More Kilmore Dwyers...

When I started on this quest to sort out the Kilmore Dwyers, then isolate the particular family I was after from amongst them all, I had no idea of the numbers and complexity I was dealing with...there were dozens of Dwyers and O'Dwyers in the Kilmore/Bylands/Willowmavin district of Victoria.

Whilst I have now cut "my" Dwyers from the main mob, I thought that it may benefit other researchers if I briefly note down here what I discovered about the other Dwyer families.

FAMILY OF WILLIAM DWYER & BRIDGET DUGGAN.
William Dwyer was born at Dundrum, County Tipperary, Ireland, in c. 1798, the son of William Dwyer and Margaret Londrigan. He married Bridget Duggan in Tipperary, and had at least eight children before the entire family immigrated to Australia.

The family settled in the Kilmore district, where parents William and Bridget died in 1881 and 1887 respectively. The Kilmore Free Press published the following death notice and obituary on October 6, 1881:

"DEATH- DWYER. On the 28th ult., at his residence, Allen Street, Kilmore, William Dwyer, aged 83 years, native of Dundrum, Tipperary, Ireland."

"OBITUARY. Mr Wm Dwyer, a resident of Kilmore for about twenty years, died on Wednesday evening at the ripe age of 83. Deceased gentleman, who was a native of Tipperary, Ireland, was noted for his honesty and integrity, and he was able to move about up to within a short period of his death. On Friday afternoon the remains were interred in the local Catholic Cemetery, a large number of acquaintances attending to pay the last mark of respect to his memory. Father Galavin performed the obsequies."

William Dwyer's death certificate, as registered by his eldest son, Philip Dwyer, contained the following information:

Died: 1 a.m., September 28, 1881, Kilmore.
William Dwyer, laborer.
Male, 83 years.
Cause of death: Old age and debility. Last illness, three weeks duration. Dr. last attended August 28, 1881.
Parents: William Dwyer, laborer; and Margaret Dwyer, formerly Landrigan.
Informant: Philip Dwyer, son, Kilmore.
Buried: Kilmore Cemetery, September 30, 1881. Witess: Patrick Nonan.
Born: County Tipperary, Ireland. 18 years in Victoria.
Married: At age 30 in Tipperary to Bridget Duggan.
Issue: Philip 53; Patrick 51; Catherine 48; William 45; Margaret dead; Bridget 40; Ann 38; John 36.
Surprisingly, in his will, William Dwyer mentioned only two of his children- "my son Phillip Dwyer" and "my daughter Bridget Dwyer"- as well as "my wife Bridget".

The information given in this obituary suggests that this Dwyer family did not leave Tipperary until relatively late in the mid-1800s,( c. 1860) as opposed to the early 1840s arrival of the other Dwyer family that I have researched. There is a possible match for the Dwyer family arriving on the ship Royal Dane on June 25, 1863:
William Dwyer aged 50 b c. 1813
Bridget Dwyer aged 46 b c. 1817
Philip Dwyer aged 30 born c. 1833
John Dwyer b c. 1840
Bridget Dwyer b c. 1842
Ann Dwyer b c. 1843
John Dwyer b c. 1847
Margaret Dwyer bc. 1848
John Dwyer b c. 1852

This requires further investigation...the ages are "out", but that as mentioned previously, that is almost always the case in passenger lists I have researched. Also, while the names match up with the family of William Dwyer and Bridget Duggan, children Catherine, Patrick and William were not listed.

I have located the following children as belonging to William Dwyer and Bridget Duggan- there most certainly may have been more.

CATHERINE 'KATE' DWYER: born Tipperary c. 1824. Married William Gooley. Died 1923, and 99 years. Her brief obituary in the Kilmore Free Press on September 13, 1923, reads:

" Many persons in this quarter will remember Mr William Gooley, an old Kilmore resident, who over 40 years ago migrated to the Murray district, later moving to Gippsland, where he died. The demise of his widow, who was advanced in years, is now recorded, the sad event occurring at Meriyan, Gippsland, a few days ago."

The North Eastern Ensign, newspaper of Benalla and District, also reported " Obituary. Mrs. C. Gooley. The death is reported of Mrs Catherine, relict of the late Wm. Gooley, of Bylands (Kilmore) and Yarroweyah. The sad event occurred at deceased's home at Meriyan, South Gippsland."- September 7, 1923.

Catherine Dwyer and William Gooley had a family of seven children: Annie(1858-1869); Bridget (1858-1859); William Patrick (1861); Margaret (1864); Catherine Elizabeth (c. 1867-1945); Philip (1871-1952); Ann (1873).

PHILLIP DWYER: Born county Tipperary, c. 1829. Died April 1891, Kilmore.
"Mr. Phillip Dwyer, a resident of Kilmore for many years, died on Monday morning after a few days' illness. Deceased, who was about 60 years of age, and at one time kept a hotel in the premises now occupied by Mrs Tuckwell, Sydney Street. He was sterling, straight-forward man, and one who was deservedly esteemed by all who knew him." -Kilmore Free Press, April 16, 1891.

PATRICK DWYER: born c. 1830, Clonoulty, Tipperary, Ireland. Died January 10, 1900, Kilmore Hospital.
" OBITUARY. Mr. Patrick Dwyer, an old resident of the Kilmore district, died in the local hospital on the 10th inst., where he had been located as a patient for some weeks. Deceased was a brother of the late Miss B. Dwyer, whose death we announced a few weeks ago, was a native of Clonoulty, Tipperary, and came tothis colony about 40 years ago. For a time he settled in the Goulburn Valley district, but returned here to spend his remaining days. He was a straight-forward and industrious man in his time, and a son of the late William Dwyer, whose remains were interred some years back in the local cemetery."
-Kilmore Free Press, January 18, 1900.

BRIDGET DWYER: born c. 1834, Tipperary, Ireland. Died in Kilmore, December 1899, just weeks before her brother Patrick.
" OBITUARY. Miss Bridget Dwyer, for many years resident of Kilmore, died early on Sunday morning. Diseased lady was a daughter of the late Mr. William Dwyer, a native of Tipperary, Ireland, and thoroughly patriotic in all matters affecting her native country, whilst she was also a sincere friend to many. At one time Miss Dwyer carried on a business as a dress-maker in Sydney Street, but for some time lived privately in the east end of the town."
- Kilmore Free Press, December 21, 1899.

Bridget Dwyer never married, and prior to her death she left a will in which she bequeathed legacies to her nephew, William Dwyer, of Footscray, her nephew William Kennedy and her sister Kate Gooley, the wife of William Gooley. William Kennedy was the son of Bridget's sister, Ann Dwyer.

ANN DWYER: born c. 1845, Tipperary, Ireland. Married twice- firstly, to Thomas Kennedy, and then in 1880 to George Hill. From her first marriage there was one child, a son named William Kennedy, who was born in Kilmore in 1877.
Her husband Thomas must have died between his son William's conception in c. 1876-77, and Anne's remarriage in 1880. She married George Hill, and I located two children born to the couple- George Philip in Melbourne in 1882, and Anne in Melbourne in 1885 ( she died in 1978, aged 90 years).

Ann Dwyer Kennedy Hill died in 1891. The Kilmore Free Press reported:
"DEATH: HILL. On the 22nd July, at the residence of her sister, Miss B. Dwyer, Kilmore, Mrs. Ann Hill, aged 46 years, and wife of the late George Hill of Newmarket. R.I.P."

Sadly, Ann's second husband, George Hill, had died just three months before she did...George Hill had died in their home at Falconer Street, Fitzroy, on April 15, 1891. The week before he died, George wrote a will, in which he left assets worth 4,600 pounds to two solicitor trustees to provide for his two children George and Anne until they were 21, and to provide his wife, Anne Dwyer Hill, one pound per week for the rest of her life.
A codicil to the will, added on the same day, then left three more bequests- 100 pounds to his son John Hill; 150 pounds to his grandson George Hill, and 75 pounds to his sister-in-law, Bridget Dwyer.
This mention of a son and grandson reveals that George Hill had been married prior to his union with Annie Dwyer Kennedy. Surprisingly, I can find no mention of George Hill's death in any of the online newspapers. The only George Hill to die in Melbourne in the Victorian death index for 1891 was 50 year old George Hill, no parents named. There was also a George Hill aged 61, son of Samuel Hill and Mary Green, died Clifton Hill..which, if either, of these two men is Annie's George remains to be seen.
Again, I wonder (and worry!) what happened to the little Hill children after the deaths of their parents within such a short space of time. George was only nine years old, and little Annie just five or six. William Kennedy, from Anne's first marriage, would have been aged about 14. I wonder if their mother's spinster sister, Bridget Dwyer, would have taken on the responsibility of raising her young niece and two nephews? When she died eight years later, in 1899, she left money to her nephew William Kennedy, but there was no mention of the Hill children.
When the Hill children's uncle, William Dwyer, died in 1902, he left bequests to William Kennedy and Annie Hill, but there was no mention of his nephew George. I have not been able to locate a death for George Hill, son of Annie Dwyer.
Annie's daughter, also known as Annie, married Charles McGregor Pipe in 1912. Born at Pleasant Creek in 1875, Charles was the son of William Pipe and Annie McGregor. The 1903 and 1909 electoral rolls reveal that Charles was an ironmonger in Kilmore, where he lived with his mother, Annie McGregor Pipe. After his marriage to Annie Hill, Charles moved with her to 21 Norwood Street, Newmarket, and this remained their family home for decades. Charles worked as a painter, and died in 1951. Annie Hill Pipe died at the age of 90 in 1978.

WILLIAM DWYER: I have very information about this character yet beyond the fact that he was a bachelor who farmed at Kyabram, and what I read in the following newspaper report from the Kilmore Free Press:

"UNLAWFUL ASSAULT. Philip Dwyer, a resident of Kilmore, was presented for having committed an aggrevated assault upon his brother Patrick Dwyer at Kilmore on the 1st of November. Mr. Molesworth defended the prisoner. The evidence for the prosecution was to the effect that Patrick Dwyer, with his brother William, had taken a trip to Kilmore from the Goulburn Valley, where they reside. They had gone to a house occupied in common by his mother. The prisoner was not at home. Shortly after they went to bed the two brothers were woke up by a noise outside. On opening the door to find out whence the noise proceeded they were set upon by the prisoner, who knocked one of them about with an axe and severely injured him.
Mr. Molesworth submitted that the affair was out of a family broil, say that the prisoner was merely acting in self-defence in taking the action he had done. The jury, after retiring for half an hour, acquitted the prisoner.
GRIEVOUSLY WOUNDING. Patrick Dwyer, and William Dwyer, the chief witnesses in the previous case, were then placed in the dock, charged with an assault on Philip Dwyer. The prisoners were defended by Mr Jeremiah Dwyer.
This prosecution arose out of the circumstances which formed the basis of the prosecution in the last case. Philip Dwyer, the prosecutor, said that on the night in question he was going home, and on nearing the house he heard his brother Pat say "Here he is, get the poker." He went into the building and was immediately set on by his two brothers, the prisoners. A general scrimmage ensued, which ended in Philip Dwyer being knocked senseless and bound by the prisoners. In his opinion,the prisoners had come down from the country for the express purpose of giving him a thrashing, and that their animosity was due to a jealous feeling on their part because they had not participated in of the property left by their father. The evidence was just as conflicting as in the previous case, and it was left doubtful which party was most to blame. The jury returned a verdict of not guilty, and the prisoners were discharged."
- Kilmore free Press, December 8, 1881.

Elsewhere in the same edition of the paper it was written:
"I am glad the Dwyer family dispute is settled by all parties being discharged. By the wretched brawl, from which dangerous consequences may have ensued, all parties jeopardized their liberty. That they have had enough of suffering,without being confined to gaol, is certain, having to stand their defence, although being lucky enough not to be deprived of liberty, must have made them much poorer. I hope they have learnt the lesson that it will not pay them to quarrel any more."

Almost exactly a year later, two of the warring brothers- Patrick and Philip- were before the courts again, this time in dispute over the ownership of one of their late father's cows!

William Dwyer, son of William Dwyer and Bridget Duggan, died at Kyabram in the Echuca district on April 28, 1902, aged 59 years. He left a very informative will, which alerted me to the existance of two Dwyer siblings that were previously unknown to me- John and Margaret. Briefly, William's will contained the following details:

William Dwyer, farmer, of Kyabram, made his will on June 18, 1900.
His executors were his nephews William Kennedy, cigar maker, of 240 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy,( "son of my late sister Ann Dwyer") and William Dwyer, carrier, of 68 Smith Street, Kensington (" son of my late brother John Dwyer").
Legacies: 200 pounds to William Dwyer
200 pounds to my niece Annie Hill, daughter of my late sister Annie.
50 pounds each to my nieces Bridget Dwyer and Margaret Dwyer, daughters of my late brother John Dwyer.
10 pounds for masses for the repose of my soul.
10 pounds for masses for my deceased mother, Bridget Dwyer, my late sisters Margaret and Anne and my late brother John.

After the legacies were distributed, the balance was to go to "my nephew, William Kennedy."
William Dwyer's real estate was valued at 1799 pounds, and his personal estate at 414 pounds.

MARGARET DWYER: No information beyond the fact that she had died by September 1881 when her father's death certificate noted that she was deceased.


JOHN DWYER: Born in Tipperary c. 1845.Was still alive at the time of his father William's death in 1881, but had died by the time his brother William passed away in 1902. Was married and had at least two daughters- Bridget and Margaret- and a son William.