Patrick Griffin Jnr (1840 - 1906)

Born 20 Sep 1840 in East Maitland, NSW

Died 7 Aug 1906 at age 65 in Uralla, NSW

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Beverley Russell [send private message]

Biography

Patrick Junior was the second of the eight children born to Patrick & Bridget (Hunt) Griffin: born 20 September and baptised 27 September 1840 in the Parish of East Maitland.

It is not known where Patrick grew up, but his father died in 1866 and those papers refer to him as "late of Coorumbung [Cooranbong] in the Colony of New South Wales, Farmer".

Patrick became a very successful businessman in Uralla, NSW. He was well-reputed amongst the woolgrowers of the Northern Tablelands for the quality of presentation of their fleeces and high prices obtained at the Sydney Wool Sales after passing through Patrick's wool-washing works on Kentucky Creek, near Uralla, He had been in sole operation for many years until going into partnership with M.J. McMahon (later elected Mayor) in the mid-1880s and building new works along Kentucky Creek. (Patrick's obituary mentions earlier involvement in wool-scouring at Salisbury on the Williams River, north of Maitland.)

When his mother died in 1885 it was "at her son's residence, Commercial Hotel, Uralla". There are other indications that Patrick may have owned the Commercial, but from mid-1887 he was certainly the owner of the Royal Hotel, Uralla, which he then leased to P. McHugh. That purchase included "a large two-storey brick store and a small brick shop" and it seems Patrick also owned a produce and supplies business.

He was also involved in community affairs: in 1887 appointed a Trustee of the land dedicated for a racecourse at Uralla; over all the years being host to the celebration of many community events; and very active in the affairs of the Catholic faith, in the lead-up to the opening of a Catholic Church in Uralla in 1882 and thereafter.

Patrick died suddenly at age 66, leaving his wife and two daughters. The cause was reported in the Maitland Mercury of 18 August as being "cardiac syncope"; perhaps it was the result of coronary artery disease. (Patrick Snr had died at 68 years of age "after a long and painful illness".) Patrick's obituary says that he had lived in the district for 30 years.

Thomas, Patrick's elder brother, had moved to the district soon after his marriage in 1865, and was employed on Kentucky Station all his life. In retirement, he and wife Margaret moved into Walcha and eventually to Uralla where he died in 1919. Patrick's younger sister, Theresa McGuinness, lived all her adult life in the Cooranbong and Lake Macquarie region, dying at Toronto in 1919 at age 72, almost exactly three months after Thomas.

Thomas, Patrick, and Theresa were the only children to survive to adulthood, five of their siblings dying in infancy.

Sources

See also:

• Birth: NSW Registry V1840786 121A/1840
• Death: NSW Registry 10753/1906
• Obituary: http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/108028616