John Meade, Thomas and Mary Ann Roche

I know more about my GX3 Grandparents than I do their Granddaughter Mary Agnes. Mary Agnes is the daughter of Catherine (nee Meade) baptised at St Mary's RC in 1794. Her mother, Mary Anne (nee Roche) died the following year, probably giving birth to another daughter Mary Anne. There were other children - John, Thomas, Richard, Thomas Roche (who was Major Thomas Roche Meade, Deputy-Assistant Adjutant General at Horse Guards in London).  John Meade, Thomas married a second time in 1797 to a Mary Ankettle. They had one son, Stephen Meade who became a Solicitor.  I have found baptisms of all the Meade children except for Thomas Roche Meade and Mary-Anne.

In the administration of his estate dated December 1849, reference is made to Thomas Roche Meade's only next of kin being Stephen Meade (half brother) Kate Fitzmaurice (widow) and Mary Anne Burgess, Widow. Kate, at this time was living in Catherine Street Limerick.

On the death certificate of my GX2 Grandmother Mary Agnes, it is stated that the name of her mother was Mary Katherine, maiden name 'Meade' and that her father was a Henry Fitzmaurice, Army Captain. I have never found a marriage certificate to this effect.

On the birth certificate of Mary Agnes's first daughter (born in Australia in 1856) Mary Agnes states that her maiden name is 'Williamson'. She had another five children and where, on the birth certificate, it is asked what her maiden name is, she writes 'unknown'.  It is not until she marries a Mark Powell in 1862 that she starts stating that her maiden name is 'Fitzmaurice'.

In the marriage notice of my Great Grandmother, Selina Mary Violet (third child from Mary Agnes' first liaison with a 'Robert Grant') there is reference to the late John Meade Thomas, the late Richard Meade and the late Major Roche Meade. There is also claim that Selina is the Granddaughter  of the Late Henry James Fitzmaurice, captain of H.M. 3rd Buffs,Great Granddaughter of the late James Fitzmaurice, Esq., Ballybunion House, Kerry, Ireland,Great grandniece of the late Lord Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, Marquis of Lansdown and Duke (Earl) of Kerry.Also (Great) granddaughter of the late John Thomas Meade Esq., (John Meade Thomas) Limerick and Belle View, Castle Connell (Castleconnell).Grandniece of the late Major (General) Roach (Roche) Meade R.H.A.R.G.O Horse Guards and Grandniece of the late Richard Harold Meade, Esq., of Belle View, Castle Connell, Ireland.

In the birth and death certificates of her children, Mary Agnes states in some that she was born in Ireland and in a couple of others, she says her birthplace was Jersey. I have a 98 year old Aunt who recalls being told that Mary Agnes was as 'Irish as paddies pigs'. She must have been very young when she first had children. Her age on her children's birth certificates puts her as being born in 1837 give or take a few years.

We also have in the family, miniatures of Major Thomas Roche Meade, and documentation showing the distribution of Mrs Kate Fitzmaurice's share of her inheritance from her brother. This document also shows two sums of money being sent in 1850 and 1851 to Sydney Australia. There is no mention on the document as to who the money was sent.

I have the baptism record of Catherine Meade but I have no record of any marriage of Catherine to either a Williamson or a Fitzmaurice, although there are quite a few mentions of Mrs Kate Fitzmaurice, widow.  I have even found a newspaper article in The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper of NSW in 1854 from a Stephen Meade of Limerick, seeking his 'aunt' Mrs Fitzmaurice, otherwise known as Mrs O'Kelly.

I have found a record of a Mary A Williamson of Ireland arriving in Australia  in 1851.  We have no marriage record of Mary Agnes marrying a Robert Grant - the supposed father of her first three children.

Now that I have told you this story, do you see any pattern in Mary Agnes' life that might shine some light of where she might have been born, why she might have come to Australia and where her mother was married. Catherine Meade's mother, Mary Anne (nee Roche) was, as per a newspaper article annoucing her marriage to John Meade, Thomas, 'an amiable and accomplished young woman with a large fortune'. She married in 1785 and died in 1795 leaving six young children. What would have happened to her large fortune? Would her husband John Meade, Thomas have got it or could there be some Deed providing for her children which kept her money separate from her husband.  It's all a mystery. Can anyone help me?  Cheers Helen