Recently, Karen Horwitz and her husband David visited Fermoy where they were met by local volunteer Kieran Jordan. Karen’s great great great grandmother Hanora Connor was tried at the courthouse in Fermoy in 1831. Hanora, aged 20, and her two friends Ellen McCarthy and Mary Mahony, were caught with geese on the Mallow Road in Cork. The girls maintained that they had bought the geese and were on the way home with them. The police charged them with stealing the geese and refused to go back to the seller for confirmation. The three were tried and convicted of theft at Fermoy in 1831 and sentenced to deportation to Australia for 7 years. Despite petitions in favour of the girls, the deportation was completed. The petitions stated that the girls made money from buying and selling fowl, and that they were needed at home to look after aged and helpless family. The girls were transported to Cork Gaol to await transport to Pork Jackson, Australia, on the convict ship Palambam. Within a year, Hanora had married and remained in Australia for the remainder of her life.
Hanora Connor who was convicted of stealing geese and was deported to Australia in 1831.
As a coincidence, Karen had another great great great grandmother (everyone has 32 great great great grandparents!) from the Fermoy area. Elizabeth (Betsy) Welsh was completely unrelated to Hanora. Betsy was born in Ballyoran (Castlelyons) to Robert Walsh and Ellen Lyons in 1819. At the age of about 20, she emigrated to Australia in 1840. By August 1841 she had married Charles McFarlane and she also spent the rest of her life in Australia. It was not possible to ascertain where the Welsh family lived in Ballyoran, but Karen enjoyed a trip around the townland.
Karen and David made the most of the free service organised by IrelandXO and enjoyed their visit to Fermoy. They went on to meet another volunteer in Cork and to visit the Mallow Road, where Hanora was arrested and Cork Goal where Hanora was detained before being deported. For further information on IrelandXO see irelandxo.com or email kjordan@irelandxo.com.
From right: Kieran Jordan, Karen and David Horwitz outside the courthouse in Fermoy, where Karen’s great great great grandmother was convicted in 1831.