Margaret Arbuckle

Margaret Arbuckle is my 2X great-grandmother, the mother of Catherine Lalor (nee Rowland.)

She was born in Strabane, Co Tyrone, Ireland, in January 1815, and she had a twin sister Hannah. Their parents were William Arbuckle, a publican (c1790-c1833) and Sarah STEVENSON (c1790-1833.)

There were at least three other known Arbuckle sisters: Mary Ann (1826), Ann (1832) and Sarah (1833). Sarah Stevenson died 24 December 1833 following the birth of her daughter Sarah, and family tradition relates that their father William died soon afterwards, leaving the five girls as orphans.

At some stage Margaret married Thomas BARNHILL, who was the landlord of the property that her twin sister Hannah was living in, at Longrow, on the Derry Rd in Backfence townland. (This is near the modern border with Co Donegal.)

Thomas and Margaret had one son, Robert Barnhill, born 1838.

Margaret arrived in Melbourne as a passenger on the Marquis of Bute in 1841. She was listed as an unmarried female, a house-servant, aged 24. She was said to follow the Protestant religion, could read (but not write), and was from Co Tyrone.

Margaret’s sister Hannah, with her husband George Hunter, and two sons, William and Robert, also arrived in Melbourne in 1841 on the Marquis of Bute. Robert was not their child, he was probably the son of the ‘unmarried’ Margaret. He was listed as being aged 4. He is a half-brother to Catherine  and Margaret Jane Rowland. (And I have some DNA matches to his descendants.)

Margaret Arbuckle married Christopher Rowland in Melbourne on 6 April 1843. Her name was listed as Margaret Barnall, widow. She signed the declaration with an X (her mark), which showed she could not write.

Catherine Rowland, their first child, was baptised on 20 December 1845, in the Parish of St James, Melbourne. Her father was described as a gardener, and the family abode was Heidelberg.

Their second daughter, Isabella was born on 22 March 1853 in East Brighton, Melbourne but died as a young child. She was buried in 1860, aged 7 years old, in the Kyneton General Cemetery.
The third daughter was Margaret Jane, who was born on 13 June 1856 in  East Brighton, Melbourne.

Margaret Arbuckle died at Green Hill on 27 August 1861 of consumption. She was buried in the cemetery at Kyneton, Victoria with Isabella. Her surviving offspring were Catherine aged 16 years, and Margaret Jane aged 4 years. She had lived in Victoria for twenty years.