Catherine Burns/Byrnes
Source: Kate Ryan
Thomas Byrne married Winifred Rankin in 1841. Winifred came from Silvermines in Country Tipperary. She arrived in Australia in 1840 having travelled with her sister on the "Alfred".
Their children included:
- Elizabeth - born 1845
- Catherine - born 1847
- Richard - born 1850
- Bridget - born 1851
- John - born 1856
Catherine Burns (pictured above), born 1847, married Martin Hughes (a shepherd) in Wellington in 1870. They had 10 children. Catherine died delivering her 11th child in 1888. The infant also died.
Catherine and Martin's children were:
Catherine and Martin's children were:
- James - born 1871
- Sarah - born 1871
- Unnamed - born 1872 at Lambing Hill (died of influenza at 14 days of age)
- John Thomas - born 1874
- Patrick - born 1876
- William J - born 1878
- Catherine Veronica - born 1880
- Michael Martin - born 1881
- Mary - born 1883
- Anastatia - born 1885
- Unnamed - born 1888
Catherine Veronica Hughes married Denis Ryan of the Bungalow, Goolma. The Bungalow, also known as BelleVista is directly across the road from the Goolma tennis courts.
Catherine's mother, Winifred, married Charles Kerny after the death of her first husband Thomas Burns (in a droving accident in 1884).
Catherine's mother, Winifred, married Charles Kerny after the death of her first husband Thomas Burns (in a droving accident in 1884).
An affidavit supplied by Winifred in 1881 gives an account of Thomas' tragic death:
In the year one thousand eight hundred and sixty-four my husband Thomas Burns who then resided in the district of Mudgee left with a mob of cattle for Melbourne. In February in the year one thousand eight hundred and sixty-five a man named Hugh Morgan who was one of the men assisting to drive the said mob of cattle to Melbourne called on me and informed me that my said husband Thomas Burns had been thrown from his horse and killed during the journey to Melbourne about three months previously and that the said Hugh Morgan had seen my said husband’s dead body and been present at his funeral. I never saw or heard of my said husband since and I believe he died as stated by the said Hugh Morgan about the end of the year one thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.The said Thomas Burns died intestate and left him surviving myself his widow and eleven children his next of kin and the only person entitled in distribution of his estate and effects.Winifred Kerny(Her X Mark)
This document was witnessed by her sons-in-law Andrew Diehm, and Martin Hughes and her second husband Charles Louis Kerny
Source: Cecily Ryan's Research 2003 with information from Rod Sullivan.
Winifred's headstone, Gulgong Cemetery
