HART ....TORMEY

Hello to our Ire brothers n sisters ," Croi follain agus gob fliuch" ....

i am trying to locate information on a Michael Hart or his family ,  i believe he and his family came from an area between Castlepollard ,Oldcastle and across to Navan , with a good dash of Kells in there as well , a triangle so to speak.

MIchael Hart dob:  1801 appx , came from Meath

On the 13th of March 1826 , aged 23, Michael was tried and
convicted at Monaghan for passing bad money and sentenced to 14
years transportation to Australia.

After he was convicted he was held on the convict hulk “ Essex”
which was moored in Dunleary ( Dun Laoghaire ) harbour in Dublin for
the next 11 months in what were described at the time as appalling
conditions.

In 1827 Michael was 1 of 194 male Irish prisoners embarked on
the convict ship “ Countess of Harcourt “ which set sail for Sydney
from Dunleary (Kingstown ) Harbour , Dublin on the 14th of February
1827.

On all Australian documents he has referred
to County Meath as his place of birth.

Additionally we know that in 1853 Michael paid for the emigration
of an Anne Tormey and her 3 children to come to Australia - the 2
children who eventually emigrated referred to Michael as their uncle -
and they showed their place of origin as Oldcastle in County Meath.

One of the children refers to Stonefield just north of Oldcastle .

The immigration deposit was 26 Australian pounds which was a reasonable sum of money at the
time and suggests a strong relationship existed between them.
Evidence of arrival in Australia for Catherine and Frank has been found – nothing has been found
for Anne or Joseph.
Anne Tormey ( nee Chance ) and her husband Michael Tormey are described as the parents of the 3
children Joseph , Frank and Catherine in a number of the documents.
In Catherine's 1854 immigration journal entry she states Michael Hart is her uncle and her
homeplace is Homecastle ( interpreted to be Oldcastle , County Meath ) .

i have recently came across a Michael Hart born in 1801 Castlepollard, and do not know if  Meath Parish line were covering Westmeath Castlepollard in the 1800s...so....

i am at a bit of a loss on where to start now , and im hoping with some local help i may be able to put to bed the Irish connection that has borne some 5000 + descendants in Australia from this man....all of whom know nothing of our irish forefathers.