Peter Stuart

Peter,

It’s difficult to know what record there would be of an unmarried girl getting pregnant in the 1860s. It happened all the time, and the church baptism records contain many illegitimate births. I see from the 1901 census that the family was Presbyterian. They presumably attended Bellaghy Presbyterian church. The Kirk Session would probably have reprimanded her if she was known to be pregnant outside marriage, and would have asked her to name the father (so he could be held liable for supporting the child). If the Kirk Session minutes have survived then it might be mentioned there. They don’t appear in the records for that church held in PRONI. You could write to the Minister to see if any exist, but I am not optimistic. But otherwise I don’t see a girl getting pregnant as being terribly noteworthy (outside her immediate family) and don’t think it would be recorded anywhere.

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Londonderry/Bellaghy/B…

I searched the passenger lists on Ancestry for Mary’s journey to Australia in the 1860s but did not find it. (She is unlikely to have sailed straight from Ireland as there weren’t many direct sailings. She’s more likely to have gone to London or Plymouth and joined a vessel there).

I noted a couple of probate abstracts relating to the family:

Letters of Administration of the personal estate of Andrew Seawright late of Ballymacombs County Londonderry Farmer who died 9 April 1878 at same place were granted at Londonderry to Margaret Seawright of Ballymacombs the Widow.

Seawright Martin of Ballymacombs county Londonderry farmer died 17 June 1922 Probate Belfast 23 January to Andrew Adams and John Junkin farmers. Effects £36.

The 1878 file was destroyed in the 1922 fire in Dublin and all that exists is the abstract. The 1922 will is on-line on the PRONI wills site.

https://apps.proni.gov.uk/WillsCalendar

Looking at Griffiths Valuation for 1859 the family homes are shown in Ballymacombs More. It was plot 25 which was a 111 acre farm jointly farmed by 5 people, 3 of whom were named Searight (John, Martin & Andrew). The farm was at Sewright Hill (that’s how it was spelled) which today is up a lane off the Newferry Rd.

There were Smyths also living nearby, and they too were Presbyterian. Possibly that was Ellen Rose’s family.

NB You have Ellen Rose Smyth as born “Down Patrick, Ballyscullion, Down, Ireland.” I think that’s a bit mixed up. Ballyscullion is in Co. Derry/Londonderry. Downpatrick is a town about 50 miles away, in Co. Down. Farmers tended to marry locally so I suspect the Smyth family are also from Ballymacombs More, in Co. Derry. Especially as there is a family of that name listed in Griffiths.

http://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/index.xml

Incidentally, being Presbyterian indicates the Seawright & Smyth families are probably of Scottish origins. They probably settled in Co. Derry in the 1600s as part of the Plantation of Ulster. Up to 200,000 Scots moved to Ireland then, representing something like 15% of the entire population of Scotland. 

G'Day Elwyn, thank you for your quick reply and all this information.

I have Mary's mother as Ellen Rose Smith, Rose Smyth both from the LDS Family History Centre. The Ellen Rose Smith gives the Down Patrick, Ballyscullion, Down, Ireland info.

Mary Seawright's Death Registration gives her mother as Rosa Smith. She was buried at the Church of England Cemetery by a Minister of the Church of England. This cemetery is now known as Dutton Park Cemetery. Dutton Park is a suburb of Brisbane Queensland.

We have not had much luck in finding when Mary arrived in Australia. Perhaps she did not use her surname.

A bit of background info. Our family has not been able to prove anything on my grandfather before his marriage in Dalby Qld. 1894. Different records and told to 4 children was that he was born "in, at, near or at sea from Rockhampton Qld." Also both parents died on voyage to Australia and he was raised in Rockhampton by a family called Seawright. Both my cousin and I have had our DNA done with Ancestry and we both have DNA connections with people by the name of Seawright. Mary Seawright was in Queensland and died approx 2 months after my GF was born. This is why we are trying to find her arrival in Qld. If she was pregnant and left Ireland as a result or if she arrived and fell pregnant here.

I will be contacting the Anglican Church here in Brisbane to see if they have any records of that period.

Once again thank you.

Peter

G'Day again,

Through DNA testing I am related to Robert Francis Seawright as a 2nd - 3rd cousin with 135cM across 48 segments plus 2 other Seawrights both 4th - 6th cousins.

Mary Seawright c1851 - 22/11/1869 and Catherine Seawright 27/3/1852 - 8/6/1935 arrived Brisbane (Moreton Bay) aboard "Flying Cloud". The ship departed Gravesend 21st January 1869 and arrived 30th April 1869 after a voyage of 99 days. Both girls were listed as assisted immigrants and Domestic Servants. Mary's Death Certificate states that she died from "Imperfection of the heart" says that she had the heart problem "for years". Where I said previously, that she was buried in Church of England Cemetery at Dutton Park, The Church of England Cemetery was a part of Brisbane Cemetery or also know as Paddington Cemetery. (The cemetery was closed and all the remains were moved to the Toowong Cemetery around 1910)

My GF known as David Patrick Edwin Stuart was born 29/9/1869. (We cannot get a Birth Certificate as it was not compulsory to register births at that time.) On his wedding certificate his mother is listed as Mary No surname. He said that he was looked after by a family called Seawright after his parents died on the voyage to Australia.

We now believe that Mary Seawright fell pregnant before she left Gravesend while waiting for the ship to sail. She gave birth at the boarding house she was living in in Fortitude Valley, Brisbane. She developed heart pains and went to the hospital leaving the baby at the boarding house. Catherine met her future husband in Brisbane before moving to New Zealand where they married and raised family. We believe the David Patrick was given to one of their brothers whom raised him BUT NOT as a Seawright. We have no idea where the name Stuart is from. We also believe that his father was from a liaison in Gravesend and mhe did not come to Australia. Y - DNA possible his surname is Scharf.

If you can add anything as to when they may have left Ireland to go to London as how they would travel to London.

Many thanks

Peter

Peter,

You ask how Mary would have got to London. The railway from Belfast to Magherafelt & Cookstown opened in 1856. The nearest station to Ballymacomb was Castledawson.  So if she left around 1868, most probably Mary would have taken the train from Castledawson to Belfast (then about 1 hour 30 mins), the overnight ferry to Liverpool followed by a train to London (then about 6 hours).  You could buy through tickets from Castledawson to London.  If she had also booked onward passage to Australia, then the shipping agent in Derry may have thrown cost of the journey to London in free. There was a lot of competition for the business and free passage to England was often included in an emigrant’s ticket. (I see she was an assisted immigrant so that suggests part of her fare was being paid by someone else). 

If you are hoping for records of passengers from Belfast to England then unfortunately none were ever compiled for what is, still to this day, a short domestic journey.

I think I may have omitted the 1831 census for Ballymacomb, in case it is of interest. There were 4 Seright households, 2 were Presbyterian and 2 were Church of Ireland (ie Anglican). They all lived beside each other so that would suggest they were related:

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1831/Londonderry/Loughinshollon/Ballyscullion/Ballymacombs/107/

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1831/Londonderry/Loughinshollon/Ballyscullion/Ballymacombs/111/

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1831/Londonderry/Loughinshollon/Ballyscullion/Ballymacombs/112/

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1831/Londonderry/Loughinsho…