John Francis Keady – Keady Family in Victoria

Another clue in the Puzzle – Where did the Keady’s come from in Ireland.

Baptism of John and Mary Keady 23 April, 1840, Parish of Tisaron and Galen, County Offaly, Ireland.

Background

The first Keady family arrived in Melbourne on 29 November, 1841 on the sailing ship Frances from Liverpool.

John Keady (1812-1884) and his wife Hanora (1811-1892)(nee Kenny) arrived with four children; Thomas (8 years old), Patrick (5 years old) and twins John and Mary (18 months old). The shipping record confirms that John and Mary were twins.

Their origin is identified as Kings County, Ireland, later to be renamed Offaly County.

See more detail on family arrival. Click on link below.

ttps://keadyfamily.blog/2019/06/04/arrival-of-keady-family/

First piece of the puzzle.

The only record found until recently of the family (Birth, Deaths or Marriages) was the Baptism record for Patrick Keady, the 5 year old mentioned above. With the help of the East Galway Historical Society, Patrick’s baptism was tracked down to 8 April, 1837 at Laurencetown, County Galway.

New piece of the puzzle

A recent search through the Family Search web service, a free web service provided by “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints”, hit gold. A record was found for the baptism of Joannem Keedy or Kiedy, with his parents being Joannis Keedy or Kiedy, father; and mother, Honorae Kenny. Screen shot below. (Website: family search.com)

For all those who have forgotten their high school latin, this Baptism record can be translated as John Keady(name of baby being baptised), father – John Keady and mother – Honora Kenny.

Unfortunately, the image of the original scanned page from the Parish Register cannot be viewed on “FamilySearch”. However, images of the scanned document can be viewed at the National Library of Ireland (NLI) website. Knowing the Parish name (Tisaron and Galen) and date, the original page can be viewed. The relevant entry from the Register is shown below.

Reading across from the numeral, “23” two names can be seen, Joannus and Mariam. In other words, John and Mary, confirming that this is indeed the record of the Baptism for the twins of John Keady and Honora Kenny.

While this record only shows the Parish name, and not a particular Church or Town, the Parish location is very close to Laurencetown where Patrick was baptised.

These Baptism records suggest that the Keady family were living in the vicinity of Ballinasloe, County Galway. This general vicinity is where the three Counties of Galway, Roscommon and Offaly(Kings) converge.

Further support for this location is demonstrated in John Keady’s naming of his properties in Australia as “Somerset”. This is the name of an Irish homeland just a couple of miles from Laurencetown.

Sad Endnote

Sadly, John’s twin sister Mary died in February 1842 only a few months after arriving in Melbourne. Mary was buried in the Old Melbourne Cemetery, which became the Queen Victoria Market carpark. There are no records available for the period when Mary was buried.

Martin Charles Nicholas KEADY (1880-1952)

Martin was the eighth child of John Francis Keady and Margaret O’Leary, the younger brother of our Grandfather, Thomas Patrick Keady.

Our grandfather, Thomas Patrick Keady was 6 years old, when his younger brother Martin was born in 1880 at Kialla East, near Sheparton on 16 August, 1880. Martin had 6 siblings at the time, as John and Margaret had lost 2 children in infancy, John Henry in 1874 and Michael in 1878.

The only girl in the family, Mary Ann Keady was born a year latter in 1861 at Sheperds Flat, which is just north of Daylesford, Victoria.

Sometime in the 1880s John Francis and his family moved East to Koetong along with the families of his brothers, Patrick and James Henry.

Martin’s childhood and early life would have been on the fairly isolated farming community of Koetong. He is listed as a grazier in the electoral rolls of the early 1900s, through his 20s and early 30s.

On 9 March 1916 at the age of 35, Martin was admitted to the Royal Park Receiving House and Hospital for the Insane in Melbourne. Martin spent some 7 years as an inmate until he was transferred to the Beechworth Hospital for the Insane on 8 April 1923.

Martin’s condition was described as follows in a Doctor’s report prepared for an Inquest into his death in 1952.

“He was regarded as a case of schizophrenia with marked deterioration and his mental condition showed little change over the years”.

Sadly, Martin spent 29 years in Beechworth Asylum until his death, aged 71 in 1952.

At the time of his death he only had one surviving sibling, his older brother Daniel Keady who was living at Bullioh, near Koetong.

Martin died on 28 February, 1952 after spending a few weeks in the hospital ward of the Asylum.

It is highly likely that he had minimal or no contact with family members after he was admitted to the Asylum. Hospital administration records at the time of his death describe him as “Invalid, 70 years” and note that he had “No relatives” and there were “no friends” to defray the cost of a funeral.

No records can be found regarding his burial, but in the circumstances it is most likely that he was buried in a paupers grave at Beechworth Cemetery.

Clearly, Martin must have been a pretty tough character to survive some 36 years locked up in the Mental Hospitals in the first half of the 20th Century.

Ownership of Family Bible Confirmed

Excellent Photos come to Light confirming owner of Keady Family Bible.

The following two photos confirm the identity of the couple, who’s photos appear in the Keady Family Bible.

While the only known Keady Family Bible almost certainly belonged to John Francis Keady (1840-1902), the two small photos(with many mould marks) tucked away in the back cover have no names or markings to help identify them.

It has been assumed that they were John Francis Keady and his wife Margaret O’Leary (1835-1923).

Two photos have recently come to light through relatives of the Crawford Family which confirm the identify of the photos in the Bible.

What’s the connection you say ….

The 4th son of John and Margaret Keady, Thomas Patrick Keady (1874-1946) married Lilian Catherine Crawford.

The detail in the photos is certainly much better than the mould stained photos which are in the Bible.

If you look carefully at the photos you will notice the slightest sign of colour for various features in both Margaret and John’s Photos. This is typical of photos of the time, with the photographer enhancing the black and white using colour paints.

Margaret has a tinge of red on her cheeks, a turquoise necklace and the gold on her broach and wedding ring have been painted. Likewise the cheeks on John have been given a bit of colour, his eyes painted blue and the gold chain and broach on his vest have been enhanced with some colour. (Not sure what the little vertical broach thing is, perhaps its just the end of his watch chain.)

Irish Families Stick Together

The Keady family no doubt formed close friendships with other Irish immigrants when they arrived at Port Phillip in November 1841. One family in particular, Mathew “Barney” and Johanna O’Leary formed a close relationship with John and Honora Keady.

Mathew John “Barney” O’Leary and his wife Johanna (nee Lombard) arrived at Port Phillip aboard the “Enmore” from Cork, Ireland on 4 October, 1841 about a month before John and Honora Keady arrived. They brought their daughters Johanna who was 5 years old and Betty who was only 8 months old.

The trip from Cork for the O’Learys and the other 96 sponsored immigrants took them just over 4 months. The shipping record notes that Barney and Johanna could not read or write and that Barney’s occupation was “Farm Servant”.

By 1845 the O’Learys were living at Merri Creek, the same location that John and Honora Keady had established a home for their family. We know the O’Learys lived at Merri Creek because they received some notoriety because of an incident near the corner of Little Bourke Street and Swanston Street in April 1845.

The article below from “The Port Phillip Herald” of 3 April 1845 gives a good explanation of the near tragic accident.

Also the following article from “ The chronicles of early Melbourne, 1835 to 1852: historical, anecdotal and personal/by “Garryoweb”” gives a slightly less artistic description of the incident. It is worth noting that it is reported that the triplets were only the 2nd set of triplets born in the colony.

The triplets were Ellen, Mary Anne and John. Baptism records show Barney and Johanna had two other children after they arrived in Australia, Catherine, 1843 and Mary in 1846.

Jumping forward 24 years and John Francis Keady (1840-1902 ) marries Margaret O’Leary at St Patrick’s, Kilmore on 1 November, 1869. Details on the Marriage Certificate means Margaret would have been born in 1835, and her place of birth was given as County Limerick, Ireland. This would suggest that the “Johanna” listed on the shipping record was indeed Margaret.

The following image is the only known photo of Margaret which was found in the family bible of John Francis Keady.

Keady Family Tree

The Family tree below provides the basic details of the first Keady family in Victoria. Keep in mind that the dates and locations related to John and Honora’s life in Ireland are so far pretty much based on working backwards from information and records available in Australia.

For example, the shipping records show the family originated from King’s County, Ireland, however, Gravestones and death certificates refer to County Roscommon.

The only confirmed record sourced from Ireland relates to the Baptism of Patrick Keady on 27 April, 1837 at Laurencetown, County Galway. (The art of finding Irish records seems to come down to luck more than anything. If you are able to find a rough location, it then becomes an exercise in reading a photocopy of a page in a 180 year old parish register, hand written by a Parish Priest, in latin, more often than not using shorthand. So, put your hand up if you’re an expert in deciphering shorthand latin !)

Future blogs will provide details for each of the children including their spouse and children.

First Generation of Keady Family in Victoria (2019)

Keady watering hole

Keady and Gerecke families share an ale at the Welcome Hotel, Koetong

Welcome Hotel, Koetong cc 1895. Source: State Library of Victoria

This beautiful photo of the Welcome Hotel at Koetong is believed to have been taken about 1895. The proprietor was Hermann Gerecke, a German immigrant who arrived in Australia in 1857.

The Keady families of John Francis Keady (1840-1902) and Patrick Keady (1837-1923) moved to the Koetong area about the mid to late 1890s when land became available for selection. Tin mining was also a major attraction to the area. John and Patrick’s brother James Henry Keady (1843-1936) also moved to this area and was involved in tin mining.

The licencing records of the times suggest there were only two pubs in town, the Koetong Hotel and the Welcome Hotel. Perhaps the Koetong Hotel is the other building in the distance on the right.

There weren’t many people in the town and surrounding district so no doubt the Keady families enjoyed a few ales at these pubs. In 1903 there were only 100 people listed on the Electoral roll for Koetong, including 13 Keady family members. Some of the family may even be one of the three bearded gentlemen standing on the verandah in this photo.

The links between the Gerecke and Keady families were to become stronger as the years progressed.

Patrick Keady’s son, John Henry Keady (1867-1929) married the eldest daughter of Hermann Gerecke, Christina Frances Gerecke (1874 -1941) in 1901. This couple would go on to become publicans of the Everton Hotel.

Just to keep the family ties strong, Patrick’s daughter, Honorah Ann (Nora) Keady (1880-1937) married William Herman Gerecke(1875-1947), Hermann’s eldest son in 1901. Perhaps it was a double wedding. In 1904 William took over as publican from his father.

Both the Welcome and Koetong Hotels were a focus for community sporting and social gatherings. Newspaper reports of Keady family activities will follow in future blogs.

Does Daniel Keady fit in the Keady family tree ?

The family photo below is Daniel Keady (1838 – 1928), wife Bridget O’Shea (1839 -1914) and seven of their eight children. In addition, the young woman standing directly behind Daniel is Margaret Frances Keady (1886 -1982). The photo was taken sometime before 1914.

Margaret is the 2^ndyoungest daughter of James Henry Keady (1843-1936), the younger brother of Patrick and John Francis Keady whose pictures appear in earlier blogs.

Daniel and Bridget raised Margaret after her mother (Margaret Rose McManus) died in 1890 at which time Margaret would have been only 4 years old. The other four children of James Henry Keady and Margaret McManus seem to have been raised by the McManus family.

It would appear that James Henry felt he could not raise five children under 10 and he leaves the Nagambie/Murchison district and moves to the Koetong area near Corryong where he is identified as a miner in a number of sources.

Back to the mystery !

No one has yet found any shipping record for Daniel, nor any articles or resources which might shed any light on a relationship between Daniel Keady and the family of John and Honora Keady.

The fact that Daniel fostered James Henry’s daughter and they owned adjacent properties in the Murchison area suggests a family tie, but who knows, maybe they just met in a pub and struck up a strong friendship based on a common surname.

John Francis Keady – did he survive a freak accident ?

Off course he did – otherwise we wouldn’t be here !

Various newspaper reports in late February 1872 recount a somewhat weird story that Mr John Keady (John Francis Keady, great grandfather) was severely injured with the contents of a shotgun lodged in his stomach !

Even made the Melbourne daily newspapers of the time.

Sourced from Trove.

Certainly paints a grim picture with both the local Doctor and Priest rushing to the scene. In 1872 John was living just north of Kilmore, at Moranding with his wife Margaret and two young sons, Francis William “Will” Keady (1870-1926) and John Mathew Keady (1871-1889).

Fortunately John recovers as reported in the Kilmore Free Press a week or so latter.

John Francis Keady (1840-1902)

John Francis Keady (sourced from Family Bible)

Arrival at Port Phillip

John arrived with his twin sister Maria when he was only 18 months old on 28 November 1841. His parents, John Keady and Honorah Kenny left Liverpool on 20 August 1841 and arrived at Port Phillip over 3 months latter with sons Thomas, 8 years, Patrick aged 6 and the twins, John and Maria.

They sailed on the Barque, Frances which carried 97 sponsored immigrants of English and Irish origins.

Early Life as young child

John’s early life was spent near the Merri Creek adjacent to the Pentridge Stockade which was being built at the time and which would eventually become the Pentridge Prison .

Once settled in this area now known as Coburg, the family expanded with John and Honorah having five more children, 3 boys and 2 girls.