Hannah (Barnes) Reardon Munday

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HANNAH (BARNES) REARDON MUNDAY · 21 October 2013 · Eve Mundy Longshaw, my Grandmother, said that she was many times called “The Little Princess” by he mother Hannah Mundy. One day Hannah told her that she is a real princess and if she ever got to England and, money had been left for Hannah, or her decendants by Hannah’s father. Hannah (Barnes) Reardon married Edward Munday. To begin with I did not know much about Hannah. My Grandmother said that her mother’s maiden name was Reardon. Yet, when a research of the civil records for the birth of her children was made, it was found that not all of her children were registered, but of those who were registered, said that the maiden name of the mother was Barnes. But with one exception, and that was with my Grandmother Eve, the maiden name was given as Reardon. Even on the marriage certificate of Edward and Hannah, the name of Barnes was given. I had often wondered why the entry on my grandmother was different. In looking more closely at the registration sheet, which is on microfilm, I found that at the far right edge of the paper was a column asking for the name and relationship of he informant. In most cases the informant was the Town Constable or the Vituallar, but in the case of Eve it said, “A close friend.” I found a letter written to my mother, Dorcas Longshaw Record, from her cousin Rita Reid, the daughter of Dorcas Mundy Reid. In this letter Rita said, “Grannies name was Hannah Reardon. As far as mum knows Grannie lived with Uncle Sam Barnes for a while when she was young . Mrs. Birchall & Mrs. Pitt were Grannies sisters and Bartell Reardon was a brother.” I also learned that Bartell is a nickname for Bartholomew. During our trip to Tasmania in 1993, we started to look at the Reardon family records. We found that an Elizabeth Nash married Bartholomew Reardon and they had eight children. Bartholomew was sent to Port Arthur (prison) for 7 years. Their 2nd child, Maria, married a William Pitt and the 4th child Sarah, married a James Birchall, and the 5th child was Bartholomew. I was told by my mother that Hannah stayed with the Longshaw family during her later life and these two sisters and mother would visit Hannah. While in Tasmania we were advised to read the book “THAT YESTERDAY WAS HOME”, by Ray Bridges. In this book he tells about his Aunt Sally Woods who is the sister of Elizabeth Nash Reardon, and how she had received convicts to work on the farm. One of the men assigned to work for her looked very much like King George IV. When she commented on this to him, he said, “Yes Maam, he was my Father”. Frank Green did not know the man’s name. Elizabeth had a very hard time while Bartholomew was in prison trying to raise the eight children and take care of the farm. She petitioned for convict help, but was turned down. The Reardon and the Woods farm were close to each other and we suspect that Sally lent her sister some of her convict help. Elizabeth’s oldest daughter Susannah went to work at the Sorell Inn, and that the Barnes family operated the Bream Creek Inn. There is no record of Elizabeth giving birth to another child while her husband was in jail, but other events indicate that this may have happened. It is not inconceivable that one of the convicts lent by Sally got too helpful. It was known that Bartholomew had a very bad temper and who knows what would have happened. Knowing this and that Mrs. Barnes was about to wean her son John, when Elizabeth gave birth and arranged for the Barnes family to raise the child who was born 2 years before his prison release. Looking into the Christening records, I find that there is a Christening of two children at the same time to Richard and Mary Ann Barnes. One child named John and the other named Hannah. John’s birth is 9 months and 2 weeks before Hannah. Furth research of Church records shows that at all of Hannah and Edward Mundy’s children’s christenings her maiden name is listed as REARDON. Written by Arthur J. Record, after a visit to Australia, in 1993.