Stormy weather and a dedication

Horgan memorial window
Sts John and Paul
 Catholic Church, Tarlee, S.A.

A downpour of 52 mm of rain in an hour accompanied by loud thunder and lightning reminded me of one of my mother’s sayings. She explained thunder to her small children as  “God moving his furniture around upstairs”.

No furniture was moved in the recent storm but we awoke the next morning to see many of the wooden sleepers in our pathway had been floated from their gravel bed. Minor damage indeed compared to the damage done to farmer’s crops throughout the years by storms or rain at inopportune times.

On investigating the condition of farming near Tarlee for Honora Horgan and her sons in the time shortly after husband John’s death in 1883, I found this report of conditions at the completion of harvest in 1885.

The correspondent was answering these 7 questions posed by a circular from The Adelaide Observer.
Harvest Returns

1. What is the name and the extent of the country you report upon?
2. What is the area of land reaped this year, and how much more than last year?
3. What is the general estimate of the average yield of wheat per acre in your district ?
4. What area is under hay, and what is your estimate of the yield thereof ?
5. Have the wheat crops been injured? Cause of injury ? Extent of injury ?
6. Is your district below or above Goyder's line of rainfall ? How much land is under fallow in your district?
7. General remarks, stating whether your land was scarified, ploughed, or mullenized, and how sown.

 The correspondent's responses 

1. Tarlee East to Taylor's Range, Tarlee West to the Alma Range, Tarlee North to Macaw Creek, Tarlee South four miles. [ed. Honora’s farm was 5.5 miles south, close enough for these figures to provide a picture of farming in the district]
2. About the same as last year.
3 From 7 to 8 bushels.
4. About sufficient for local requirements; 20 cwt. to the acre.
5. Yes, Frosts, redrust, takeall and the severe storms. June too wet, July too dry. Five bushels per acre.
6. Below. More fallow than usual.
7. About one-third fallow, one-third ploughed, the remainder scarified twice. None mullenized. Seed sower and by the hand. The red rust worst in the rich land in the hills, paddocks that promised up to 25 bushels going from 8 to 16 bushels. New Zealand oats yielded up to 27 bushels, and to 2 tons per acre for bay.¹

Severe storms and crop diseases, indeed not an encouraging report for the struggling family. Life was certainly not easy for our ancestors.


Goyder's line of rainfall In 1870 a Land Bill was introduced into parliament to limit the subdivision of land deemed suitable for crops.²  Goyder had carried out a survey of South Australia in 1865 and established a 'line' above which less than 10 inches of rain in a year could be expected. The land north of this line was deemed suitable for pastoral use only, not to be cropped.

Take-all is a fungal disease of the roots of wheat and other cereals..³

Mullenized: Wikipedia provides this explanation

Mullenizing involved dragging a heavy roller over roughly cleared ground to crush young shoots; the field was then burnt, and a spiked log was run over the ground, and a crop of wheat sown. The next season, the stubble and any mallee regrowth was again burnt, and eventually the mallee died, though stumps remained underground.⁴

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Detail of dedication at base of
Horgan memorial window

Even though life was difficult, Honora and her family contributed in many ways to their community. The newly built Catholic Church in Tarlee had been opened in 1877 and they attended Mass there regularly.

Some years after John's 1883 death, Honora donated a beautiful stained glass window to the church. It is dedicated to her husband's memory and that of her parents, Andrew and Catherine O'Leary.

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1. 1885 'HARVEST RETURNS.', Adelaide Observer (SA : 1843 - 1904), 14 February, p. 10. , viewed 02 Mar 2017, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article160735113
2. 1870 'The Advertiser FRIDAY, JUNE 3, 1870.', The South Australian Advertiser (Adelaide, SA : 1858 - 1889), 3 June, p. 2. , viewed 02 Mar 2017, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article28592088
3. Soil Quality http://www.soilquality.org.au/factsheets/take-all-disease viewed 2 March 2017
4. Stump-jump plough https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stump-jump_plough viewed 2 March 2017

The family rally around

What a challenge Honora Horgan faced in 1883. Her husband John Horgan died at 48 years old leaving her at age 43 on their farm at Linwood, South Australia with six children. In her own grief how did she manage to console her children? Thomas was 16, Andrew 14, Catherine 11, John 8, Johanna 7 and Nora 5.  The land was in her husband’s name and while a Married Women’s Property Bill was currently before the Legislative Assembly it did not come into effect until 1884.¹ 

How would she manage? Apart from the heavy work of farming required, who would handle the business matters? There were still meals to be cooked, vegetables to tend and livestock needing attention. Her boys were accustomed to farm work but really too young to take on the management tasks needed.

Honora’s brother, David Joseph O’Leary lived nearby on a farm at Stockport. He had lost his young wife Mary Johanna, in an accident in 1878² when his two children were only toddlers. It is not hard to imagine that he would then have turned to his sister Honora for her assistance and support. Now it was his turn to lend a helping hand.

John Horgan’s younger brother Daniel, together with his wife Julia and their five young children were living on a farm at Taylor’s Gap near Tarlee. His older sister Johanna, who had married John Hogan. also lived on a neighbouring farm. Older brother Thomas had taken up land further north in South Australia at Mintaro. It was time for the family to rally around Honora.



Business matters were handled by the local solicitor in Kapunda who by October of 1883 advertised as shown in this newspaper clipping.³

So we see three close family members acting as executors; David O’Leary, John Hogan and Daniel Horgan. These three names then appear again on the land titles as they took over the management of the mortgage responsibilities. Probate was settled at £216 10s in October 1883. ⁴

Many years of hard work followed with all her children remaining and working with Honora on the property. Drought years such as that of 1891 made life difficult. The crops that had been sown in hard ground withered away with lack of rain. Some farmers had to avoid seeding altogether as the ground was too hard.⁵

Honora and her family were devout members of the Catholic faith. Each Sunday they travelled to attend Mass at either Saints John and Paul Church at Tarlee which was the nearest, or St Mary’s in Hamley Bridge. The extreme heat of summer and the depths of a cold rainy winter saw them dressed in Sunday best, those long layers of hot clothing of the day, travelling 5 or 9 miles each way either in an open top buggy or a covered wagon. What delight they must have shared after the first purchase of a car in the early 1920s for more comfortable and covered travel. Tarlee Catholic Church documents show that she and her family contributed generously to Christmas, Easter and other special appeals.

When Honora was 66, second son Andrew married and moved to his new wife’s (Elizabeth Smyth) property at Alma. At age 69 she saw her youngest daughter Nora marry John McInerney.  Grandchildren brought new pleasures to her and the adult unmarried members of her family. Visits to their grandmother, aunts and uncles were a feature of school holidays for the grandchildren.  By the time she was 80 she had three Horgan and eight McInerney grandchildren and is seen in the photo above with son Andrew and eldest grand-daughter Hanora Mary Horgan.

At age 86 she was still living on the farm at Linwood with unmarried sons Thomas and John (known as Jack) and daughters Catherine (Kate) and Johanna who were also unmarried. Perhaps the loss of their father all those years ago and the subsequent toil to retain the farm had caused them to stay with their mother rather than marry. Johanna’s health was poor and at the age of 49 after much suffering she died. So in September of 1926 at St John’s, near Kapunda, Honora buried her daughter with her beloved husband. Much sympathy was extended to the family as Johanna was well known and loved as attested to in several obituaries published after her death.⁶

Honora’s health was fading with age and on September 25 in 1927 she died at home on her farm at Linwood. So ended a life full of joys and struggles that had begun long ago and far away in that green isle over the seas.


Mrs. Honorah Horgan.
Another of the few remaining links with the early history of South Australia has been served by the death, on September 25, of Mrs. Honorah Horgan, of Linwood. She came from Charleville, County Cork, Ireland, with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Andrew O'Leary, and two brothers, in the ship Mary Dugdale, which arrived at Port Adelaide in 1840. She was consequently a colonist of 87 years. Mr. O'Leary worked in the Government service for some years, and then purchased land at Salisbury. He possessed working bullocks, wooden harness, and a single wheel plough.

The deceased lady was married early in life to the late Mr. John Horgan, of Tarlee, who purchased a farm at Pine Creek, near Linwood, where she resided with her family until her death. She had a family of seven children, five of whom survive.

They are Messrs. Tom and John Horgan, and Miss Kate Horgan, of Linwood; Mr. Andrew Horgan, of Alma Plains; and Mrs. John Mclnerney, of Riverton. Her surviving brothers are Messrs. David, Edmund, W. J., and J. F. O'Leary, of Salisbury, and her surviving sister, Miss C. M. O'Leary. ⁷

Honora was buried at St Johns near Kapunda with her husband and daughter. This second obituary below, published in the Southern Cross, adds further details.

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OBITUARY
MRS. HONORA HORGAN,
LINWOOD

In the death of Mrs. Honora Horgan, who died at her residence, Linwood, on September 20, we have lost one who, as a practical Catholic, as a mother, and as a friend, had few superiors.

She was the eldest daughter of the late Mr. Andrew O'Leary, who was one of the earliest settlers on the Para Plains.

With his wife and three children, one of whom, was the late Mrs. Horgan, he came from Bullivant, County Cork, where she was born on December 7, 1839. They arrived in Port Adelaide in the ship Mary Dugdale, in 1840, and Mr. O'Leary lived in Adelaide and Thebarton for some years, until he saved sufficient to purchase a section of land at Salisbury, with some working bullocks, and the primitive implements in use then. When a young girl Mrs. Horgan knew the hardships, and the pleasures also, of an occasional trip to Adelaide in a bullock dray, and though she loved to enjoy the comfort of a fastly driven motor car, there was a halo around the old bullock dray that lingered lovingly in her memory. When quite young she married Mr. John Horgan and moved to Linwood, where she lived up to the time of her death.

In the early days Mass was celebrated at Navan, Pinkerton Plains, and Kapunda; and the nearest of these was twelve miles distant, and she was no fair weather Christian, for on alternate Sundays during the vigors of winter or the scorching heat of summer, she went these long miles to Mass, and always fasting, for her devotion to the Blessed Sacrament was intense. Her home was a model one, where religion was the basis of all action and an example of what a Catholic home should be.

After the death of her husband, her family being still young, she had a long, hard struggle, but helped valiantly by her children she surmounted, the difficulties, and spent her declining days as the idol of her family, beloved by her neighbors, honored by her acquaintances, and blessed for her charity and big hearted hospitality. During her illness she had the untiring attention of the Rev Father Brady and Father O'Hara, of Riverton.

She leaves three sons: Andrew, of Alma Plains, and Tom and John, of Linwood; and two daughters, Miss Kate Horgan, Linwood, and Mrs. John McInerney, of Riverton. Two daughters pre-deceased her. Her surviving brothers are David, and W. J. and John O'Leary, of Salisbury, and Edmund O'Leary, North Adelaide, and her only surviving sister, Miss C. O'Leary, of Salisbury.

Her funeral was largely attended, and her remains interred at St. John's, near Kapunda, the family burying place, where Rev. Father Gurry, of Kapunda, performed the last rites assisted by the Right Rev. Monsignor Maher, and the Revs. Fr. Brady, Fr. OHara, Fr. Denny, Fr. Horgan and Fr. O'Sullivan. R.I.P.⁸

In October 1927 her family expressed their thanks with this newspaper bereavement notice:

HORGAN.—The FAMILY of the late Mrs. HANORA HORGAN are deeply GRATEFUL to all Relatives, Friends and Neighbours for kindness and sympathy in their sad bereavement.⁹

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Genealogy Snapshot

Name: Honora Horgan
Parents: Andrew O'Leary and Catherine Burke
Spouse: John Horgan

Relationship to Carmel: Great grandmother

1. Honora (O'Leary) Horgan 1839 - 1927
2. Andrew Joseph Horgan 1869 - 1951
3. Edward John Horgan 1908 - 1992
4. Carmel

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1. Married Women's Property Act (No 300 of 46 and 47 Vic, 1883-4) http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/sa/num_act/mwpa300o46a47v18834383/ viewed 19 February 2017

2. 1878 'CORONER'S INQUESTS.', Kapunda Herald (SA : 1878 - 1951), 7 May, p. 3. , viewed 19 Feb 2017, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article106559690

3. 1883 'Advertising', Kapunda Herald (SA : 1878 - 1951), 19 October, p. 2. , viewed 20 Feb 2017, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article106576467

4. 1883 PROBATE AND LETTERS OF ADMINISTRATION.', South Australian Register (Adelaide, SA : 1839 - 1900), 12 October, p. 4. , viewed 20 Feb 2017, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article43609186

5. 1891 'COUNTRY INTELLIGENCE.', Kapunda Herald (SA : 1878 - 1951), 12 June, p. 3. , viewed 20 Feb 2017, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article108357341

6. 1926 'COUNTRY NEWS.', The Register (Adelaide, SA : 1901 - 1929), 7 September, p. 2. , viewed 20 Feb 2017, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article54867232

7. 1927 'OBITUARY NOTICES.', Observer (Adelaide, SA : 1905 - 1931), 15 October, p. 48. , viewed 20 Feb 2017, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article168271964

8. 1927 'OBITUARY', Southern Cross (Adelaide, SA : 1889 - 1954), 7 October, p. 15. , viewed 20 Feb 2017, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article167803965

9.1927 'Advertising', Saturday Journal (Adelaide, SA : 1923 - 1929), 29 October, p. 30. , viewed 20 Feb 2017, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article199276637

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This post first appeared at http://earlieryears.blogspot.com/2017/02/the-family-rally-around.html

The name O’Dea

The O’Deas on my maternal side came from County Clare. This piece below, now published on several websites, appeared in The Freeman’s Journal of 1882. The journal was first published in June of 1850 with a focus on Catholic and Irish issues. It continued with this title until a name change in 1932.

O’DEA
The O'Deadhadhs, or Deas, are of Milesian extraction, springing from Aenghus Cinnatrach, fifth son of Cais, of the race of Oliol Ollum, King of Munster. The O'Deas were formerly chiefs of Triocha Cead Cinal Fermaic, otherwise Triocha Ougbterach, or the upper district, and Diseart ni Dreadbadth, now the parish, of Dysart O'Dea, in the barony of Inchiquin, and county Clare, comprising about 24,000 acres statute measure.

The chiefs of this territory are thus mentioned by O'Heerin is his topographical poem:
With due respect we first treat
Of the higher lands of Triocha Oughter;
O'Dea is the inheritor of the country
Of the nut producing plains.

In very early—times a branch of this family removed to the county of Tipperary, where, in the barony of Slieveardagh, they became possessed of an extensive estate, as we are informed by O'Heerin m these lines —
Slieve Arde of the fair lands
O'Dea inherits as his estate.

The O'Deas had several castles in their original territory of Cinel Fermaic, the tribe name of this family, where at the present day some ruins of their castle of Dysart may be seen. The following notices of the O'Deas are collected from the "Annals of the Four Masters," and various other sources : —
A.D. 1106, Raghnall O'Dea died.
A.D. 1151, Flaherty O'Dea was slain at the battle of Moin Moir, in the county of Cork.
A.D. 1311, Lochlin Riavach, or the Swarthy O'Dea, was slain by Mahon son of Donal Conochtach, I.e., the Conacian O'Brien.
A.D 1400, Cornelius O'Dea, Archdeacon of Killaloe, was consecrated Bishop of Limerick in this year, and obtained possession of the temporals of the see in the year following. He resigned his sacred office in 1426, and lived in seclusion until his death, which took place on the 27th July, 1434. He was entered in the cathedral, where a monument of black Marble was erected to his memory by his worthy successor, John Mottel, Canon of Kells.
A.D. 1588, Mahon O'Dea, son of Lochlin, son of Rory, son of Murrogh, son of Mahon Boy, lord of Cinel Fermaic, died.
A.D 1589, Dermod O'Dea, son of Dermod, son of Denis, son of Dermod son of Conor, son of — I.e., the Bishop of Limerick— son of Murrogh-an-Dana, died, and was interred in the church of Dysart-Tola, in the town of Dysart.

To some of our readers it may seem strange that Conor O'Dea, being Bishop of Limerick, should have a son ; but to the reader of ecclesiastical history this is a matter of no surprise, several of the religious establishments in their country in Ireland are the foundations of kings; princes, and chiefs, who to leave their names inscribed on Fame's emblazoned roll when Glory's proud fane blazed brightly from afar, wasted their patrimonial estates, and shed the life-blood of some hundreds of their subjects in useless strife ; and now, when the fire of youth, the heat of passion, or the love of revenge had ceased to burn in their bosoms, and their beloved consorts, the parents of their joys and sorrows, are called to their last resting place, their younger sons are scattered over the land, and the eldest son takes a stranger's daughter to wife, and entrusts her with the government of his ancestral hall, the old chief lays aside the glittering armour stained in many a well-fought field, and takes the habit of a friar in some time honoured convent, endowed by his ancestors, whence he is taken in the course of years, and invested with the episcopal dignity.

A.D. 1548, Dermod, son, of Edmund, son of Rory O'Dea, of Tully O'Dea, was slain by the insurgents of the country of Clare, in the month of July, in this year. .

In the countries of Clare and Limerick the name O'Dea in the Irish is erroneously pronounced as if written "Dha;" in the county of Galway it is correctly enough pronounced "Dhia" and Dhea. The O'Deas were hereditary standard bearers of Thomond, where numerous families of the name are to be met with at the present day.

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1862 'O'DEA.', Freeman's Journal (Sydney, NSW : 1850 - 1932), 26 March, p. 2. , viewed 20 Jan 2017, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article115762909