First Keady born in Australia, James Henry Keady (Part 1)

James Henry KEADY was the fifth child of John and Honora Keady, the first to be born in Australia.

James’ Baptism which took place in Melbourne on 16 January 1843 indicates that James was born 4 days before on 12 January. The witnesses/godparents were Darby Carty and Sarah Walters. Darby was possibly a close friend of the family or a relative as he had travelled to Melbourne on the same ship, the Frances, as John and Hanora in November 1941. (Second entry from bottom in Baptism record. John’s surname, Keady, spelt Cady.)

Background: Civil registration of Birth, Deaths and Marriages did not commence in Victoria until 1853. At the time James was born in 1843 Port Phillip was part of the Colony of New South Wales. Victoria was not proclaimed as a seperate Colony until 1851.

No records can be found of his early life but presumably he grew up on the banks of the Merri Creek, Pentridge (now Coburg).

In his early years the family home must have resembled a creche, and at times been a very sad place. Mary the twin of John Francis Keady had died in 1842 shortly after the family arrived in Melbourne. In quick succession four more children were born after James. First Michael who was born in 1844, but died only 9 months old in 1845, then William and Elizabeth in 1845 (possibly another set of twins) and lastly Catherine the youngest of the family in 1846.

James marries Margaret Rose McManus at Kilmore in 1874

James marries Margaret Rose McManus, described as a farmers daughter, on 8 September 1874 at St Patrick’s Church, Kilmore. James’ occupation on the marriage certificate at the time is given as Farmer and Winemaker.

Keeping up Family tradition – Hotelier at Murchison

For at least 3 years in the mid 1870s James is running a Hotel at Murchison, although he is not the owner.

It would seem that James has left his business at the pub by the late 1870s and is working on the land. At the Murchison Agricultural Show in 1878 James wins 2nd prize for both red and white colonial wine.

1880s – James and Rose establish a family

Life continues in the Murchison district and their family are born in the district. The children of Rose and James were”

Hanorah, born 3 October 1880 in Murchison
Annie, born 25 May 1882 in Murchison
Leonard John (Leo) born 9 April 1884 at Murchison
Margaret Frances born 1886 at Shepherds Flat
Alberta Marie born 9 January 1889 in Shepparton

1890 Tragedy strikes the Family

Rose dies on 9 March 1890 in Mooroopna Hospital from Typhoid and Pneumonia, leaving James with 5 children to care for, including the infant Alberta who is barely 1 year old. Rose was only 42 years old at the time.

From records available for the children in their latter life, it would appear that four of the children, Hanora, Annie, Leo and Alberta were raised by Rose’s family, the McManus family. The fourth child Margaret Frances who was four years old at the time of her mother’s death was fostered by Daniel and Bridget Keady.

The relationship (if any) between James Henry KEADY and Daniel Keady still remains a mystery, but they were certainly close neighbours in the Murchison area. James Henry and Daniel had adjacent land holdings near the small settlement of Muddy Creek (now Moorilim).

Besides loosing his wife, James appears to have had some major financial setbacks at this time also, which might explain why he leaves the district and joins his two brothers Patrick and John Francis at Koetong.

Part 2 of James’s story will provide some detail of his land speculation activities and latter life at Koetong.

John KEADY (1812-1884) Shady dealings with the authorities or just smart ?

The “Letter to the Editor” below appeared in “The Argus” (The Age) on Friday, 31 October, 1856 from Mr Stephen Egan of Vine Farm, Pentridge (later to be renamed as present day Coburg).

Mr Egan was a neighbour of John KEADY with land holdings near the Pentridge Village, leading down to the Merri Creek. It is not clear if he was an immediate neighbour or just living in the vicinity.

Mr Egan’s letter needs to be considered in the context of life in the Port Phillip colony in the mid 1850s.

The Gold Rush is in full swing at this time, with labour in very scarce supply because everyone is heading off to the gold fields to make their fortune. Even ships arriving in Port Phillip to deposit the increasing number of immigrants have real problems leaving because the sailors who man the ships are jumping ship and heading to the Goldfields.

Crime is a real problem with the vast number of immigrants. There is a real need to expand the Pentridge Stockade (later to be Pentridge Prison) which was established in 1851 to house the criminals of the Colony. The Pentridge Stockade was undergoing a major expansion when Mr Egan wrote his letter.

In a nutshell, John KEADY has done a deal with the Pentridge Stockade Governor to use prisoners to clear his land and in return the Governor gets access to the felled trees to enable construction of his Stockade. The real advantage for John KEADY is the clearing of his land; 80 acres is mentioned in the article. Besides labour being in very short supply at the time, so also was good arable land close to Melbourne which could be used to grow crops to feed the ever expanding population. John Keady’s land would no doubt have increased in value substantially when it was cleared.

Stephen Egan seems to suggest that John Keady’s deal with the Governor is a bit shady and the labour of the prisoners would be better applied to building roads. Although, perhaps Mr Egan is just annoyed that he hasn’t had the chance to get in on the action and get access to this scare labour for himself.

Irrespective of Mr Egan’s motive for writing, the article gives a great insight into how John KEADY was able to develop some of his land holdings in the early Port Phillip colony.

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.

John Keady’s Valuable Gift

Christmas 1878

John Keady in his latter years moved from Melbourne and lived in Nagambie.

John and his family seemed to have been strong supporters of the local Catholic church at Nagambie, St Malachy’s. Many children from all branches of the Keady family were baptised at this church, and eventually this Church was the location for many funeral services, including those of John Keady on 23 December 1884 and his wife Honora on 26 June 1892.

John’s commitment to the Church is demonstrated by his gift of a water tank in late 1878.

St Malachy's Nagambie, Victoria — St Malachy’s Church, Nagambie, Victoria

Mysterious Family Relationship

While this keadyfamily.blog is focused on the family of John and Honora Keady who arrived in Melbourne in November, 1841, there were three other “Keadys” in Melbourne by the mid 1850s. Thomas and Patrick Keady who were brothers and Daniel Keady.

Thomas arrived in June 1854 and Patrick arrived in 1857. While Thomas’s arrival is documented in the shipping records, no record can be found of Patrick, however records show his wife Bridget arrived in January 1857 with their infant daughter, Mary. The shipping records say, “gone to husband, P Keady at Pentridge”. Perhaps its no coincidence that Pentridge was where John and Honora were living at the time with their family.

Unfortunately no records can be found of Daniel Keady’s arrival. (See a picture of Daniel Keady and Family – click this link)

There is certainly circumstantial evidence that the families were related, but to date no hard evidence has been found.

Perhaps one of the strongest hints is the way the families moved around to different regions of Victoria at similar times and eventually all ended up in the Nagambie/Murchison area. No better evidence perhaps than where they were all eventually buried. Other than Daniel who is buried at Murchison just 27km or 17 miles north, all these first Keady arrivals in Victoria are buried in a line at Nagambie Cemetery.

The Grave sites in order are:

1 John (1812-1884) and Honorah Keady (nee Kenny)(1811-1892).

2. First son of John and Honorah, Thomas Keady (1833-1892), wife Catherine Keady (nee O’Connell), their son John Patrick Keady (1863-1900), and grand daughter Johanna Teresa Brennan (1895, aged 9 months), first child of Thomas and Catherine’s daughter Catherine Agnes “Kate” Keady.

3. Patrick Nolan Keady (1830-1913), wife Bridget Keady (nee Cusack) (1834-1892), their daughters Catherine Teresa Keady (1864-1934) and Elizabeth Keady (1873-1947), neither of whom married. (Elizabeth’s name appears below the headstone.)

4. Thomas Keady (1829-1907), wife Margaret Keady (nee Kenny) (1836-1924), their son, Patrick James Keady (1870-1937) and his wife Annie Marie Keady (nee O’Dea) (1870 -1950). (Details of Patrick and Annie are enscribed on the side of the column.)

Perhaps in the near future some sleuths in the family will come up with some evidence to confirm if indeed there is a family link back in Ireland.

5 July 2019

Arrival of Keady Family

Port Philip Bay 1841

The first Keady family arrived in Australia on 29 November 1841 when John, his wife Honora and their four children sailed into Port Philip Bay on the Frances from Liverpool.

At that time Melbourne was still part of the Colony of New South Wales. Victoria was not proclaimed as a separate Colony for another 10 years in 1851.

Page 1 of the shipping log. Keady family is No 5.

John and his family had sailed from Liverpool on 20 August 1841 for a journey which took just over 3 months. The barque, Frances weighed 332 tons. Apart from a handful of paying passengers, there were 92 immigrants on board who were sponsored by a newly established merchant company, “Heape and Grice”.

John and Honora were travelling with four children, Thomas (8), Patrick (5) and twins John and Mary who were 1 ½ years old. There were 14 other family groups, 15 single males and 15 single female passengers. Overall the passengers seem to have been relatively well educated for the times, with 41 of the passengers being able to read and write.

As you can see in the extract from the shipping list, John Keady could read and write, while Honora could do neither. It seems that John did not check the shipping list as the family name has been recorded as “Cadey” not Keady. Possibly the clerk was English and John would have had a strong Irish accent.