James Carey (son of John Carey and Margaret) was born Abt. 1817 in Dunloy, County Antrim34, and died 14 Nov 1899 in Marnoo East, Victoria Australia34.
Notes for James Carey: Lost in Oz – The Search for James Carey - Liam Martin
In December 2001, I photographed a gravestone (1) in St Joseph’s RC Church cemetery in Dunloy, County Antrim, N. Ireland. It bears an inscription that begins "Erected by John Carey in memory of his beloved mother Margaret Carey who died in 1903 and his father Richard Carey who died in 1908 aged 81 years". It continues with "also his uncle, James Carey, who died in Australia in 1889, aged 72 years".
As Richard Carey was my maternal great grandfather I enquired about his brother. No documentation remained about James Carey, so the date he sailed on (and with whom) the ship which carried him there and from whence, its port and date of arrival, what he worked at or where and the site of his grave, was all unrecorded. Oral history recollects James as arriving and living in Melbourne as a bachelor and, after he died, his property reverting to his relatives at Glenbuck Townland (2), Rasharkin Civil Parish, County Antrim.
The story passed down in the family is that the parish priest in Dunloy received a letter about James’s death from the priest in the parish where James had lived in Australia. He suggested that a relative come out to Victoria and sort out the disposal of the estate otherwise they would get much less for the farm and lawyers would milk the proceeds. The average length of the voyage to Australia 'under canvas' from 1840 to 1860, when James Carey travelled, was one hundred and eleven days See the URL http://www.slsa.sa.gov.au/fh/passengerlists/Journey.htm With the advent of steam and the opening of the Suez canal in 1869 the trip would take still take several weeks. In the event, Richard Carey was 72 years of age and rather frail and his son John was running the farm and couldn’t be spared. The matter was left in the hands of the Australian lawyers
Eventually, subsequent to administration, some £800 pounds was allegedly transferred to Ireland in 1900 and distributed among James’s four Carey nephews and nieces. This injection of funds (and possibly previous sums) allowed the family, back home, to invest in businesses and farms and laid the foundation of their subsequent prosperity. One of his nephews, John Carey used his share to buy a farm in Gortgole (Rasharkin), and his niece Ellen, (my grandmother), used her portion (£200) to purchase a leather workshop and two shops in Mill St. Ballymena (Co. Antrim). A similar pair of shops in Mill Street is currently on the market for £250,000 (Sept. 2007).
Several family descendants are now millionaires, some several times over and one is a Papal Knight of the Order of St. Gregory. Many others have succeeded in commerce and the professions and some have scaled the heights of academia. At least 7 entered and served in the priesthood throughout their lives at home and abroad. Their genealogy can be viewed by viewing the URL http://postmanbill2.tribalpages.com . .
Death certificate requests over the range 1889, plus or minus 5 years, to six Australian states (Tasmania excepted) and a search of the Oz probate records by Genfindit.com did not yield any positive information about James. Efforts by various kind Aussie E-list members over the period of 6 years from Dec. 2001 were to no avail.
Finally, in 14 July 2007 I carried out a scan of the new online Victoria Australia Department of Justice BMDs file (URL (a)), extending the search to 10 years on either side of James’s 1989 death date as detailed on the Dunloy gravestone. This turned up an interesting death record (3) Viz –
“Number 1827 - 14th November, Marnoo, Shire of Kara Kara, County of Kara Kara - James CAREY (Farmer) - Male, 69 years - Death from Influenza and heart failure (signed Alfred Giles Esq. JP 15 Nov) - Parents unknown - No 16073 - Informant, Fredrick Reese, Marnoo - Registrar, M. Golden - Buried, 16 Nov. 1899, Gray's Bridge Cemetery (Witnesses, E. Morgan and J. Boyle) - Born, N. Ireland - Not Married.”
A colleague in Australia (Ray in Oz from the DONEGALEIRE mailing list) provided me with the URL of a map showing two plots owned by a J Carey in Marnoo East (4). A modern satellite version of this area is shown in URL (b) with placemarks 1 to 12. James can be seen “riding his horse” beside the River Avon - if you click on this, further details appear.
The land owned by James Carey was to the left of Wimmera Highway (B240), past Marnoo East before it crosses the Avon River. He is buried in Greys Bridge cemetery. He built a house on his adjoining plot, 170, which is at the bottom left of plot 160. A watercolour of a similar house of the period in Clunes is illustrated (5)
The two witnesses of his burial were neighbours of James’s. The first witness, E Morgan, owned two plots (205 and 206) about seven plots south of James’s plots, and the second witness, J. Boyle, owned two plots (189 and 190) just south of James’s plot 160). The informant of his death, Fredrick Reese, owned plot 173 adjacent to James’s plot 177
The Genealogical Society of Victoria (GSV) carried out a search in the Victorian probate index that showed a James Carey, reference number 73/077, farmer, died at Marnoo, 15 November 1899. There was an administration order, which implied that he did not leave a will. Copies of wills and administration orders are held at the Public Record Office of Victoria (PROV) but the papers relating to the administration order for James Carey were marked S11 - closed. This probably meant that they were in need of conservation.
A GSV volunteer visited PROV and copied the whole of each land file for lots 160 and 177 on my behalf. There was no detail here of any earlier "life" of James Carey (outside Australia) but the file tells of all the necessary things he had to do to the land to enable him to be given the Grant and purchase the property for one pound an acre. It appears from the papers that he already owned 20 acres near Clunes in Victoria 70 miles away, where he grew wheat. The GSV posted all of the paperwork to me (in total 32 A4 pages and 4 A3 sheets). There was, however, no proof that this James Carey was the same one referred to in the Dunloy graveyard as having allegedly died in 1889.
When the GSV volunteer went to PROV to look at the land records they put in a request to see if there was any possibility of looking at the (closed) Administration papers for the assets of the deceased James Carey. PROV promised to check and let them know and subsequently sent an e-mail to say they would be made available for GSV to view on a later visit.
When James Carey applied for plot 160 on 27 Sept. 1872 he was told to improve the land until March 1876 and was eventually given a lease in August 1882. There is a letter written by James Carey in the file (6). He originally gave his address as Clunes and later as Mitchells Hill via St Arnaud, Avon Plains and his occupation as Farmer. He paid £160 for the 160 acres, grew wheat and oats and grazed cattle. James claimed in one communication that most of the 160 acres was under water in winter. His 20 acre plot in Clunes was 135 km away – a 2 hour drive today. Joan Hunt, President, Ballarat & District Genealogical Society Inc. looked up the Clunes Parish plan.
The records show he applied for this plot VPRS 627/P0, Unit 74, File 6870 West of Clunes township on 23 May 1865 and obtained possession on 26 April 1871. The Bailiff described this as enclosed north, east and west with rail and sapling fences, about 16 acres stony land cleared and cultivated - Value £60. The allotment fronts on to Kierce's Road, and the Beckworth Creek flows north-south through the plot. Mt Beckworth is within about a quarter of a mile, south-west of Carey's land (7). This information tracks James back a further seven years to the gold mining town of Clunes (8). Had he work in the goldfields to raise the necessary capital to buy his first farm ?
On 29 January 1875, James (address now Trainors Lagoon) applied for a lease of a further adjoining 140 acres, the plot 177 (that had been forfeited by William Walker and which had a 2 roomed house of sun dried brick). He obtained a grant for this land in 1885, 14 years before he died.
The administration file eventually arrived from the GSV on 30 August 2007 and provided a valuation of James’s 300 acre property, shares and bank accounts (£1,235 1s 3p in total) (9). It confirmed his identity as my great granduncle by stating that he had a brother Richard in Ireland living at Glenbuck townland near Dunloy in County Antrim (10). (It also indicated that the lawyers had managed to dissipate about a third of the estate’s value, earning themselves a fee equivalent to about £500,000 today).
James left an impoverished Ireland for Australia in the desperate times of the1846-1850 potato famine. His subsequent lonely efforts down under fuelled the progress of those he left behind and they represent a disproportionately large contribution by an individual to the prosperity of his relatives. A number of Carey descendants are currently living in Australia. These and any visitors from back home can now visit James’s last resting-place at Greys Bridge Cemetery. They can kneel there among the microlaena grass under the Eucalyptus trees and intone an Ave for the repose of his soul.
It is not surprising that it took 6 years to track down James CAREY, the date of death on the Dunloy gravestone had been out by 10 years. Still, from originally knowing only his name and country of death I now possess intimate details about great granduncle James such as “when he died he had £1 19s and 9p on his person”. That is more than I know about his brother Richard who lived and died at home in Ireland.
1. Carey Gravestone in Dunloy, Co Antrim, Dec. 2001.JPG 2. Mary Carey, James’s great grandneice views the old homestead in Glenbuck.JPG 3. Map of James's property at Marnoo Victoria.JPG 4. James Carey Death Certificate (separate email) 5. Watercolour of 1870 house in Clunes 6. Letter written by James Carey 7. The Carey plot near Clunes 8. The Bridge at Clunes ca 1900 9. James Carey Property record.JPG 10. James Carey's birthplace confirmed.JPG
An Australian Gateway Site for Tracing your Family History can be found at the URL http://www.coraweb.com.au/index.htm
It provides the location of Australian Birth, Death and Marriage Records in all the States as well as the relevant addresses, costs and searchable Indices – BMD certificate prices vary from $A17.50 to $A42.00
There is a list of Wills and Probate Records, many of which are being progressively digitised
The Site also provides details of the various Family History Societies in Australia including the Genealogical Society of Victoria (GSV), whose services were extensively employed in the search for James Carey. GSV charge $A20 (for a member), $A33 (non-member) for a visit to the Public Records Office in Victoria plus copying fees (65c per sheet) and postage.
There is a similar Australian Gateway in Cyndi’s List at URL http://www.cyndislist.com/austnz.htm
Google Maps can be used to search for images of property owned by an ancestor. Enter “Marnoo East Victoria Australia” and James Carey’s two plots, 160 and 177, which he farmed from 1872 to 1899, are clearly delineated West of the Wimmera Highway (B240) just before it crosses the Avon River. Greys Bridge, the location of the cemetery where James is buried, is also indicated on this map. Entering “Clunes Victoria Australia” will provide a map of where James’s 16-acre allotment (bought in 1865) fronted on to Kierce’s Road, with the Beckworth Creek flowing north-south through the plot. It is the 4th allotment North of the junction with Mountain Creek Road.
2,019 words and 10 diagrams asr\wjm7\Lost in Oz 2
Author – Dr. W. J. (Liam) Martin. Born in Ballymena, County Antrim, 23 miles South of Glenbuck, is the great-grandnephew of James Carey. He graduated in Chemistry from Queens University, Belfast and taught science in Africa, eventually becoming a Senior Lecturer in the Kenya Polytechnic. On his return to the UK in 1982, Liam took a Masters in Instrumentation at UMIST in Manchester and followed this up with a geriatric PhD (Automation of DNA Analysis). He has retired following 10 years research at UMIST and a period as Head of a Division at the Rowett Research Institute in Aberdeen. His genealogical activities can be viewed at the URL http://postmanbill2.tribalpages.com/ and by googling the website “Postman Bill”.
Permission to Use Library Items How do I obtain permission? If you wish to reproduce an image of a collection item you need to apply for permission to do so by printing and completing the form below. You do not need to pay a fee.
The Bridge at Clunes - http://www.slv.vic.gov.au/pictoria/b/1/3/doc/b13643.shtml
Word count 2,220
James CAREY - Lost in Oz but not forgotten
And if you come, when all the flowers are dying And I am dead, as dead I well may be You'll come and find the place where I am lying And kneel and say an "Ave" there for me.
A gravestone in the RC parish cemetery in Dunloy, County Antrim, N. Ireland bears an inscription which begins "Erected by John Carey in memory of his beloved mother Margaret CAREY who died in 1903 and his father Richard CAREY who died 1908 aged 81 years". It ends with "also his uncle, James CAREY, who died in Australia in 1889, aged 72 years".
As Richard CAREY was my maternal great grandfather I enquired about his brother. No documentation remained about James CAREY so the date he sailed on (and with whom) the ship which carried him, its port and time of arrival, what he worked at or where and the site of his grave, are all unknown. Apparently he had been a bachelor and, before he died, James willed his property to his relatives at Glenbuck Townland, Rasharkin Civil Parish, County Antrim. Eventually, subsequent to probate, some £800 pounds was transferred to Ireland (around £350,000 - $Au820,000 in 2005 terms*) and distributed among his nephews and nieces.
This injection of funds (and possibly previous sums) allowed the family, back home, to invest in businesses and farms and laid the foundation of their subsequent prosperity. One of his nephews, John Carey used his share to buy a farm in Gortgole about 1912, and his neice Ellen (my grandmother) used her portion to purchase a leather workshop and two shops in Ballymena.
Several family descendants are millionaires, some several times over and one is a Papal Knight of the Order of St. Gregory. Others have succeeded in commerce and the professions and some have scaled the heights of academia. At least 7 entered and served in the priesthood throughout their lives at home and abroad.
Death certificate requests to the various Australian states (except Tansmania) and a search of the Oz probate records by Genfindit did not yield any positive information. Efforts by various kind list members were to no avail.
James left an impoverished Ireland for Australia around the time of the1846-1850 potato famine. His subsequent lonely efforts down under fuelled the progress of those he left behind and they represent a disproportionately large contribution by an individual to the prosperity of his relatives.
A number of Carey descendants are now living in Australia. These and any visitors from back home would like to visit James's last resting-place, should it be located. They could kneel there among the microlaena grass under the Eucalyptus trees and intone an Ave for the repose of his soul.
And I shall hear, tho' soft you tread above me And all my dreams will warm and sweeter be If you'll not fail to tell me that you love me I'll simply sleep in peace until you come to me.
Asr\wjm7\A CAREY - Lost in OZ
(1). A James CAREY, aged 36 arrived in January at Victoria 1854 on the sailing ship Jeannette, Port B Fiche 60 Page 2 (PROV). (James died Abt. 1889 aged 72 years, so this fits but there was also a 13 year old boy on the ship, which does not fit).
[2]. When he died, James willed his assets to his relatives in Ireland and eventually some £800.00 arrived back from Australia. This is worth about £350,000 in 2005*. My grandmother obtained some £87,500 with which the family bought a workshop for making hand-made shoes and two shops in Mill Street, Ballymena. A second farm was purchased in Dunloy by the Carey family.
*In 2004, £800 0s 0d from 1889 is worth:
£57,283.24 using the retail price index £73,642.11 using the GDP deflator £349,964.82 using average earnings £412,373.81 using per capita GDP £667,778.64 using the GDP
See http://www.eh.net/hmit/ - EH.Net
In 2005, £800 0s 0d from 1889 was worth:
£58,912.36 using the retail price index £77,681.48 using the GDP deflator £364,110.52 using average earnings £429,816.38 using per capita GDP £696,073.87 using the GDP
See http://www.measuringworth.com/calculators/ukcompare/
See http://www.eh.net/hmit/ - EH.Net
More About James Carey: Burial: 16 Nov 1899, Greys Bridge Cemetery, Marnoo East, Victoria Australia.35 Immigration: 1854, Australia.
James Carey (b. Abt. 1817, d. 14 Nov 1899)
Notes for James Carey: