Perdu en Mer- Lost at Sea

I have written in a previous blog post about Captain Thomas Jean PAYN from Jersey, brother of my great-grandfather Francis Davis Payn. In January 1876, Thomas is recorded as receiving his certificate of competency as a Master in the Merchant Service. Several years later in January 1881, he is recorded as Mate when joining the ship “Gryalva” in Liverpool, and then he succeeded as Master at Benin on 4 April 1881. (Ancestry: Liverpool, England, Crew Lists 1861-1919 for Thomas J Payn; Gryalva 1881.)

Sadly, Thomas Jean lost his life at sea in 1893 while serving as a Captain, and this is recorded on a Payn family headstone, in St Martin's Parish, Jersey, as:

'comme aussi de Capt Thomas Jean Payn   
perdu en mer
dans l'année 1893
dans sa 46ème année.'   

I have previously tried searching old newspapers for more information about how Thomas John Payn died, but without success. But as is often the way with genealogy, answers to some of those lingering questions do finally emerge.

The first breakthrough came when I discovered an aerogramme that had been uploaded to Ancestry, sent by ‘Cousin Hilda’ Payn in 1958 from Taupo, New Zealand, to a couple getting married in Europe. Cousin Hilda was the daughter of Captain Payn, and would have been aged about 9 years old when her father died at sea. A woman called Joy had uploaded this letter, and I messaged her, and magically, she replied! During the course of several emails, Joy told me that Cousin Hilda had been in possession of a painting of her father’s boat, but left it behind with family in Jersey when she emigrated. Joy’s family had recently had this painting cleaned, and she offered to email me a photo of it. This was one of those special moments in genealogy, when suddenly a person in your family tree becomes ‘real’.

Grijalva, captained by Thomas J Payn

But I still didn’t know anything concrete about when or how Captain Payn had been lost at sea. I found a Lloyd’s shipping website but unlocking any information from it seemed beyond me, even with this excellent guide to the Merchant Navy wrecks losses and casualties from the Royal Museums Greenwich. Enter stage left, my clever genie 3^rd cousin Maggie. She happened to be in the process of researching some early shipboard immigrants to New Zealand, and I mentioned to her that my Captain Payn had been lost at sea but I hadn’t been able to find out anything much about the circumstances. By the next morning she had found two newspaper articles about the Grijalva, feared lost, under Captain Payn. (Note, the spelling of the ship varies in different sources, and potentially a search with 'Payne' would find more entries.)

The first newspaper clipping was from the Liverpool Weekly Courier, 23 December 1893, with a headline, ‘Feared loss of a Liverpool vessel and all hands’. And it read that: “Great anxiety is now felt for the safety of the Liverpool vessel Grijalva, and in many quarters she is regarded as lost with all on board.” The ship left Opobo River, West Africa, on the 20^th July for Liverpool, but nothing more had been heard of her. She was under the command of Captain Payn, and had a valuable cargo of African produce.

Modern Opobo is in the south of modern Nigeria, and presumably the old river port was somewhere in the vicinity.

The second clipping that Maggie sent me was a Lloyd’s notice, published on 1 February 1894 on the Lloyd’s list, with the Committee of Lloyd’s seeking any information. It read: “The Grijalva, Payn, of Liverpool, which sailed from Opobo for port of call, on July 20, 1893.”

Armed with Maggie's newspaper details I made a visit to my local library, hoping to perhaps learn a little more, using either the FMP or BNA websites. There were in fact many references to the Grijalva in ordinary shipping news, eg in the Exeter and Plymouth Gazette on 17 October 1891 it was recorded: "British barque, Grijalva, Payne, from Hamburg to Benin, with gin and coal."

But by late 1893- early 1894, it was clear that great fears were held. One newspaper said that the barque had 'a cargo of palm kernels in bags, and had sailed from Opobo on July 20 1893, 'and has not since been heard of.'

So, it appears that Captain Payn came to grief in the Grijalva somewhere on the sea journey from the west coast of Africa, back to Liverpool, with all hands. Most likely, the ship rests on the sea floor, one of many such ship wrecks.

I am grateful to both Joy and Maggie for the extra information they have given me about Captain Thomas John Payn. His life had a sad ending, but it is good to know more about what happened.
Margaret Riordan
May-June 2023

 

Ann PHILP- from Scotland

Ann Philp is my one great-great-grandparent from Scotland. She was born around 1840, in Ceres, Fife, (estimated from the 1851 census), though we have not been able to find her baptism entry.




She married Martin Burke, (originally from Co Mayo in Ireland), in February 1861, in Perth, with her residence at the time given as Abernethy. Her parents are named on her marriage entry as Thomas Philp, ploughman, and Isabella Philp, whose maiden name was Nicholson. From the 1851 census we find that Thomas Philp was born in Strathmiglo, and Isabella Nicholson was born in Ceres.

(copied from microfilm in FHC)

 Ann was the sixth child in a family that had 10 children that we know of, some of whom we know were born in Ceres, Fife, others in Dunbog, Fife, and the youngest, Fanny (Euphemia) was born in Abernethy. Ann was said to be 11 in the 1851 census, and a scholar. When her mother Isabella died in Abernethy in 1855, Ann was listed amongst her children, and was said to be 15.

By the time of the 1861 census, Ann had married Martin Burke. However, rather than appearing in the Burke household in the census, she is listed as being in Abernethy with her father Thomas, as housekeeper at the Balvaird Cot House. Her youngest sister Euphemia is also there, aged 12, as well as another female child, Isabella Forrester aged 10. (I don’t know how/if Isabella fits into the family at this stage.)

The following year, on 21 August 1862, Ann Philp became a mother, with her firstborn child being Mary Burke, my great-grandmother. The young family were living in the Parish of Inchture at this time.

Mary Burke was just a young child when the family of three embarked for Canterbury in New Zealand, and they arrived in the port of Lyttelton on the ship Mermaid, in February 1864. From the newspaper account of the voyage we read that:- During the voyage the passengers had the benefit of fine weather nearly all the way out, and, in their own language, “there was scarce one evening but they could dance on deck.” 

Ann gave birth to two more children in New Zealand. Ann Burke was born in December 1864, and a son Thomas was born in 1866.

The family were living in Burnham when Ann Philp died in March 1895, aged 53 years old. Her death entry says she died of cancer of the liver. However, her brother-in-law John Burke died just two months earlier of a cause also said to be cancer of the liver, so we must wonder whether in fact there was some infectious cause.

Ann was buried in the Darfield Catholic Cemetery in a group of four family graves, near her daughter Mary, her brother-in-law John Burke, and Mary’s husband Patrick Riordan. The four graves are amongst the oldest in the cemetery.

I’d like to acknowledge the help Maggie Gaffney (third cousin) has given me in my research about the Philp family, especially by sharing the 1851 census and the 1855 death entry for Isabella Philp nee Nicholson.

Jeremiah Malone, junior

The youngest child, and youngest son, of Jeremiah Malone and Margaret Riordan, was named Jeremiah. He was born in 1882 according to evidence from the Ballyhea Parish register, though I haven't been able to find his birth in civil registration.
In the 1901 census, Jeremiah is described as a farmer's son, aged 19, living with his parents and four other siblings. He was able to read and write.
On 13 September 1910, Jeremiah married Catherine Crowley in Clonakilty, Co Cork. (Clonakilty is in south-west Cork near the coast, quite far from Ballyhea.) Their marriage registration is available on the website for Irish civil registration.

By the time of the 1911 census Jeremiah was living in Main St, Rathkeale with his wife Catherine. He was a horticultural instructor.

Jeremiah and Catherine had a daughter Margaret (known as Peggy), born in June 1911. Three further siblings have been found: Michael James (1913),  Bridget (1915), and Mary Catherine (1919).

Peggy married a Brennan, and continued to live in Rathkeale where she brought up her family, and Aunty Mary Riordan (her first cousin) told me about her so I could visit her in the early 1980s. Michael James (Mick)  emigrated to Australia and his wife also came from Rathkeale. Bridget died young, aged just 24, of pulmonary tuberculosis. Mary Kate emigrated to the USA, her husband’s locality.

Jeremiah Malone died aged 52 on 9 October 1935 in Rathkeale, after suffering for four days from influenza and pneumonia. His death was registered by his daughter Mary Kate.

Library visit

I've known for a while that my local Palmerston North library provided access to both Ancestry (library edition) and Find my Past- but I had never explored using either of them. Sunday afternoon was my time to remedy that. I took my laptop with me in case the library computers were busy, as you can access Ancestry once you are on the library wifi. FindMypast you actually have to be on a library computer to access. The library had two computers with these websites on, and fortunately there was no problem at this time of the day/week getting access.

My great-grandfather, Jeremiah Malone has always been a bit of a mystery to me. I knew the family was living in Ballinadrideen, near Charleville, Co Cork, Ireland. I also had a precious family photo of him, but I knew little more about him.

Jeremiah Malone

I had seen the 1901 census return for the family before on the National Archives of Ireland website, when his age was stated as being 75. Somehow the way FindMyPast set out his details from the census helped his age 'jump out' at me. He was 75, and 20 years older than his wife Margaret. FindMyPast also listed his birth year as 1826. An exploration for another time will be to investigate whether this is just an estimate, or whether a record actually exists. (After coming home I tried looking up the Ballyhea Parish baptismal records, which do exist for the 1824-8 time period, but they were hard to read, and I didn't 'find' him there on a quick look.)

It turned out that findmypast had transcriptions for Irish deaths 1864 -1958, and I was able to find the transcription of the likely death entry for my Jeremiah Malone in 1906, but no image. I noticed the copyright was listed as being FamilySearch, so I investigated further on there when I arrived home. Still no image though. It took me a while before I found the link for historic Irish civil registrations, and now knowing his death date, bingo, I found the image of the death registration for Jeremiah Malone, resident in Ballinadrideen, Ballyhea. It's strange how it suddenly feels as if I 'know' Jeremiah a little more, as if he has some clothes over his mystery.

 The death entry of the time didn't list the names of any parents though, but that is something I might explore 'next time' I go and use the library computer. "Maurice Malone" who was informant who was present at the death, is a brother of my grandmother, Margaret Malone, and thus my great-uncle.

I was able to print off pages from findmypast at the library for just ten cents a page, which was handy.

Using Ancestry Library edition was interesting. I couldn't directly sign in to the family tree I have created- so next time I will take details of any 'hints' I want to investigate with me. But I navigated a few things, like electoral rolls in Canterbury where I found Patrick Riordan listed over a wide time period. It was handy to know I could e-mail this home, check it again on my home computer, and leave it sitting there on my 'discoveries' page.

Annie Riordan: Sr M St Majella RNDM

My grandfather Martin Riordan had five siblings, all born on the Riordan-Burke family farm at Charing Cross in Canterbury NZ. So far on this blog I have written briefly about my three Riordan-Burke great-uncles, John (a priest), Patrick Joseph (a farmer) and James (who died in WW1). But I also have two great-aunts in this line of my family, Bridget and Annie Riordan. Today I'll write about Annie, who became Sr M St Majella RNDM.

Annie Riordan was the sixth and last child born to Patrick Riordan and Mary Burke, on 23rd August 1891. Her mother Mary was already suffering from TB at the time of her birth, and she died in March 1892 while Annie was still only a baby.

Annie was baptised just two days after her birth, on 25 August 1891, by Rev James J O’Donnell, her father Patrick’s first cousin. Sponsors were Thomas Burke and Joanna Halpin.

This photo shows Annie Riordan on the left, next to her sister Bridget. (Annie reminds me very much of my sister Katherine in this photograph.) An inscription on the back implies that this photo was originally sent to cousin Jeremiah, who I think was almost certainly their cousin Jeremiah Malone in Ballinadrideen, Co Cork.

Annie excelled in music. She obtained her ATCL in piano in 1909. She passed an intermediate exam in Harp in 1907. She sang as part of a concert for the bishop in 1905. In the biography of her in the archives of the Mission Sisters order it said that she ‘was naturally gifted with a beautiful voice, …which she gave ungrudgingly to the service of God, particularly her voice, when singing in the Chapel — God’s praises.’

She became a boarder at the Sacred Heart convent when quite young, and entered the Novitiate at the early age of 15, on 6 January 1908.

Her biography says she ‘had inherited Consumption’ from her mother, but with the great care bestowed upon her, it appeared she had grown out of it. However, in November 1910 she had an attack of gastric influenza that left her weak. Five weeks before her death she took to her bed and the illness progressed rapidly. On 20 June 1911 she was administered the last Sacrament by the priest.

I was told by Sr Martina Burke that Annie’s brother John came up from the Seminary when she was in her last illness, and was called in the early hours when her end was near. He ran over to the convent without even doing up his shoelaces.

Annie died of TB on 7 July 1911 at the convent of the Mission Sisters in Lower High St, Christchurch. Her funeral was held in the convent chapel on Saturday 8 July, then she was buried in the sisters’ plot at Linwood Cemetery, Lot 99C, Block 40.

Sources:
1: Birth Registration Image- Malvern, quarter ending 31 Dec 1891
2: When Mary Burke, her mother, died in March 1892, the death registration stated that she had been suffering from Phthisis Pulmonalis for 2 years.
3: Chch diocesan transcript from baptismal register for Darfield.
4: Most music results etc were recorded in the Tablet. (Catholic magazine)- Papers Past
5: “Biography” for Sr Majella was sent to me as a relative by the archives for the Mission Sisters.
6: Photos: Aunty Mary Riordan had this photo of Annie and Bridget.
7: I took photos of the sisters’ plot at Linwood cemetery with Sr Majella’s name on it -early 1990s.
8: Obituary: https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/new-zealand-tablet/1911/7/13/32

Fr John Riordan

Again, I am in debt to the Papers Past website for information about my family's past. This time I am grateful for more things I have been able to learn about my great-uncle, John Riordan, who died in 1925 while serving as Parish Priest in Ross on the West Coast.

In the early 1990s when I was starting to collect genealogy information about my family, I wrote to the Christchurch Diocesan Archives to find out more about Fr John Riordan. A lovely kind priest, Fr K J Clark, was interested to find out more about some of these former priests himself. He contacted the priest in Hokitika to see if someone could check The Guardian, the Hokitika newspaper, and I was sent notes taken from that paper about Fr John's dying and funeral, as well as his obituary.

Time has moved on since then, and a lot more from past newspapers can be easily retrieved online, (though still not from The Guardian in Hokitika it seems.) Some of these old newspaper treasures give such an intimate look at a person from the past. And so it has been with Fr John Riordan.

When he was ordained he served first in Ahaura parish, and though he was not there for long before  he went to Ross, it seems that fond memories of him were still held. This account - Ahaura Notes- appeared in the NZ Tablet on 6 May 1925.

May he rest in peace.