Obituary of Kate Butler's Mother-In-Law, Elizabeth Redwood

Elizabeth Redwood died July 5, 1891.She had married Henry Redwood on 23 January 1845 as Elizabeth Reeves, née Palmer, a widow, at the Redwoods' cob-built home, Stafford Place. They were to have two sons and a daughter- Joseph Henry, Frederick and Frances Cecelia.

Obituaries of Kate Butler's father-in-law, Henry Redwood.

Kate Butler Redwood, daughter of Ellen Bourke.

Catherine 'Kate' Butler, born in Kilmore in 1847, married into an amazing New Zealand pioneer family. Her father-in-law, Henry Redwood, pictured above,was known by the title "Father of the New Zealand Turf", and one of Henry's brothers, Francis Redwood, was the Archbishop of Wellington.

Kate's sister, Margaret, went to Wellington, New Zealand, in 1873 with the Sisters of Mercy.In May 1874 the Melbourne Sisters of Mercy took responsibility for the Wellington convent.There are two possible means by which Kate Butler may have met her future husband...she may have been visiting her sister Margaret in Wellington, or may have met Henry Redwood's son in Melbourne during one of the Redwoods' forays to Victoria to compete in the State's racing carnivals with their New Zealand-bred horses(Henry's final venture to Victoria with his horses was in 1879).

Whatever the case, in 1880, in New Zealand, Catherine 'Kate' Butler married Joseph Henry Redwood, son of Henry Redwood and Elizabeth Palmer (who had married Jan 23, 1845, Waimea).Joseph was born on 27 Feb 1847 in Waimea, Nelson, New Zealand. Following is a brief biography of his life as found on the website http://www.nzetc.org

"Redwood, Joseph Henry, Spring Creek. Mr. Redwood is the eldest son of Mr. Henry Redwood, who is well known in connection with racing matters throughout New Zealand as the Father of the Turf. He was born on the 27th of February, 1847, was educated at the Nelson public school, and at ten years of age became a jockey. His riding weight was then only four stone four pounds, and he was the lightest weight that appeared on colonial race courses for many years. Mr. Redwood continued to ride for his father for about seven years. He then went to the Wairau, and assisted his father for a few years in farm work, and in the flour mill; and in 1870 he and his brother entered into partnership and took over the whole property, which they have since conducted under the style of Messrs Redwood Brothers. The farm consists of about 1200 acres of rich level land, situated near the township, and is one of the most valuable properties in the province. It is devoted to sheep grazing and agriculture, and the homestead, which is prettily situated on the right bank of Spring Creek, is modern and complete. The flour mill, which adopted the roller system in the year 1885, is driven by water power, and is one of the most efficiently equipped mills in Marlborough. Many of the methods employed were originated by the proprietors, Mr. Fred Redwood, the junior partner, being a mechanical engineer of ability, and they have since been adopted by flour mill owners all over the colony. The buildings are of wood and iron, lighted throughout by electricity, and possess a five sack plant. The whole of the grain used is grown on the farm, and the Hungarian roller flour manufactured by Messrs Redwood Brothers is favourably known all over New Zealand. Redwood Brothers have recently (1905) erected an up-to-date mill in Blenheim. It is a four-storied building, fitted up with the most modern machinery, driven by a fifty horse-power Tangye engine, and is said to be one of the best mills in New Zealand. Mr. Redwood has been chairman of the Spring Creek Road Board for twelve years, and of the Spring Creek River Board continuously for twenty-five years. He was a member of the Marlborough Provincial Council, and of the Marlborough Education Board for several years, of the Wairau Hospital and Charitable Aid Board for a term, and has also been a member of various minor bodies. Mr. Redwood is the Government nominee of the Marlborough Land Board, and of the Marlborough Land Purchase Board, of which he has been a member since its inception."

I can only find one child born to Kate and Joseph- Hamilton Joseph Redwood, born 1884(married Margaret Clouston on November 14,1906,Blenheim, New Zealand)

Kate Butler Redwood died in Sydney in 1912, aged 62.Her husband Joseph died in New Zealand in 1918, aged 71.

Back to the siblings of Lawrence Bourke...

After a million sidetracks on the children of Lawrence Bourke and his wife Hannah Mulcahy, I can now return to the rest of his siblings - the other issue of John Bourke and Margaret Meaney of Tipperary.

I know nothing of those children who remained in Ireland, either through choice or by death, so I will deal with Lawrence's two brothers and three sisters who emigrated with him to Melbourne.

John and Patrick Bourke were younger brothers of Lawrence...as can be seen above on the passenger list for the Duchess of Northumberland, John's age was given as 24 and Patrick's as 20.
Both brothers appear to have died prior to their father's death in 1853, as neither appeared in his will.
Patrick Bourke married Catherine Heffernan in 1846 at St. Francis Catholic Church, Melbourne.Like his brothers, Patrick farmed at Campbellfield and then the River Plenty near Melbourne.I have located three sons born to Patrick and Catherine...John Bourke born 1847, Campbellfield; William Bourke born 1849, Kilmore, and Cornelius Bourke, born 1852, River Plenty.
There is an entry in the baptisms register of St. Patricks, Kilmore, for William Bourke:
"William, son of Patrick Bourke and Catherine Heffrin. No birth date given. Baptised 19 November, 1849. Sponsors: Michael Heffrin and Mary Bourke."

On March 14, 1853, the following notices appeared in the Argus newspaper:

" DEATH: At his late residence on the Plenty, Mr. Patrick Bourke, formerly of Campbell Field, aged 29 years."
"The friends of the late Mr. Patrick Bourke are informed that the funeral will take place this morning (Monday) to leave his residence on the Plenty at eight o'clock and the Pilgrim Inn at 11 a.m. S.Crook, Undertaker."

(Coincidentally, there was another marriage of a Patrick Bourke to a Catherine Heffernan in 1863 0.

I have yet to search for what happened to Patrick's widow Catherine, or his children.

Of John Bourke, the other brother of Lawrence and Patrick,very little is known beyond the fact that he emigrated with them in 1841, and died prior to 1853.The most likely candidate for his death is the John Bourke who died in January of 1853. The notice in the Argus simply read:
"At the Harvest Home, Queen Street, yesterday morning, Mr. John Bourke, of Tipperary, Ireland, aged 28 years." - Argus, January 25, 1853.
This age differs from the age recorded in the burial entry:
"John Bourke, abode Melbourne, buried January 25, aged 33 years."

The Harvest Home was a Public House owned by William Cleary in Queen Street, Melbourne.

Now to the sisters of Lawrence Bourke...Ellen, Bridget and Mary.Bridget and Mary sailed on the Duchess of Northumberland with their brothers. Bridget was an 18 year old dairymaid from Tipperary who could read but not write, and her 15 year old house servant sister Mary could do neither.
I have not found when Ellen their elder sister emigrated. According to her death certificate, she also arrived in Victoria in c. 1841. There was an Ellen Bourke on board the Duchess of Northumberland who was roughly around the same age, but she was part of a family consisting of a husband, John Bourke,30, and a son Edmund, 7. I have a feeling that this may have been her father, John Bourke, and his second wife, Ellen, with his age either recorded incorrectly or deliberately given as much younger than he was so he could qualify for the assisted passengers scheme.
It is interesting (and frustrating!) to note that there are different passenger lists for the same ships, and that they offer conflicting information re. ages.For example, the actual image of John, Ellen and Edmund Bourke's entry definitely states that they are aged 30,20 and 7.
Another list for the same people, same ship, called the "Victoria, Australia, Assisted and Unassisted Passenger Lists, 1839-1923" on Ancestry, states their ages as Ellen 26; Edmond 7 and two Johns who are either 73 or 38.There is no mention of the 73 year old John on the D.O.N passenger list as used by the PROV.

Whatever the case, in 1841, Ellen Bourke married fellow Irish emigrant John Butler at St. Francis Catholic Church, Melbourne.There was a John Butler from Tipperary who had travelled with the Bourkes on board the Duchess of Northumberland, aged 22, but he was recorded as being a Protestant...would a Catholic-Protestant marriage have been considered let alone carried out in 1841?

Part of the notes given to me by an old Burramine farmer, and added to by an unknown descendant of this line, reads as follows:
" John Butler built the Red Lion Hotel at Kilmore. They allowed one of the rooms of the hotel to be used by Masons, and tradition has it that a priest foretold that grass would grow on the site of the hotel, which today has come to pass. Mrs Butler dropped dead at the foot of the stairs in the Red Lion Hotel, Kilmore."

I have no idea how much- if any- of this is true, but the latter may very well be as Ellen Bourke Butler died at the young age of 46 in 1864, and a coroner's jury concluded that the cause of death was "disease of the heart". The fact that there was a coroner's report means that her death was sudden and unexpected...and perhaps took place at the bottom of the stairs at the Red Lion!

There is some uncertainty about how many children were born to Ellen Bourke and John Butler. In the Victorian birth and baptism index I can find record of:
John Butler born 1842, Melbourne
Margaret Butler born 1843, Melbourne
Thomas Butler born 1846, Merri Creek
Catherine"Kate" Butler born 1847, Kilmore.
Michael Butler born 1849, Kilmore.

There was a baptism entry for Michael Butler in the registers of St. Patricks, Kilmore:
"Michael, son of John Butler and Ellen Bourke. Born 16 October, 1848; baptised April 30, 1849. Sponsors:James Garrety and Margaret Cantwell.

According to their mother Ellen's death certificate, there was another daughter, Ellen Butler, born between Kate and Michael, and a son Lawrence Butler born c. 1854.This makes seven children who were named on Ellen Bourke Butler's death certificate, yet on the birth certificate of the only child I could find who was registered after the official 1853 compulsory registration date, "Unnamed Butler", the statement was made that other issue was "4 boys 3 girls living; deceased 3 children."

First born child John died prior to his mother's death in 1864.

Ellen's husband, former blacksmith, farmer and Red Lion publican John Butler, died less than a year after his wife. He wrote a will on December 30, 1864, and passed away on August 16, 1865.He nominated as executors and guardians of his children his brother-in-law, Lawrence Bourke, and another Kilmore publican, Philip Corboy.
At the time of John Butler's death, his surviving children would have been aged 22(Margaret);21 (Thomas); 19 (Kate);17 (Ellen); 15 (Michael) and 11 (Lawrence).
I have just downloaded John Butler's death certificate, and the informant was his brother-in-law, Lawrence Bourke. Lawrence wasn't overly-sure of the ages of his Butler nephews and nieces...he had Thomas the eldest at 21; Margaret 19; Kate 17; Michael 15; Ellen 14 and Lawrence 11.
There was a double bonus with the purchase of John's death certificate, as with it came the death certificate of his father, also John Butler, who died in Kilmore the month after his own son. I will post both certificates, as well as Ellen Bourke Butler's death certificate, in the blog entry following this one.

I have three very well-written books on the history of the Kilmore district, and the Butler family warrants mention in all three. From my favourite publication "Kilmore-Those That Came Before" by Heather Knight, Kilmore Historical Society, 2007:
" Sydney Street, Kilmore- by Athmos, Kilmore Free Press, 27 August, 1931:
I have now come to the Red Lion Hotel with the king of the forest standing boldly, aggressive, defiant and majestic on the centre of the parapet.Long years he has looked down upon the life of Sydney Street...
...Full well this hotel was known in the past for here Mr John Butler was the landlord, and during the elections it was from the balcony of this hotels candidates used to address the electors in search of parliamentary honors, and if some few who mounted the rostrum had to make a hurried exit-and leave their tall hats-what mattered it for were these not the stirring times of that long ago when around the booths pitched battles were fought and friend met friend in conflict?
...The family of Butlers were well known far and wide, and it was Miss Butler, a daughter, who became a religious and gave to Victoria the distinction of supplying the first native born nun for Victoria. His eldest son was a well known Government official. The yard was spacious, and a fruit garden at the rear was much appreciated by patrons of the hotel." pages 128, 129 'Kilmore Those That Came Before'.
There was also a footnote at the bottom of page 129 that read "In 1857 the Kilmore Examiner mentioned that Miss Butler of Kilmore had become a novice in the Sisters of Mercy Convent, 23 October, 1857."
This daughter of John Butler and Ellen Bourke was eldest daughter Margaret Mary, who had been born in 1843, so she would only have been 13 or 14 when she joined the Convent.Taking the name of Xavier, Margaret (or Sister Xavier) went to Wellington, New Zealand, in 1873.She remained there for the rest of her life, attaining the status of Reverend Mother at St. Mary's Convent, Wellington.

The Kilmore Free Press of July 9, 1908, stated: " Mother Mary Sherlock, who died at the Nicholson Street Convent of Mercy last week was connected with that institution since 1857. One of the first pupils of the establishment was a Kilmore girl, Miss Maggie Butler, daughter of the late Mr. John Butler, who was then proprietor of the Red Lion Hotel. Miss Butler joined the order and I believe later became Reverend Mother in a New Zealand Convent."

Daughter Ellen, known as "Nellie", married Charles George Holmes at Kilmore in 1879:
"Holmes-Butler- On the 10th inst., at East St.Kilda, Charles George, of Horsham, to Nellie, youngest daughter of the late John Butler of Kilmore." -Argus, 11 June, 1879.

I have located four children born to Nellie and Charles up to 1886(my Australian Vitals Index cd only goes to the end of the 1880s)...Lillian Gordon born 1881, Horsham; Charles born 1882, Horsham; Gertrude Nellie born 1885; and Gordon John born 1886.

In the old Bourke notes, there is a notation that Kate Butler married Joseph Rodwood, but I can't find evidence of this anywhere. Ah ha....a misprint- I just found Kate's death as Catherine REdwood,died Ryde, Sydney, in 1912, the daughter of Butler, aged 62 years.

The discovery that Kate's married name was REDWOOd not RODWOOD opened an avalanche of information.

Burramine Store Ledger-William Bourke's entry

Death Certificate of William Bourke.

New Discovery- the story of William Bourke.

William Bourke/Burke was born in County Tipperary, Ireland, in c. 1833-34, most likely the son of John Bourke and a first wife who died before his marriage to Judith Meehan in c.1840.
In the shipping list for the 'Duchess of Northumberland', William is listed as the son of John Burke, 34, and Johanna Burke, 23, and his age is given as seven and a half. All three were born in County Tipperary, Ireland, and were Roman Catholics.
Judith Bourke was pregnant on the voyage, and not long after their arrival in Melbourne she gave birth to Michael, the first of five sons who would be William's half-brothers.One brother, Joseph, did not survive infancy. Judith also gave birth to Ellen Bourke, William's half-sister.
William was aged about nineteen in 1853 when his father John died.The family was living in Kilmore at the time, and with the next oldest child aged only twelve, William would have had to help his stepmother bring in an income to help support his siblings.
When the Bourkes left Kilmore to take up land grants on the Murray River in the parishes of Burramine and Boosey c. 1870, William selected two blocks next to his brother Paddy Bourke. They were allotment numbers 4 and 5, each comprising of 80 acres.
Paddy Bourke started up the Burramine Store on one of his blocks, and I have in my temporary possession at the moment a number of the ledgers that he used to keep accounts from c. 1870 until the 1900s.The first one he used is a very large leather book, inscribed on the front "Noah's Ark Store, December 1871. Patrick F. Bourke."
On the inside cover is "Noah's Ark, December 11, 1871. Patrick Bourke."

There are hundreds of people featured in these books, mostly local but also those who were passing through the district, or those who still lived in Bylands or Kilmore where Paddy and his family had lived previously.
Amongst these, of course, are many Bourkes, some with a small notation beside their names to help distinguish who was who. All of those Bourkes who were related to Paddy seem to have the word "Metal" scribed beside their name at the top of their respective pages. What this 'Metal" refers to, I have absolutely no idea, but would love any suggestions on the matter!

I found the first entry for William Bourke in 1872, when on May 29 he bought 4 drinks. June 7 1872 must have been a day for either celebrating or drowning of the sorrows, because William on that day had 28 drinks and some tobacco added to his account, and 18 drinks the day after. This is quite interesting, because it was not for some years after that the Burramine Store was also granted a Publican's license!
In 1873 there was only one transaction by William, and that was in December.The same in 1874...one transaction recorded when William payed rent of fifteen pounds that was owing out of eighteen pounds.
1875 saw much more activity between William Bourke and his brother Paddy's store, with no drinking,but tobacco being regularly purchased. 1876 was much of the same, as was 1877 up until August 31.On that day a pair of hobbles was added to William's account, although William himself could not have purchased them as on August 28, 1877, he was admitted into the Beechworth Asylum!
He was taken to Beechworth by the Police after becoming delusional, and was classified as being a danger to his family. His admission form gave the following information:

WILLIAM BOURKE
Nearest relative or friend: Patrick and Michael Bourke at Boosey near Cobram.
By whom brought: Police
Previous address: Yarrawonga
Age: 42
Marital status: single
Occupation: Labourer
Habits of life: temperate
Native Place: Ireland
Religion: Roman Catholic
Form of Insanity: Delusional
Duration of present attack: From 20th 8 days.
If disordered before, and how long: First attack.
If suicidal: No
If dangerous: Yes to relatives
If destructive: Yes.

Bodily conformation: Head, chest, abdomen, extremities: good
Marks of Violence(if any): This man has a black eye and a scratch over his nose and a few old scars about the legs.
This man seems full of delusions, one being that he has shot the devil.
September 3: Is very noisy and excited at times, has had to be put in seclusion once or twice.He is dirty in his habits and noisy at nights.
Can't translate next two lines.(except for 'September 10: Is getting thin')

Allowed on Leave- mental state improved 10th August, 1878.

(Sure enough, after no entries for almost 12 months, William Bourke again appears in Paddy's ledger on August 13, when he bought some tobacco followed a few days later by a pair of moleskin trousers and a pair of boots.)

William's medical records show that he returned to Beechworth from leave at 11:55 p.m on March 11, 1879.
"He has been quiet since admission, but is ___. Has had ophthalmia, which is still present(inflammation of the eyes).
2nd April: Patient has been weakly and delicate for the past ten days. Confined to bed and placed upon medicine and ___. Today he is improved.
22 April 1879: Improved and __ does a little work on the grounds.
June 13, 1879: Is in good bodily health. Mental state improved.Is becoming much ___.Works well.
15 July 79: General state improved.

Died on 15-12-84. G.P "

It is interesting that in the five-plus years between July 1879 and December 1884 when he died, there were no comments recorded about William's mental or physical state on his hospital record.

William Bourke's death certificate tells us that he died on the 15th of December, 1884, at the "Hospital For Insane, Beechworth." William Bourke, labourer/ male 49 years/ cause of death "General paralysis and disease of the brain". The result of a Magisterial Inquiry held by William Telford, Justice of the Peace.December 16, 1884.
No information re. parents./ Informant was a constable from Beechworth who was present at the inquiry.
William's body was taken back to Yarrawonga where he was buried in the Yarrawonga Cemetery on December 17, 1884. Witnesses to the event were John McNamara and his half-brother Edward Bourke./ Born in Ireland, not known how long in the Colony/ not married.

I wonder why William was buried in Yarrawonga and not Burramine like most of the other Bourkes? I have never seen a headstone for him in my wanderings through the old Catholic section of the cemetery, but then again most of the Bourkes in the Burramine Cemetery failed to be rewarded with a memorial marker of any description when they passed away.

I am so relieved to have finally, after so many years, found something concrete on the elusive William Bourke. I feel as though there is much more to add to his story, however. I remember years ago a friend and wonderful historian of the Yarrawonga District, Betty Browning, sent me an article from the Yarrawonga newspaper. It was the story of a young man whom I am sure was named William Bourke, who received an award for bravery for saving a man who was nearly drowned in a lagoon at Burramine while trying to cross it in a horse and carriage. Of course, I didn't even know of the existence of our William Bourke at that stage, and so have no idea what I did with the article. I will have to endeavour to find it again through a researcher perhaps.
That is all I have at present about William Bourke, but I am sure I will be adding more to his tale before too much time has passed.