Saturday, May 03, 2008

This is a bit strange...

Still catching up on emails that have information in them that I haven't yet posted here.
Nola Marshall wrote to me back in March about this rather strange situation in the family.

I am fascinated by the thought that Francis Hannagan had two families at the same time. Do you know if Catherine was in Melbourne with him in the 1850s? I have found him on the 1856 Electoral Roll living in a house off Little Lonsdale Street. Occupation Tailor. As you are aware three children were born in Australia, the mother being Mary Ann Kearns (Cairns). Another daughter was born in NZ just prior to Catherine having her last child. It begs belief that the women did not know of each others existence. Do you have any family knowledge of how this arrangement worked?
There are several photos of Martin John and Frank Hannagan and the tailoring business in Mt Gambier at the following sight.
Google Mt Gambier Library and Click on Photographic section. Type in Hannagan and the relevant photos should come up. [The first time I tried this I got two pages of photos; today I can only get four.]
My mother was Nola Rita Hannagan, youngest daughter of William Francis Hannagan, born 17th Feb 1883 and Aileen Todd.
William Francis Hannagan (1860) and Frances Hargreaves settled in Victoria.
William had a tailoring business in Brighton and his son William took over the business after his fathers' death in 1918.