Mary Murphy
and
Richard Prendergast
Mary, daughter of Laurence Murphy and Anne Bergan, was born in approximately 1805. She arrived in New South Wales on the ship North Britain on 14 December 1839, accompanied by her husband Richard Prendergast and children
- John Prendergast (possibly aged 4 but possibly not correct, may have been 14)
- Anne Prendergast, aged 7
- Ellen Prendergast, aged 4, and
- Mary Prendergast, aged 6 months.
Richard Prendergast was a 35 year-old blacksmith who could read and write, and whose native place is recorded as Burton Hall, Carlow, Ireland. Mary was also aged 35 at the time of her arrival in New South Wales, but could not read or write, and her native place is also recorded as Burton Hall, Carlow, Ireland. On his arrival in the colony, Richard was engaged by Mr Booth of Windsor. In the shipping records, Richard was also shown as having in his care, his sister-in-law Jane Murphy when they arrived in New South Wales. (Bounty Immigrants Index 1828-1842, State Library of New South Wales, reel 416873).
Their daughter Jane was born in 1842 in Prospect, a settlement on the western outskirts of Sydney, which suggests that Richard and Mary may have settled in that area. When Richard died in 1855, he was residing in Camperdown, much closer to Sydney city.
The New South Wales Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages show the following children born to Richard and Mary Prendergast :
- Margaret, born 1841, NSW regn. no. V1841305 145/1841
- Jane, born 1842, NSW regn.no. V18421704 61/1842. Jane Prendergast was born at Prospect, New South Wales, never married and lived in later years in Mudgee, NSW. On 3 November 1904 she died in the Victoria Street Hospice (presumed to be Darlinghurst in Sydney where a hospice for the dying was located in Victoria Street until early 21st century), and was buried in the Roman Catholic Cemetery at Rookwood in Sydney. (NSW death registration 1904/011917).
- Mary, born 1845 V18451662/1845 or V18451627 134/1845. The naming of this baby suggests the first child named Mary who had been six months old on arrival in New South Wales, had not survived. The second Mary died as an infant in 1845, NSW regn. no. V18455115/1845
- Stephen born 1850 V18501568/1850 or V18501068 141/1850.
On 2 March 1895, Stephen Prendergast, who had been born in Sydney and was the son of Richard Prendergast and Mary Murphy, married Julia Ann Collier (a widow whose family name at birth had been Reau or similar) in the Sydney Unitarian Church at 26 Elizabeth Street, Sydney (NSW marriage registration 1895/000503). Stephen was a bachelor and both he and Julia were residing at 73 Albion Street, Surry Hills, Sydney, at the time of the marriage. Stephen was a bootmaker by profession. However the marriage certificate records Stephen's age as 38 years in 1895. Either the son named Stephen who was born in 1850 died and another child born later was also called by the same name, or he had incorrectly recalled his age, perhaps to assist his prospects in courting the younger widow whose age was recorded as 32 years.
A man named Richard Prendergast, age 50, died in 1855 (two NSW registrations V1855311 120/1855 and V18551497 143/1855 both presumed to be the same event registered twice - records derived from old burial records). The second record shows that Richard Prendergast age 50, residing in Camperdown, was buried on 12 December 1855.
Mary Prendergast died at Newtown NSW on 6 February 1874, just months after her younger sister, Jane. Like her sister, she was buried in the now-destroyed Petersham cemetery (see information about the cemetery in entry for Jane Murphy). The informant for Mary's death was her daughter Jane Prendergast. (The information in the death certificate gives Mary's father's name as Daniel Murphy, a tailor, and the mother's name as Anne Bergin; the different first name for the father and different spelling of the mother's first name are thought to be errors by Jane Prendergast who never knew her grandparents and would have been trying to remember what she had been told.) The information on the death certificate is difficult to read but appears to state that Mary had eleven children of whom two sons and two daughters were still living at the time of her death and that one son and six daughters had predeceased her. The living children would appear to have been Jane, Ellen, Stephen and one other unidentified son, possibly John the eldest son noted above).
Ellen (also known as Helen and surname spelled Pendergast without the "r" occurring as second letter) married James Tancred. Ellen Tancred, of Ferndale Street, Newtown, Sydney, and sister of Jane Prendergast, was the official informant recorded on the death certificate of Jane Prendergast.)
Further information regarding the Prendergast or Pendergast family would be welcome.
