Patrick Weldon, Jr. and Mary Fagan had twelve children and resided in the RC Parish of Lucan. Patrick was a groom. Five of the children emigrated. Elizabeth chose to find her future in Adelaide, Australia with three of her first cousins: Jane, Katie and Johanna. Elizabeth’s gravemarker was found at Willaura Cemetery, Victoria, Australia where she was buried in 1928. Buried with her is her husband, John Patrick Wright, who died May 26, 1950. Elizabeth married John in 1888 and they had 6 boys and 4 girls. Four children died young. Elizabeth and her cousins, Katie and Johanna, have several generations of descendants in Australia.
Patrick Weldon, Jr. had an older brother, Gerald (Garret) Weldon, born in 1826 in Blanchardstown, Co. Dublin. Gerald married Julia Finnessy of Co. Tipperary in January, 1858. Gerald was a herdsman. They lived in the RC Parish of Kill in Co.Kildare in the townland of Keeloges. They had 9 children that we found in the Catholic Parish Register for Kill, Diocese of Kildare and Leighlin; 3 of the girls - Jane, Katie and Johanna Weldon - applied for assisted passage to Australia.
The Weldon sisters and their first cousin Elizabeth applied for passage and were selected by the colonization commissioners. Katie was the first to gain an assisted passage to Australia. She was notified of her departure date from Plymouth, a port city in Devon, southwest England. Katie departed on the Clyde on February 23, 1882 arriving at Port Adelaide on June 6. Two years later, Elizabeth and Johanna gained their assisted passage to South Australia. They embarked from the Port of Plymouth on the Ashmore for Adelaide on July 3, 1884, arriving October 2, 1884. And, finally, Jane departed August 20, 1885 on the Ashmore for Adelaide. The ship’s manifest showed Jane to be 26, a domestic servant traveling to see Katie Weldon, care of Mr. Moore on Gouger Street. Jane arrived on November 10, 1885.
The records of the Weldon’s assisted passage only give their name and age with the exception of Jane whose entry shows an occupation of domestic servant and a destination noted to see her sister. After approximately 100 plus days of seasickness and rations, new emigrants arrived and were put to work.
1885 was the final year of assisted immigration into South Australia for the 19th century. Catherine (Kate), who was the first to depart for Adelaide in June 1882, married Daniel Patrick Mahoney in 1889. They had 4 boys and 3 girls. Johanna and cousin Elizabeth departed together in October 1884. We found Johanna in Melbourne, Victoria. She married John Thomas Lehane in 1893 and they had 8 children; 3 lived to adulthood. Jane was the last to leave in 1885. She married Karl Georg Buenzli of Switzerland in 1894. They had no children.
