Details Page

Participant Info

First Name

Ellen

Surname

Cummerford (Commerford)

Native Place

Onan?, Kilkenny

Age On Arrival

17

Parents

Not recorded

Religion

Roman Catholic

Ship Name

New Liverpool (Melbourne 1849)

Details

shipping: house servant, cannot read or write; Owning (Ónainn) is a townland and parish in Pilltown ED, in Owning Civil Parish, in Iverk Barony in the Carrick-on-Suir PLU; empl. Thomas Welsh, Melbourne, £8, 6 months; married 1) Andrew McDonald in Melbourne in 1849 although not located; soon after their marriage Andrew and Ellen moved to Amphitheatre on Victorian goldfields; all 7 or 8 children born there; Andrew died 10 Oct 1863 (aged 44 years) at Mountain Hut Diggings which, like Amphitheatre, was on the Avoca River; he buried Avoca; married 2) widower Joseph Veryard Whitta in Temporary Church of St Johns, Avoca in Feb 1864 whose first wife, Emma Teague died in childbirth in 1852 aged 27; Ellen may have been employed by Joseph to help with his surviving daughter; 4 children with Joseph who died Oct 1896 at Wodonga; Ellen died Aug 1883 (age 51‏), buried Ararat, Victoria; plaque in Ararat cenetery obviously erected by descendants reads: 'Ellen Whitta 1831-1883, a 'potato orphan' and her sons Patrick Henry McDonald 9 years, William Whitta 22 years'

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