Before her marriage to Thomas Maher in 1862, Catherine Costigan, my gg-grandmother had migrated to Australia and worked as a servant for a family of Mahers in Epping, north of Melbourne.

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Catherine Costigan and Thomas Maher married at St Paul’s Pentridge (later renamed Coburg) on 13 February 1862. Catherine declared she was a 21-year-old servant at Epping, and Thomas declared he was a 22-year-old labourer at Lancefield. The details of Catherine’s employment at Epping may shed some light on how she and Thomas came to be acquainted.

In reports of an inquest at which Catherine Costigan and her employers John and Margaret Maher all testified, John Maher is recorded as a wheelwright who had set up his business adjacent to the Travellers Rest Hotel in Epping. Details of the family are as follows:

Charles MAHER

b. c1790 Silvermines, Tipperary, Ire.

m. 2 Jun 1811 Parochial House, Loughmore, Tipperary, Ire.

Anne CAHILL

b. c1792

Children

1. Honora MAHER b. 1812 Loughmore, Tipperary, Ire.; d. 24 Jan 1886 Tatura, Vic.; m. 1839 Tipperary, Ire. John DWYER, 4 children:
Matthew DWYER (1843-1921)
Anne DWYER (1845-1943)
Mary Anastasia DWYER (1848-1935)
Charles (1851-1904)

2. William MAHER b. 1813 Loughmore, Tipperary, Ire.; d. 8 Sep 1893 Kyneton, Vic.; bur. Riddells Creek, Vic.; m. Johanna RYAN, 3 children

Clustered around that picturesque locality [Lower Springfield] there were the following heads of houses:- John and Daniel Egan, James and Thomas Quinlan, William Maher - a venerable uncle of 'yours truly', James Galvin, all of whom-- with the one exception already noted [Mrs P. Sheehan, nee Egan] are only remembered as former residents.

('Reminiscences of an Old Road' by James Alipius Maher, part three 1839)

3. James MAHER b. 1816 Loughmore, Tipperary, Ire.; d. 1911 Yabba, near Dookie, Vic.; m. 11 Apr 1850 Drom and Inch, Tipperary, Ire. Catherine DWYER, 4 children
This family arrived in Australia in 1866 aboard the Fitzjames– James 37, Cathne 35, Mary (Ryan, domestic servant) 16, Ann 11, Honora 9, Cathne 7 & Matthew 5. Catherine Dwyer was previously married to a John Ryan and Mary was her daughter from the first marriage.

One by one the old colonists—the men who moulded this district into the shape it is today, are passing away. The latest to go is Mr James Maher who died at the residence of his son-in-law, Mr Thomas Ryan, of Yabba South, on the 21st October, after attaining the ripe old age of 97 years.

Deceased was a native of Tipperary, Ireland, and arrived in this country with his wife and family in the year 1866. He first settled in Lancefield, district, where he lived for the past 30 years.

The late Mr Maher was a remarkably strong and healthy man, and despite his great age was able to get about till within a month of his death. For months past it was seen that the end was approaching, and five weeks ago he took to his bed. He gradually sank and died, as stated, on the 21st, being conscious to the end.

The deceased gentleman leaves a family of three daughters and one son—Mrs. Moylan (Dookie). Mrs T. Ryan (Yabba South), Mrs P. Moylan (Gowangardie) and Mrs Matthew Maher of Cosgrove South, besides three step-daughters, Mrs Keating, Mrs O'Shea (Cosgrove), and Mrs Tobin (Kaarimba), He also leaves 40 grandchildren and 37 great-grandchildren.

The funeral took place on Monday week and was largely attended. The coffin was borne to the grave by his six grandsons, Messrs. J. and J. Moylan, M. and W. Ryan, J. Maher and R. O'Shea. Mr N. Torgrimson had charge of the mortuary arrangements, and Rev Father Rooney officiated at the grave.

(Dookie and Katamatite Recorder, 2 Nov 1911, p. 2)

4. Margaret MAHER b. 1818 Loughmore, Tipperary, Ire.

5. John MAHER b. 1820 Ire.; d. 9 Jul 1883 Tatura, Vic.; m. Boston, USA, Margaret RYAN, 7 children
Apparently travelled to USA in 1848, then he, his wife (Margaret nee Ryan) and baby Charles (2nd) travelled to Australia aboard the Oliver Lang, arriving 25 Sep 1854. For his business as a blacksmith and wheelwright, John Maher rented a house and paddock near Patrick Burke’s Travellers Rest Hotel in Epping from 1855 to 1862. He later retired to Tatura. Catherine Costigan worked for John Maher at Epping prior to her marriage to Thomas Maher in 1862.

6. Charles MAHER b. 1825 Drum, Tipperary, Ire.; d. 30 Jan 1902 Lancefield, Vic.; m. 17 Apr 1856 St Patrick’s RC, Kilmore, Vic. Bridget RYAN, 9 children
First a farm labourer at Coburg, then a bullock teamster between the Melbourne & Bendigo goldfields. About 1854 he took up farming at Lancefield on a property he called ‘Annievale’.

In the demise of Mr Charles Maher, which sad event occurred last week, the Lancefield district has lost one of its most spirited and enterprising residents. The gentleman named, who was about 76 years of age, resided upon his handsome property for many years where he reared a large and respectable family with whom there is widespread sympathy in their bereavement. Mr.Maher was always a supporter of the Kilmore A. & P. Society, and a frequent successful exhibitor at the annual shows, but he generally left his prize money to augment the society's fund, a circumstance which tended to illustrate his generally generous character. The Lancefield district will mourn deceased very much and Victoria may be said to have sustained a loss in the demise of so worthy a citizen.

(Kilmore Free Press, 6 Feb 1902, p.3)

James Alpius Maher (1869-1940)

J.A. Maher was one of nine children of Charles Maher and Bridget Ryan. He was the author of Kilmore: The Tale of a Century 1837-1937 and wrote a series of three articles about people and places along the Kilmore-Lancefield Road published in the Kilmore Free Press in March 1939.

OBITUARY MR. JAMES A. MAHER

There was widespread regret throughout the Lancefield, Pyalong and Kilmore districts at the death of Mr James A. Maher, of Pyalong, which took place at St. Vincent's Hospital, Melbourne, on the 18th December.

The late Mr Maher was a native of Lancefield, his father, the late Charles Maher, having settled there about the year 1854.
For many years Mr James Maher took a leading part in all activities of the district. He was a member of the West Bourke Agricultural Society when that body was active and was interested in racing, football and other kindred sports.

About the year 1900, Mr Maher took up his residence at "Hollymount," in the Pyalong district, and shortly afterwards he married Miss M. Mulcahy, who predeceased him by some years. Mr Maher continued to live in the Pyalong district until his death, save for a comparatively short residence in Melbourne and a period of about five years when he became a prominent and active citizen of Kilmore.

Here he took a leading part in the Centenary Celebrations in 1937-1938 and was vice-president of the Committee. His book The Tale of a Century is the only available history of the old town and district of Kilmore and his painstaking efforts produced a most valuable and interesting book.

Mr Maher was for some years a member of the Board of the Kilmore Hospital and was always a good friend and supporter of the Institution.

In the Pyalong district, Mr Maher's name was a household word and his advice was frequently sought and never refused. He was liberal-minded and essentially sane in his ideas and opinions, and his place in the community will be hard to fill.

The sympathy of all goes out to his daughter, Mrs Kevin Butler, his son, Mr Gerald Maher, and his surviving brother and sister, Mr Mathew Maher, of Lancefield, and Mrs Norah Minogue, of Melbourne.

After Requiem Mass at St Patrick's Church, Kilmore, celebrated by Rev. Father McHugh, a very large cortege representative of the citizens of Lancefield, Pyalong and Kilmore, followed his remains to the Kilmore Roman Catholic Cemetery on the 20th December.
The coffin-bearers were Dr Commons and Messrs G. C. Maher, K. Butler, T. C. Maher, C. Maher and E. McCarthy.
The pall-bearers were Dr T. Wilson and. Messrs R. Graham, O. Graham. J. Morrissey, C. T. Loughnan, R. Paterson, G. Mulcahy and Colin McNab.

(Kilmore Free Press, 2 Jan 1941, p.4)

The Mystery Noras

The background indicates to me that they might have been taken on the same day, and that day might have been in the late 1920s, since Catherine died in 1930.

A photograph we have of Catherine and Thomas Maher’s daughter Nora (Honora Curry nee Maher) appears to rule her out as a candidate. We can also rule out Honora Dwyer nee Maher, (above, sister of Catherine’s employer John Maher), as she died in 1890. While they seem to be two different women, there seems to be a resemblance between them.

Honora Maher and John Dwyer had a granddaughter named Honorah Mary Veronica Fitzpatrick (1894 Kilmore-1955 Wangaratta). On the dates, this may be a match for the ‘Nora Fitz’ in the photo on the right. Honorah Fitzpatrick’s mother’s dates fit (1848 Tipperary-1935 Tatura), however, her name was not Nora, she was Mary Anastasia Fitzpatrick (nee Dwyer). Jean may appears to have labelled the photos decades after they were taken, and it’s possible that her memory was not 100%, especially if contact with these other Mahers was very scarce.

If all this is true, it’s another piece of evidence to link the two Maher families, but still, we are no closer to knowing how the families fit together back in Tipperary. There is more digging to do.

If you have any information or photographs that might shed some light on this, or to confirm a relationship between these two Maher families I’d love to hear from you.