Mary Wilson (c1820-1864)

 

TITLE PAGE

 

Introduction

 

PART 1:

 BYRNES FAMILY

 

ANCESTORS’ CHARTS :

(Parents of Peter Byrnes):

Thomas Byrnes

Lily Dance

 

 

INDIVIDUAL SUMMARIES

 (Scroll down for full list):

   ----------------------------------------------

Line of Descent to Peter Byrnes:

 

 

Mary Wilson

(Great Grandmother)

James Byrnes

Thomas Byrnes

Peter Byrnes

Birth

 c1820-23 in  Ireland[1]

Death

 February 20, 1864 at Rawbelle, near Monto Qld, of dropsy[2]

Burial

 Cemetery at Old Rawbelle Station[3]

 

  

Marriage

 1. William SEXTON (prob 1844, County Meath, Ireland)[4]

Children 

 

Mary SEXTON (September 4, 1845)[5]

William SEXTON (1847-1917)[6]

Sarah SEXTON (1851-)[7]

Joseph SEXTON (1853-)

James SEXTON/[BYRNES] (1857-1932), married Grace Pobar 1882, Toowoomba

   

Marriage

 2. Francis BURNS (unconfirmed)[8]

Children 

 James Byrnes [9]  [see James  SEXTON above]

Irish-born Mary first comes into our official records on September 1, 1845 when she gave birth to a daughter on the Pestonjee Bomangee, a convict ship contracted by the British Government to transport convicts to Van Dieman’s Land. 

Mary's husband was an English soldier, William Sexton.  After many years in England's American colonies (the West Indies and the territory which was to become Canada), William's regiment had come home to be based in Ireland from 1843-45.  Although there are no official records of their marriage, it's probable that this was when William and Mary met and married, when Mary was in her early 20s, with William at least 10 years her senior.

William, an Army private, was part of the Pestonjee Bomangee's Army escort made up of a Captain of the 65th Regiment of Foot, a lieutenant, four non-commissioned officers and 41 rank-and-file of the 65th.  Also on board were six woman (including Mary) and six children - and another soldier, Private Francis Burns, destined to be Mary’s second partner.

The journal of the ship's surgeon makes interesting reading, with his comments on the extreme weather conditions at the start of its voyage, and on the health of the convicts.  Mary herself on at least one occasion after the birth of her baby, was admitted to sick bay, suffering "obstipatis", possibly a post-natal complication.  After three days treatment, Mary was deemed "cured" by the Surgeon.

The birth of Mary's baby, also named Mary, was registered by the master of the Pestonjee Bomanjee in January 1846, after the ship arrived in Hobart, with its cargo of 298 convicts.  The regiment, and the Sexton family, returned to Sydney before sailing on to Wellington, New Zealand later in 1846. 

Mary's second child, a son William, was born in Wellington in 1847, followed by Sarah in 1851, Joseph in 1853, and James in 1857.  This youngest child was most likely the child who became known as James Byrnes, taking the name of Mary’s second partner, Francis Burns.

Wellington in the 1850s, at the time when the Sexton Family lived in Tinakori Road

 Mary and Francis weren’t legally married (Mary’s first husband died in New Zealand in 1865 after Mary's own death) – and although Mary’s death certificate gives ‘Sydney’ as the place of marriage to Francis, no marriage registration has been found so far.  It’s probable Mary and Francis deemed it advisable to leave New Zealand for Queensland soon after the birth of young James in 1857.

In the early 1860s, Mary and Francis, along with her children, lived and worked on the property Rawbelle, in the Monto/Gayndah district of Queensland, where Francis was employed as a shepherd.  Mary, a housekeeper at Rawbelle, died at the young age of 41, soon after the family made the move from New Zealand to the much harsher country of the sheep property.

Her death certificate, which spells her surname as BURNS, gives her husband's name as Francis Burns.  It says Mary was born in Ireland, of unknown parents, and had five children living.  She died of dropsy (an ailment of the kidneys), from which she had suffered for six months before her death at Rawbelle.  She was buried in an unmarked grave in a little cemetery (see below), beside the banks of the Nogo River.

 Notes on the history of [Old] Rawbelle station say that (in 1948):

"Nothing now remains to mark the site except a peaceful little graveyard, in which sleep two former managers of Rawbelle, two other white men, a white woman, and a Chinaman".[10]

Mary was that white woman.

The lonely cemetery at Old Rawbelle Station.  Mary’s grave is hidden in the long grass at the far left of the burial ground.

 

[1] IGI entry; Death certificate of Mary Burns, 1864 (Queensland Registrar of Births, Deaths & marriages)

[2] as above

[3] as above

[4] Notes from Surgeon’s Report on Pestonjee Bomangee ( Tasmanian Archives, Admin 101/59 reel 3206) refers to Mary as the wife of Pte Sexton; and Qld death certificate of Mary’s son James Byrnes, 1932

[5] Surgeon’s Report as above

[6] William Sexton’s Queensland death certificate, 1917.

[7] Birth certificate of Sarah Sexton, 1851, New Zealand.

[8] Mary’s death certificate, as above.

[9] Marriage certificate of James Byrnes and Grace Pobar, 1882 (Queensland BDM) and James’ death certificate 1932 (Queensland BDM)

[10] Souvenir of the Centenary of the Central and Upper Burnett River district of Queensland, 1848-1948, page 21