Mary Ann Cannon

     NOTE: The information on this page is my research to date and is subject to change as I become better informed. I very much welcome any corrections or additional info you might have - my email address is at the bottom of this page. Whilst historical facts are not copyright, my writing about these facts are. If you wish to use any text from this site on Ancestry or on any other website, please ask me first - Tim Hill.


(For a brief history and context on the Bourke family see this page)

Mary Ann Cannon was likely born circa 1821 at County Galway, Ireland.²

At the time of her birth in Ireland, it was the "middle classes who were the immediate employers of the lower classes. They rented larger tracts of land from the big landlords, and sub-let to the small farmer. Hence it was the middle class who controlled the poor."³ In Tipperary, the population was growing during the early 1800's, and it was perhaps this that brought Patrick and Mary there.³ The resident gentry were of moderate means. Their small estates (most farms were smaller than 10 acres) had uncertain rents and "forced many to seek economic survival by enlarging their demesne farms and hence converting arable to more profitable pastoral use. The knock on effect of this was to drive tenants and labours from the land. The need for agricultural labours was fully supplied by about 1820, and no jobs existed in the towns, as there were few local towns and virtually no manufacturing industry." Reverting the farm land to demernse farming meant ejecting the tenants.³ "The small and middling farmers were caught in the middle of an increasingly polarised society. The paucity of prospects for their children in Ireland, short of subdividing already borderline viable farms, caused many to sell up and emigrate . . . The net effect was that the small middle class withered away, leaving North Tipperary even more polarised [between rich and poor]. The [disturbances] in the second quarter of the 19th century were a result of this polarisation, and were a further cause of emigration by small farmers." Rents in Tipperary were said to said to be the highest outside Dublin.³

In summary, the large farms survived by converting to pasturage, those with some money emigrated, leaving the "landless labourers without hope of employment. This inevitably led to the disturbances and rural outrages that typified North Tipperary in the 1840's more than any other part of Ireland." Coupled with increasing violent unrest, Ireland was no place to be.³ Before they married, both Mary and Patrick apparently lived at Lackeen, the Parish of Lorrha and Dorrha, County Tipperary. This was part of the townlands of Abbeville, which also included Lackeen House, a two-story stone structure.^4,5 In the Tithe Applotment Books (1823-1837) there are no Bourke or Cannon families in the parish. By the time the Griffith Valuation was done some 9 years after Patrick and Mary departed, there seemed to be no Bourke or Cannon families present. This seems to indicate that the Bourke and Cannon families were not rooted in County Tipperary.^5,6

She likely married Patrick Bourke, in January 1843 at the Parish of Lorrha and Dorrha, County Tipperary. The church they were likely married in was St Ruadhán's Church. It also records that they paid a stipend of either £15 or 15 shillings (the record is unclear)..^4,7,8

In 1837 the Parish of Lorrha and Dorrha, County Galway, was described as having 4,004 inhabitants, with only 195 in the village itself. The place is known for the ruins of the old abbey of St. Ruadan which dates back to 584, as well as Lackeen Castle. The land was said to be of good quality.⁹



To the colonies


At the time of their emigration, Patrick was was illiterate and Mary could read and write. Patrick was still signed his daughter Bridget's marriage certificate with a cross 18 years later.^10,11 At this time her occupation was given as a housemaid.¹⁰

Mary and her husband Patrick emigrated with their nine-month old daughter Bridget from Cork on 9 November 1843 on the "Royal Consort" with their daughter. They were assisted immigrants and it appears that the fare was £18 7 for adults, and half that for children. Some of the passengers on the Royal Consort seem have come from the Burhampooter which was shipwrecked - but Patrick and his family were unlikely to be amongst them.^12,13,14 After a voyage of 103 days Mary and her husband Patrick arrived at Port Phillip, Victoria, on 18 February 1844.^10,14


Mary and Patrick Bourke became the parents of Michael Bourke on Wednesday, 23 June 1847 at Melbourne.¹⁵

Mary's child Michael received his baptism at St. Francis' on Monday, 12 July 1847 at Melbourne. He was baptised in a Roman Catholic ceremony. St. Francis' Church had only recently been constructed.¹⁵

Mary's child James received his baptism on Monday, 17 September 1849 at Melbourne. he was baptised in a Roman Catholic ceremony.¹⁶

Mary's child Mary received her baptism at St. Francis' on Monday, 23 June 1851 at Melbourne.¹⁷ She presumably lived with her spouse Patrick at Jeffcott House in Jeffcott Street, Melbourne, in August 1863. This was a wooden house, "with double verandah, and contains seven good rooms and kitchen". It was probably used as a boarding house.^8,18,19,20

Her husband Patrick died 3 August 1863 at the approximate age of 63 years, leaving her a widow.

Mary, as the mother of the groom, may have attended the wedding of Michael and Susannah Alletta Nicholson in a Wesleyan Methodist ceremony at her father's house on Saturday, 26 December 1874 at Parkes, New South Wales. Michael was 27 and his wife Susannah was 24.. Others who may have attended include and Donald Nicholson as father of the bride. Aunts, uncles and grandparents who may have attended include Margaret Miller. Michael and Susannah went on to have five children over the next 10 years.²¹

On May 1883 people with the same names as Mary, Michael and James from the Emmaville district gave money to the Irish National League - perhaps it was this family.²²

Mary died on 6 September 1885 at The Cricketer's Arms Hotel, in Emmaville, New South Wales, of pneumonia after six days of illness. This hotel was owned by her son, and other members of her family lived in neighbouring towns.^23,1 Her body was interred at Emmaville cemetery at Emmaville, New South Wales. Her headstone is shared with her son Patrick and her daughter Mary.^24,25