Dear Coralie, Do you know the date of the original fire? May find a SMH story on it. Regards,Bill > Yes, it's a worry. There are my ancestors Edward Reilly and his wife > Eleanor nee Hearne buried there as well as Ann Daniel nee Sullivan and > some > of her children, a 5 week old Andrew Edward Thomas Sullivan in 1873 > without > a headstone and other Hearne/Stewart relatives. > > It must have been a beautiful building in its day. E-mail message checked by Internet Security (6.0.0.386) Database version: 5.13470 http://www.pctools.com/en/internet-security/

Hi Bill, I've never been able to come closer than the 1880s. "The Forgotten Valley" by M. Hutton Neve states that the building was completed about 1845 or 1846 although services were held there before the roof was erected. She says that the fire occurred about forty years later. Yes, please watch out for an article while you're doing the 1880s. Regards, Coralie -----Original Message----- From: aus-nsw-hills-hawkesbury-hunter-valley-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:aus-nsw-hills-hawkesbury-hunter-valley-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Bill Sent: Tuesday, 13 October 2009 10:06 PM To: aus-nsw-hills-hawkesbury-hunter-valley@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [HHHV] ST. JOSEPHS CHURCH AND CEMETERY Dear Coralie, Do you know the date of the original fire? May find a SMH story on it. Regards,Bill

Dear Coralie, After thumbing through nearly ten years of hard copy SMH I am starting to get a definate feel of how they run in sequence of material offered regularly. Headlines are never in big print as they are today. For local news never in bold type, and the heading can be vague, compared to the story itself. There are a lot of items of interest that come up annually such as the awarding of mail contracts, which was a State function and gives the name of the contractor, the delivery run, times per week, whether on horseback or by cart. University results, Inquests, Marine Inquiries, Mine Accidents and the subscription lists raising funds for the widows thereof. A huge Civil Service List. I started off posting a section of the Civil Service List to the Sydney List. My thoughts were that it was an item of interest, giving the name, job description and location of each Civil Servant, thousands of names, which I could not reproduce myself as my commitment firstly is to the Ryerson Index, and it is with the assistance of the LITHGOW FHG that I can have access to these papers, so much easier to read than on microfilm doing what I am doing. At the end of the post I asked for volunteers to continue to post the list in sections and only had one reply, posting one extra list. There are so many Inquests and Court matters that of course contain names of witnesses etc, and then the Casualty List from the hospital which seems to start regularly about mid 1886. Max Bancroft volunteered to post some Inquests so I sent him thumbnails and they are attrcting quite a bit of interest, his postings being fairly regular over the past couple of months. One lister asked about the publication date not being on one entry, so I tried once again to get a volunteer to continue the Civil List, with just one volunteer again, the same person, posting the two I sent him. A lot of this information pops up in strange places, and of course places like Palm Beach, Hornsby, Turramurra, along with the area this list has interests in were all in the Country News columns, but there could also be a little block item as well. Then of course what appears to be an editorial type column, often has items taken from country papers dealing with some major type incident. To do the job properly one would need to sit down and read the few news pages thoroughly. I get the items I see, and try to do it fairly consistently, but there will be items that I have missed. When I started, just getting items for the Ryerson Index, off the front and back page, Deaths then being on the front page, and Funerals on the back, I could do a book of three months in an hour. Now it takes me all day to do the same size book. So to respond to your last line, I will keep an eye out for the fire report. It is one of the things I regularly look for anyhow, there having been so many fires back then. Major city fires etc. Regards,Bill Posted via the list as an item of interest. > > I've never been able to come closer than the 1880s. "The Forgotten > Valley" > by M. Hutton Neve states that the building was completed about 1845 or > 1846 > although services were held there before the roof was erected. She says > that the fire occurred about forty years later. > > Yes, please watch out for an article while you're doing the 1880s. E-mail message checked by Internet Security (6.0.0.386) Database version: 5.13470 http://www.pctools.com/en/internet-security/

Hi Bill, >From what my grandmother told me she was about 9 or 10 when it happened. She was born in 1888 - so that makes it about 1897/8. Have no idea what time of year , but I guess it would have been in the summer time. Regards, Norma. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Bill" <oldboybill@westnet.com.au> To: <aus-nsw-hills-hawkesbury-hunter-valley@rootsweb.com> Sent: Tuesday, October 13, 2009 10:06 PM Subject: Re: [HHHV] ST. JOSEPHS CHURCH AND CEMETERY > Dear Coralie, > Do you know the date of the original fire? > May find a SMH story on it. > Regards,Bill