Birth: Patrick Lynch was born
c. 1835 at Seefin, in the Parish of Knockbride, County Cavan Ireland, the son
of Edward and Mary Lynch nee Cusack. His baptism on the 17th
May 1835 was found in the Knockbride Catholic Church records which
were written in Latin and stated that his sponcers were Michael Lynch
and Rose Lynch.
Occupation: Patrick
like his father
and grandfather was an agricultural labourer and the salt of the
earth after his arrival in Australia he was a farmer land owner.
Marriage: He
married
Margaret Maguire at Seefin on the 27th November
1861. Witnesses to their marriage were Pat Carcolan and Mary Lynch.
Wife Birth: Margaret Ann Maguire was
baptised on the 27th August 1840 at Blackstep County Cavan
a small village near Seefin. Margaret was the daughter of Patrick and
Ann (nee Fay) Maguire of Blackstep near
Seefin. Sponsors at her baptism were John Maguire
and Mary Cusack.
Link
to Maguire
Emigration to
Australia
This young couple must have given a
lot of thought to their future and how they could maybe better their
life style from that of their struggling parents. Margaret became
pregnant with their first child very soon after their marriage and it
was at this time they negotiated a passage aboard an emigrant ship
bound for Australia, possibly via New Zealand.
Having made this
major decision and booked their passage, their next chore was to pack
their belongings. What they brought with them depended on their social
position at the time. Were they able to carry their belongings in
their hands or were they more affluent to have had luggage and
possibly some household items?
No shipping record
was located for Patrick and Margaret’s
arrival in Australia from Ireland or British or foreign ports, but my
great aunt, Elsie Lynch seemed to recall being told her grandparents
may have come to Australia via New Zealand aboard a clipper ship. Searches of shipping lists
New Zealand to Australia turned up one possibility a P.Lynch and an
M.Lynch but on further investigation of the ships passenger list I
found they were two single men.
Patrick being an agricultural labourer, you could be fairly certain
that he and his wife would have been assisted passengers or paid a
cheap fare as steerage passengers. If this were the case, Margaret
wouldn’t have had any privacy or luxury in giving birth to her son
aboard ship.
I have estimated the Lynch’s arrival in Australia as 1862. I came to
this conclusion from reading an affidavit signed by Margaret herself
after the death of her husband Patrick in 1886. She stated, “We
immigrated to Australia shortly after our marriage in County Cavan
Ireland in November 1861”. This statement along with the fact that
Patrick registered the birth of their first child Edward Lynch at
Clarendon in Victoria in November 1862.
The Lynchs move
to Daylesford Victoria
Between
1862 and 1864, Patrick, Margaret and their small son Edward moved to
Daylesford. Could this move have been prompted by the many gold mines
in the area, or was Patrick planning at this time to become a farmer.
A search was made of
the Glenlyon Rate Books from the earliest records available 1868-1927
which are held at the Daylesford museum. It was found that Patrick
Lynch had owned several parcels of land or rented Crown land up until
his death in 1886. After his death, land holdings were transferred to his
wife Margaret. Patrick’s two sons Edward and John were also mentioned
in the Rate Books.
Patrick & Margaret had a family of
three Edward, John & Margaret Jnr.
Web
Link to Daylesford Victoria Australia
Death Of
Patrick Lynch
The 10th February 1886
Patrick was killed in a tragic accident when he fell from his dray. is funeral was attended buy a
large gathering of friends and family. After a service at his Leitch’s
Creek home he
was taken for burial in the Catholic Section 1½ at the Daylesford
Cemetery in an unmarked grave A16.
Widow Margaret
Lynch moves to Western Australia
A possible clue surfaced of Margaret’s
whereabouts when my great aunt Elsie Lynch thought she remembered being
told her grandmother had gone to Western Australia with her daughter.
I eventually located their whereabouts in electoral rolls 1901-1910
living in Subiaco WA. Margaret then went to live with her second son
John and his family at Nomans Lake in the wheat belt of the west. John
had been in the west working on the goldfields for some years, married
late in life and went into farming with his wife Clara at Nomans Lake. 
