Mary (Walker) Harney (abt. 1840 - 1930)

Born about Oct 1840 in Gogar Bank, Midlothian, Scotland [uncertain]

Ancestors

Wife of William Henry Vize — married 19 Oct 1860 in Sale, Victoria

Wife of John George Harney — married 8 Jun 1886 in Sale, Victoria

Descendants

Died 26 Aug 1930 at about age 89 in North Fitzroy, Victoria, Australia

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Biography

Mary was the daughter of Thomas Walker and Catharine Laing. No baptism record has been found. As she is first recorded on the 1841 census as age 6 months, her birth is estimated to be about October 1840^[1].

Her birth location is probably Gogar Bank, but as the family had moved around a lot until they settled in Edinburgh in the 1840s, this is not certain. The 1851 census gives her birthplace as Corstorphine^[2], her first marriage certificate as Gogargate Clackmannamshire^[3], her second marriage certificate as Clackmannamshire^[4], and her death certificate as Scotland^[5]. Clackmannanshire is close to other locations where Walker children were born, but I can find no reference to a place called Gogargate. Corstorphine is adjacent to Ratho and 3 miles from where the family lived in 1841. As this information was provided by her parents, it seems most likely she was born where the family lived in Gogar Bank and for practical reasons they saw themselves as living in Corstorphine parish. Old Corstorphine Church is given as a landmark for Gogar:

"The parish of Gogar is first mentioned in 1247, when the church was re-consecrated by Bishop David de Bernham of St Andrews. The re-consecrated means that the parish was already established at that time. In 1599 the parish was amalgamated with Corstorphine"[1]

In 1851 Mary's mother died^[6] and her father soon remarried. It is not known how the Walker children reacted to this, but it seems they all moved away. Mary, the youngest, left with her brother Bob and sister Catherine for a new life in Victoria at just 16 years of age. They sailed on the "David McIvor" arriving in Geelong on 7 April 1857^[7].

She lived in Geelong with her sister who had obtained work for a local bank manager, and moved to Sale when he was transferred there^[8]. Catherine married William Frederick Parker^[9], who apparently was a good friend of William Henry Vize, a local druggist, who Mary married the following year^[10].

Mary and William's first child was a baby girl, stillborn^[11]. It was later mentioned by family members that William was buried with an unknown baby, so likely this daughter^[12].

Mary and William went on to have a large family:

• William Henry (1862-1936)
• Charles Lucy (1864-1885)
• Frederick Parker (1866-1952)
• Robert Topping (1868-1956)
• Edgar (1870-1940)
• Helen Lucy (1872-1955)
• George Thomas (1874-1941)

William established a photography studio in Sale in 1865, later opening additional studios in Bairnsdale and Maffra^[13]. The family seems to have spent their time between these locations as some of the children's birth are recorded in Maffra and Lucknow (just outside Bairnsdale).

It appears that William continued his work as a druggist alongside his photographic endeavours, as in 1872 he was involved in a Coroner's Inquiry after Mary accidentally dispensed sulphuric acid to a patient suffering severe croup whilst he was away on a house call, and the child subsequently died. The death was ruled as due to the croup and Mary was never charged^[14].

William's health deteriorated and he died in 1878^[15]. It seems he had not done well financially, and the family was left in some poverty. Mary appears in several advertisements in the Gippsland Times from 1879-1888 as a seamstress, fruiterer, fish monger, cafe proprietor and boarding house keeper.

In 1886 she remarried to John George Harney^[16]. At this time she was running a boarding house in Bool Bool (George possibly lived there as he had the same address). In 1888 Mr and Mrs J. G. Harney (late Mrs Vize) advertised their boarding house "The Retreat" at Lakes Entrance^[17]. Mary's son went on to run a successful guest house in Lakes for many years^[18].

Mary and George were living in Melbourne by 1903^[19] where they remained until their deaths. They were able to obtain housing in the "Old Colonists' Home" in North Fitzroy by 1919^[20].

George [John George Harney] died in 1919^[21] and Mary in 1930^[22]. They were buried at the Heidelberg Cemetery.

Sources

1. ↑ 1841 Scotland census, household of Thomas Walker, Gogar Bank, Ratho, Midlothian
2. ↑ 1851 Scotland census, household of Thomas Walker, 13 King's Stables, Edinburgh St Cuthbert's
3. ↑ Victoria Marriages #74 Sale
4. ↑ Victoria Marriages #4347 Sale
5. ↑ Victoria Deaths #9052 Clifton Hill
6. ↑ OPR Deaths 685/02 0027 St Cuthbert's
7. ↑ Victoria, Australia, Assisted and Unassisted Passenger Lists, 1839–1923, "David McIvor" arrival Geelong 7 April 1857
8. ↑ Geoff Walker, unpublished "Robert Bell Walker Story"
9. ↑ Victoria Marriages #4487 Sale
10. ↑ Victoria Marriages #74 Sale
11. ↑ Melbourne Argus, 7 November 1861 "Births" p4
12. ↑ Judi Morrison, unpublished manuscript on the Vize family
13. ↑ https://www.daao.org.au/bio/william-henry-vize/biography/
14. ↑ Gippsland Times 2 April 1872 "Death of a Child at Bairnsdale" p.3
15. ↑ Victoria Deaths #42 Sale
16. ↑ Victoria Marriages #4347 Sale
17. ↑ Gippsland Times 26 September 1888 "The Retreat" p.1
18. ↑ Gippsland Times 27 February 1991 "Postcards from the Past" p.13
19. ↑ Australia, Electoral Rolls, 1903-1980, Southern Melbourne, Melbourne South 1903
20. ↑ Australia, Electoral Rolls, 1903-1980, Batman, Clifton Hill 1919
21. ↑ Victoria Death #11722 Clifton Hill
22. ↑ Victoria Deaths #9052 Clifton Hill

• Australia, Marriage Index, 1788-1950 Ancestry.com Publication: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc. Record Collection 1780
• Family correspondence with the late Dora Harney Maguire of Canberra, Australia.