The O’Driscoll’s of the Valley

A brief history of

Jeremiah O’Driscoll & Catherine O’Driscoll (Nee Carey)

And his Sister

Johanna O’Driscoll

Author:

Thomas Philip O’Driscoll

34 Hutton Street, Collie Western Australia 6225

Phone: Aust (08) 9734 7501 International +61 8 9734 7501

Email tom.odriscoll@bigpond.com

First Draft - 17^th March 2008

The O’Driscoll’s of the Valley

Jeremiah (O’) Driscoll

Catherine Carey

The Surname

Originally, when our family came to Western Australia, the surname was Driscoll.

Parochial (parish) records in Ireland were the same.

One of the ways the native Irish were repressed by the English authorities was to anglicize the Irish population surnames. Surnames such as O’Driscoll, were anglicized to Driscoll.

The Gaelic language was frowned upon in favour of English. Confiscation of lands was yet another repressive tool. To further disempower the population voting rights were not extended to the lower classes. Education was not provided, leaving this whole echelon illiterate. To compensate the Irish developed a wonderful oral history, which was handed down from generation to generation.

It was not until at least the 1890’s that our family reverted to the use of O’Driscoll as a surname. Timothy Driscoll, Jeremiah and Catherine’s Irish born son, seems like the first one to affect the reinstatement. He called himself Timothy Driscoll O’Driscoll. Driscoll became his second given / christian name. In turn, Timothy called his oldest male child Eugene Patrick Driscoll O’Driscoll. Eugene’s nickname thus became Dris or Driz. Eugene kept the tradition alive by naming his oldest son Michael Patrick Driscoll O’Driscoll. Eventually, all the family members fell into line and the name O’Driscoll was universally adopted.

Jeremiah’s oldest traceable record is his christening, recorded in the parochial records of Saint Patrick’s Cathedral Skibbereen, County Cork, Ireland. The information gleaned from these records state that Jer (Jeremiah) was christened on the 20^th December 1836 and was the child of Timothy Driscoll and Mary Driscoll. At first glance, it looked like the reference to Jeremiah’s mothers maiden surname as Driscoll, was a mistake, an oversight, or a substitute for a maiden surname that was not known.

However on investigation and perusal of Jeremiah’s death certificate, it states his mother as Mary O’Driscoll.

The only other record available for cross referencing is Jeremiah’s marriage certificate.

Details of the maternal side, in these days, were unfortunately ignored.

Details that do appear on the certificate are;

         i.            Marriage date 11. 02. 1868

       ii.            Ages. Full age, meaning both were 21 years or older

      iii.            Bride Catherine Carey

     iv.            Condition. Bachelor and spinster, meaning neither party had been previously married

       v.            Jeremiah’s rank or profession was given as labourer

     vi.            Jeremiah’s residence as Skibbereen

    vii.            Jeremiah’s father as Tim Driscoll

  viii.            Jeremiah’s fathers occupation as labourer

Little weight was accorded to the bride or her family. The wedding took place at Castlehaven Chapel (RC church at Castletownshend). The reception took place at Patrick and Mary (nee Brien) Carey’s residence at Castletownshend. Patrick and Mary Carey, being parents of the bride, similarly, the Carey’s were labourers, which invariably, meant farm labourers or tenant farmers.

Parochial records commenced in Castlehaven parish in 1842. Catherine is not recorded in these records. It is reasonable to assume that she was born in 1841, just prior to the commencement of the Castlehaven record keeping.

Catherine Carey’s only known sibling was Cornelius Carey. Cornelius was christened at the Castlehaven chapel on the 2^nd Febuary1845.

The following table shows the known children of Timothy Driscoll and Mary Driscoll;

Some / all of the above parochial records are notated with BT, which is supposed to notate Bridgetown, which nowadays forms part of Skibbereen Township. Could it mean Baltimore?

Evidence suggests that our family adhered to the traditional Irish naming patterns. It is evident that Jeremiah and Catherine strictly adhered to the pattern in Ireland and also when they had Australian born children. It is reasonable that it was a family tradition.

By definition a naming pattern suggests repetition. However in reality family members were referred to as “Old Jerry” or “Young Jerry” to differentiate between family members, as was the case in our family.

The pattern goes like this;

With this naming pattern in mind, then it is possible that the parochial records for our family are not quite complete and that Jeremiah isn’t the oldest sibling.

1st son	?	Fathers father	1st daughter	Bets	Mothers mother
2nd son	Jeremiah	Mothers father	2nd daughter	Julia	Fathers mother
3rd son	Timothy	Father	3rd daughter	Mary	Mother
			4th daughter	Johanna	Mothers oldest sister
			5th daughter	Jane

The newly constructed family tree would be:

Following Jeremiah’s wedding to Catherine Carey on 11^th February 1868 at Castletownshend;

The next recordable event was the birth of their first child, Timothy.

Timothy was named after the paternal grandfather. He was born on 22^nd November 1868 at High Street Skibbereen. Jeremiah was the informant for his son’s birth registration and signed the registration with his mark.

Timothy Driscoll O'Driscoll b 22.11.1868 Skibbereen, co cork Ireland. d 28.09.1928 Northam, Western Australia

Johanna (O’) Driscoll

As previously listed, Jeremiah had a younger sister, Johanna.

Johanna, christened 1^st January 1845 was some 9 years younger than Jeremiah.

Johanna was born at the start of the Irish potato famine (1845-1851). Repercussions of this famine would have severely affected our family, as well as the rest of Ireland. Skibbereen was one of the worst affected areas in Ireland. Both young and old would have suffered privations as the famine raged on.

It doesn’t come as much of a surprise that Johanna jumped at the chance to immigrate to the Swan River Colony when advertisements appeared in the Irish newspapers. Western Australia had a dearth of young females in its population demographics.

Convict transportation had commenced in 1850 (1850-1868) and this had further exacerbated the gender imbalance.

Agents in the British Isles were commissioned to enlist assisted immigrants. Johanna sailed per “Robert Morrison” ex-London, arriving at Fremantle on the 7^th March 1866. Johanna’s contribution to the sea passage was 10/- shillings. The balance of the fare was paid by her sponsor, Edmund Ralph Brockman. In consideration of the assisted passage, Johanna was indentured to the Brockmans for 2 years, as a housemaid. Edmund Ralph Brockman was a farmer at Seabrook / Boramin, adjacent the York to Northam road.

Brockman’s farm was about 110 kilometres from Perth which Johanna probably traversed by foot.

Seven months after her arrival in the Colony, Johanna married a shepherd at Brockman’s farm. His name was James McClymans (Lymant), a conditionally pardoned convict.

Convict Number 3271

The Swan River Colony was in its infancy and in 1866 it was only 37 years since its founding. There was little in the way of infrastructure, transport was scarce, conditions harsh, and the climate hostile in comparison to her native Ireland. This resourceful woman of meagre means had immigrated half way around the world, secured a job and had now married.

James McClymans, her new husband was born in Scotland, the son of an Irish weaver. His mother was a Staymaker and the family lived at 32 New Street, Carlton Glasgow.

James was the oldest child in the family and he was a potter by trade.

On the 3^rd March 1851 he had his brush with the law. He was charged and convicted for theft. Presumably he was sent to jail as he is not listed with the parents in the 1851 census.

On the 5^th January 1853 he was again charged, this time for shop breaking and stealing, found guilty and sentenced to 14 years transportation. Initially he served time at “Millbank” prison, then aboard the hulk “defence” and finally transported on the “stag”, landing at Fremantle on the 23^rd January 1855.

James gained his conditional pardon on 14^th January 1860 and his certificate of freedom on 30^th January 1868. He had to apply to the authorities for permission to marry as he had only qualified for a conditional pardon in 1866.

York district police visitation records show that James and Johanna McClymans moved into a shepherd’s cottage opposite the Boramin Well, on the “Boramin Farm” owned by Edmund Ralph Brockman.

Between 1868 and 1881 they had 9 children, only 3 of these children reached adulthood.

In the final quarter of 1880 James McClymans disappeared from all records, no record of his death exists. Johanna was pregnant and gave birth to a son on the 23^rd March 1881 at “Shamrock Villa” Grass Valley, the home of her brother and sister in-law, Jeremiah and Catherine O’Driscoll. It is doubtful whether James McClymans lived to see the birth of his latest new born.

The newborn was called James, probably in memory of his recently deceased father.

Johanna was in a desperate situation. The family breadwinner had suddenly died, she had a baby-in- arms, 3 other children to feed and probably no where to live.

No doubt Jeremiah and Catherine helped her out in this dire situation.

Being the resourceful woman once again, she remarried on 17^th November 1881 to Obediah Edom Hitchcock. The new husband refused to rear the children in marriage and she was forced to send her 2 oldest children, William and Henry to an orphanage. The 2 youngest, Agnes and James were reared by their uncle and aunt Jeremiah and Catherine O’Driscoll.

Obediah and Johanna Hitchcock moved to Guildford, near Perth, where he was employed as a gardener. Johanna had 2 girls with Obediah, unfortunately both died as infants.

Margaret Eveline was born on 18^th March 1883 near “Horse Hill” Grass Valley. She died on the 18^th December 1883.

Mary May b c1884. She died on the 8^th April 1885 at Guildford. The cause of death being teething (Stomatitis)

On the 28^th May 1888 Johanna’s luck finally deserted her and she died of cirrhosis of the liver. Catherine O’Driscoll travelled from Grass Valley to Guildford to nurse Johanna in her last months and days. She is buried at plot 72 at the East Guildford cemetery.

Young James McClymans was reared by Jeremiah and Catherine but died on 04.06.1892.

The cause of death was dropsy. The other 3 surviving children lived well into adulthood.

Johanna’s lasting legacy in our family is that she wrote to her brother Jeremiah and through her recommendations of a “land of milk and honey”, and her referral to the Brockmans, was instrumental in arranging employment and passage for her brother to the Swan River Colony.

Passage to Australia

As it has been outlined in the paragraph above, Jeremiah, Catherine and their infant son Timothy O’Driscoll set sail from the port of London aboard the ship named “Hastings” on the17^th April 1869. “Hastings” dropped anchor at Fremantle on 26^th July 1869.

It is not known what travel arrangements were made by Edmund Ralph Brockman for his newly indentured employees. Transport was virtually non existence for the poorer classes and in all probability the overland trip to York and then onto Seabrook was probably done by foot.

It is known that about 1883, Jeremiah and his 14 year old son would walk to Guildford and haul flour on their backs to Grass Valley. It was a round trip of more than 180 kilometres. Jeremiah carried a 100 pound sack and Timothy a 25 pound sack. It took them two days to walk to Guildford and three days to return to the farm laden with their flour sacks. In all probability they slept rough in the bush during this ordeal.

Jeremiah was indentured as a shepherd and they were provided with a small stone shepherd’s cottage about 300 metres on the hillside above the Boramin Well, on the Boramin Road, at Seabrook.

Their closest neighbour, were the McClymans family, fellow shepherds for the Brockmans. Johanna and James McClymans lived opposite on the “Boramin Farm”

The Boramin Well was a water source for Jeremiah and Catherine and water was drawn from the well for the family needs.

On the 17^th June 1871 Patrick O’Driscoll was born at Boramin Well. He was the first Australian born O’Driscoll and a younger brother to Timothy, who came to Australia as an infant-in-arms.

Patrick O'Driscoll b 17.06.1871 Grass Valley, Western Australia. d 14.07.1957 Northam, Western Australia

Patrick was born about 2 years after his parents arrived in Western Australia and around the expiry of the indentureship to Brockmans. The family continued living at the Boramin Well because it is said that a young toddler Patrick narrowly escaped drowning in the Boramin Well. Only his mother’s vigilance and quick thinking saved a tragedy.

Soon after the expiration of the indentureship with Edmund Ralph Brockman, Jeremiah and Catherine applied for, and were granted 100 acres of land fronting Carter Road Grass Valley. On the 13^th September 878 they again made application for a further 60 acres adjoining the original holding. Collectively this farm was named “Shamrock Villa”. Both the allotments were virgin bush, which required clearing, fencing and other improvements.

The initial home they built was a 2 roomed mud brick dwelling, sited between the Boramin Road and Muchakine Gully. It had no kitchen and all cooking was done on an outside camp oven. A small fig tree marked the position of this modest home. A larger mud brick and iron roof dwelling was built by Jeremiah’s son Jeremiah after his marriage to Emily McBreen.

The new dwelling had several rooms but once again no kitchen. In later years a weatherboard skillion roof kitchen was annexed onto the northern section of the house.

The house was fitted with veranda’s, with gardens on the west side, facing Boramin Road in which fruit trees and grapevines grew.

There were stockyards built on the south side of the house. The latter house was sited about 50 metres on the western side of the 2 roomed original dwelling. A severe storm in January 1963 unroofed the dwelling and the Meckering earthquake in October 1968 sent the dwelling into ruins.

A soak was constructed in a south easterly direction from the house, on the other side of Muchakine Gully. This small soak obviated the need for Catherine to walk the 12 odd kilometre round trip to Boramin well to yoke back buckets of water for the household use.

Over the ensuing years more children were born;

Mary was born on the 31^st July 1873

Catherine 24^th March 1876

Catherine Mary O'Driscoll b 24.03.1876 Grass Valley, Western Australia d 19.11.1941 Northam, Western Australia

Jeremiah 10^th June 1879

Jeremiah Joseph O'Driscoll b 10.061879 Grass Valley, Western Australia d 07.02.1926 Northam, Western Australia

Stillborn female 16^th February 1882.

As previously mentioned, all the children’s names conformed to the traditional Irish naming pattern.

Tragedy struck the family on the 1^st October 1884, Mary, Jeremiah and Catherine’s 3^rd child became ill. Catherine’s maternal instincts immediately became alarmed and she sent for Jeremiah.

Jeremiah was not aware of the gravity of the situation and his tardiness was the source of much matrimonial trouble later in life. 16 year old Timothy registered Mary’s death in Northam on 10^th October 1884. The registrar callously putting the cause of death as “Supposed to be cold. Not certified”.

In 1910 Jeremiah, having retired for some years previous, decided to revisit his native Ireland. At this stage of his life he was still living on the old holding of “Shamrock Villa” with his youngest son Jeremiah, or as everyone called him young Jerry.

Old Jerry planned an extended holiday in Ireland. However he only stayed a matter of months, stating that things in Ireland had changed too much.

No one knows, but maybe the democratic freedom he had experienced in Western Australia was at odds with the repressed Ireland. The “Easter Rebellion” of 1916 was less than a decade away.

Jeremiah died on 10^th December 1911 at “Shamrock Villa”, Grass Valley. In his obituary in the local newspaper, it was stated that immediately prior to his death, he was in his usual health, had tea and then a romp with his 2 grandchildren, Tom and Kevin.

Shortly after, he complained of feeling unwell and retired to bed, soon after lapsing into a state of semi consciousness. Doctor Rockett was summoned but Jeremiah was beyond medical aid and died shortly after.

The cause of death was cerebral haemorrhage.

Catherine, his wife, was living at “Tank Farm” with her daughter Catherine and son-in-law Richard sermon. When told of Jeremiah’s death she is reported to have said “the poor old man”.

On the 24^th August 1918 Catherine died at “Tank Farm” aged 77 years.

The cause of death was senile decay.

Jeremiah, Catherine and their nephew James McClymans share a grave in the York pioneer cemetery.

Family snippets and anecdotes

Jeremiah O’Driscoll (Snr) was by all accounts a tall man, over 6 feet in height, with a quiet disposition. Very few things ruffled him and was generally described as gentle.

Catherine O’Driscoll, his wife was by contrast a small lady. Both were sturdy and unafraid of hard work. Everyday tasks like washing- up or shopping, so easily performed in today’s world, were a test of human endurance. Carting water by bucket or walking considerable distances and humping flour on their backs were apart of everyday life.

Just leaving their homeland and the family support network and starting afresh, with nothing or next to nothing takes considerable courage.

Jeremiah and Catherine’s children were bought up in a strong Catholic tradition. Due to no fault of their own both were illiterate. The children were taught by their parents to say their nightly prayers in Gaelic, which like their parents before them had been learned by rote.

Consequently, information had to be stored in their memories and handed down through oral history which enriched the family life and all those that they touched.

Timothy and Patrick at one time attended Tipperary school and “Young Jerry” Quellington School. Catherine was taught at home, then at the York Convent. Considerable effort was exerted by the parents to educate their children. No doubt they knew first hand the effects of the lack of education that was deprived of them back in Ireland. Timothy and Jeremiah were boarded out during their school week and returned to the family farm on weekends by foot. Jeremiah’s host family at Quellington was the Gentle family.

Two of Jeremiah and Catherine’s sons, namely Patrick and Jeremiah, travelled to Kalgoorlie by train. Patrick was a chaff merchant and had some business to do in the goldfields. He asked his younger brother Jeremiah to accompany him on the trip.

The trip to Kalgoorlie proceeded without incident and they boarded the train in Kalgoorlie bound for the Grass Valley railway station. On the train they decided to imbibe in a little whisky, on the return trip and put their order in with the bar attendant. They were both asked if they would like ice with their whisky, which they gladly accepted. Over the course of the journey several rounds were ordered and consumed. Eventually the bar tender had to inform them that he could no longer provide them with ice to accompany their drinks. Upon enquiry the bar tender confessed that the ice supply came from the coffin casket of a deceased person that was being transported by rail for a Perth funeral. The ice level was falling to a critical level.

Patrick O’Driscoll, as has been previously stated operated a chaff cutter. One day he was changing knives on the cutter’s knife wheel, when the tool slipped and he cut his thumb, a severe laceration. About two weeks after the accident, Jeremiah his brother, asked Pat “how is your thumb healing?” Pat said that straight after the accident he had gone home to his farmhouse called “Baltimore”, applied separator oil to the wound and bandaged it up.

He went on to say that “After 10 days of bandaging I took it off and do you know what? It hadn’t healed a bit”.

Robert James O'Driscoll

b 13.09.1917 Northam, W.A
d 09.04.1999 Northam W.A

m. Betty Kathleen Stormon b 20.071915 Kalgoorlie, W.A, d 28.01.1990		m. Maria Theresa Catherine Sherrington b 03.04.1922 Northam W.A