JOHN MORIARTY AND MARY ANN KESSEY
- A Short Account of Their Lives -
Note and Disclaimer:
This must be the most difficult line to research. Tracing ancestors in Ireland is taxing enough, but in the case of John Moriarty, his antics make it even more challenging.
John arrived in 1854 on the “Caroline” with his sister Mary. They gave their parents names as John and Mary, living in Ballylongford Co. Kerry Ireland. A more comprehensive search uncovered two other siblings, Johanna who married a Brassel and Owen who was living in Bathurst with his wife Mary.
Excitement built as it seemed to confirm that the whole family settled here. Except that there was a problem, actually a few problems. On his marriage registration, John Moriarty listed his parents as Michael and Mary. They were listed the same at the time of his death.
A further problem with our theory was that at the time of the arrival of the “Caroline”, John was listed as being 28 years old. We know from information he supplied at the time of his marriage, that he would have only been 18.
So why would someone give a false record? Well our John it seems may have been already married when he tied the knot with Mary Ann Kessey!!
Other inconsistencies are by his own report:
1854 John was 28 yrs old Marriage to Catherine Lee
1863 John was 25 yrs old Marriage to Mary Ann Kessey
1868 John was 28 yrs old Arthur’s birth Informant: Father
Five years later - he aged 10 yrs.
1873 John was 38 yrs old Catherine/Kathleen's birth (Informant: Father)
Two years later......
1875 John was 46 yrs old Lizzie/Elizabeth's birth (Informant: Father)
This is the only photo I have of John. So does he look 54 ? Hard to tell. It was a hard life back then. He was a farmer and orchardist so he worked really hard. But I would guess him to be significantly older than 54, Even with the poor quality of the photograph. It was believed to have been taken in 1890 a few months before his death.
It seems though that he had problems remembering his age, each time he registered one of his children's birth.
Maybe John was abusive as is reported by family members. Catherine Lee may have ran away from him, because of his demeanour. She had three kids in Mudgee that she didn't declare a father for. One of them, Leticia died, and her brother listed John Moriarty as the father on death certificate.
Family stories differ regarding John: some say he made his way here from America after trying his luck on the gold fields, some say he was a free man escaping poverty in Ireland.
John’s brother Owen was employed on the Brucedale Estate near Bathurst, an orchard belonging to George Suttor and later his second eldest son. It was there that John met Catherine Lee and learnt the orchard business.
A John Moriarty married Catherine Lee on 26 December 1854 in Hartley NSW. She had been living in Bathurst since 1849.
Catherine gave birth to a child in December 1856 at Hartley, her address
being stated as Bathurst. The name of the father is not given, it can be assumed that she and John had parted company before then. She had family living in Mudgee, and probably went there for financial and emotional support.
Birth Registration
7047/1857 MORIARTY, LETITIA A
No father listed
Mother listed as CATHERINE
Registered: Hartley
Death Registration
4039/1859 MORIARTY, LETICIA
Father: JOHN
Mother: CATHERINE
Registered: MUDGEE
If John had been married previously to Catherine and he wished to marry
again, he may have substituted the name of a parent as well as his actual
age. There was no means of divorce before 1873. Maybe this could explain some of the differences of names.
So, now that the disclaimer is out of the way, this is how the story MAY go:
John Moriarty was born around 1826 in Ballylongford Co. Kerry Ireland, the son of John Moriarty and Mary Hunt. John’s childhood times were hard as Ireland was experiencing tragedy with the great famine and the population decreased dramatically with the onset of malnutrition and disease.
John’s father was a farmer and from what we can ascertain, had very little food, but he managed to sustain his family.
An assumption has been made that John emigrated to Australia as a free person, in search of a better life. It is fairly certain that he wasn’t a convict, as there is no listing of anyone meeting his description, from what we know.
What we assume happened is:
John arrived in 1854 on the “Caroline” with his sister Mary. They gave their parents names as John and Mary, living in Ballylongford Co. Kerry Ireland. A more comprehensive search uncovered two other siblings, Johanna who married a Brassel and Owen who was living in Bathurst with his wife Mary. Owen paid a remittance to bring his brother and sister from Ireland, their parent's names being stated as John and Mary.
Owen was employed on the Brucedale Estate near Bathurst, an orchard belonging to George Suttor and later his second eldest son. It was there that John met Catherine Lee and learnt the orchard business.
John married Catherine on 26 December 1854 in Hartley NSW. She had been living in Bathurst since 1849.
Catherine gave birth to a child in December 1856 at Hartley, her address being stated as Bathurst. The name of the father is not given, it can be assumed that she and John had parted company before then. She had family living in Mudgee, and probably went there for financial and emotional support.
It's not know what happened between John and Catherine, but somewhere along the way Catherine met Joshua Free. They never married as it seems that they were both married to someone else. The couple had four children..
1. Laura Letitia b. 30 November 1859 at Mudgee and registered as Moriarty
2. Flora Ann b. 28 October 1861 at Mudgee and registered as Moriarty
3. Ida b. 16 October 1864 birth was not registered
4. Isaac b. 1 April 1866 at Currajong and registered as Free
Catherine died the day after Isaac's birth and was buried at Currajong NSW
In the absence of the ability to file for divorce, John appears to have changed critical information, including his parents names, and his age to marry again. He married Mary Ann Kessey, on the 19th May 1863 at Bathurst. He was then said to be 27 years of age.
Mary Ann was the daughter of Thomas Casey (also known as Kessey) and Julia Grady. Her brothers, John and James led somewhat colourful lives with a number of bushranging activities and offences committed against the colony. Mary Ann and John appeared to have a quiet life in comparison.
The Children, as far as can be ascertained are:
1. Patrick John (known as John) was born in 1864 at Bathurst NSW. He was a journalist and never married
2. Arthur was born on the 9th Aug 1865 at Burnt Flat Duramana. He was married on the 8th Jan 1893 at Bathurst NSW to Elizabeth Ann BONHAM
3. Mary was born in 1867. She was 85 years old in 1952 when she died of chronic myocarditis. She never married.
4. Alfred was born in 1869 and in 1893 he married Mary POTTS
5. William was born in 1870. He married Margaret Hazell. He was an Engineer and died in 1920.
6. Michael was born in 1872. He was known as Herbert.
7. Catherine (also known as Kathleen) was born in 1873. She never married and died in 1930.
8. Lizzie was born in 1875. She was christened Elizabeth Benedict. She married John Boxhall. She died in 1922 of Arterio Sclerosis.
9. Ernest was born in 1877 and died in 1885 when he was just 8 years old. He developed Enteric Fever.
10. Walter was born in 1879 and on the 20th March 1913 married Lily Anne Muriel HOLCOMBE. He died on the 10th March 1936
11. Louisa was born in 1881 and died in 1883. She was just 2 years old when she contracted Dentition Diarrhea.
12. Agnes was born in August 1883 and died 4 months later on 21st December, 1883 from Muco Enteritis.
13. Florence, the youngest was born in 1886 and she married Frank OWENS.
Reference is made to John in the following publication:
100 YEARS of PEEL and DISTRICT by Geoff Smith.
FIRST DAY THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 17, 1857
Four well contested private matches, wound up the day's sport. The first was between M1;.Bradford's Boxer and Mr Sillocorn's Butcher for 1 pound each, once round, and was run after an excellent race to the turn, where Boxer bolted by Butcher.
The second was between Skillicorn's Butcher and Bell's Currency Lass, and not withstanding a pretty piece of running was accomplished from the start to the straight running, Currency Lass came in first all alone in her glory.
The third was made between Mr.John Garvey's Confidence and Mr Lawson's Patron, both horses were ridden by the owners. At starting the Patron obtained the lead, and maintained it for about 150 yards, when Confidence collared him, and came in a winner by several lengths.
Fourth match was won by Robert Gray's chestnut pony beating Mr Moriarty's Irishman, once round by several lengths.
The fifth was a Challenge match of 2 pounds, one event, twice round, between Mr Grey's Cupid and Mr John Moriarty's Irishman, and after a closely contested race all round was won by Irishman by about five lengths.
Compliments of Ralph Millard - Bathurst
John was reported as a very stern man, and at times his discipline of his children was what we would consider child abuse. As a result, a number of his children left home at early ages, some at the age of 12 and 13. Not necessarily to start their own lives of independence, but to escape. Walter in particular left at the age of 12 and went to live with his mother’s brother, William Kessey.
One is left wondering what John’s childhood was like and how he was parented as a child. Did something else happen to him to harden him? Was he perhaps an orphan, or raised without any demonstration of affection?
With this disharmony, Mary Ann assumed the role of peace maker and facilitated contact with her children, ensuring the sense of family and belonging was maintained.
She is remembered as a fine lady, who dressed to the “nines” and was very proper in her presentation. She was affectionate, loving and gentle in her approaches.
What is consistent about the stories of John and Mary Ann is that they had a happy although shortened married life.
John died on the 20th April 1890 at Bathurst at the age of 54 years from what is recorded on his death certificate, as Chronic Cystitis and Suppative Nephritis. His ten surviving children were aged from 26 to 3 years. The informant was Mary Moriarty and at that time she lived in Howick Street Bathurst. He was buried in the Roman Catholic Cemetery at Bathurst.
Mary Ann Moriarty died on the 27th December, 1920. She had suffered from a Cerebral Thrombosis and Asthenia for 6 months prior to her death and last saw her doctor on Christmas Day. Mary Ann is reported to have waited until the return of her grandson, Arthur John Moriarty (known as Tom) from the War. He had been serving overseas. On his return, Mary Ann told Tom that now that he was safe at home she was quite happy to die.
At the time of her death, Mary Ann was living at 82 Cavendish Street Stanmore. Her son Walter was the informant and he gave his address as “Chatsworth" Thornley Street Marrickville. I have no idea who Mary was living with but would be interested to know if that address was a nursing home or hospital.
Compiled by Karen Riley
Updated June 10, 2007
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