Eleanor (O'Reilly) Lynch (abt. 1824 - 1894)

Born about 1824 in Cavan, Ireland [uncertain]

Wife of William Lynch — married 4 Aug 1845 in Sydney, New South Wales

Descendants

Died 20 May 1894 at about age 70 in Paddington, Sydney, New South Wales

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Biography

Birth

• Eleanor (Ellen) is estimated born in about 1824 (age on birth certificate of daughter) to 1827 (estimate from age at death given in family death notice)
• She probably born in Cavan, Ireland (daughter's birth certificate)
• Her parents were Hugh O'Reilly and Phoebe (as per death record).
• It is not known if she had any siblings.

Baptism

• She was baptised a Catholic in about 1827 in Ireland.

Migration

• There is no current data on her migration
• Given the shortage of women in the colony a girl of marrying age was able to get passage to Australia and perhaps find a better life

Marriage

• Eleanor met and married William Lynch on 4 August 1845 at St. Mary's Church in Sydney. He was 27 and she was between 18 to 21. She would have needed permission to marry if she was 18 and a minor and it is not mentioned on her marriage certificate.
• She could not read or write and had to make her mark when she signed her marriage certificate
• William and Eleanor had 7 children - David, Eleanor, Elizabeth, William, John, Mary and Frances.

Later Life

• In around 1880 her husband a publican and ran the Greenwood Tree Hotel at 184 Oxford Street.
• He and his family lived at the hotel.
• William died shortly afterwards on 20 May 1880 at the Greenwood Hotel and the licence was transferred to Eleanor who then took over running the hotel.
• Eleanor later passed the licence over to her son in law, William Henry Stephens

Death and Burial

• She died on 20 May 1894 at her home at the Greenwood Tree Hotel in Oxford Street, Paddington, Sydney.
• On an unknown date (presumably in May 1894) she was buried with her husband in the Catholic Section of Waverley Cemetery in Section 12 Vaults, Row 7.

Sources

• Australia, Marriage Certificate
• Australia, Marriage Index, 1788-1950
• Australia, Death Index. 1787-1985
• Sydney, Australia, Cemetery Headstone Transcriptions, 1837-2003
• Australia, Newspaper Vital Notices, 1841-2001 / Sydney Morning Herald, Monday 21 May 1894 / Death Notices

LYNCH - May 20,1894 at her residence Greenwood Tree Hotel, Oxford-street, Paddington. Eleanor, relict of the late William Lynch, of Paddington, aged 67 years. Requiescat in pace.