From Castle Erkin to Cowra. 1844-1957.
The Walsh Family
by Margaret Wilkinson
INTRODUCTION and INDEX
CHAPTER
1. Castle Erkin, County Limerick
2. Mary (Walsh) Mallon 1824-1884 – Jugiong
3. Patrick Walsh 1817-1892 – Kikiamah
4. Catherine (Walsh) Hartigan 1815-1881 – Cargo
5. Thomas Walsh 1820-1899 – Court House Hotel, Cowra
6. William Walsh 1821-1905 – Forbes
7. Margaret (Walsh) O’Shaughnessy 1826-1885 – Cowra
8. Bridget (Walsh) Neville/Challacombe 1823-1881
9. Ellen (Walsh) Markham 1835-1916 – Spring Vale
Updates and corrections welcome to the author, Margaret Wilkinson, via the prosper email address below.
INTRODUCTION
My grandmother told me very little about her mother (Ellen Walsh, who married James Markham), except that she came from Limerick, ‘where they make lace’. I wanted to discover more about this small Irish woman who came to NSW about 1850, married James Markham and raised a family of seven tall sons and two strong daughters. I found that Ellen had three brothers and four sisters who also emigrated to Australia and one sister who remained on a farm in Castle Erkin, County Limerick.
A search through shipping records revealed that six members of the Walsh family arrived in 1844 on the St Vincent, while one married sister arrived on the Lord Stanley in 1850. Two old letters from Ireland given to me by Nell Pepper (a descendant of Thomas Walsh) led me back to a farm at Castle Erkin, County Limerick, where Ellen Walsh lived before emigrating to Australia. During this visit in 1983 I also met a descendant of Sarah Walsh (Denis O’Dea) who then lived on a dairy farm at Ballyphilip, County Limerick.
In an attempt to learn more about Ellen Walsh I contacted descendants of her brothers and sisters in New South Wales and recorded what they knew of family history. The diary of Thomas O’Shaughnessy held by the Cowra Historical Association also recorded events in the life of his wife (Margaret Walsh) and her brothers and sisters. For me, Ellen Walsh is no longer just a photograph on my grandmother’s wall and a name on the Markham monument in the Darby’s Falls cemetery.