Hello,
I'm very excited to join irelandxo and learn about and share information about by Bowen ancestors from Tralee.
My great great grandmother Bridget Bowen was born on 6 January 1833 in Tralee Parish, County Kerry, Ireland. Her mother Johanna nee Brick was born in 1807.
According to Parish records Bridget was baptised at the Church of St. John the Baptist, Lower Castle Street, Tralee, Co. Kerry, Ireland. Her father was Richard Bowen and her mother was Johanna Brick. Bridget had four sisters: Mary 1 born 30 March 1835, Mary2 born 21 March 1837 (if the first Mary passed away then the second daughter may have been named for her), Johanna born 17 March 1840 and Ellen born 5 September 1842. They were all born in Tralee Parish, County Kerry, Ireland. Her baptism sponsors were Patrick O’ Brick and Mary Bowen. The Parish Priest was Reverend Father W. O’ Moriarty.
Bridget came out to New South Wales on the Sir George Seymour arriving in Port Jackson in March 1852. She had embarked from Falmouth on 26 December 1851. Her passenger list record stated that she was a domestic servant aged 19 and a native of Tralee, County Kerry. (NSW Assisted Immigrant Passenger List 1825-1896). She made her way south from Sydney and met Peter Connelly whom she married four months later at St Gregory’s Catholic Church in Queanbeyan on 26 July 1852. In the 1860s they decided to move to Colinton near Bredbo where Peter bought 1,835 acres of land on which to raise sheep and grow crops. The first families in the district of Bredbo were Ware, Clifford, Bowerman, Povey, Connelly, Hayes, Chalker and others.
In 1861 Bridget was reunited with her parents when Thomas Connelly (Patrick’s relative in NSW OR Ireland?) sponsored Richard Bowen and his wife Johanna to come out to New South Wales on the Hotspur arriving at Botany Bay on 24 February. Richard’s age was given as 39 and he worked as a carpenter. Johanna’s age was given as 38. Their native place was Kilrush, County Clare and their Parish Priest was Father Timothy Kelly. There is a discrepancy with the ages of Richard and Johanna; I think they must have been older for their daughter Bridget to be nineteen when she arrived in 1852.
Thank you,
Diane Palos nee McCue
Diane Palos
Wednesday 7th Nov 2018, 02:14AMMessage Board Replies
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Hi Diane, glad you found us! The first thing of note in the records you have is that the marriage of Richard and Johanna took place in the Church of Ireland, Tralee but the children were baptised Catholic. This implies that Richard was C of I and Johanna Bric(k) was RC.
Richard was a busy man, he was witness to the marriage of
Patrick O'Coughlan & Elizabeth O'Mahony in 1832
Jeremiah Clifford & Joanna McQuin in 1841
Thomas Tarynor (Traynor) & Margaret O'Lounie 1843
He is listed as the godfather of John Bowen, son of John Bowen & Catherine Keane 1839. I wonder if this John Bowen (Senior) was his brother?
Both Church & Civil record searches are returning Bowden for searches for Bowen and it would be worth tracing those lines to see if they are indeed the same family since the name pool is so small. There are 20 returns in the free Civil records for Bowen, Tralee on irishgenealogy.ie
It would also be worth checking Griffith's Valuation to see if Richard Bowen/Bowden is listed there.
I'm sorry I can't dig deeper for you at this time but hope these suggestions help and do let us know how you get on.
Best wishes
Martine
Martine, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘
Wednesday 7th Nov 2018, 02:30PM -
Hello Martine,
Thank you so much for getting back to me!
I really appreciate all the research you have done and will follow it up over the next few days.
I have put together several pages of Bridget's life story once she married and settled in Michelago, NSW and set up the local school and am happy to share with anyone who'd be interested.
Best regards,
Diane.
Diane Palos
Thursday 8th Nov 2018, 04:54AM -
Hello Martine,
Thank you for all the information you have given me for family history research.
Further to our last email exchange I'm just letting you know that we will be returning to Ireland and travelling through County Kerry from Thursday 6 June to Monday 10 June 2019.
My great great grandmother Bridget Bowen was born on 6 January 1833 in Tralee Parish.
According to Parish records Bridget was baptised at the Church of St. John the Baptist, Lower Castle Street, Tralee. Her father was Richard Bowen and her mother was Johanna Brick born in 1807. Bridget had four sisters: Mary 1 born 30 March 1835, Mary2 born 21 March 1837 (if the first Mary passed away then the second daughter may have been named for her), Johanna born 17 March 1840 and Ellen born 5 September 1842. They were all born in Tralee Parish, County Kerry, Ireland. Her baptism sponsors were Patrick O’Brick and Mary Bowen. The Parish Priest was Reverend Father W. O’ Moriarty.
Bridget was very resourceful in her new home in rural New South Wales. She established a one room school for the local children and raised funds for local causes.
We would love to meet anyone who would like to meet us and see what happened to the Brick / Bowen family from the 1850s. I will have my trusty laptop to share the research so far.
Best regards,
Diane Palos
Diane Palos
Tuesday 12th Mar 2019, 04:34AM -
Hi Diane, I hope you will have a lovely time in Tralee. Prior to travelling I would urge you to make contact with both the Church of Ireland and Roman Catholic parishes in Tralee as the numbers of people that carry the Bowen name are so small they may well be able to put you in contact with possible cousins.I have since discoverd that Richard and Johanna married in the RC church as well as the C of I in Tralee, so they were twice blessed!
Best wishes
Martine
Martine, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘
Thursday 11th Apr 2019, 07:49AM -
Hi Diane, I hope you will have a lovely time in Tralee. Prior to travelling I would urge you to make contact with both the Church of Ireland and Roman Catholic parishes in Tralee as the numbers of people that carry the Bowen name are so small they may well be able to put you in contact with possible cousins.I have since discoverd that Richard and Johanna married in the RC church as well as the C of I in Tralee, so they were twice blessed!
Best wishes
Martine
Martine, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘
Thursday 11th Apr 2019, 07:49AM -
Hi Diane:
If you would like further information to assist with your trip, you can contact me directly at: jhalloranryan@irelandxo.com
All the best,
Jane
Jane Halloran Ryan
Thursday 11th Apr 2019, 08:39AM -
Hello Martine,
Thank you so much for your kind rely and suggestions. We'll be sure to follow them up!
Best regards,
Diane
Diane Palos
Friday 12th Apr 2019, 07:29AM