Healys transported to Australia

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Jim
Posts: 16
Joined: Thu Nov 22, 2012 10:24 pm

Healys transported to Australia

Post by Jim » Sun Jan 06, 2019 4:11 pm

My friend Tony Healy in Oz has asked me for help in tracing his ancestors who came from the Ballinagun area near Cree. Nicholas Healy c1788-06/01/1861 was sentenced to death at the Clare Summer Assizes in Ennis in July 1818. He was convicted of robbery & burglary. The sentence was later commuted to transportation for life to Australia (Reports in Clare Journal 11th July & 22nd July 1818). Nicholas was eventually pardoned & did well. Nicholas became the anchor for many of his Healy, Normoyle & Markham relatives from Clare who emigrated to Australia. He owned the Governor Bourke Hotel & other property in Maitland NSW when he died in 1861. One of his sons became a solicitor, another a barrister, crown prosecutor & acting judge. Another son became the Provincial of the Marist Order in Australia. A grandson Cecil P Healy was a champion swimmer and represented Australia at the Olympic Games in Athens in 1906 and in Stockholm in 1912 where he won a gold and a silver medal. He served as a Lieutenant in the Australian Army during the Great War and was killed in France on 29th Aug 1918. Two books have recently been published about Cecil.
Matthew Healy aged 36 (= born 1787) from Co Clare arrived in Australia on the convict ship Isabella in 1823 to serve a life sentence. He was tried in Co Clare in 1821. A Matthew Healy was listed at Ballinagun in the Freeholders List in 1821 but there is no record of him there after that. Matthew Healy is also mentioned in reports which appeared in the Maitland Mercury. The edition of the 26th May 1855 carried an advertisement for the sale of 1230 acres ar Cooper's Flat, divided into four farms & lately occupied by Mr Matthew Healy of Paterson where Matthew also had an inn known as the Bush Inn which he sold in 1859. In 1860 Matthew owned the Traveller's Home or Traveller's Rest Inn, Lochinvar which contained twelve rooms & which he advertised for sale in Nov 1861. It was sold for £375 Matthew sold a large plot of building land at High St, West Maitland, in 1860. The last mention of him in the local newspapers was in Nov 1862 & it appears that he died at around this time or soon after.
Elizabeth Healy, a farmer's widow, died aged 77 (= born c1791) at Clohanes, Co Clare, on 16th Nov 1868. Thomas Healy of Clohanes was present at her death. It seems likely that Elizabeth was the mother of Thomas (who was born in Ballinagun). We can only guess at the identity of Thomas's father. However we know that Thomas named his second son Matthew & it is possible that Thomas's father or uncle was the Matthew Healy who held lands at Ballinagun, with a lease dated 2nd Oct 1815 (1821 Freeholders List). It is an intriguing possibility that the latter was the Matthew who was transported to NSW and it is possible or even probable that Matthew & Nicholas were brothers.
I have failed to find the civil record of Matthew's death in NSW which would probably give his parents's names. I have also not been able to find a newspaper report of his trial which might give his address in Clare. There was much agrarian unrest in SW Clare at this time & it is possible that both Healys were involved with the Whiteboys or Ribbonmen & fell foul of Major Warburton's police who had been active in the area since 1816.
Any information would be appreciated.

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