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the family of james belcher of waterford, ireland - University of ...

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2 CHAPTER 1. FIRST GENERATION 1792 - 1813<br />

Figure 1.1: People charging towards a work house in <strong>the</strong> hope <strong>of</strong> finding food and a place to sleep at<br />

night without <strong>the</strong> thought <strong>of</strong> hunger or sleeping in <strong>the</strong> bitter cold Irish country side.<br />

and two sons in Ireland, Edward (c. 1814), Mary Ann (c. 1819 at Mount Rath), John<br />

(c. April 1821 at Dublin? , according to his death certificate), Eliza ( c. 1828 at<br />

Mount Rath) and Sarah (c. 1833 in Queen’s County, probably also at Mount Rath.).<br />

There were also 3 o<strong>the</strong>r children who had died in Ireland. Nothing is known <strong>of</strong> Mary<br />

Quinn but her name, but a Quinn <strong>family</strong> were hotel-keepers in Mount Rath in <strong>the</strong><br />

1820s. See Figure 1.4.<br />

James came to Australia in about 1856, as a widower, and lived with his daughter<br />

Sarah Cupit, at 56 Queen Street, West Melbourne until he died <strong>of</strong> Chronic Bronchitis<br />

at <strong>the</strong> age <strong>of</strong> 70 on 22 April 1862. He is buried in <strong>the</strong> “New Melbourne” Cemetery, in<br />

<strong>the</strong>“Joyce”grave, in<strong>the</strong>Church<strong>of</strong>EnglandCompartment,SectionM,Grave158, but<br />

does not have his name on <strong>the</strong> headstone. (The death certificate <strong>of</strong> Eliza suggested<br />

that her mo<strong>the</strong>r was Eliza Belcher, but Sarah, <strong>the</strong> youngest daughter, claimed Mary<br />

Quinn as her mo<strong>the</strong>r on her marriage to Charles Cupit in 1858, when her fa<strong>the</strong>r was<br />

surelyinAustraliatocorrectanyerror. Hisdeathcertificatedoesnotsuggestasecond<br />

wife!) There is <strong>family</strong> tradition that a Dolly Raisin (probably Reason) was a <strong>family</strong><br />

ancestor and could have been John’s grandmo<strong>the</strong>r. The existence <strong>of</strong> an ancestor, a<br />

Colonel Belcher, has also been passed down through <strong>the</strong> <strong>family</strong>. No documentary<br />

evidence has been discovered to support ei<strong>the</strong>r <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>se traditions. (There was a

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