Baby Elizabeth Bourke's half-siblings at the time of her birth..

Out of pure desperation in my so-far futile attempt to track down Kathleen Frances Rogers Bourke, I once again turned to the birth certificate of her daughter, Elizabeth Bourke. Elizabeth's adult siblings were named:- 41 year old bachelor, John Bourke; 39 year old James who was married to Ellen McCluskey and raising his own family at Boosey; 37 year old Margaret, my gg grandmother who with her husband Paddy Bourke was having children at Burramine; 35 year old Bridget from nearby Dookie who had married farmer Michael Moylan and was building a family on their farm; bachelor Thomas aged 30; 27 year old Timothy who had two years previously married Mary Anne Howard, and 25 year old bachelor Patrick. Nicholas Bourke was also named as a sibling, but he had died before Kathleen's marriage to Patrick Bourke.

I was lucky enough in 2011 to be contacted by Dorothy Tuke, a descendant of one of Kathleen Rogers Bourke's siblings, and she was very helpful in that she informed me that Kathleen, or Kate as she was known, had disappeared from the pages of the Rogers' family history as well as the Bourke's.

Dorothy Tuke wrote:
"My mother Eva (Cure) Finch (granddaughter of Mary Rogers) has given me these bits many years ago on a scribbled piece of paper. She states that Kate disappeared (what a shame and I can't recall Mum ever telling any stories, or if she ever knew about poor Kate or little Elizabeth). Elizabeth Rogers married Richard Fitzgerald. Rose married a Mr. Ormsby (a pianist) and they had three children- 2 boys were priests and their daughter was a nun. Edward married a Louise Burgess, and they had no children. My grandmother Margaret Rogers married John Dennis Cure who came from Tasmania, so maybe that is why you could find no trace in Victoria."

Certificates Pertaining to the family of Kathleen Frances Rogers Bourke

Above: The marriage certificate of Edward Patrick Rogers and Mary Moran, the parents of Kathleen Rogers Bourke.

Above: The birth certificate of Kathleen Frances Rogers (here registered as 'Katherine Rogers') who in 1886 married widower Patrick Bourke.

Above: The death certificate of Edward Patrick Rogers, father of Kathleen Frances Rogers Bourke.

Above: The death certificate of Mary Moran Rogers, mother of Kathleen Frances Rogers, second wife of Patrick Bourke.

Another new discovery re. Pine Lodge Pat!

Above: The 1886 birth certificate of Elizabeth Bourke, daughter of Kathleen 'Kate' Rogers and her husband Patrick Bourke, who died four months before Elizabeth was born.

Another surprising morsel of information has surfaced about my ggg grandfather, Patrick Bourke, and like the discovery of his marriage to a young wife just months before his death, this little gem has come right out of the blue and raised many more questions.

   I have discovered that his second wife, Kathleen Frances Rogers Bourke, gave birth to a child on August 9, 1886, some four months after Patrick’s death in April 1886. The child was a daughter named Elizabeth Bourke, and she was born at Caniambo, County of Moira, Victoria. The information on baby Elizabeth’s birth certificate was as follows:
When and where born: 9 August, 1886, Caniambo, County of Moira, Shire of Euroa.
Name: Elizabeth Bourke, present.
Father: Patrick Bourke, farmer, aged 68 years, born Tipperary, Ireland.
Mother: Kathleen Frances Bourke MN Rogers, aged 24, born Brighton, Victoria.
 Married: January 23, 1886, Port Melbourne.
Issue Living and deceased: John 41; James 39; Margaret 37; Bridget 35; Thomas 30; Timothy 27; Patrick 25 and Nicholas 20.
Informant: Kathleen Frances Bourke, Mother, Caniambo.
Witnesses: Dr. J. McKenna; Mrs Quinlan; Mrs Alice Quinlan.
Registered: 10 September, 1886, Shepparton.

   Unlike her marriage certificate which was full of falsehoods, Kathleen supplied information that was mainly correct when registering her daughter. Her husband’s age had gone from being 46 in April 1886 to a more reasonable 68 years in August 1886. She had pushed back their marriage date by a month, stating that they were married on January 23, 1886 rather than February 23, 1886. There was also a mistake made when naming the adult siblings of baby Elizabeth- Nicholas Bourke was noted as being 20 years old, when in reality he had died the previous year before his father had married Kathleen Rogers.

Now for the obvious question...was Patrick Bourke really the father of Elizabeth? Kathleen would have been pregnant at the time of their marriage...a full term baby born on August 9 1886 would have been conceived in November 1885. Kathleen would have therefore been about three months pregnant when she married the much-older Patrick Bourke. Was Patrick responsible for the pregnancy and is this why he married her? Was someone else the father and did Patrick offer to marry Kathleen to provide support and a name for the unborn child? Was Patrick even aware that Kathleen was pregnant when he married her? Did Kathleen push her wedding date back by a month to suggest that Elizabeth was perhaps born prematurely but was conceived within the marriage? A million questions, and none of which will be answered.

   I can’t discover what happened to Kathleen and her child Elizabeth...no death records, and no marriages. The children of Patrick’s first marriage to Bridget Corbett obviously thought very little of Kathleen, as her marriage to their father was not even noted on his death certificate, and no mention of her or the child Elizabeth was ever passed down through subsequent generations. 

   In order to discover something of Kathleen Rogers’ background, I did a touch of digging into her family, and found them quite interesting. Both parents were Irish...her father Edward Patrick Rogers emigrated from Newry in County Down, Northern Ireland, and her mother, Mary Moran, arrived in Melbourne from Aughinish, County Clare, in 1854 on the ship ‘Boomerang’. After her arrival in Melbourne, Mary Moran was employed as a servant for the McEwan family. Her husband-to-be, Edward Rogers, had joined the Royal navy as a young boy, and even after his arrival in Australia maintained his close relationship with the sea, settling at Shortlands Bluff (later renamed Queenscliff), a small settlement on the Victorian coastline fronting the Bass Strait.

   Edward Patrick Rogers married Mary Moran in 1856, and together they raised a family of nine children at Queenscliff. Not all of their children survived to adulthood...two sons drowned in a tragic boating mishap, and another son also died in early childhood. The nine children born to Edward Patrick Rogers and Mary Moran were as follows:
Mary Ann Rogers: born 1857. Died 1886, aged 29 years.
James Rogers: born c. 1859. Died 1870 aged 11 years.
William “Willie” Rogers: born c. 1861. Died 1870, aged 9 years.
Catherine/ Kathleen/ “Kate” Rogers: born October 5, 1863, Queenscliff.
Margaret “Maggie” Rogers: born 1865, Queenscliff.
 Elizabeth “Lizzie” Rogers: born c. 1868, Queenscliff. Married Richard Patrick Fitzgerald. Died 1958, Kew, aged 90 years.
 Edward Joseph Rogers: born c. 1870, Queenscliff. Died 1939, Queenscliff, aged 69 years.
Rosina “Rose” Rogers: born 1872, Queenscliff.
David Rogers: born 1874, Queenscliff. Died 1875, aged 8 months.

   The accident that took the lives of the two little boys, Willie and James, was reported as follows: “Our Queenscliff correspondent states that an inquest was held on Saturday on the body of William Rogers, one of the two brothers who were drowned on that day by the up- setting of a boat. It appeared from the evidence of the father, Edward Rogers, that he and his two boys were out fishing for salmon near Point Nepean. As there was no wind, he was rowing while his boys attended to the lines. A largo roller came in and swamped the boat, pitching him, as he described it, 30 yards away. He never saw the elder boy again, but the younger one, the subject of the inquest, was found near the boat, entangled in the lines. Rogers swam back to the boat, and some fishermen who were near lent their aid. The matter appeared to be purely accidental”- Tuesday 13 December 1870, Argus.

" DROWNING OF TWO BOYS AT POINT NEPEAN.
A lamentable accident, resulting in the death of two boys ( the sons of Edward Rogers, a fisherman of Queenscliff) occurred on Saturday. The father accompanied by the boys, who were aged about thirteen and nine, had been fishing on the quarantine side of the bay. There was a very heavy surf on at the time, and the sea filled the boat, when it capsized. Rogers succeeded in getting hold of the younger boy, but a heavy sea swept him from his grasp, and he had great difficulty in recovering the boat, which was keeled up. There he found the elder boy, whose feet were above the water, probably being entangled in the boat's gear. He (Rogers) was promptly rescued by some brother fishermen, otherwise he could not long have retained his hold, being well-nigh exhausted. An inquest was held in the evening on the boy recovered, when a verdict of accidental death by drowning was returned. The parents of the drowned boy are much pitied as they are the only boys in the family, and nice well-behaved lads. The body of the other has not yet been recovered. - From the Geelong Advertiser."
- Portland Guardian, December 15, 1870.

 

Above: Grave stone of four of the Rogers children, Queenscliff Cemetery. Photo taken by Carol Judkins.

  It appears that Edward Rogers supported his family by fishing, in addition to crewing the Queenscliff lifeboat when needed. James and William Rogers were the first of the nine Rogers children to pass away in 1870, followed by baby David in 1875 and eldest child Mary Ann in 1886.

Of the six Rogers children who survived until adulthood , I can find marriages for only Kate, Margaret and Elizabeth Ann. Mary Ann who had died in 1886 at the age of 27 had never married.

Luckily for me, Kate Rogers Bourke's mother, Mary Moran Rogers, died just after her 100th birthday, so the newspaper of the time printed an obituary that was very rich in detail:

"CENTENARIAN'S DEATH. Mrs Mary Rodgers, aged 100 years and 1 month, of Queenscliff, died on Friday. Mrs Rodgers was born in Augnish, County Clare, Ireland, on June 6, 1827. She came to Australia on the Boomerang in 1852, the voyage taking 78 days. She entered the service of the McEwan family of Melbourne, and was married on the day of the opening of the first Victorian Parliament. Mrs Rodgers and her husband went to live at Queenscliff in 1857, when there was only one building there, the Swan Hill Hotel. All the residents lived in tents.

Mrs Rodgers had all her faculties up to the time of her death, and did not need to wear glasses. She did some sewing a few weeks before her death, and threaded the needle herself. She used to tell of a deputation that waited on the Postal authorities to ask that a light should be provided at the Queenscliff post-office at night because the office could not be found in the scrub.

Mrs Rodgers, who had nine children, is the oldest person and the oldest colonist buried in the Queenscliff Cemetery. Her husband, Mr. Edward Patrick Rodgers, died aged 81 years in June 1900. He was in the Royal Navy for 21 years, having joined as a boy, and was one of the first white men to land at Queenscliff, or Shortland Bluff, as it was then known. He landed with a survey party in search of fresh water. The party was afraid to go into the bush for fear of being killed by blacks. Mr Rodgers was coxwain of the first lifeboat at Queenscliff. His son, Mr. Edward Rodgers, is superintendent of the present motor lifeboat."

-The Argus, Tuesday, July 12, 1927.

There are a few points in this account that are incorrect. Firstly, Mary Moran did indeed arrived on the ship 'Boomerang', but it arrived on January 22, 1854, not 1852 as stated. Mary married Edward Rogers on November 25, 1856, which was most certainly the day on which the Victorian Parliament first convened. Edward Patrick Rogers, born in c. 1827, was 71 years old when he died in 1900, not 81 as published.

SIBLINGS OF KATHLEEN ROGERS.

 

I have found chasing Kathleen's siblings very frustrating, because several I just cannot find any trace of. Of her eight siblings, brothers William, James and David died at a young age. Sister Mary Ann died in her late twenties having never married. That leaves four siblings to research...Margaret born in 1865; Rosina born 1872; Elizabeth Ann born 1868 and Edward James (or Joseph...both names have been used) born in 1870.

 

                                                             Above: Argus, April 5, 1886

                                               Above: April 2, 1887, Queenscliff

 

Margaret Rogers married John Dennis Cure in Victoria in 1890. They had at least one child, a daughter named Eva Margueruite Cure, who was born c. 1903 in Fitzroy. (Information gratefully received from Dorothy Tuke, granddaughter of Margaret Rogers and John Cure).

Elizabeth Ann Rogers was easier to pursue...she married Richard Patrick Fitzgerald in 1893 and had a large family. The Argus newspaper of September 23, 1893, carried the following marriage notice:

" FITZGERALD-ROGERS. On the 14th inst. at St. Francis R.C. Church, Melbourne, by the Very Reverend P. Walshe, Richard Patrick, youngest son of Richard Fitzgerald, of Richmond, to Elizabeth Anne, 4th daughter of Edward Patrick Rogers of Queenscliff."

Richard Patrick Fitzgerald was the son of Richard Fitzgerald and his wife Eleanor Dowling. He had been born in Richmond, Victoria, in 1861, and his siblings included Mary, born 1852 Melbourne; James born 1854, Richmond; Sebastion born 1857, Richmond, and Francis, born 1858, Richmond.

Richard Fitzgerald Senior most probably was acquainted with Patrick Bourke of Bylands, as both were resident in the district in the early days of settlement. Richard Fitzgerald had a business in Kilmore in the 1860s from which he ran an ironmongery and timber yard- essential businesses which would have been used by a local farmer such as Patrick Bourke- and both men would have been members of the strong Catholic community of Kilmore, and had children much the same age.

When Richard Fitzgerald Senior died in 1903, the Kilmore Free Press newspaper reported the event:

"Mr Richard Fitzgerald, who died at Richmond on the 4th inst, was at one time, about 40 years ago, well-known in business here, being connected with the ironmongery and timber yard business now conducted by Mr. C.J. Morrissey. He was subsequently in Seymour for some time. Mr. Fitzgerald, who attained the good old age of 80 years, was a high-spirited gentleman, holding strong views upon political and religious matters, and was well-esteemed for his uniform consistency of conduct. Mr. Sebastian Fitzgerald , well-known in Melbourne, is a son of the deceased gentleman."

Sebastian Fitzgerald died in 1909:

"We learnt with much regret of the death last week of Mr Sebastion Fitzgerald, which sad event occurred suddenly at Clifton Springs on Saturday night, 24th ult. Deceased gentleman was well-known, having spent his boyhood in the Kilmore district where his father, Mr. R. Fitzgerald, carried on the business on the premises now occupied by Mr. C.J Morrissey, being later located in Kobyboyn and Seymour. Deceased was highly esteemed by all who knew him." -Kilmore Free Press, May 6, 1909.

Sebastion Fitzgerald had married Annie O'Callaghan in March of 1889:

" FITZGERALD-O'CALLAGHAN. On the 27th ult. at St. Patrick's, East Melbourne, by the Very Reverend M. Farrelly, Sebastion, 3rd son of Richard Fitzgerald of Richmond, to Annie, eldest daughter of William O'Callaghan of Stawell."- Argus, 12 March, 1889.

The children born to Sebastian and Annie included Francis Joseph born 1891, Malvern; Mary Geraldine born 1892, Malvern; James Vincent born 1893, Richmond; Margarita born 1894, Seymour; Annie Josephine born 1898 Seymour; and Philomena born 1905, Hawthorn.

Mary, Margarita and Philomena all remained spinsters and died in 1927, 1963 and 1984 respectively.

Sebastian's wife Annie outlived her husband by 10 years. She was buried in the Boroondara Cemetery in the same grave as Sebastion on 12 September, 1919. Also in the same grave was buried Mary Geraldine Fitzgerald (July 4, 1927) and Carmel Fitzgerald( 17 September, 1927). Carmel was their granddaughter, the child of Francis Joseph Fitzgerald and his wife Margaret Poynton.

Eleanor Ann Fitzgerald, wife of Richard Senior, died at the age of 74 years in February of 1895. She was buried in the Boroondara (Kew) Cemetery in the same grave as one of her sons. Edmond Oius Fitzgerald, who had predeceased her in October of 1884.

Richard Patrick Fitzgerald and his wife Elizabeth Ann Rogers had the following ten children:

1894: Mary Bernadette Fitzgerald: born 1894, Seymour. Became a Catholic Nun.

1896: Eleanor Josephine Fitzgerald: born Seymour. Died 1969, Richmond, aged 73.

1897: Richard Francis Fitzgerald: born Richmond. Died 1968, Kew, aged 71 years.

1899: Joseph Ignatius Fitzgerald born Richmond. Died 1973, Melbourne, aged 74. Became a Catholic Priest.

1900: Clare Agnes Fitzgerald born Richmond. Died 1978, Fitzroy, aged 77 years.

1902: Leonard Berchman Fitzgerald: born Richmond. Died 1943, Prahran, aged 44 years.( From The Argus, Saturday 25 September 1943:-

"FITZGERALD. - On September 24, Leonard Berchmans, beloved son of Elizabeth and the late Richard Fitzgerald, Gonzaga, Church street, Richmond, loved brother of Mother Bernardette, F.C.J.; Sister Stanislaus (Concord, Sydney); Richard; the Rev. Joseph Fitzgerald, S.J.; Claire; Stanislaus; Gerald (deceased); and Mollie (deceased). --Requiescat in pace."
 

1905: Stanislaus Xavier Fitzgerald: born Richmond. Died 1958, Caufield, aged 53.

1907: Gerald Patrick Fitzgerald, born Richmond. Died 1926, Richmond, aged 19 years.

1908: Mary Fitzgerald, born Richmond.

c. 1910: Ursula Mary Fitzgerald, born Richmond. Died Richmond 1911, aged 1.

 

Richard Patrick Fitzgerald died on March 19, 1927. His death notice was published in The Argus on March 21, 1927:

"FITZGERALD: On the 19th of March at Gonzaga, 305 Church Street, Richmond, Richard Patrick, the dearly beloved husband of Elizabeth A. Fitzpatrick and loving father of Mother Bernadette, F.C.J, Genazzano; Sister Stanislaus, Clifton Hill; and Rev. Joseph Fitzgerald, S.J., Ireland; Richard; Clare; Leonard; Stanislaus and Molly, and the late Gerald. Aged 66 years. May his soul rest in peace."

Elizabeth Ann Rogers Fitzgerald, the sister of Kathleen Frances Rogers Bourke, died in November 1958. She was buried in the Boroondara Cemetery in the same grave as her son, Stanislaus, who had died in January of the same year. Elizabeth's daughter Clare Agnes Fitzgerald also was buried in the same grave when she died in February 1978.

Finally, the remaining sibling of Kathleen Rogers, and only brother to reach adulthood, was Edward J. Rogers, the 'J' standing for either 'Joseph' or 'James', depending on the source.

 

 

                                                    Above: Argus, October 20, 1939

 

Above: Grave stone of Edward 'Ted' Rogers in the Queenscliff Cemetery. Photo taken by Carol Judkins. Cemetery Photo's:   http://www.rootsweb.com/~ausvsac/Index.htm
Cemetery Blog: http://carolsheadstonephotographs.blogspot.com/