Margaret Allen

"Catherine Mulcahy's Irish child

An exchange of letters in 1965 between Lillian Alice Sneyd (daughter of James Goulburn Sneyd) and Mary Tennent Carleton of California suggests that Catherine Mulcahy was married and a mother in Ireland before she emigrated to Australia.

Mrs Carleton, then aged about 75, stated that in Cork, Ireland, Catherine had married a William Foote who died when their child, Margaret, was three. On emigrating Catherine left the child in the care of an uncle, a priest, and his sister in Cork. Margaret, Mrs Carleton's grandmother, recalled that Catherine had written several times asking that Margaret be sent to Australia but the journey was thought to be be too long and dangerous for the child.

When she was 15, Margaret Foote married a William Allen, either before or after she had migrated to the United States, possibly during the famine years. Margaret lived until she was about 86.

Mrs Carleton stated that she had in her possession a 1887 letter to Margaret from Samuel Hanley Sneyd sending a list of the Sneyd children and press clippings reporting his father's death and a photograph of Samuel with his public service medal. It seems that the Sneyd children were in contact with their half-sister in America. Mrs Carleton confirmed the story in a later 1968 letter to Colin McIntyre. See an extract of the letter.

Catherine Mulcahy never used the name Foote in Australia, perhaps because she did not wish to be known as widowed mother or possibly because she was an unmarried mother. It may be that the Emigration Societies that briefly sponsored female emigration to Australia may have only assisted single women.

This information throws new light on the life on Catherine and on Irish emigration in the early years of NSW. More may come to light with further research.

Source: Transcript of letter from Mrs Carleton to Lill Sneyd, 10 Apr 1965 and letter to Colin McIntyre of 1968."

• Source - http://www.artpages.com.au/sneyd_children.html