Johanna Ryan

Johanna was the eldest daughter of Daniel Ryan and Mary Conners. (I have also seen Mary's name recorded as Connor and O'Connor). The Ryans, like Patrick Pendergast, were from Tipperary but, unlike him, had arrived as migrants in about 1840 bringing Johanna and her eight brothers and sisters. The family settled at Kiah, south of Twofold Bay.

Five years later, Johanna - at the age of 19 (and 12 years younger than her husband) - married Patrick.

The Kiah area was an Irish Catholic enclave in the nineteenth century and the Doyle, McCloy, McMahon, Ryan, Whelan, Pendergast, Donnely and Power families intermarried extensively. The McCloys and the McMahons could be said to have intermarried intensively, four McCloys going to the altar with four McMahons. An entry in Fr Patrick Slattery's "Saddle-bag Diary" indicates that wedding celebrations at Kiah were lively affairs:

“Corcoran's Flat Station. Held at Mr. P. Whelan's on Wednesday 6th May 1874. Morning dark and cold. Station well attended and 15 persons went to Holy Communion. Received Easter dues nil. Married Mary Whelan to-day to James Doneley and hope the marriage may be a very happy one. Stopped for the night at Mr Whelan's where I had but little rest. Next morning went shooting and shot a number of ducks. Returned to Eden on Thursday evening late afternoon spending two agreeable days at Corcoran's Flat”.

The two non-Catholic families living at Kiah, the Goward and Harris families, must have felt rather left out. However, I do have a record of Bridget McCloy marrying Herbert Harris.

Two of the Ryans married Powers: the ninth child, Will, married Ellen Power of Wyndham, one of Patrick Power's sisters. The seventh child, Hanorah, married John Joseph ("Black Johnny") Power, one of the Kiah Powers.

I’m not sure where Patrick and Johanna first lived after their marriage but it was probably in Kiah. Certainly their second child (Mary) is recorded as having been born there in 1848. It is possible that Michael Power sold or leased his 32 acre property to Patrick some time in the 1850s. In 1872 my great-grandparents, James and Kate Power were married - according to a notation on their marriage certificate - “at the residence of Mr Patrick Penderghast, Kiah”. This, of course, was the home in which Kate had grown up so it was a fitting and happy place for her to be married. Not long after that the farm must have returned to Power ownership for Mrs Mary Ann Strangwidge (nee Power) who was born in Kiah in 1874 remembers growing up in that home. (Mary Ann was the daughter of “Red Johnny” Power and Ann Power.) For Ann, who was Kate’s sister, it was a homecoming too. (See the “Story of John and Ann Power” for a description of the home.)

In 1968, Mrs Strangwidge told me a grisly story about the time one of the Pendergasts (or "Penders" as she refers to her) was staying with her mother at Kiah in about 1880.

"Often the snakes used to come in and get up between the lining (and the wall) and the blessed things - you could see them moving ................. and one night one of the Penders was there staying with mother and she got a big carving fork and stabbed right through the hessian and snake and all. It wriggled more then!"

When Patrick and Johanna Pendergast moved from the house in Kiah they settled at Mowary (or Mowarra), a place towards Green Cape from Kiah.

Their home there was of slab construction and (in later years, at least) had a galvanised iron roof. There was a big verandah along the front of the house with rooms opening off it. Issie Ryan told me “the Pendergast home at Mowarra was right on the coast beside a creek.”

Patrick and Johanna ran a dairy farm but, also, as their children grew up and left home, boarded sleeper cutters. Bob Warren took supplies down to them once every two weeks.

Patrick had been born in Co. Tipperary. The Ryan family had also come from that Irish county. The McMahons and Whelans were from Tipperary too so it would seem that this common origin must have contributed in some way to their settling together in this faraway place. Even today Kiah is a pretty isolated spot despite its location adjacent to the Princes Highway.

Patrick and Johanna’s children

Patrick and Johanna were married in about 1845 and had 13 children in an extraordinary pattern: the first six were girls and the next seven boys.

1. Catherine (Mrs Robert Alexander). Born 5 June 1846 2. Mary (Mrs Thomas Power). Born 1848 at Kiah 3. Margaret (Mrs John Roberts). Born 1850 at Kiah 4. Johanna (Mrs Thomas Greer). Born1852 at Eden 5. Hanora (Mrs James Doyle). Born 1853 at Kiah 6. Ellen (Mrs Patrick Power) Born 1 October 1855 at Kiah 7. John (m. Rosanah Fitzpatrick) Born 6 December1857 8. Daniel (m. Elizabeth Jess) Born 25 November 1859 at Mowarra 9. Patrick, died aged one day. ) Twins born 22 July 1861 10. Michael, died aged seven days. ) at Mowarra 11. Patrick (m. Elizabeth Stevenson) Born 6 May 1863 at Mowarra 12. Thomas (m. Louise Roszynski) Born 26 December1865 13. Michael, died aged 17 years. Born 14 December 1867

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The Twofold Bay Magnet : and South Coast and Southern Monaro Advertiser (NSW : 1908 - 1919)

Mon 14 Jul 1913

OBITUARY.

MRS J. PENDERGAST.

One of the oldest residents in this district passed avvay on Monday last in the person of Mrs Pendergast, relict of the late Patrick Pendergast, who resided at Bombala and Kiah for over 70 years. The deceased lady was a native of Tipperary, Ireland, and left there with her parents in the year 1840, for N.S.W, shortly after which she came to reside on the Monaro and South Coast, and lived in the district till her death. For about five years she was a great sufferer from rheumatism, and was bedridden for the past six months. The Rev Father Kenny attended her during her illness, and she was visited frequently by the Sisters of the Eden Convent. Deceased left a large family of grown-up children, and two brothers to mourn their loss,

viz. : — Mesdames T. Greer(Eden), R, Alexander (Genoa), J. B. Doyle (Kiah), daughters ; Messrs D. Pendergast (Mowara) son ; Daniel Ryan (Timbillica, ) and John Ryan (NorthCoast), brothers; N. Alexander, C. Pendergast,- T Doyle, nephew. Mesdames C. Roberts (Queensland) Powers (Sydney) P. Powers (Wyndham), and Messrs John, Thomas, and Patrick Pendergast (Queensland) are also daughters and sons of deceased. The funeral took place on Tuesday at Cochrane's Cemetary, Kiah, where the burial ceremony was performed by Rev Father Kenny (Pambula). At the graveside were Messrs J. and T. McMahon, Mr and Mrs R. Bruce, Messrs James, John, and William Whelan, E., H., and G. Harris, Michael and J. B. Doyle, Mrs M, Doyle and daughter,. Mrs, T. McMahon, Mrs Garrathy, Miss M. Shelley, Messrs W. Switzer, R. Mackenzie E. Burns, R. Goward, jun., Mesdames Stevens, R. Alexander, T. Greer, Messrs James Doyle, N. Alexander, T. McMahon, jun, M. Howard, David Binnie, J. O'Hara. D. Pendergast, C. Pendergast, D, Ryan, and Mrs J. B. Doyle.

The funeral arrangments were in charge of Mr A. Greig, and Mr. T.McMahon drove the hearse.