EricS
08-11-2008, 11:00 AM
In following up the fate of my great grandmother's sister, Geraldine Rebecca Tiller, I have uncovered a wealth of details relating to New Zealand and some from Australia. As her descendants would be now quite distant from my own I am not actively pursuing any further research in that direction. However, I am posting this information here in the very slim hope that someone else finds a common ancestor in which case they are most welcome to get in touch with me. Some details:
Geraldine was born in Lymington, Hampshire in 1839 and emigrated to Victoria, Australia in 1863 where she met & married Thomas Mathias Lonargan. They had four daughters, all born in Victoria: Mary Geraldine (1870); Madeline May (1871); Elsie Jane (1879); and Aileen Una (1880). Geraldine who was a Milliner and came from a successful dressmaking background, was born Church of England but converted to Catholicism when she married. They ran a drapery business when they moved to Christchurch in New Zealand. Apparently the business was quite successful and the Lonargan name features prominently in the Society pages of the New Zealand Tablet.
Of their children: Mary Geraldine never married and died in 1933. Madeline May married Russell Patrick O'Shaughnessy and died in 1964. Elsie Jane married Donald McRae Cameron in 1906 and died in 1966. Aileen Una married John McNamara and died in 1952. Elsie Jane lived and died in Taranaki on the North Island, the remaining families all lived and died in the Christchurch area of the South Island.
I have some more details if anyone is interested.
I have to say that New Zealand genealogists are very well served with online services, particularly newspaper archives, cemetery databases, and probate records. Australia too with downloadable (for a fee) BMD registry entries.
Regards,
Eric Tiller Sheppard
Geraldine was born in Lymington, Hampshire in 1839 and emigrated to Victoria, Australia in 1863 where she met & married Thomas Mathias Lonargan. They had four daughters, all born in Victoria: Mary Geraldine (1870); Madeline May (1871); Elsie Jane (1879); and Aileen Una (1880). Geraldine who was a Milliner and came from a successful dressmaking background, was born Church of England but converted to Catholicism when she married. They ran a drapery business when they moved to Christchurch in New Zealand. Apparently the business was quite successful and the Lonargan name features prominently in the Society pages of the New Zealand Tablet.
Of their children: Mary Geraldine never married and died in 1933. Madeline May married Russell Patrick O'Shaughnessy and died in 1964. Elsie Jane married Donald McRae Cameron in 1906 and died in 1966. Aileen Una married John McNamara and died in 1952. Elsie Jane lived and died in Taranaki on the North Island, the remaining families all lived and died in the Christchurch area of the South Island.
I have some more details if anyone is interested.
I have to say that New Zealand genealogists are very well served with online services, particularly newspaper archives, cemetery databases, and probate records. Australia too with downloadable (for a fee) BMD registry entries.
Regards,
Eric Tiller Sheppard