Catherine (Riely) Donnes (abt. 1836)

Born about 1836 in County Cavan, Ireland

Wife of Samuel Donnes — married 21 Feb 1857 in Sydney, Australia

Descendants

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Joan Gray [send private message]

Biography

Julia Donnes. Death certificate states Father – Samuel Donnes, Miner and Mother – Catherine Donnes, Maiden Name Hinds. This is an inconsistency, as other records state Maiden name of Catherine as Reily.

Anyway, concerning Samuels second marriage to Catherine Reily on the 21st February 1854. He was then 40 and she 22years of age. They were married by John Maher in St Marys RC Cathedral.(Sydney). He by this time had apparently learned to write, at least he signed S Dones, but Catherine signed with her mark X. The witnesses were James and Mary Brown, Mary signed with her mark X. James Brown must have been a long-standing friend of Samuel because later in Victoria James Brown's name appears on the Birth Certificate of Samuel's daughter Julia as the informant. The family must have moved to Victoria soon after the marriage to Catherine, where six more children were born, namely Costantine Donnes b. 1859, Julia Donnes b. 1860, Margaret Donnes b. 1863, Alexander Donnes b. 1865, Died 23/3/ 1865, 9 months old, Samuel James Donnes b. 1868, died 1/8/ 1868, aged 6 weeks, and David Donnes b. 1869. By putting together various pieces of information which I have received from various quarters I have placed these names in the chronological order in which I conclude they were born, of course I could be wrong, but I don't think so. From this it would appear that Samuel Donnes our Greek Great Grandfather had twelve children in all, came to Australia on the ship "Hope" in 1840 about the age of 25, he could have been a free settler or he could have "jumped ship". A few months after arriving in Australia he married an Irish girl Mary Ferns who arrived on the same ship, and it is probable, probably most likely that they met on the ship. He or rather they lived in Sydney where at one stage he ran a boarding house. They had been married 13 years when Mary died, a year later he married another Irish girl Catherine Riely aged 22, he was then 40. Catherine came from County Cavan Ireland and it is possible she could have been known to Mary Ferns the first wife even a relation as County Cavan adjoins County Westmeath in Ireland. There was about 17 years difference in their ages. The family apparently left Sydney about 1855 and took up residence at Fryers Creek in Victoria where they lived until he died in 1873 at the age of 58 years. This is a bare outline of my supposition of the life of this man, so far I have not been able to fill out any further detail about his way of life. (Collated by Benjamin Samuel Williams).

Sources

https://www.kythera-family.net/en/people/life-stories/my-greek-grandfather-samuel-donnes

Acknowledgments

Thanks to Joan Gray for starting this profile.

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