Margaret McCutcheon / Woolley

Margaret was born in about 1847 at Green Park, Tipperary.  And because it was Ireland, records are not readily available giving more information about who Margaret’s parents were – or indeed, confirming Margaret’s surname!  I am reasonably confident it is McCutcheon, given the variations attempted in a number of different certificates!  An e-book titled What’s in a Name? Mc Cutcheons from Donaghadee by Robert S. McCutcheon, states that the name is frequently misspelt because the exact pronunciation of the name from Gaelic into English is very difficult.  It’s a little like “MacOcean”!  All of the various attempts at Margaret’s name can be made to sound like McCutcheon (the include Cushion and Cusson).

A quick internet search reveals: there were definitely McCutcheons in Tipperary around that time; some came to Australia; and names such as Margaret; Thomas; and James were prevalent!  The Book of Irish Families, Great and Small, by Michael C. O’Laughlin states that the surname McCutcheon:

“Appears in the Hearth Money rolls of 1663 ... Milesian families gives the family name as one of the Eogonacht Tribe, settled in Tipperary and Armagh.”

So I don’t know anything about Margaret’s family; her early life; or when she moved from Ireland to Australia.  It’s all conjecture! 

At some stage, Margaret came to Australia and met Nathaniel Woolley.  Even in Australia and, later, New Zealand, Margaret has not made it easy to trace the happenings in her life!  I am reasonably confident that Margaret did not marry Nathaniel Woolley.  When they lived in New Zealand, Nathaniel wrote that they married in Sydney.  But when they lived in Sydney, he wrote they married in Lithgow or Dunedin, New Zealand.  I know that some men are forgetful, but that is really pushing it!!  A marriage certificate was largely irrelevant.  Margaret and Nathaniel were together for many years, and Margaret was known as Mrs Woolley! 

Margaret and Nathaniel had a large family.  I have undertaken many searches using numerous criteria and I cannot find an official birth registration for most of Margaret and Nathaniel’s 11 children!  This is unusual!  The eleven children in their family were born within a sixteen year period.  I do believe it is likely that Margaret was the mother and Nathaniel was the father.  They wouldn’t have had have much time between each birth in which to find a new partner!  Again, it is largely irrelevant.  Mr and Mrs Nathaniel Woolley were known to have 11 children!

Margaret and Nathaniel’s children were:

·      Mary, born about 1870, either Lithgow or Sydney.  Nathaniel was in a Lithgow directory at that time but her children wrote Balmain on her death certificate;

·      Elizabeth, born about 1872, probably Lithgow;

·      Thomas, born about 1873 in Lithgow or Sydney probably;

·      Selina Lithgow, born about 1874, somewhere;

·      Henry Sydney, born about 1876, his brother wrote New Zealand (NZ) on his death certificate;

·      Margaret Dale, born 1877, Seacliff, NZ (birth registered);

·      James Nathaniel, born 1878, Seacliff, NZ (birth registered);

·      Robert John, born 1880, Seacliff, NZ (birth registered);

·      Richard, born about 1882, somewhere, probably NZ;

·      Gertrude, born about 1885, somewhere, she wrote NZ at her marriage; and

·      Charles William, born 1886, NZ (birth registered).

It would appear they moved from Lithgow to Seacliff, a small town near Dunedin, NZ in about 1875.  They probably lived in Seacliff for 14 years.  In 2004 we went to Seacliff to see what it was like.  There is not all that much to see!  It’s an extremely small village – collection of houses really – perched on the edge of a cliff overlooking the ocean.  So you can see the water, but it takes about an hour to get to a place you can swim!  

A street through Seacliff in 2004

At the time the Woolley family lived there, a large psychiatric hospital was being built, and it seems likely Nathaniel was there for the building of the hospital. 

According to immigration records, on 2 September 1889 Nathaniel Woolley, his wife, Margaret, and their eleven children travelled from Dunedin, New Zealand to Sydney, Australia on the Hauroto. 

In Sydney, the family settled at 131 Denison Street, Camperdown, Sydney.  Margaret died on 15 October 1892.  She was 45 years old.  Her death certificate states that she died from Hepatitis and Gall Stones (her Doctor had seen her the day before her death).  She was buried at Rookwood Cemetery, but the headstone is missing.

When Margaret’s daughter, Mary, had her third child, she named her Margaret.  I find it very sad that Margaret didn’t know she had been named after her grandmother.

All of Margaret’s children were alive at the time of her death.  Only four of Margaret’s children had any children of their own.

Relationship to SNR = Great-great-great-grandmother