I was born in Australia and in recent years, became interested in why our family ended up there.
Ahead of a planned trip to Ireland I contacted the Ireland Reaching Out site about my father’s mother, my paternal grandmother Julia Frances Delany who was baptised in Borris in Ossory, Co Laois on 19th August 1891. She died on 27th July 1980 in Sydney, Australia. Her father was Martin Delaney, 1847-1896 and her mother was Mary (nee Bancks), 1847-1928
(Julia Frances Delaney Merkel)
Julia Frances left Ireland, we don’t know when and met her husband Solomon in England during World War 1. According to family lore, my grandmother Julia Frances was engaged to a wealthy Englishman when she was sent to the seaside to help recover from some lung/bronchial problem. There she met Solomon Merkel and was fascinated by his conversation and intelligence. A romance ensued. As she was an Irish Catholic and he a Lithuanian Jew their families were appalled at the idea of their marriage. They eloped and were married in the Registry Office in Hastings on December 17, 1917, almost a year before the end of the War. They lived in England until 1922. Three of their children were born in England, Una, 1918, my father Desmond, 1920 and Elizabeth, 1921.
In 1922 Solomon and Julia F made the decision to emigrate to Australia. My grandmother with three children, Una, Desmond and Elizabeth arrived in Brisbane on the ship Euripides, on March 13, 1922. Their fourth child, John was born in Australia, in 1924.
Julia’s people were farmers, with a pub/shop on the main Street of Borris-in-Ossory, Laois. Julia Frances was one of about ten children. I already had some information about her grandfather John Bancks (1810-1872) who died in Rockview House. The house is referenced on his tombstone in the Knockaroo cemetery near Borris-in-Ossory, and in a newspaper obituary.
As part of our trip to Ireland I was looking forward to visiting Borris-in-Ossory, walking in my ancestors' footsteps, possibly finding Rockview House and the shop/pub on Main Street, and visiting the Knockaroo cemetery.
After posting a request for information about the Delany/Bancks family of Borris-in-Ossory on the Ireland Reaching Out website, I was delighted to receive a response from Margaret Hensey, a volunteer in a parish of Co Offaly which adjoins Co Laois. She suggested we meet in Borris-in-Ossory where she could show me the graveyard where my relatives are buried. She went on to find Rockview House and contacted the current owner, who gave us permission to visit.
(With Margaret Henesy at Knockaroo cemetery)
Margaret is also responsible for a breakthrough for me regarding my ‘living’ relatives. She asked if I had done a DNA test and if so, if I had found any Delany matches? I had done a DNA test with an ancestry.com kit a couple of years earlier, but I had not thought to check for matches.
Imagine my surprise on checking ancestry.com to find Sacha O’Kelly researching Nora Delany, her great grandmother. Turns out Nora or Honoria was my grandmother, Julia Frances’ older sister, my great aunt. There was about an 18-year age gap, and eight or so siblings between Nora and Julia.We discovered elopement runs in the family, as Julia Frances’ sister Honoria had also eloped to Cobh to marry her employer’s son.
The day after meeting with Sacha, I met Margaret from Ireland Reaching Out, in Borris-in-Ossory. She showed me the pub/shop on Main Street in which my grandmother’s parents Martin Delany and Mary Elizabeth Bancks lived and worked. She also had a great deal of information about my great grandparents.
We then went to visit John Bancks’ grave in the Knockaroo Catholic Cemetery.
Julia Frances’ father Martin Delany was born in 1847 and died 1896 aged 49. He seems to have been one of eleven children. He was a Publican and Farmer.
He was educated and became the secretary of the Local land League, an Irish agrarian organisation that aimed to reform the landlord system in Ireland.
Martin’s involvement with the Land League led to his arrest in June 1881. He was charged with Writing Threatening Letters, a crime under the P.P.P Act (Protection of Person and Property Bill). *It allowed the Lord Lieutenant to arrest and hold any person suspected of treason or any act of violence or intimidation. Under the provisions of the P.P.P. Act, the "suspects" were held under special prison rules at least as lenient, if not more so, than those for other prisoner classifications. They could purchase and consume daily not more than one pint of beer, cider etc. (*Irish Prison Doctors – Men in the Middle 1865-90. Beverly A. Smith)
Martin apparently contracted pneumonia in Naas Jail in County Kildare, about 70km northeast of Bossis-in-Ossory. About five years later October 8, 1896, aged 49 approx., his death record states cause of death as Acute bronchitis - 10 days ill. Mary Banck’s parents were John Bancks of Manchester and Margaret Stack, from Listowel. John came from a wealthy English family. A letter I have from Julia F, mentions them living ‘in a grand style in Adswood Hall’. There is a record of a John Bancks being baptised a Catholic three months after the baptism of his daughter. At this point I am not sure why he became a Catholic, but I assume it is because his wife Margaret Stack
The headstone confirms John is the son of John Bancks of Adswood Hall, Cheshire. Also buried in the grave are his daughter Lucy Geoghan, her husband Bernard and two of their sons. We think Lucy’s family erected the headstone.
(John Bancks grave)
Information from the National Archives has a civil or state death record for John Bancks, identified under the name ‘Bancks’. It shows he died in December 1872 in the townland of Clononeen. John is described as a ‘gentleman farmer’. His cause of death was given as ‘excessive drinking’ and the informant of the death was a Spencer Bancks, resident in Clononeen, presumably his son.
I now feel closer to my grandmother, Julia Frances. I wish I’d been able to ask her more about her early life. My research has made me proud of the family. I like the fact her father was an activist who tried to bring about change to what seemed to be an unfair system. I’m glad he used the pen not the gun and I’m sorry his imprisonment ended his life prematurely.
A few years ago, when my husband and I were planning a trip to Europe I decided to apply for an Irish passport. My father was born in London but post-Brexit it seemed an Irish passport would be more useful.
Through Julia Frances' birth in Borris-in-Ossory I was able to apply for inclusion in the Irish Foreign Birth Register. Once that was approved it was an easy process to get my passport.
I think that process started my interest in my Irish family and made me wonder how they lived, what was the area like and why they emigrated to Australia.
During the COVID lockdowns in the USA and Australia in 2020/21 I started to delve deeper into ancestry research. Which is where I stumbled across Ireland Reaching Out. That proved to be a lucky break.
This recent trip has helped answer some of those questions as well as spark more – it is still a work in progress.
The first time I got around to using the Irish passport was when we flew from Seattle to Dublin in August 2022. I was both amused and touched when the woman checking me in at the Aer Lingus counter asked me if I was ‘returning home’. I replied ‘No, but my DNA is’. I expect my fair, freckled complexion and green eyes coupled with an Australian accent did work as a fairly good disguise. In the USA at least. In Ireland not so much.
I did feel part of me was going home and I did feel a sense of belonging when I arrived in Ireland. I am drawn more and more to return to further explore the history, culture and landscape of beautiful Ireland.
