Saturday, March 19, 2011

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."