Susan Kearns
Susan Kearns was born in Dublin, Ireland in approximately 1832. Although her death certificate states Ross Common (presumably County Roscommon) as her birthplace, Dublin is stated as Susan’s birthplace on both her marriage certificate and her daughter’s birth certificate for which Susan herself was the informant. Her father was Owen Kearns, a storekeeper (although on her death certificate her father’s occupation is stated to be distiller) and her mother was Jane Hodson.
Nothing else is known of her until her marriage. It is not known how or when she travelled to Australia. Available shipping records contain no record of any persons name Susan Kearns arriving in Victoria by ship in 1852-1859, so she may have arrived by some other means such as via another colony or arrived before 1852.
On her marriage certificate, her profession is described as "none specially". According to the marriage certificate, Susan Kearns was 26 years of age and a resident of Campbell’s Creek, Castlemaine, Victoria, when she married the 19¾ year old William Nash at Castlemaine, Victoria, on 26 November 1858. As noted under information about William, it is thought that while he was certainly younger than Susan, he was older than stated here.
Her daughter Elizabeth was born 1860 (see below). The daughter’s birth certificate issued by the Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages in Victoria, consists of a photocopy of the actual Register in which the birth was recorded and it contains the signature of Susan Nash, the baby’s mother, and describes her residence as "Big Hill, Sandhurst". Although there is provision on the certificate for entry of the name of the accoucheur (midwife/attendant) or nurse, none is entered.
Susan’s faltering signature in the name Kearns is found on her marriage certificate; unlike her husband, she was able to sign her name.
early Bendigo. see A Brief History and Early Life in Bendigo
http://members.dcscomp.com.au/jewell/family-history/
Susan’s second child, her son William James Nash, was born in Clunes, Victoria, in 1864.
As noted above, William Nash moved to Western Australia in about 1901, while Susan’s death certificate suggests she could have gone there as early as 1898. While William is recorded as having lived in Victoria and New South Wales in the years between is arrival from England and his move to Western Australia, it is not known if Susan lived with him all that time. According to Susan’s death certificate, she lived for ten years in Victoria, 18 years in New South Wales and 12 years in Western Australia; as noted already some of the information on her death certificate is unreliable, and the information about her residency in the Australian states may also be incorrect, but it may be that she spent some years away from Australia and her husband.
There is an unclear link with New Zealand where their daughter, Elizabeth, married in 1881.
The Return of Freeholders in New Zealand in October 1882 shows that Susan Nash, residing in Goulbourn (sic) New South Wales, was the owner of land, valued at forty pounds, in Port Chalmers Borough.
Susan Kearns (c.1832-1910)
photo provided by Denise Ritter,
Susan's great grand-daughter
Port Chalmers was the port for nearby Dunedin city in the southern island of New Zealand. One of the witnesses named on the birth certificate of her daughter Elizabeth’s second son, in Goulburn NSW in October 1884, is "Mrs Nash", and it could be guessed that "Mrs Nash" refers to Susan Nash (nee Kearns). It is quite possible that Michael and Elizabeth travelled to Goulburn because Elizabeth’s mother was residing there. Alternatively it is also possible that Susan travelled from New Zealand to Goulburn with them sometime between July and October 1882 to help them settle with the new baby. Since the land holding was registered in the name of Susan (and with no mention of William) it is possible that William and Susan had separated. Goulburn had a strong Irish community in the 19th century and Susan may have had family or old friends living there.
In the absence of additional information, there remain a lot of gaps in Susan’s life. She and her husband William were living together in Western Australia at the time of William’s death in 1905, and she is named on William’s death certificate as being a resident of Cuballing, WA, and as the official informant of the death.
Not certain, but thought to be Susan Nash (nee Kearns), in centre of picture, shortly before her death. It is known that the photograph was taken in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, in 1910, and the identities of the other persons is certain. Susan's daughter's eldest son, William Anthony Cleary, his wife Mary Agnes Cleary (nee Smith) and young daughter Kitty are on one side; Susan is nursing her infant great grandson William Cleary; on her other side are her son William James "Jack" Nash with his daughters Ethel Celia and Elizabeth. Photograph provided by Jack Cleary, another of Susan's great grandsons.
It seems the Nashes loved the scent of gold. It is thought that Susan was living in Kalgoorlie at the time of her death. 1910 was in the opulent period for the town, in the height of gold fever. Susan died on 25 September 1910 at No 82 Wittenoom Street, Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, and was buried in Kalgoorlie.
