Our Mullins and Hayes Family Story

Catherine Mullins, my (Tony) generation’s great paternal grandmother, had her origins in Ireland. She was born in 1844 to Stephen and Margaret Mullins (nee’ Hayes) being baptised in Croagh, Limerick, in the parish of Kilfinny on the 9th May 1844. Earlier there are two other baptism records listing Stephen and Margaret Mullins as parents and revealing the baptism of two of Catherine’s sisters. Alice baptized on 7 February 1839 and Margaret on the 17 February 1840. Thomas, the oldest of Catherine’s siblings, I believe was born in 1837, no baptism record for him so far, nor for John, the third child born in 1841.

Extracted from the Parish of Croagh Register, Limerick, Ireland

“Baptisms Nov. 3, 1843 – Oct. 31, 1859, pg 7” Ancestry.com.au

Kilfinney, Croagh Abby and graveyard

http://www.limerickdioceseheritage.org/CroaghKilfinny.htm

According to the records Stephano Mullins, Catherine’s father, was born around 1818 in Limerick, and as stated above had two sons and three daughters with Margaret Hayes, whom he married around 1836. Some background now to the historical times of Catherine and her family in Ireland. The year after Catherine’s birth, the “Great Irish Famine” of 1845- 1852 began. A rather tragic time in Irish history known has the “Great Hunger”, a period of mass starvation, disease, and emigration with consequences even beyond this so-called end date of 1852, especially for children in their formative years. The Famine is sometimes referred to as the “Irish Potato Famine”, because about two-fifths of the population were solely reliant on this cheap crop for a number of shameful British policy reasons prior to the blight. During the famine, approximately one million people died and a million more migrated from Ireland, causing the island's population to fall by between 20% and 25%. This period of 8 years of depredation would have been felt by Catherine’s family and was most likely all she and her siblings might have known and maybe explaining the reason for the Mullins children's migration to the Cape Colony and as will be seen beyond the Cape. The below short UTube video below is worth a watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiEQ4ZAB5NA A longer and more detailed background to Catherine’s childhood social and economic world can be found here: https://belfastchildis.com/2015/07/16/the-great-famine-part-1-2/comment-page-1/ (I would classify the video M) While the below video and its links tells of the Great Famine from an Irish American perspective it is a relevant background to our Mullins and Hayes Family story. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Inyjgmsz20 Via my having my DNA analysed and compared with other Ancestry.com’s members I can confirm our Stephen and Margaret link. This is via Margaret’s Hayes family with who I have made contact in sharing DNA with them. A number of Margaret’s family members emigrated to Australia in the early 1800’s, but that's another story J We do not know any great detail of the Mullins family lives over the 1840’s and early 50’s other than to know from the above that this was a very difficult time for most Irish families. Nor do we know the subsequent story of Stephen and Margaret who it can be assumed stayed on in Ireland to old age or possibly died in the famine. What we do know is that Thomas, Catherine's eldest brother, at the age of 20, left Plymouth in the UK for the Cape Colony on board the immigrant sailing ship the "Vocalist" on the 7th May 1857. As to how he landed up in Plymouth we can only make the following possible suppositions. The "Vocalist" whilst ostensibly was contracted to carry British immigrants to the Cape Colony, it also had passengers from the sailing ship “Boanerges”, which had left Liverpool with immigrants for Australia in early February of that year.

"Nothing particular occurred in the voyage until the 22nd of February, blowing a strong gale from S.W., with a head cross-sea, found the foremast head sprung, about three feet

over the rigging ; kept the ship away, to save the foremast, which caused her to roll so violently as to rend the top gallant mast over the side with the foretopmast head, found the mainmast head slightly split, and the pumps choked; cleared the wreck and bore up for Cork; considered the cause of the ship rolling so violently to a part of the cargo (iron) being stowed too low, and in too small a space, the quantity of iron on board being about 300 tons. In consequence of the condition of the ship, considered it the safest to bear up as they did, and reached Cork on the 24th, where on survey it was deemed advisable to take out a portion of the cargo, for the purpose of re-stowing the iron and clearing the pump-well, and putting in a new foremast”

(The Sydney Morning Herald. Mon 18 May 1857. Pg. 4.)

It’s possible that Thomas may have somehow joined the sailing ship “Boanerges” in Cork with the intention of sailing to Australia. Plans of which were then disrupted by further bad weather, as can be seen by the below reference.

“This vessel ( Boanerges) having put into Cork to repair damages received in a gale at sea, sailed thence on the 30th March. She again met with bad weather, and losing her topmasts put into Plymouth on the 6th April. Such of her emigrants as desired to continue their voyage were sent forward in the “Vocalist”, which sailed on the 7th May [1857]. She, the “Boanerges” later departed for Australia on 15 July, 1857. Price of adult ticket £13.19.03.

( http://www.theshipslist.com/ships/australia/1856-1857.shtml )

Leaving Plymouth on the 7th May 1857, the “Vocalist” sailed for the Cape Colony with Thomas on board. This we know from extracts taken from Esmé Bull's book, “Aided Immigration from Britain to South Africa, 1857-1867”,

“Capt.: Magnus Flett; SS: Patrick Culhane; This was a comfortable, airy ship with good height between decks. The health of passengers was excellent and conduct exemplary. An address of appreciation was handed to the surgeon by the settlers. School was well attended, and classes were held for the single men. The surgeon felt that there were too many children on board. 418 immigrants reportedly embarked, but the official list has only 413 name and the government Gazette gives the same number.” (pg. 36)

It is difficult, now, to imagine what ship conditions must have been like during these voyages but imagine living for two and a half months with large numbers of other passengers in an area less than half the size of a tennis court. This was the reality of these times. Hmmm… I wonder if Thomas was possibly one of the extra five, as he does not come up in Esmé’s book as an official permitted emigrant? There is though an official reference to him as a permit emigrant sponsor. His sister Catherine and her brother John (see below) as well as sponsor of Thomas Hayes, probably a cousin from his mother’s side. Catherine, John and Thomas all emigrated under the same permit - R1151/P1067 on the sailing ship “Rajasthan” in 1861.

According to Esmé Bull (1991), the “Rajasthan” was a 700-ton sailing ship and departing Southampton, England, on the 27 March 1861. The ship then made its way to Limerick where Catherine and John would have boarded. Catherine would have been 16 on departure having been born in May 1844, and the ship arriving in Port Elizabeth on the 29 June1861with 268 emigrants on board.:

“An old vessel, she encountered contrary winds and calms and her passage of 95 days was unusually long. Classes were held for children, young women and single and married men and attendance was good. There was some troublesome conduct to begin with, but immigrants settled down to an orderly routine… …A complimentary address was handed to Dr. Smith by the settlers. There were reports of improper conduct on the part of the captain and officers towards the single women but as no enquiry was held and no payments withheld the breach of conduct could not have been serious. The Port Elizabeth Immigration Board reported that these immigrants were very well selected.”

(pg32 of “Aided Immigration from Britain to South Africa, 1857-1867”)

So, we now have three Mullins siblings and a possible Hayes cousin settled in Port Elizabeth, Cape Colony. Catherine soon after landing partners and marries James Smith/Robinson, my (Tony) generations great grandfather. Their family story continues in a further thread in our group. Thomas Hayes, I am as yet to discover a continuation of his story other than to note that he acts as a witness in James snr. And Catherine’s marriage ceremony. As for Thomas Mullins, therein lies quite a journey J and further story. Thomas next comes up in the records as marrying a Catherine Waters, also a discovery in Esmé Bull’s book. Catherine Waters too was an emigrant from Ireland. She migrated out of Tipperary, Ireland to Port Elizabeth, Cape Colony in 1860 on board the sailing ship “John. Masterman”. As yet I have no direct record of their marriage, but I assume it took place at St. Augustine’s Catholic Church, Port Elizabeth in around March 1862, with their first son Michael Henry Mullins being born on the 3rd November 1862 in Port Elizabeth.

“Aided Immigration from Britain to South Africa, 1857-1867”

Catherine Waters was recommended for her service during the voyage:

“Aided Immigration from Britain to South Africa, 1857-1867”

John Masterman: Ship 608t.; dep. Sh. 25.3.1860 arr. PE 12.6.1860; i.1. 245; b 3; d 3 Capt.: J. Westgarth; SS: E.W. Doman; M: Elizabeth Richardson, and Catherine Harvey superseded by Jane Drowley; T: James Richardson, school assistant: Sarah Lowden The ship arrived in good order and was particularly clean. The surgeon was recommended for further employment. He and the captain received letters of appreciation from the immigrants and the latter a handsome silver cup as token of gratitude.

Many of the immigrants came from conditions of shocking poverty and had no idea of personal hygiene and cleanliness. The surgeon with the help of the matron and schoolmaster managed to enforce acceptable standards but the baths rigged on deck were not popular. The sub-matron was quite unable to control the single women and had to be replaced. The Irish on board were unruly enough, but a contingent of English constables for the Frontier Police with one exception, gave endless trouble. One whole family was consumptive and defective in intellect and unlikely to support themselves in a new country. The children became noticeably thinner and had to be given a supplementary diet under supervision as it was known that they were replaced at short notice by people from London and Warwick. 88 men on contract to the PE Harbour Board and 30 for the PE Fishing Company were among the immigrants. Dr Thorne received an extra gratuity for his constant attention and continuing good health of his charges.

“Aided Immigration from Britain to South Africa, 1857-1867”

After doing some further research on Thomas and Catherine Mullins I came across the following reference in Esmé Bull’s book, Annexure 7, “Emigrants to New Zealand and Australia” (From the Cape Colony) Pg. 749:

So, from the above it can be established that Thomas and his family left Port Elizabeth for Australia in the sailing ship Seashell in March 1863, soon after birthing their first child, Michael. It’s not sure why they moved on? One reason could be that life and work were rather tight in the Cape Colony, particularly the Eastern Cape at that time, experiencing severe drought making it difficult to retain and find work (Read James and Catherine’s thread for more details on these conditions). All we know is that Thomas and his wife made the decision to leave Port Elizabeth and, in some ways, maybe going to Australia was Thomas’s

original idea when possibly joining the sailing ship "Boanerges" in Cork. This ship was originally destined for Australia. In 1870 we find Thomas and his family living in Clarendon Road, Emerald Hill, Victoria, Australia, where the birth of Thomas Jr it is recorded. The birth certificate posted below records Thomas and Catherine's arrival in Melbourne on 15 October 1861. It also refers to 3 children, Michael now seven, Stephen who is recorded as having died (not sure when), John is four years old and Mary Ann two years of age whom sadly died in 1871, and Thomas working as a labourer.

The family then takes a gigantic step crossing the Pacific in the early 1880s, emigrating once more. This time to the United States of America, San Francisco, California, where Thomas and his family become naturalised on 16th July 1884, according to the 1898 San Francisco 1898 census. Thomas senior by this time working as an Iron Fitter. His son Michael Henry working as a carpenter.

I won’t expand Thomas and Catherine’s story much further other than to point to the PDF of their offspring accompanying this document. One other story, I would like to point to and that is connected to Thomas and Catherine’s grandson Rudolf Eric Mullins. Rudolf, work wise, was involved with the building the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKU1PTyHtbM There is an interesting correlation work wise to my generations grandparent James snr and his son James jr. Both too worked in civil engineering projects contributing to the building of the Port Elizabeth harbour. You will find their story in another thread in our group.