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Phegan, Catherine Theresa
Description
Unique IDPE-000057SurnamePheganGiven namesCatherine TheresaAlternative nameBacon, Catherine TheresaBirth datec. Aug 1837Birth date qualifiermonth & year onlyPlace of birthTasmania, AustraliaDeath date6th May 1860Death date qualifierexactPlace of deathSydney, New South Wales, AustraliaBiographical abstractCatherine Theresa Phegan (nee Bacon) was born in 1837 in Tasmania. She married John Joseph Phegan, in c.1855. Catherine and her husband moved to Sydney in 1857 and both were appointed to the staff of the Council, John in the role of messenger and Catherine as housekeeper. Catherine died in 1860. Biographical noteBirth Date c. August 1837 in Tasmania
Death date 6 May 1860 in Sydney, NSW
Catherine Theresa Phegan, wife of John Joseph Phegan, was born in Tasmania about August 1837, the daughter of John Bacon and his wife Honora nee Copeland. The couple probably migrated from Dublin on the ‘Strathfieldsaye’ in 1833. The birth registrations for daughters Elizabeth born 1833 and Mary Ann born 1848 can be found in Tasmanian records. Their sons were Henry, John and Michael whose births, like Catherine’s, seem not to have been officially registered.
In the 1840s, Bacon purchased land in the Oatlands area but in April 1850 the whole family left Hobart on the brig ‘Wigeon’ sailing for San Francisco. The vessel was caught in a storm as it left Storm Bay and rounded Cape Pillar, was breached and nearly sank, but the crew after jettisoning much cargo and cutting free the mainmast, managed to bring the ship on to Sydney, conditions making it impossible to turn back south to Hobart. The ship was repaired in Sydney and continued on to San Francisco with the Bacon family aboard. Their stay in America was short and they returned to Tasmania and re-settled in the Oatlands district. John Bacon may have held the pub licence of the Macquarie Hotel at nearby Ross. His name is linked to the Lagoon Farm in the 1850s and later to the property named Belle Vue.
As for many family events in the Phegan and Bacon families, no official record of the marriage of John Phegan and Catherine Bacon seems to exist, however, when Phegan registered the birth of their second daughter, Honora Margaret Phegan born on 3 July 1858 in Sydney, he stated that they had married on 16 October 1855 at Ross in Tasmania. At the stated time of the marriage, John Phegan held the licence of the ‘St Patrick’ pub in Hobart Town. By March 1856 John Phegan was in Launceston in the north of Tasmania where he petitioned for insolvency, stating himself to be a licensed victualler from Hobart Town but at the final hearing in April, no debts were proved and he was discharged. In July 1856 the couple’s first daughter, Catherine, was born with once again no official registration appearing to have been made.
On 6 January 1857 John Phegan arrived in Sydney from Launceston by the coastal steamer ‘Lizzie Weber’ apparently alone. On 9 June the coastal steamer ‘Tasmania’ arrived in Sydney from Hobart Town and on board was a passenger listed as Mrs Phegan. The Phegans eldest daughter Catherine, died aged 1 year old, in Sydney on 24 July. Her death registration stated she was born in Tasmania and had been in NSW for 6 weeks. She died of “dentition and meningitis”.
The Municipal Council of Sydney invited applications in mid-June for the joint position of Messenger and Housekeeper to the Council with an annual salary of £150 pa for the husband messenger plus £26 pa for the wife house-keeper. At the Council Meeting on 22 June, the aldermen found that they had no less than 67 applicants for the position. They considered the applications in camera and then announced the appointment of John Phegan and wife at a reduced salary of £125 plus £26 pa (City Archives CRS7/10/103).
Catherine Phegan’s role as house-keeper in the building in use as Town Hall included cleaning furniture, windows, fittings, floors and water-closets and looking after apparatus for heating and lighting such as setting and tending fires in the various offices, caring for the fire tools, and cleaning candlesticks and readying them for use. An earlier messenger, Patrick Barron, had stated that it was also his wife’s task to “scallop Vandykes” for the City Seal; this involved cutting an over-size paper medallion and then cutting deep points to produce a sun-burst design onto the middle of which was impressed the City Seal , the whole was then pasted onto the appropriate document. (An imprint of the original seal made in this way is to be found in the Council Minute Books CRS 7/10 for 27 April 1857.) The Phegans lived on the premises of the Town Hall at no charge and were supplied also with fuel and light. When they were first employed, the Town Hall offices were in King Street and later moved to Wynyard Square.
Further details of the Phegans’ employment can be found on the City of Sydney website in the biographical ‘person’ registration for John Phegan.
Catherine Phegan gave birth to a second daughter, Honorah Margaret, in Sydney on 3 July 1858. Catherine Phegan died on 6 May 1860 at the Town Hall premises in Wynyard Square from “congestion of brain” suffered for three weeks. She had been attended by Dr Graham, the City Health Officer. Her daughter Honorah was sent to Tasmania where she was brought up by her maternal grandmother.
Catherine Phegan’s death notice in the ‘Sydney Morning Herald’ Monday 7 May 1860 read “At her late residence, 52 Wynyard-square, Sydney, on Sunday, the 6th instant, after a short illness, aged 22 years and 9 months, Catherine Theresa, wife of Mr. John Phegan, leaving a young child and a disconsolate husband to lament their loss.”
Genealogical Details
John or John Joseph PHEGAN born c 1836 married Catherine Theresa Bacon (parents John BACON d September 1864 Oatlands Tasmania and Honora COPELAND d October 1891 Oatlands Tasmania, married1833 Tasmania); Catherine BACON was born 1847 in Tasmania; marriage (?) date 16 October 1855 in Ross Tasmania; Catherine died 6 May 1860 in Sydney; John died at Jinden Station near Braidwood NSW 9 January 1867.
Issue of John and Catherine: Catherine born c1856 in Tasmania, died 24 July 1857 Sydney; Honora Margaret born 3 July 1858 Sydney, married Thomas DEERING 23 January 1889 at Glen Innes, died 17 February 1919 Oatlands Tasmania. Issue: Thomas DEERING born 1892 Emmaville NSW and Margaret DEERING born 1889 Emmaville NSW.
[This biographical Person registration was researched and drafted by City of Sydney Archives volunteer Marilyn Mason, December 2017]
References
City of Sydney Archives: CRS 7 Minutes of City of Sydney Council; CRS 26 Letters Received; CRS 22 Reports of the Finance Committee. (Many of the records in these series have item descriptions or are digitised and available online: www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au)
Australian Newspapers: digitised by the National Library of Australia and searchable online: www. trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper
NSW Births Deaths Marriages Registry, http://www.bdm.nsw.gov.au/Pages/family-history/family-history.aspx
Tasmania Records, Wills, Births Deaths Marriages, Linc Tasmania online: https://www.linc.tas.gov.au/Pages/Home.aspx
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: https://www.familysearch.org/
Transcriptions of NSW Birth, Death or Marriage Registrations by NSW Family History Transcriptions Pty Ltd.
Australian Vital Records Index (AVR), The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints; and familysearch.com for birth, death and marriage registrations of NSW, Tasmania and Victoria.Relationship legacy dataRELATED TO: Town Clerks Department AG-0040 (22/6/1857 to 6/5/1860) - employed by
GenderFemaleOccupational historyOffice or House Keeper - 22 Jun 1857 to 6 May 1860Source system ID57
Death date 6 May 1860 in Sydney, NSW
Catherine Theresa Phegan, wife of John Joseph Phegan, was born in Tasmania about August 1837, the daughter of John Bacon and his wife Honora nee Copeland. The couple probably migrated from Dublin on the ‘Strathfieldsaye’ in 1833. The birth registrations for daughters Elizabeth born 1833 and Mary Ann born 1848 can be found in Tasmanian records. Their sons were Henry, John and Michael whose births, like Catherine’s, seem not to have been officially registered.
In the 1840s, Bacon purchased land in the Oatlands area but in April 1850 the whole family left Hobart on the brig ‘Wigeon’ sailing for San Francisco. The vessel was caught in a storm as it left Storm Bay and rounded Cape Pillar, was breached and nearly sank, but the crew after jettisoning much cargo and cutting free the mainmast, managed to bring the ship on to Sydney, conditions making it impossible to turn back south to Hobart. The ship was repaired in Sydney and continued on to San Francisco with the Bacon family aboard. Their stay in America was short and they returned to Tasmania and re-settled in the Oatlands district. John Bacon may have held the pub licence of the Macquarie Hotel at nearby Ross. His name is linked to the Lagoon Farm in the 1850s and later to the property named Belle Vue.
As for many family events in the Phegan and Bacon families, no official record of the marriage of John Phegan and Catherine Bacon seems to exist, however, when Phegan registered the birth of their second daughter, Honora Margaret Phegan born on 3 July 1858 in Sydney, he stated that they had married on 16 October 1855 at Ross in Tasmania. At the stated time of the marriage, John Phegan held the licence of the ‘St Patrick’ pub in Hobart Town. By March 1856 John Phegan was in Launceston in the north of Tasmania where he petitioned for insolvency, stating himself to be a licensed victualler from Hobart Town but at the final hearing in April, no debts were proved and he was discharged. In July 1856 the couple’s first daughter, Catherine, was born with once again no official registration appearing to have been made.
On 6 January 1857 John Phegan arrived in Sydney from Launceston by the coastal steamer ‘Lizzie Weber’ apparently alone. On 9 June the coastal steamer ‘Tasmania’ arrived in Sydney from Hobart Town and on board was a passenger listed as Mrs Phegan. The Phegans eldest daughter Catherine, died aged 1 year old, in Sydney on 24 July. Her death registration stated she was born in Tasmania and had been in NSW for 6 weeks. She died of “dentition and meningitis”.
The Municipal Council of Sydney invited applications in mid-June for the joint position of Messenger and Housekeeper to the Council with an annual salary of £150 pa for the husband messenger plus £26 pa for the wife house-keeper. At the Council Meeting on 22 June, the aldermen found that they had no less than 67 applicants for the position. They considered the applications in camera and then announced the appointment of John Phegan and wife at a reduced salary of £125 plus £26 pa (City Archives CRS7/10/103).
Catherine Phegan’s role as house-keeper in the building in use as Town Hall included cleaning furniture, windows, fittings, floors and water-closets and looking after apparatus for heating and lighting such as setting and tending fires in the various offices, caring for the fire tools, and cleaning candlesticks and readying them for use. An earlier messenger, Patrick Barron, had stated that it was also his wife’s task to “scallop Vandykes” for the City Seal; this involved cutting an over-size paper medallion and then cutting deep points to produce a sun-burst design onto the middle of which was impressed the City Seal , the whole was then pasted onto the appropriate document. (An imprint of the original seal made in this way is to be found in the Council Minute Books CRS 7/10 for 27 April 1857.) The Phegans lived on the premises of the Town Hall at no charge and were supplied also with fuel and light. When they were first employed, the Town Hall offices were in King Street and later moved to Wynyard Square.
Further details of the Phegans’ employment can be found on the City of Sydney website in the biographical ‘person’ registration for John Phegan.
Catherine Phegan gave birth to a second daughter, Honorah Margaret, in Sydney on 3 July 1858. Catherine Phegan died on 6 May 1860 at the Town Hall premises in Wynyard Square from “congestion of brain” suffered for three weeks. She had been attended by Dr Graham, the City Health Officer. Her daughter Honorah was sent to Tasmania where she was brought up by her maternal grandmother.
Catherine Phegan’s death notice in the ‘Sydney Morning Herald’ Monday 7 May 1860 read “At her late residence, 52 Wynyard-square, Sydney, on Sunday, the 6th instant, after a short illness, aged 22 years and 9 months, Catherine Theresa, wife of Mr. John Phegan, leaving a young child and a disconsolate husband to lament their loss.”
Genealogical Details
John or John Joseph PHEGAN born c 1836 married Catherine Theresa Bacon (parents John BACON d September 1864 Oatlands Tasmania and Honora COPELAND d October 1891 Oatlands Tasmania, married1833 Tasmania); Catherine BACON was born 1847 in Tasmania; marriage (?) date 16 October 1855 in Ross Tasmania; Catherine died 6 May 1860 in Sydney; John died at Jinden Station near Braidwood NSW 9 January 1867.
Issue of John and Catherine: Catherine born c1856 in Tasmania, died 24 July 1857 Sydney; Honora Margaret born 3 July 1858 Sydney, married Thomas DEERING 23 January 1889 at Glen Innes, died 17 February 1919 Oatlands Tasmania. Issue: Thomas DEERING born 1892 Emmaville NSW and Margaret DEERING born 1889 Emmaville NSW.
[This biographical Person registration was researched and drafted by City of Sydney Archives volunteer Marilyn Mason, December 2017]
References
City of Sydney Archives: CRS 7 Minutes of City of Sydney Council; CRS 26 Letters Received; CRS 22 Reports of the Finance Committee. (Many of the records in these series have item descriptions or are digitised and available online: www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au)
Australian Newspapers: digitised by the National Library of Australia and searchable online: www. trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper
NSW Births Deaths Marriages Registry, http://www.bdm.nsw.gov.au/Pages/family-history/family-history.aspx
Tasmania Records, Wills, Births Deaths Marriages, Linc Tasmania online: https://www.linc.tas.gov.au/Pages/Home.aspx
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: https://www.familysearch.org/
Transcriptions of NSW Birth, Death or Marriage Registrations by NSW Family History Transcriptions Pty Ltd.
Australian Vital Records Index (AVR), The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints; and familysearch.com for birth, death and marriage registrations of NSW, Tasmania and Victoria.Relationship legacy dataRELATED TO: Town Clerks Department AG-0040 (22/6/1857 to 6/5/1860) - employed by
GenderFemaleOccupational historyOffice or House Keeper - 22 Jun 1857 to 6 May 1860Source system ID57
Relationships
Registration
Detailed recordYes
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Phegan, Catherine Theresa [PE-000057]. City of Sydney Archives, accessed 28 Mar 2024, https://archives.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/nodes/view/609983