Lucky

For this week's #52ancestors, the theme is Lucky. So today, being St Patrick's Day and all, we will discover William Buckley, who is Andrew's father's mother's mother's father (so his 2nd great grandfather). 

William was born in Ferbane, Offaly County (formerly Kings County), Ireland in about 1834 (I haven't been able to find a reliable record of this - it is estimated from other documents). His father was Carson (or perhaps William) Buckley and his mother was Julie Doyle.

I think he came to Australia as a free settler in April 1857 on the FitzJames. He married an Irish lass Margaret McBrien when he was 25 in Parramatta, NSW in January 1859. They had 13(!!!) children, one of whom was Julia Catherine Buckley born in 1873, who went on to have Sabina Langdon in 1893, who was Andrew's paternal grandmother.
William worked as a labourer and died in October 1918 in Toongabbie, aged 84.
In Australia, there was another famous William Buckley, who was an English convict who ran away in 1803 to live with the local Wathaurung mob in Victoria, rather than be transported to Tasmania. He was supposed dead. His improbable survival is believed by many Australians to be the source of the vernacular phrase "you've got Buckley's or none" (or simply "you've got Buckley's"), which means "no chance", or "it's as good as impossible". I reckon our William Buckley was a pretty lucky chap too!
By Frederick William Woodhouse - The first settlers discover Buckley at the State Library of Victoria, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=14707697

The cave believed to have been the other William Buckley's home at Point Lonsdale, Victoria




Comments

  1. Night Owl 6722 March 2018 at 21:41

    Did you see my posts for International Women's Day and St Patrick's Day yet (for A Piece of my Art)?

    ReplyDelete

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