I can across an interesting Fethard connection and historical coincidence the other day that I thought might be of interest to anyone on the list looking for information about the Burges/s family in Fethard. I recently bought a newly published book co-written by Pamela Statham-Drew, a West Australian historian and Jacqueline O'Brien, widow of the late and famous Vincent O'Brien the Tipperary race horse trainer. The book, "On We Go- The Wittenoom Way; The Legacy of a Colonial Chaplain" (Fremantle Press 2009) is about Mrs O'Brien's family, the Wittenoom family. She was born Jacqueline Wittenoom in 1926 in Western Australia (where I live) and tells the story of her family in Western Australia from its founder, John Burdett Wittenoom, the first Anglican Chaplain of the Swan River Colony (as W.A. was then known). On 31 March 1860, a Wittenoom woman, Augusta, married one Thomas BURGES. The story is thus told in the book (page 85): "Thomas Burges was an Irishman whose father, Samuel, had arrived in the colony in March 1830 with his brothers, William and Lockier. The three young men were the sons of a doctor in Fethard, Co. Tipperary in Ireland and being members of a large family with few prospects they were attracted by the possibility of owning land in Western Australia; they took up a substantial grant in the York district. Here Samuel became involved with an Irish servant girl, Judith Kearney. After their son, Thomas was born on 3 April 1831, Judith was sent back to Ireland; the child was raised in York on the Burges farm, 'Tipperary', until 1841 when Samuel sent him back to school in the brothers' home town, Fethard. Seven years later Thomas returned to the Swan River as nephew to Samuel, who by this time had married and was the father of another three children. Thomas was sent to his uncle William Burges's properties in the north-west [of W.A.] to learn about station life. He was soon managing several of these and in due course acquired a property of his own on the Bowes River, north of present-day Geraldton, which he called simply The Bowes. It was here, a decade later that he set up home with his bride Augusta after their marriage on 31 March 1860. "William Burges eventually returned to Ireland and to Coolmore, the farm he bought in Fethard, Co. Tipperary. When he died the farm was sold and the proceeds shared among his West Australian relatives and coincidently this property would in the 1970s be purchased by Wittenoom descendents [Mrs O'Brien] who created there the great Coolmore thoroughbred racehorse-breeding empire." Nothing more is said about the unlucky Judith Kearney or where she came from in Ireland and to where she returned. I hope she was looked after properly. A Dr Lochia/Lochier/Lockier BURGES/S, Esq, "doctor of physick" of Fethard had a daughter variously called Eleanor/Ellen/Elinor, who in 1808, became the second wife of Oliver LATHAM (of Helenpark near Killenaule) the older half brother of my 3X great grandfather, William LATHAM (who lived & had property in Fethard). In 1789, Oliver Latham's sister, Ann LATHAM, b.1773, had married a Lochier BURGES/S, brother to Oliver's later wife, Eleanor/Ellen/Elinor. (So a brother and sister married another brother and sister). It is possible that he was also a doctor, like his father, and it was actually his and Ann's three sons (if they had children) who came to Western Australia although the sons would have been approaching 40 by then and not exactly "young men". There must be a LATHAM family connection to the three BURGES/S sons who came to Western Australia in 1830 but looks like just another mystery to unravel! Maybe someone on the List has some information? Interestingly, as far as coincidences go, Vincent and Jacqueline O'Brien and later their daughter, Jane and her husband, at one stage owned Ballysheehan Stud, which used to be the Tipperary home of my LATHAM family for many years from the early 1700s until about 1820. Wendy Kurz (Latham) in Western Australia

Hello Wendy - Read your article with interest. Unfortunately, I see no family connections between us. But I am interested in the reference to the Bowes River. My maternal grandmother was a Bowes whose ancestors were from Ireland, but I don't know where in Ireland, although it could have been Meath. I was wondering if you would know anything about the reference to Bowes, especially anything about their ancestral home in Ireland. Thanks, Wendy. - Lee Morton, Medford, New Jersey, USA ----- Original Message ----- From: "Wendy Kurz" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Sunday, August 09, 2009 2:35 AM Subject: [IRL-TIP] Burges/s family Fethard > > I can across an interesting Fethard connection... > ... He was soon managing several of these and in due course acquired a > property > of his own on the Bowes River, north of present-day Geraldton, which he > called simply The Bowes> > >> > Wendy Kurz (Latham) in Western Australia > >