Theme: A Place That Mattters

The little township of Maude on the Murrumbidgee River, established in 1860 in the western Riverina area of Southwestern NSW, has featured more than once in the history of my Darchy family.

My GGGF Thomas Darchy (1820-1877) arrived in the Riverina area about 1844 with his bride Susan Byrne – said to have been the first white lady on the lower Murrumbidgee River. Thomas took up land near the junction of the Murrumbidgee with the Lachlan, which he named Gelam; later he took over another run which he named Oxley. Across the Lachlan River a few miles away was the small village of Maude, possibly named for Darchy’s mother Amey Maude, which had been established at a much-used river crossing in the early 1860s.

A hotel was erected at Maude by Frank Johns, a carpenter who operated a punt across the river. He applied to the Bench of Magistrates at Hay for a publicans license in 1862 but the application was opposed by local squatter and magistrate Thomas Darchy, because “there were no police in Maude”. Later a license was granted. A store was later erected and a post office was established at Maude in 1863. The first postmaster was Henry Prendergast, who in conjunction with his son John had established the store.

Henry Prendergast 1813-1867 and his wife Mary Costello, who married in Tuam, Galway in 1832, emigrated to Australia in 1854 with nine children, the youngest being Margaret aged ten at the time. Henry and his sons built several s stores in Maude including a wool store (wool from surrounding pastoral runs was loaded on to river steamers at Maude for transportation); his son John took over when Henry died. Another son Patrick was the first publican of a second hotel.

Margaret Prendergast married John Stoddart in 1866 and had two children, but her husband died in 1875 aged 37 from phthisis (TB).

Margaret then married Thomas Darchy’s son Francis (Frank) – my Great Grandparents – in 1879. The marriage was frowned upon by the wealthy Darchys – Margaret was older than Frank, had two children, and was of the wrong religion!

They went through many vicissitudes in life but the marriage endured. They had four children. The photo shows Margaret with one of her sons, his wife and child, and three cousins.

It all started in Maude!

Postscript: I have been to Maude – a tiny little town with empty streets, one general store and a large weir.The river was low at the time I visited.

Theme: A Name with Meaning.

My GGGrandmother Mary Learmonth/Lairmonth was born on 30 July 1790 in Glasgow, to Wright Peter Learmonth/Lamont and Agnes Thomson. She married Charles Johnston (1797-1848), a shoemaker, on 28 March 1815 in Glasgow. I will call her Mary I. Subsequent Mary Learmonths are labelled according to their birth date.

Charles and Mary had seven children, the first six being boys and the seventh a girl named Mary Learmonth Johnston (Mary II), 1833- 1909. This Mary married a Free Church minister, Daniel McKinlay Duncan, on 26 September 1865 in Glasgow. They too had a number of boys (three) before a daughter on 28 August 1873, predictably also named Mary Learmonth Duncan (Mary VII) who married John Mather. This couple had two children – William Learmonth Mather (1898-1957) who married Mary MckKell – they named their daughter Mary Wilson Learmonth Mather (Mary IX); and Mary Learmonth Johnston Mather 1900-1987 (Mary VIII). Meanwhile, a son of the original Mary I and Charles, George Johnston (1819-1900) married Elizabeth Jane Rae in 1840; their first daughter was named after Elizabeth’s mother and their second daughter was Mary Learmonth Johnston (Mary III), about 1845-1895.

Another son of the original Mary I, Peter Johnston married Agnes Todd in 1850. They had seven children, the first being named Mary Learmonth Johnston (Mary IV) 1853-1932. They also had a son Robert Alexander Johnston who married Joan Noble; they named their sole daughter Mary Learmonth Johnston – Mary VI (1906-?)

The youngest son of Mary I and Charles, John Johnston 1831-1909 married Benjamina “Jessie” Leckie in 1856. Jessie’s mother was a Margaret so their first daughter was also Margaret, but their second was predictably enough yet another Mary Learmonth Johnston! (Mary V, 1859—1936).

There were several other Marys in the immediate family but none with the middle name Learmonth.

Incidentally the surname Learmonth enabled me to identify several distant relatives. Mary I’s grandson George Johnston (1855-1885), born in Tasmania to immigrant parents, was a seaman who sailed round the world many times and wrote many informative letters home. In more than one he mentioned visiting Bethia and John Muirhead in Bombay. As I discovered, they had married in Glasgow … and Bethia’s maiden surname was Learmonth … she was Mary Learmonth’s sister. I have identified several DNA marches as descendants of this couple. Surprisingly, none of Bethia’s descendants have the middle name Learmonth.