John Marlin was my great-grandfather. He was born at Borrisokane, Tipperary, in about 1825, and married Elizabeth Leahy at Cloughjordan, Tipperary, on 2 May 1847.
John & Elizabeth had 3 children [Bridget (born at Ardcroney, Tipperary, in about 1848), Catherine (born at Ardcroney, Tipperary, in about 1850), and Thomas (born at Ardcroney, Tipperary, in about 1852)] before, in mid-1852, they boarded the barque "John Gray" at Liverpool and set out for Port Jackson, in the Colony of New South Wales, where they arrived on 25 November 1852. It had not been a happy voyage - little Catherine died from Measels en route.
The Marlin family settled into the hard life of dairy farming in the South Coast area of the Colony, but prospered to the extent that the family grew by the addition of 3 more children: Eliza (born at Kiama on 13 August 1854), Michael (my grandfather, born at Gerringong in about 1856), and John (born at Gerringong on 22 October 1857).
In about June of 1880 all family members began to be known by the surname Marlan. The reason for the change is lost.
By the time John died (at Kangaroo Valley on 3 November 1896), each of his children had married and gone off elsewhere to live out their lives: Bridget (Mrs John Dwyer, mother of 3 children) died at Auckland, New Zealand, on 25 June 1914; Thomas (father of 12 Children) died at Burrinjuck, New South Wales, on 29 May 1917; Eliza (Mrs Patrick Donnelly, mother of 7 children) died at Eumundi, Queensland, on 27 June 1923; Michael (father of 9 children including Margaret Mary, my mother) died at Young, New South Wales, on 11 July 1935; and John (father of 5 children) died at Maitland, New South Wales, in about July 1910. John's wife, Elizabeth, died at Bendeela, Lower Kangaroo River, New South Wales, on 30 July 1900.
