Mary McConnell

  Noted events in her life were:

• source. Kirrily Cant via Patricia Evans who writes:
Mary was to come to Australia as an Irish orphan during the Irish Orphan Scheme - 'The Earl Grey Scheme 1848-1850'. The story of these orphans is told in a book 'Barefoot & Pregnant', researched & written by Professor Trevor McLaughlin, dept of history, Macquarie University NSW AUS. Nothing is known of the early life of Mary's family and they were to leave their home in Tyrone and move to Belfast, Ireland. We can only assume the reason being, that the potato famine in Ireland, that starved so many, forced them to move to the city where they could, hopefully get work and more importantly, get food to enable them to survive. I first pick up details of the family in a sworn statement by Mrs Catherine McKevey, dated 1849. From this letter we now know that Mum, Dad and Mary (no other children are mentioned) lived and worked in the Laggan Village, across the river from Belfast City. It is stated Mary's parents had lived in the village and were both greatly thought of and were hard-working descent people. At the young age of 14 years Mary went to work for Mrs McKevey and is stated to have been a 'thorough servant'. It must have been a fairly happy time for them at this point as all the family, were in employment. Both Mum and Dad were working in the Flax Mills and Mary, as we have already stated, was in the home of Mr and Mrs McKevey, where she was to stay for 1 year 1844/1845. Not long after this she was to take work in Mr Montgomery's flax mill. Maybe this was because her father had just passed away (1846) and she joined her mother in both employment and her living quarters. Then in 1847 Mary's mother passes away. From this point on, it appears poor Mary was to start the long hard life of an Irish Orphan girl destined to travel to a far away place, known to all as 'The Colony'. Mary McConnell was to enter the workhouse in Belfast, Ireland in July 1847 as an orphan and a pauper. By this time she was a destitute, lonely girl of 18 years and was to spend approximately 16 months there, before her transportation to Australia. It was probably her strong survival instinct that drove Mary onto the streets of Belfast where she was to become, in her words, a 'professed public woman'. It was also at this time, Lord Earl Grey, the British Secretary of State, thought he had the magic answer for several problems facing the English Parliament. He could rid the Irish workhouses of the orphaned paupers by supplying the Colonies with female labour and females to correct the imbalance of the sexes, which were both needed in great numbers in the Colony of New South Wales. This scheme was called the 'Earl Grey Scheme' and was to remove about 4,000 female Irish orphans from the disgusting workhouses throughout Ireland. The scheme was to survive for only two years. From the Belfast Workhouse, Mary, with the other 'Belfast Orphans', left Belfast traveling to Plymouth by the Steamer 'Athlone' under the supervision of wardmaster James Caldwell. The 'Belfast Girls' and many others then left Plymouth on the 3rd June 1848 per 'Earl Grey' to Sydney AUS where they arrived after 122 days at sea on 6 October 1848. Whilst on this voyage each girl was given daily rations of u lb meat, o lb flour, raisins, peas, rice, tea, sugar, butter and biscuits. Each girl was also outfitted with 6 shifts, 6 pairs of stockings - two worsted & 4 cotton, 2 pair of shoes, 2 gowns - one of woolen plaid, 2 short wrappers, 2 night wrappers, 2 flannel petticoats, 2 cotton petticoats, 1 stout worsted shawl & a cloak, 2 neck and 3 pocket handkerchiefs, 2 linen collars, 2 aprons, 1 pair of stays, 1 pair of sheets, 1 pair of mitts, 1 bonnet, day & night caps, 2 towels, 2lb of soap, combs & brushes, needles, threads, tape & whatever other little articles (such as a few yards of cotton or calico) the Matron may know young females to require. They were also given a Bible and Prayer Book suitable for their respective religions. Then they were given one box - length 2 feet, width 14 inches, deep 14 inches, with lock and key, to be painted, & the Emigrant's name painted on the front, & a catalogue of the contents pasted on the inside of the lid. The box was ordered to be strongly made, so as to bear a long voyage & besides being locked they should be strongly corded. The first ship to arrive in The Colony was 'Earl Grey' on the 6th October 1848 into the harbour of Port Jackson. The last ship carrying it's live cargo entered Port Phillip, Melbourne on 31st March 1850 and she was the 'Eliza Caroline'. There is also known to be four ships that sailed into the Port of Adelaide in South Australia. The 'Belfast Girls', per 'Earl Grey', as they were referred to, were classified as refractory. One of the girls (I must admit was not one of the good girls) who stepped ashore at Sydney Town, Port Jackson, Australia in the autumn of 1848 was my Mary McConnell. As they were considered a bad lot they were not allowed to stay in Sydney Town, so they were marched up to Hyde Park Barracks on the 21st October 1848, where they were housed for 1 week, until the arrangements could be made for their transportation to Maitland in the Hunter Valley or Moreton Bay. Accusations made by Dr.Douglas (Surgeon Superintendent aboard the 'Earl Grey'), that the orphans on board were abondoned and depraved characters whose selection was a gross imposition and injustice to the Colony of New South Wales. This led to a full enquiry and consequently the cessation of the Irish Orphan Scheme. Mary was sent to East Maitland where she was to work for Mr Wilson for a period of three months with the pay of £10 (20 dollars) per annum, paid in cash monthly. These agreements were worked out by the 'Sydney Orphan Committee' that was under the chairmanship of L S Merewether. Whilst still under this control the orphans had to apply for permission to marry. Maybe this is why Mary never married William ASHTON - permission not forth coming??? It was while Mary was in her employ that she met the man she was to share the rest of her life with. William Ashton who had been born to Henry and Mary Ann Ashton at Manchester, Lancashire ENG., had arrived into his new country in 1841 per 'Brothers'. He had been brought out by Messers A B SMITH & CO. of Maitland as an indented house servant. For no apparent reason, William and Mary never married but they did raise 11 children together. Finding all these children and following them through was no easy task. Their first child was born at Millers Forest, near Raymond Terrace NSW with the other ten being born in the Mulbring Valley, which runs south of Maitland down towards Toronto NSW. Their first four children were all born pre-1856, which is when civil registration began, therefore births were not registered, but luckily they did have them all baptised. Knowing they were Protestant, I started with the micro-film of the Church of England, Newcastle Dioceses registers. I thought I had struck the jackpot as I found them all one after the other, right down to the last child under the name of ASHTON, with the last child, George Silvester Ashton being baptised on 20 June 1872. I then thought it would be an easy task to follow through with their births, deaths and or their marriages. As their 7th child is my great grandmother, Margaret ASHTON who married William Warby on 15 December 1883 at Maitland NSW, I made this my starting point. Again I learnt, nothing is, as it appears to be. As I have mentioned, the first four children were baptisms only, therefore they are listed as ASHTON and naming the father as William Ashton. Then when it became law in 1856 in New South Wales to register a birth, death or marriage, Mary registered the next 7 children as illegitimate and gave them the surname of McCONNELL. So we now have a family that is baptised as ASHTON and registered as McCONNELL (with no father's name), then not to make it easy they all married under the name of ASHTON. When I received my great grandmother's birth certificate, she was listed as an only child. Even though she was the 7th child there were no previous issue on her certificate. That was when I learnt the fact, that an illegitimate child has no siblings, according to the Registry of BD&M, as the previous issue, on a certificate is 'of the marriage'. Mary McCONNELL/ASHTON was to leave a very large legacy in her new home-land by having 11 children, who in turn gave her 57 grandchildren. I guess this is why Mary became a very busy midwife and was well known throughout the Hunter region. Unfortunately Mary's life was touched with tragedy right to the very end. She had a grandson and a great grandson murdered, with the latter being a beautiful, healthy little boy of 11 months, being poisoned. The grandson, was shot through the head, by his jealous mistress. Both stories fully covered by the Maitland Mercury of the day. Then at 8.30pm on the night of 13 July 1892, at no. 26 King Street, Newcastle NSW, the life of that gorgeous baby girl that had been born 63 years ago so far away in another country, came to a tragic end by falling down the steps as she was retiring at her daughter's (Mrs Elizabeth Brown) residence and broke her neck. The sad ending of this story was fully told in the Newcastle Morning Herald as they reported on the inquest that followed her accident. She now lies side by side with the man she chose as her lifetime partner in the Sandgate Cemetery, near Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia.

• connection. ⁶⁸⁷ Phil & Margaret (Maggie) Consadine's links to me are as follows:
Margaret (Maggie) Anderson (c1960) married Phillip Consadine (c1960)
Her father is Raymond Anderson (c1935) who married Valerie Roser (1940)
Her father was Bertram Roser (1907) who married Myrtle Warby (1911)
Her mother was Mary Warby (1894)
Her father was James Warby (1857) & he also had Margaret Warby (1886) who married Henry Bennett (1882)
His father was James Bennett (1852) who married Elizabeth Botterell (1858)
Her father was Thomas Botterell (1834) & he also had Sarah Botterell (1855) who married James Sutton (1842)
They had Margaret Sutton (1877) who married Edwin Denman (1866)
They had Edward Denman (1901)
He had Gwenneth Denman (1929) who married George Beedon
They had Alan Beedon (1956) who married Jann Nock (1956)
Her father was John Nock (1908) who married Amy Whaites (1913)
Her father was Hurtle Whaites (1886) & he also had William Whaites (1915) who married Doris Davies (1917)
Her father was Thomas Davies (1881)
His father was Joseph Davies (1852) & he also had George Arthur Davies (1894)
He had Colin Davies (1925)
He had me - Robyn Bray (nee Davies) (1950)

Margaret (Maggie) Consadine's links to Robert are as follows:
Margaret (Maggie) Anderson (c1960) married Phillip Consadine (c1960)
Her father is Raymond Anderson (c1935) who married Valerie Roser (1940)
Her father was Bertram Roser (1907) who married Myrtle Warby (1911)
Her mother was Mary Warby (1894)
Her father was James Warby (1857)
His father was William Warby (1814)
His father was James Warby (who died in 1858) & he also had James Warby (1822) who married Mary Blanch (1853)
Her father was Edward Blanch (1787) & he also had Elizabeth Blanch (1821) who married William Amos (1815)
They had Jane Amos (1854) who married James Bryant (1856)
They had Frederick Bryant (1893) who married Emma Pearson (1892)
Her father was George Pearson (1848) who married Naomi Dawes (1852)
Her father was Edward Dawes (1813) & he also had James Dawes (1843)
He had Annie Florence Dawes (1873) who married Arthur Augustus Bray (1869)
He had Albert Alan Bray (1896)
He had Robert Alfred Bray (1920)
He had Robert Arthur Bray (1947) who married me - Robyn Bray (nee Davies) (1950)

Margaret (Maggie) Consadine's links to Les are as follows:
Margaret (Maggie) Anderson (c1960) married Phillip Consadine (c1960)
Her father is Raymond Anderson (c1935) who married Valerie Roser (1940)
Her father was Bertram Roser (1907) who married Myrtle Warby (1911)
Her mother was Mary Warby (1894)
Her father was James Warby (1857) His father was William Warby (1814)
His father was James Warby (1785) & he also had James Warby (1822) who married Mary Blanch (1853)
Her father was Edward Blanch (1787) & he also had Elizabeth Blanch (1821) who married William Amos (1815)
They had Jane Amos (1854) who married James Bryant (1856)
They had Frederick Bryant (1893) who married Emma Pearson (1892)
Her father was George Pearson (1848) who married Naomi Dawes (1852)
His father was James Pearson (1813) & he also had Sarah Pearson (1838) who married William Gregory (1840)
They had William Gregory (1863)
He had Henry Gregory (1898) who married Bernice Nosworthy (1897)
Her father was Benjamin Nosworthy (1872) who married Matilda Williams (1869)
Her father was George Williams (who died in 1899) & he also had James Williams (1875) who married Emily Huon (1877)
Her father was Paul Huon (1799) who married Jane Brien (1811)
Her father was Daniel Brien (1769) & he also had Sarah Brien (1825) who married Benjamin Warby (1825)
His father was also Benjamin Warby (1805)
His father was John Warby & he also had Elizabeth Warby (1802)
She had Eleanor Layton (1821) who married James Keighran (1808)
She had John Joseph Keighran (1845)
He had Joseph William Keighran (1879)
He had Leslie William Keighran (1904)
He had Mary Keighran (1927)
She had Les Collins (1950) who married me Robyn Bray

Mary married William Ashton, son of Henry Ashton and Mary Ann Shaw. (William Ashton was born in 1818 in Manchester, Lancashire England, christened on 15 Jul 1818 in St Johns C of E, Preston, Lancashire England and died in 1894 in Sandgate, Newcastle, NSW Australia.)