was Mary's eldest daughter .........so it does sound as if that would their mothers name. Maybe Mary Hogan was a stepmother! Peters daughter was always listed as Ellen but my grandmother used to tell me that her name was Ellen Mary and she called my great grandmother Eleanor Mary, so obviously a family name there. 

There was a copy made of Ellen Higgins diary by her granddaughter Lillian Ross. Someone sent me a copy of an excerpt.  Ellen said she "resided with my Aunt and cousins in Bathurst for ten months in 1868" A note at the bottom of the page says "Ellen Higgins had cousins living in bathurst called Higgins, a daughter called Hilda came to Sawyers Gully to teach school. Ellen Higgins had cousins called Newmans at Bathurst."

I think that Ellen's mother Bridget Connolly had a sister who married a Newman.

Also we have a death of a Dennis Higgins in Bathurst in 1858 whose parents were Thomas and Elizabeth. Could this be Peter and Paul and Mary's father? Will see if I can find anything else on this chap. And we have a Denis Higgins dying in Albury in 1871 who lists his parents as Denis and Mary.....could this be their brother?.

Thanks again

Helen

So great to hear from you Helen - I've sent you an email with some interesting tidbits I've found since my post in January, so we can chat further via email! :) 

For anyone else following along - it does definitely appear that Mary Hogan was Peter (and the other Higgins in question) stepmother. From what I can find, I think Ellen Dooley died very young - around 21 or 22, potentially in childbirth to Peter.

I've also found that Denis Higgins also came out to Australia as a 'mature aged' convict after his children came out. I do wonder if he committed crime on purpose so he had a passage out here (given he had no criminal record at all to that point according to records).