Jeremiah (O') Driscoll was christened at St Patrick's Cathedral, Skibbereen on 20 Dec 1836. The Potato Famine hit Ireland in 1847, when he was about 10 years of age. Jeremiah was the second born in the famiy to farmers Timothy and Mary (Driscoll) Driscoll. The parents farmed in the townland of Poundlick which lay on the outskirts of Skibbereen. Ancestrally, the family were located in the farming area around Lough Hyne about 10 kilometres away toward the port town of Baltimore.
Jeremiah's older sibling was Patrick (Billing) who was christened at St Patrick's in 1835. Patrick's fate is not known, but another Patrick was born in 1855, indicating his prior death. A childhood death is suspected. Siblings following Jeremiah are Julia* 1837, Bess* 1837 (Twins), Catherine 1839, Mary* 1842, Johannah 1844, Jane* 1847, Timothy* 1850, Michael 1852 and Patrick 1855. The names with an * signify that the records do not show any further events (marriage or death) and the presumption is they died possibly in childhood, maybe due to the famine.
When Jeremiah was about 14 years of age, around 1851, with the famine a recent memory, he found employment with the (Porter) Brewery in North Street, Skibbereen. His employment would have been a great relief for his parents and surviving siblings. He worked at the Brewery until he migrated to Western Australia in 1869.
In 1868, at the age of 32, he married Catherine Carey in her (adjoining) Castlehaven Parish. Later that year Catherine gave birth to Timothy at their residence in High Street, Skibbereen. The family were adherents to the Irish Naming Patterns.
In 1866 Jeremiah's sister, Johannah, decided to leave Skibbereen, bound under an indentureship with a Western Australian farmer (Brockman), and settled in the Seabook area, between Northam and York, Western Australia. Johannah had written to Jeremiah and said that Western Australia was a land of milk and honey. Jeremiah's sponsor was also Edmund Ralph Brockman and his new employment would be a shepherd for two years at his farm. The family sailed from London to Fremantle (WA), arriving on 26 July 1869 aboard the "Hastings".
After his two year indentureship, Jeremiah and Catherine purchased land about 6 km from Brockman and commenced farming at Grass Valley. The farm land was virgin bush which required clearing, fencing and all aspects of farming in a new area. Until the time of his death in 1911, he had acquired 866 acres of freehold land, which he owned outright.
In 1910, well into his 70's Jeremiah decided to revisit Skibbereen in County Cork. However things had changed in Skibbereen, it was not the same as when he had left in 1869. He had changed too. He was allowed to own land in Australia and had built up his assets. It was in contrast to Ireland's plight, subserviant to the British Rule. Nearly all his siblings had died.
He returned to Western Australia, however, within a year he suffered a stroke and died at Grass Valley on 10 Dec 1911. He is buried in York about 20 km distant. Catherine died in 1918 and they are buried together. From his modest beginnings in WA, the various O'Driscoll families in Grass Valley own more than 10,000 acres.
In 1914 Patrick O'Driscoll died in Skibbereen. He is buried in the Tullagh Cemetery, near Baltimore in the family ancestral grave, where his father and siblings are located. The only known exception I know of, is Michael Driscoll, Jeremiah's brother who is buried in Douglas, Cork City.
| Additional Information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Date of Birth | 1st Jan 1836 | |
| Date of Death | 1st Jan 1911 | |
