11. From Ireland: Bridget Horan (Cant lineage)

Bridget Horan - 2nd great grandmother was the second wife of Francis Cant, who came from Lincolnshire in 1844 (see Cant arrivals entry)

“Bridget Horan was the youngest of the six children of Patrick Horan and Mary Hickey, and was born 19 May 1840 at Corbally in the parish of Portrae, Killoran, Castletown, Tipperary. Her eldest brother Martin was born in 1826 and remained a bachelor; Ellen, born in 1827, married William Tosney, but they had no children; Thomas was born in 1829 and married Alice Kennedy, who bore him nine children; James, born 1834, also remained a bachelor; and Catherine was born in 1838, married Denis Hall and had three children.” (Tony Butler)

On 20 June 1854, at age 14, Bridget arrived from Ireland, with her older sister, Catherine, on board the Switzerland. As was common in Ireland at that time amongst the peasantry, neither could read nor write. The £8 bounty was paid by another, older sister, Ellen, who was in the service of Mr. Owen Boyle of the Harp of Erin Hotel, Goulburn. It was to Goulburn that Bridget went, and where she married and died, though several of her children were born in other rural areas of central and southern NSW, probably in places they moved for her husband's work. 

Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church, Goulburn 1847

After the death of his first wife, Susan, Francis married Bridget Horan at the Catholic Church in Goulburn on 15 July1858. The priest was Father Richard Walsh.

On the marriage record, Francis was described as a bachelor and a labourer, Bridget as a spinster and domestic servant: no hint of Francis’s previous marriage or children. “Even on his death certificate these details are not mentioned.” (Tony Butler). Francis was received into the Catholic Church on 11 August 1879 by the same Father Walsh who had married the couple.  

Francis died 4 October 1890 at Addison St Goulburn, Bridget died 7 January 1916 in Goulburn.

Francis and Bridget’s children include:

• Sarah Ellen born 22 June 1859 at Goulburn 
• Francis Patrick 23 May 1863 at Goulburn 
• Martin born 30 April 1865 at Goulburn, died 1947 Manly 
• William (great grandfather) born 14 June 1867 at Sheet of Bark, Carcoar, died 1940 Auburn. 
• Mary born 6 October 1870 at Molong 
• Jeffrey James born 8 July 1871 at Bombala 
• Bridget born 27 April 1873 at Goulburn 
• Thomas Joseph born 4 June 1875 at Goulburn 
• Gertrude Matilda born 4 June 1877 at Goulburn 

For the information in this chapter, I am indebted to Tony Butler's research in What The Butler Did