NZ (maybe) help please.

[HarrysMum]

I have a house full of family at the moment so I thought I'd throw this open and see what pops out....while I'm too busy to touch it....lol

My gg grandparents, Patrick John Bowler and Deborah (nee Brosnahan) have gone missing.

They were from Kerry, Ireland (not sure when) but had their first child baptised 1849 in Kerry.

They had a daughter, Margaret in 1861 (from Margaret's own records) although I did find another in 1857 (presuming a death and renaming maybe).

All that aside.......Margaret joined the order of St Joseph in Tasmania in 1888. There is quite a bit written about her as she was the first one to join the newly found order that Mary MacKillop began.

We have just found a new book written on the order and it has Margaret coming from NZ to Tassie to join. It says she and her parents immigrated to NZ from Ireland. Now that's the first I've heard of Pat and Deb being in NZ.

I do have a photo of Deborah taken in Hobart Tasmania though. Thought she may have visited her daughter.

If anyone is bored......I'm looking for a death for Patrick/John Bowler and his wife Deborah (nee Brosnahan).

Could be NZ or Australia. I did find one for a Deborah in Kerry, Ire., and bought it but it's not her.

Thanks...

PS......Margaret's brother, Patrick is my g grandfather. He married Hannah Londrigan in NZ in 1883, so I knew they were in NZ.

[kiterunner]

You can search for NZ births, marriages and deaths here:
https://www.bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/Home/

I can't see a death for either of them on there, though.

[HarrysMum]

Thanks Kite.....I've tried that as well.

It's like they dropped off the planet.....lol

[Kit]

There is the Tassie Links database which has info, not necessarily verified though.

It has this:

BOWLER, JOHN
Gender: Male
Birth 1820 - IRELAND,
Marriage/Relationship:
Death: 1885 - HOBART

No idea if he is yours and there is no record of Deborah. Might be worth looking into?

[HarrysMum]

Oh..thank you Kit. Marg doesn't say her father is dead in 1888, but she doesn't actually say he's alive either.

[Shona]

Ancestry's Australian records confirm the Tassie Links info:

John Bowler died 13 November 1885. Death registered in Hobart, Tasmania.

[HarrysMum]

Thanks Shona......I saw that but there are a couple of other John Bowlers there as well who could fit the bill. I'm trying to now fit them in with other Bowlers to save myself the money buying a stack of wrong certs. I just think I should be able to find his wife, Deborah either remarrying (unikely I think, due to ther age) or dying....

[tenterfieldjulie]

You've probably seen them Lib ..
John Bowler transported on the Mandarin on 24 Feb 1840 he was a shoemaker aged 28 (check Newport Past)
and there are 8 letters from a Richard Bowler (transported 1835 I think) to his brother John Bowler of Brill, Bucks.

[HarrysMum]

Thanks Julie...............I'm 99% sure my Bowlers weren't convicts. They would have come sometime between about 1862ish and 1887. Margaret was born 1861 in Ireland and then entered the convent in Tasiie via NZ in 1888. Also Margaert's older sister Mary married in 1866 in Ireland.

[HarrysMum]

I am bumping this up in the hope someone has any ideas.....

It links to this one as well...
http://www.genealogistsforum.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=12486&highlight=brosnahan

I am still nowhere nearer finding either Patrick/John or Deborah.

[KiwiChris]

I have had another look at my Brosnahan connection, a couple of my Hoares arrived in NZ on the Echunga in 1862, and on the same sailing was Margaret Brosnahan and J Brosnahan.
Denis Hoare married Mary Brosnahan in 1866 in NZ. I have not found her arriving and know nothing more about her.
Their son married another Mary Brosnahan and a daughter married James Brosnahan. They had daughters Catherine and Deborah who became nuns, and a son who was a priest.
They all settled in Kerrytown, and there were a heap of Brosnahans in Kerrytown, so your lot and my lot must have been related somehow.

I cannot find any of my lot married to a Bowler though!

They would most like have been landed in Lyttelton if you ever feel like trawling through passenger lists, they used to be searchable but are not now.
Here are some of the Lyttelton arrivals http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~shipstonz/lyttelton.html

[HarrysMum]

Thanks Christine. I am completely stumped with this lot. All I know for certain is that Deborah Brosnahan married Bowler, some records have John, some Patrick. Their children, including a John and a Patrick are all baptised in Kerry. At some stage they went to NZ with or to meet?? some of their adult children, before 1880 ish. After that, I have all the records of the kids, but nothing on Deb and her hubby.

[kiterunner]

Not sure whether you have already seen this, Libby?
http://churchrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/details/4550ce0240255

Baptism (RC) of a Thomas Brosnahan of Gearha 14 Nov 1870, parish of Firies, Kerry. Parents Jeremiah Brosnahan and Bridget Hussey, sponsors Timothy J Brosnan and Deborah Bowler.

[HarrysMum]

Kite...they will be related. Deborah Bowler's ( nee Brosnahan)eldest daughter, Mary, married Michael Hussey. Michael was murdered and two of their daughters, Deborah and Joanna, were sent to NZ to their uncle as they no longer had any dowry in Ireland. The dowry part is family lore, but Deborah and Joanna Hussey certainly went off to NZ to the Bowlers.

[kiterunner]

I thought maybe Jeremiah Brosnahan might be Deborah's brother?

[HarrysMum]

Could be, but I have not found any records going back that far......would be about 1820s or 30s, as Deborah's children arrive by late 1840s.

I really do not see much hope of going back further, but just gave no idea how Deborah and her husband can vanish after their apparent move to NZ.

The parish of Firies is/was part of Gearha. Later there was a church built at Farranfore, which became the local church for the Bowlers.