Esther Coogan

Hello again Patricia!

I went back and looked at the Charles Quinn message and saw that our Newry parish liaison had already looked into Esther without any results. Maybe someone else will have some thoughts. All the best on your trip! I'm sure you are really looking forward to seeing all the areas where your ancestors came from.

Roger McDonnell

Hi Roger,

Sorry to have bothered you again.  I looked up all your comments regarding Charles Quinn, and then thought that because I had titled the message Charles Quinn, that perhaps we had overlooked poor Esther.  

Esther had a terrible time, as she was living in Tasmania which would have been a very hostile place to live then.  She had 4 children and was a widow by the age of 29.  So then she had to put 2 of her children in an orphanage so she could work to survive, and then married one of the other soldiers in her deceased husbands section.  She then went on to have another 3 children to the next husband.  She moved all over NSW and had a very hard life.  She died at the age of 75.

Thank you for all your help.

Patricia Quinn

Hi Patricia. I know this is an old thread, but Charles and Esther were my ggg grandparents also. I am from the Wollongong Quinn's.
As you say, Esther married James Woodley after Charles died, however the marriage does not seem to have lasted long, as by 1835 she was already in a de facto relationship with ex convict John Walters.
As far as we are aware Esther had no more living children. She was pregnant with Walters being the father in I think 1837 (?) (I don't have my notes handy, sorry) but the baby was born dead due to the incompetence of a convict who was acting as a medical attendant. There was a case brought against him, you can look it up under R vs Kirkwood. So, not sure where you get the 3 extra children from?
After James Woodley's death Esther married Walters; he died in 1861. The last trace of Esther is as witness to the birth of her grandson Charles Quinn in 1861. He was the son of Charles Wellington Quinn and Anne Jane Clarke, and he was my great grandfather.
I keep seeing on various trees that Esther died in 1875, I can only think that this incorrect information has been copied onto trees without checking. If you look at that death certificate it's clear that it's not our Esther.
As for her origins in Newry, perhaps we'll never know. I have seen her name written as Hesse Corgan as well!

An amendment: I meant to say " I keep seeing she died at the age of 75"