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Eliza Jane McMahen born Aust 1847 and William Moore McMahen born Armagh Ireland 1811

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  • Eliza Jane McMahen born Aust 1847 and William Moore McMahen born Armagh Ireland 1811

    I am looking for information on my ancestor Eliza Jane McMahen. She was the first born daughter of William Moore McMahen (1811-1892) and Margaret Keys (1832-1894) and was born in or around Keysborough, Victoria, Australia in or about 1847. Some family trees on other websites record her as having married William James Ambery in 1880 but I believe that the person who married William Ambery is Elizabeth (Eliza) Jane Lowden (sometimes spelt Louden) born in Northern Ireland in 1855. Elizabeth Lowden married James McMahen (Eliza's McMahen's brother) in 1877 and after James McMahen died in 1878, married William James Ambery in 1880. Other than the record of her birth, I cannot find any records of Eliza Jane McMahen born 1847 to William McMahen and Margaret Keys.


    Also, I have not been able to locate any siblings of Elizabeth Jane McMahen's father William Moore McMahen born about 1811 in Armagh, Northern Ireland, or a record of his passage to Australia. I have found encyclopaedia articles which say that he came to Australia in 1820 but they give no sources. William's parents are listed on some family trees as James McMahen and Ann Moore born in Northern Ireland but the sites give no references and I have not been able to find them either.


    Can anyone help?


    thanks very much



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  • #2
    Hmm, am intrigued... Noticed this:

    https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/XTCK-D4Y - Mary Elizabeth Mahon, father is William, mother is Mary (Margaret)? Might not be relevant, although Mcmahen may often be misspelt by record keepers, eg as McMahon, or even Mahon.

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    • #3
      Hi thanks for that, but unfortunately it isn't Elizabeth Jane McMahen as she was born in Melbourne and I have her birth record. I just don't know what happened to her afterwards. She doesn't figure in her mother's will in 1894 and so it is possible that she died young. William her father is an even bigger mystery as he seems to have swum to Australia aged 9 or thereabouts!

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      • #4
        I'm guessing that - since you have the 1894 Will - you have looked at any likely resources here: http://prov.vic.gov.au/provguide-23

        I couldn't pick up any likely entries in the Trove newspaper archives, even though the dates would be covered.

        Christine
        Researching: BENNETT (Leics/Birmingham-ish) - incl. Leonard BENNETT in Detroit & Florida ; WARR/WOR, STRATFORD & GARDNER/GARNAR (Oxon); CHRISTMAS, RUSSELL, PAFOOT/PAFFORD (Hants); BIGWOOD, HAYLER/HAILOR (Sussex); LANCASTER (Beds, Berks, Wilts) - plus - COCKS (Spitalfields, Liverpool, Plymouth); RUSE/ROWSE, TREMEER, WADLIN(G)/WADLETON (Devonport, E Cornwall); GOULD (S Devon); CHAPMAN, HALL/HOLE, HORN (N Devon); BARRON, SCANTLEBURY (Mevagissey)...

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        • #5
          What you may have to consider is that the name may not always actually have been spelled the way that it is now, and it may have been McMAHON in some original records.

          Christine
          Researching: BENNETT (Leics/Birmingham-ish) - incl. Leonard BENNETT in Detroit & Florida ; WARR/WOR, STRATFORD & GARDNER/GARNAR (Oxon); CHRISTMAS, RUSSELL, PAFOOT/PAFFORD (Hants); BIGWOOD, HAYLER/HAILOR (Sussex); LANCASTER (Beds, Berks, Wilts) - plus - COCKS (Spitalfields, Liverpool, Plymouth); RUSE/ROWSE, TREMEER, WADLIN(G)/WADLETON (Devonport, E Cornwall); GOULD (S Devon); CHAPMAN, HALL/HOLE, HORN (N Devon); BARRON, SCANTLEBURY (Mevagissey)...

          Comment


          • #6
            Dosborn -
            I don't know where you've looked for Irish BMD, or what you might know. It's difficult! But if you haven't looked, you might benefit from the reference section's information and links about Ireland.

            Irish Civil Reg began in 1864 - some of the early Civil Reg indexes are available on Familysearch.org. They even have some of the actual records indexed (only a few years).

            Civil Reg of Protestant (especially Church of Ireland) marriages began earlier - 184?, I think. Again, many are on familysearch.

            Parish records - you can try familysearch, rootsireland.ie and more.

            Good luck.

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            • #7
              Thanks everyone. Unfortunately I've tried all of the named resources but came up blank. Some entries on familysearch could possibly have some relevance, (assuming McMahen has been mispelt McMahon) but there isn't enough detail to be able to tell for sure.

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              • #8
                have you got the birth certs for all of eliza's siblings? they mention the names of all previous siblings, and their ages, including deceased ones. so if she died before the last child was born, it will be noted. the other certs may say where in ireland the parents were from also. i have one family that states, 'sixmilebridge, clare' and another that just states 'cork'. so it will be pot luck.

                i assume you have the parents death certs. do they state eliza is dead? do they record parents names? are they specific about birthplace? and do they roughly what year they arrived in victoria?

                if you believe william arrived in victoria around 1820, then his family likely would have come out too. if you have the parents names maybe you can locate their deaths. i think if he was here as a child you will be looking at new south wales and quite possibly convict heritage.

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                • #9
                  ok, so in googling, there is a tree on rootsweb, which seems to have the death certificates.


                  so you need to get the deaths for william and margaret and see what is on them. you can do that here:


                  the tree also says that eliza may have married ronald mcdonald in 1877. have you got this cert? have you looked for their children or deaths? if not i suggest you look into it.

                  you also say on your post on rootschat that william and margaret married in 1846. i doubt this will be a full entry, more like names of parties, address and witnesses. have you got the record?

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                  • #10
                    Thanks very much for your replies. I have been able to obtain Margaret Keys and William McMahens' death certificates although William's is very faint and quite difficult to read. However, the listing at BDM does give his parents names as James McMahen and Ann Moore. William's certificate only gives his birthplace as County Armagh. It does list his children and you are right, it says that Eliza Jane is deceased as at 1892. A search of BDM Vic doesn't bring up any details of any marriage or her death. One thing that William's certificate does clear up though is that unlike the Encyclopaedia reference which says he came to Victoria in 1820, the death certificate indicates it was 1840 or thereabouts. I've tried searching for him on ships in that era also and had no luck but I may try again. It also means that he likely came to Australia without his parents James and Ann. However, I have not been able to locate them with any certainty in Armagh in any event - or any of William's siblings.

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                    • #11
                      since you have william's parents names, if armagh is covered by sites that have parish records, you may be lucky and find something. apart from that you need to know the town in order to delve into the records.

                      eliza may not have died in victoria. and she may not have married with a middle name, or dropped her first name. i have an aunt mary jane gill, i could not trace her at all. one day she popped up on a tree on ancestry, and checking that i found the marriage. she had dropped her middle name and married as mary gill.

                      mcmahon has been spelled many different ways too, so thinking of variants and trying that out may help.

                      re william's arrival. i assume it was victoria. you may be able to find a hit for him on the public records office site? or maybe on trove? if nothing comes up, you might not be able to get anything. the public records office states they have passenger lists from 1839 onwards, but they don't have anything not on the database. i know because they told me they don't have lists for some ships i need.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Originally posted by dosborn View Post
                        However, the listing at BDM does give his parents names as James McMahen and Ann Moore. William's certificate only gives his birthplace as County Armagh.
                        Also remember the other problem with certificates, especially death certificates: they are only as reliable as the informant's knowledge. I think I have finally found birth/baptism records for my g'grandfather & his brother. The brother's death certificate had the WRONG first names of the parents. He left Ireland in his late teens & died at age 93. I suspect the informant, his daughter, was recalling his aunt & uncle.

                        The important point: keep an open mind!

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