Hunting for Francis Cavannah (Cavanagh) in Australia

 

  The places in New South Wales where the various reports came from about Francis Cavanagh (the red place marker is Tumut)

I'm still on the hunt for records that show what happened to Francis Cavanagh in Australia. It turns out that there actually were censuses for New South Wales, one for 1841 and one for 1891. Unsurprisingly, I didn't find him on the 1891 census, that I know of anyway. He could have been one of the many John Cavanaghs who were enumerated if he decided to be known by one of the other names he was christened with. In 1891 he would have been 74 which would have been something to go by if there were ages recorded on that record. No ages were recorded. The 1841 census only named the head of household. I found a promising entry for Francis Cavanah in the Singleton District of Patrick's Plains. But once I parsed out the information given under the heading of Civil Condition, it didn't match the information for the Francis Cavanagh I was looking for as my Francis hadn't received his Ticket of Freedom until 1846 and that would have been evident under that heading.

I also hunted for Francis Cavannah (and variations) in Trove, the digitized newspapers of Australia which are a great source of information. In my hunt I turned up records of a bar fight in which Francis Cavanagh lost his life. Was that my guy? The report on the fight was picked up by a lot of newspapers and it didn't stop there. The other man involved in the fight, George Ross, was eventually tried for manslaughter. He was not convicted but the accounts also mentioned the young man's heartbroken mother - so definitely not the man I was searching for. Besides the incident happened in 1874 by which time the Francis I was looking for would have been in his late 50s, so not the young man described by the report in the newspaper.

There were other mentions of Francis Cavanagh in the newspapers, one about a theft involving a suspect of that name along with a J. Cunningham and D. Carr. The men were involved in moving furniture at Hyde Park Barracks when suspected of stealing. The two other men were found guilty but Cavanagh was discharged. The report was from 1845 and would probably not have interfered with the Ticket of Freedom that Francis was awarded in 1846 if they were the same man. Another story had a Francis Cavanagh charged with stealing a silver watch. This incident happened in 1848 and this Francis was also found not guilty. Then in 1860, The New South Wales Police Gazette and Weekly Record of Crime reported a theft from John Bennett by John Hannan and Francis Cavanagh. The report added a description of Hannan and information about his age, wife and family. Unfortunately, there were no such details about Cavanagh who had been apprehended and released on bail. Then there were the reports from East Maitland of a Francis Cavanagh charged with letting a vicious dog roam. Was he the same Francis Cavanagh charged with letting his cattle stray into the streets, or the one charged with being drunk and disorderly in 1864? Those reports were also from East Maitland.

There is nothing in the information that I have found that I can actually tie to the Francis Cavanagh that I am hunting for. I have my suspicions about the reports from the 1840s about the man who was found not guilty of two different thefts as well as the report from the 1860s. Those could be about the man I'm looking for but there is nothing to really make the connection. I think it's time to check Legacy Family Tree Webinars to see if there are relevant webinars about searching in Australia.

Sources:

Ancestry – New South Wales 1841 and 1891 censuses

Trove - https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/ 

Tracing Matilda's younger son, Francis Cavannah

 

                                                 Will I be able to add anything to Francis Cavanagh's part of this tree?

In the hunt for records about Francis Cavannah, the younger son of Benjamin and Matilda Cavanagh, I became aware that there were two men with the same name of approximately the same age; one in London and one in Liverpool. There were criminal records for the Liverpool Francis as well. Perhaps Benjamin and Matilda's son was out of the picture because he had moved to a different part of the country? The man in the Liverpool area was slightly older though but I wasn't sure which one was correct until I had a close look at all of the criminal records for the Francis Cavannah sentenced at the Old Bailey. One of those records recorded a description of the prisoner "5/4 ? ? blue slender Holborn. Holborn must have referred to his place of origin. That was the clincher. The Francis Cavannah I was tracking was the one sent to Australia.

New South Wales Convict Arrivals on Find My Past, showed Francis Cavannah arriving on 9 February, 1838 on the ship Emma Eugenia. After that finding, I checked Public Family Trees on Ancestry to see if any likely trees had further information about Francis Cavannah and his family but no such luck. None of them had anything further than his name indicating he was one of the sons of Benjamin and Matilda.

It was time to follow Francis to Australia. I've researched families there before. It's tricky because there are no census returns to rely on. They did keep records of convicts, however. The MHNSW database had records for Francis which included his Certificate of Freedom of 11 May, 1846. His Ticket of Leave indicated that the district was Yaas and he was tried in Sydney in 1854. I need to look into those records further to understand exactly what they mean. Perhaps there is more to learn about this errant member of the family.

Sources:

Ancestry                 Public member trees

FMP                       Various databases including New South Wales Convict Arrivals

MHNSW               MHNSW State Archives Collection https://search.records.nsw.gov.au/  Convicts Index 1791-1873

An unexpected twist in the search for Matilda's family

 

                                                      My London ancestors sometimes end up in court

While I haven't been able to find out anything more about Matilda Cavanagh or her husband, Benjamin, I have been able to find out more about their youngest son, Francis. When I couldn't find an entry for him in the 1841 census, I thought he might have left town. Because I've been down this road with London ancestors before, I checked out the Proceedings of the Old Bailey on the off chance. There I found an entry for the trial of Francis Cavannah, Matthew Pearson and Margaret Pearson for theft and housebreaking. 

Criminal records are so wonderful. There are so many of them, keeping a record of the trial and then, later, keeping track of the prisoners and writing down different information about them. One record that I found even gave his description and recorded that he was from Holborn. So I had a young man of around the right age, from the correct place. Not only that, I had a reason why I couldn't find him on the 1841 census. He was the only one of the three on trial found guilty and he was sentenced to transportation.

The New South Wales Convict Arrivals show that Francis Cavannah arrived on the ship the Emma Eugenia on 9 February, 1838. No wonder I wasn't able to find him on the 1841 census in England! Now to see if I can find any more records for him.

Sources:

 

The Proceedings of the Old Bailey https://www.oldbaileyonline.org 

FindMyPast – Record Set: England & Wales, Crime, Prisons & Punishment, 1770-1935

More on the search for Matilda and family

 

                                                     I haven't found any information to add to this family tree yet

There are no extant census records between the 1815 marriage of Benjamin Cavanough and Matilda Fletcher and the first major census of England in 1841 - at least not that I know of. Over the years I haven't been able to find their son Benjamin in the 1841 census of England, the first one that is widely available. However, I was able to find him in the 1851 census when I tried the Find My Past website. By that time he and his wife, Sarah, were shown with 7 children and it was possible to track their moves through the birthplaces given for each of their offspring. The first 4 were born in St. Luke, Middlesex, the next in Aldgate and the the last two, twins, were born in St George, probably St Georges in the East.

So son Benjamin and his family didn't stray from their London roots although their mother, Benjamin's wife, Sarah, came from far away Norfolk. But what happened to Benjamin's birth family? What of his parents, Benjamin and Matilda? It's quite likely they died before the 1851 or even the 1841 census were taken. Then there's Francis Mark John Cavenaugh. I trawled the 1841 and 1851 census looking for him but had no luck.

At this point, I've only been able to track Benjamin Cavanagh, Benjamin and Matilda's first son. I have no idea where or when Matilda and the first Benjamin died. I don't even know how old they were when they got married or had their children. I'll keep digging to see if I can find out anything more. I may have a lead on their second son, Francis, though. More on that later. 

Sources:

Find My Past   1851 census for England, Wales & Scotland – St. George in the East, London & Middlesex, England

Starting the hunt for Matilda

 

                                             The Benjamin Cavanagh/ Matilda Fletcher part of my family tree

As I wrote last time, I'm starting my search for the Matilda Fletcher who married Benjamin Cavanagh on May 29, 1815 in Saint Andrew Holborn by licence. Information on marriage entries in those days was even sketchier than that found in the civil registration entries which became the requirement in July of 1837. In England in 1815, marriages were required to be performed in the Church of England. This became a requirement after the Hardwicke Act became effective as of March 25, 1754. So it didn't matter what denomination the couple was, they had to get married in the C of E, unless they were Jewish or Quakers (there's always some exception to the rule.)

The fact that the marriage was by licence, might mean that they were nonconformist or it might not. In any case, it meant that the banns weren't called in the church for three weeks as they would have been done for a couple who married by banns. A licence could also be used to married in haste, say if the bride was already pregnant.

Finding that out got my suspicious mind going. There was also something else that didn't seem right. The baptisms of Benjamin and Matilda's two sons were odd. The entry for their first son, Benjamin, stated that he was baptized in the parish church of St. Andrew Holborn on February 11, 1820. A note on the entry indicated that Benjamin was actually born on February 11, 1816. In the case of the next son, Francis Mark John, his baptism took place on September 8, 1823 in the same parish as his brother and, like his brother, he was also born in a different year from his baptism. His entry indicated his actual birth date was September 8, 1817. Why didn't both baptisms happen at the same time if they were late anyway? Francis would have been born before the date of Benjamin's baptism.

What if the timing of the first baptism was due to the fact that Matilda was pregnant at the time of the marriage? They then waited until later for the first child, Benjamin, to be baptized. No one would be counting the months after 4 years had passed. Then the couple waited to get Francis baptized because the sizes/maturity of the boys would obviously not go with their ages if they were seen together. The dates of birth are strange as well, both being the same days as the actual date of the baptism in each case. 

So I'm going into this search with a great deal of skepticism. It will be interesting to see if I can discover anything conclusive!

Sources:

Ancestry.ca     1815 marriage entry for Benjamin Cavanough and Matilda Fletcher in St. Andrew Holborn, London, England Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1941

                        1820 baptism entry for Benjamin Cavannaugh in St. Andrew Holborn, London, England, Church of England Births and Baptisms, 1813-1925

                        1823 baptism entry for Francis Mark John Cavenaugh in St. Andrew Holborn, London, England, Church of England Births and Baptisms, 1813-1925

 

Searching for Matilda

 

                                                        Benjamin and Matilda: a part of my family tree I want to expand

My own personal family tree is pretty solid back to the 3 x great grandparent level. It should be, I've been working on my tree for a long, long time. Some of my family lines I've taken back even further with some confidence. Others are more of a challenge. One of those challenges includes my paternal line. Once I hit the fourth great grandparent level on that line I ran into some challenges. My third great grandfather, Benjamin Cavanagh, was the son of Benjamin Cavanagh but I've searched in vain for more information on the first Benjamin. It doesn't help that he made his home in London, a genealogical quagmire if I've ever seen one. To top that off, I have no idea if the first Benjamin was born in London or perhaps was from Ireland as his name might indicate?

I've spent years trying to find out more about my fourth great grandfather, Benjamin, but now I've switched gears. Surely it will be easier to dig back further into my paternal fourth great grandmother's line. That grandmother was Matilda, Benjamin's wife. The marriage entry showed that Benjamin Cavanough married Matilda Fletcher, so hunting down Fletchers should put me on the right path. Not so fast. The marriage record also stated that Matilda was a widow at the time of her marriage to Benjamin Cavanough and AI informs me that a widow would go by her married name. So Fletcher was probably not the name she was born with. My task, as I see it at this point, would be to expand upon the information that I have for Matilda and maybe by doing that I might also find out more about her husband, Benjamin. And so it begins.

Information gleaned from the marriage entry

Help with my genetic genealogy journey

 

                                                                  Richard III lying in state in Leicester Cathedral

It's strange how things come to you when you state an intention. A few days ago I walked into a book store (that's not an unusual occurrence). Heading to the left after I entered the store I saw a book on the top shelf facing out to entice shoppers. It was about DNA, entitled The Secrets of Our DNA: How Genetics Has Changed the World. One of the shop employees asked if I needed help - of course I did, it was on a high shelf. When it was in hand I realized the author's name rang a bell.

The name was Turi King, and that brought me back. Remember all the excitement about the discovery and identification of Richard III's remains? I do. In fact, I made a side trip to Leicester to see for myself what the fuss was about. Turi King was one of the people involved with IDing the skeleton they'd unearthed. The collaborative Richard III project is one of the subjects she talks about in the book. She also covers many other DNA related subjects. There's even a chapter about epigenetics, I checked. What's more, the book was published in 2026, a plus in the ever evolving world of genetic discoveries and genealogy.

Sources:

King, Turi, The Secrets of Our DNA: How Genetics Has Changed the World, Doubleday Canada, Toronto, 2026