My two grandmothers, Winifred Ross and Gertrude Byrne, form the core of my family history. They were second cousins, though as far as I can tell they didn’t seem to be aware of it. Their respective grandfathers were brothers, their mother’s were cousins. They had, therefore, a common great grandfather, namely Richard Hickson of Killorglin, Co Kerry. For this reason I think of myself as primarily Irish in origin, rather than English, Scottish, or German, nationalities which were grafted in after the move to Australia.

Winifred and Gertrude were both born in Sydney around the turn of the twentieth century, Winifred in 1901 and Gertrude in 1899. Richard, their great grandfather, was born, I believe, in Killorglin around the turn of the nineteenth century, 1801 or thereabouts, though I have not been able to find a birth record for him. In the century between his birth and theirs, unprecedented emigration occurred from the Old World to the New – from Europe to, in our case, Australia.

However,  Richard himself migrated in 1865, as a widower, not to Australia but to North America. This must have seemed odd to those who knew him, since five of his children had already migrated to Australia. Why would he choose America? 

The reason, of course, is simple. Richard was already old, 64 or 65, and presumably no longer working, and therefore dependent. He had two sons remaining in Ireland, his oldest William and his youngest, John.  William, a nail maker like his father, was married, with a young family, and lived in Killorglin. I presume Richard lived with his son and daughter-in-law, Mary, and their three children. I imagine that John lived with his older brother too. It was William and Mary who made the decision to go to America: the ageing Richard simply went with them. John, however, stayed behind, the last of his family in Ireland.

But why did William and Mary choose North America? Mary’s family, the Needhams, who came from Templenoe, Co Kerry, were moving to America, and William and Mary decided to go with them. Perhaps they felt a greater affinity with the Needhams than the Hicksons, or perhaps it was as simple as timing. Whereas the other Hicksons had departed some years earlier, when William and Mary decided to leave, America was where their closest family was going. It was easier to go with them. There was no doubt lots of debate in the Hickson home in Killorglin. 

When William and Mary left Ireland in 1865, they had three children – Richard (b.1859), Susan (b.1861) and Lizzie (b.1863). They would go on to have another four children in America. Five years after they arrived, Richard Hickson, the patriarch, died. He is buried in Providence, Rhode Island. He is the only one of my Hickson ancestors who ended up in America, because in the end, William and Mary took their family back to Ireland and migrated again, but this time to Australia. They had been in America by that time for around twelve years. 

How did that come about? I have told the story elsewhere. It was instigated by Richard’s youngest son, John Christopher Hickson, the one who was left in Ireland when William, Mary and Richard left. In 1865 he was seventeen. Why he stayed behind, the only one of his family still in Kerry, is a mystery. The most likely reason is that he was indentured, completing an apprenticeship in some trade which he was unwilling to leave. It has even been suggested that he may have been imprisoned for some minor crime, and unable to leave. Had he been free he would surely have gone with his older brother and his father. Perhaps the plan was for him to follow them to America when he was able. John had always been very close to his brother William who had been his main carer since their mother died when John was only five. It would have been natural for him to go to America as William and Mary had.

But when he did leave – sometime between 1865 and 1870, I am unsure of the date – he went to Australia. I have no idea why. When he arrived in Sydney he did not apparently stay with relatives, but found lodging on a dairy farm in Balmain with a family named Watts. He found work in a timber yard. He married Martha, one of his landlord’s daughters. He soon started his own business, importing timber felled further up the coast of New South Wales, where he had a sawmill and wharf at the inland port of Nabiac, on the river. The demand for building materials in Sydney was insatiable, and in his late twenties he was already becoming quite wealthy. He and Martha had started a family, but he missed his oldest brother, who was not doing nearly as well in his new home in America. By 1876 he had persuaded William and Mary to abandon America and bring their family to Australia, where prospects seemed to be endless. He sponsored their migration, promising employment to William when he arrived.

So William and Mary returned to Ireland in 1877, departing for Australia a few months later, arriving in Sydney with all their children in the new year of 1878. They were met by John and Martha Hickson, who by that time had three children, the oldest of whom was Alice, then aged five. John was almost thirty, his older brother William by then in his late forties. William and Mary’s oldest daughter Susie (their second child), was sixteen. It was the first time cousins Susie and Alice had met, and I can imagine the delight that both had in the other. These two were both my great grandmothers.

In 1885, 24-year old Susie married her childhood sweetheart (if such a thing was possible in the strict brethren circles from which they came) from Co Kerry, George Byrne, who had followed the Hicksons to Sydney in 1882, leaving behind his widowed mother and two younger brothers in Kerry. Both brothers would eventually follow George to Australia, though the youngest, Richard Byrne, would not depart Ireland until after their mother died in 1890. Perhaps predictably, Alice, by then 17, fell in love with this handsome young Irishman soon after his arrival. I can imagine that this development was greeted with a smile by her family, and their relationship developed.

But something went wrong and for reasons that remain unclear to this day, Alice’s father forbade their marriage, whisking her off to Ireland in 1893 to get her away from him, though ostensibly to show her the ancestral homeland. Alice was heartbroken, but could not go against the wishes of her father. When she did marry a few years later, it was to a man more to her father’s liking, a Sydney accountant named William Ross, of Scottish descent, who at 34 was twelve years her senior. Richard gathered himself together and himself married a daughter of Irish immigrants from Kiama on New South Wales’ South Coast, Victoria Gray. The two families ended up living not far from each other on Sydney’s North Shore, but how well the families knew each other is uncertain. 

Susan and Alice both had five daughters. Gertrude Byrne was the middle of Susan and George’s five. Winifred Ross was the middle of Alice and William’s five. Winifred would marry a second generation Australian of German descent in the 1920s – Charles Holford. Gertrude would marry an English immigrant in the 1930s – George Simmonds. Winifred’s only son, Ian, is my father. Gertrude’s second daughter, Gwen, was my mother. 

The trunk of our family tree is therefore decidedly Irish, though Scottish, English and German branches have been grafted in. It is hard to know what it means to be Irish, or to have Irish ancestors, though all of us have a picture in our minds. Ireland is an incredibly diverse country. In the nineteenth century the main divisions were between the native Irish and the so called “Anglo-Irish,” many of whom constituted the gentry. My Hickson ancestors were not gentry, but they were Anglo-Irish and Protestant, though they had been in Ireland for 250 years. My Byrne ancestors were native Irish, and though originally Catholic, had converted before they left Ireland. I can see traces of all this heritage in myself and my family. Can a place shape who we are? I have been to Co Kerry and walked the same roads as my my forebears. The landscape is breathtakingly beautiful, the music haunting. At times it felt oddly like home. But though I have friends in Ireland I know of no relatives there. They are spread around the world in other lands. 

The reason, of course, is simple. Richard was already old, 64 or 65, and presumably no longer working, and therefore dependent. He had two sons remaining in Ireland, his oldest William and his youngest, John.  William, a nail maker like his father, was married, with a young family, and lived in Killorglin. I presume Richard lived with his son and daughter-in-law, Mary, and their three children. It was William and Mary who made the decision to go to America: the ageing Richard simply went with them.
But why did William and Mary choose North America? Mary’s family, the Needhams, who came from Templenoe, Co Kerry, were moving to America, and William and Mary decided to go with them. Perhaps they felt a greater affinity with the Needhams than the Hicksons, or perhaps it was as simple as timing. Whereas the other Hicksons had gone some years earlier, when William and Mary decided to leave, America was where their closest family was going. It was easier to go with them. There was no doubt lots of debate in the Hickson home in Killorglin. 
When William and Mary left Ireland in 1865, they had three children – Richard (b.1859), Susan (b.1861) and Lizzie (b.1863). They would go on to have another four children in America. Five years after they arrived, Richard Hickson, the patriarch, died. He is buried in Providence, Rhode Island. He is the only one of my Hickson ancestors who ended up in America. Because in the end, William and Mary took their family back to Ireland and migrated again, but this time to Australia. They had been in America by that time for around twelve years. 
How did that come about? I have told the story elsewhere. It was instigated by Richard’s youngest son, John Christopher Hickson, the one who was left  in Ireland when William, Mary and Richard left. In 1865 he was seventeen. Why he stayed behind, the only one of his family still in Kerry, is a mystery. The most likely reason is that he was indentured, completing an apprenticeship in some trade which he was unwilling to leave. It has even been suggested that he may have been imprisoned for some minor crime, and unable to leave. Had he been free he would surely have gone with his older brother and his father. Perhaps the plan was for him to follow them to America when he was able. John had always been very close to his brother William who had been his main carer since their mother when John was only five. It would have been natural for him to go to America as William and Mary had.
But when he did leave – sometime between 1865 and 1870, I am unsure of the date – he went to Australia. I have no idea why. When he arrived in Sydney he did not apparently stay with relatives, but found lodging on a dairy farm in Balmain with a family named Watts. He found work in a timber yard. He married Martha, one of daughters of his landlord. He soon started his own business, importing timber felled further up the coast of New South Wales, where he had a sawmill and wharf at the inland port of Nabiac, on the river. The demand for building materials in Sydney was insatiable, and in his late twenties he was already becoming quite wealthy. He and Martha had started a family, but he missed his oldest brother, who was not doing nearly as well in his new home in America. By 1876 he had persuaded William and Mary to bring their family to Australia, where prospects seemed to be endless. He sponsored their migration, promising employment to William when he arrived.
So William and Mary returned to Ireland in 1877, departing for Australia a few months later, arriving in Sydney in the new year of 1878. John Hickson was almost thirty, his older brother William by then in his late forties. William and Mary’s oldest daughter Susie (their second child), was sixteen. John and Martha’s oldest daughter Alice (their first child), was five. Susie and Alice were cousins, and both were my great grandmothers.In 1885, 24-year old Susie married her childhood sweetheart from Co Kerry, George Byrne, who had followed the Hicksons to Sydney in 1882, leaving behind his widowed mother and two younger brothers in Kerry. Both brothers would eventually follow George to Australia, though the youngest, Richard Byrne, would not depart Ireland until after their mother died in 1890. Perhaps predictably, Alice, by then 17, fell in love with this young Irishman soon after his arrival. I can imagine that this development was greeted with a smile by her family, and their relationship developed. But something went wrong and for reasons that remain unclear to this day, Alice’s father forbade their marriage, whisking her off to Ireland in 1893 to get her away from him, though ostensibly to show her where the family came from. Alice was heartbroken, but could not go against the wishes of her father. When she did marry a few years later, it was to a man more to her father’s liking, a Sydney accountant named William Ross, of Scottish descent, who at 34 was twelve years her senior. Richard himself married a daughter of Irish immigrants from the NSW south coast, Elizabeth Gray. The two families ended up living not far from each other on Sydney’s North Shore, but how well they knew each other is uncertainSusan and Alice both had five daughters. Gertrude Byrne was the middle of Susan and George’s five. Winifred Ross was the middle of Alice and William’s five. Winifred would marry a second generation Australian of German descent in the 1920s – Charles Holford. Gertrude would marry an English immigrant in the 1930s – George Simmonds. Winifred’s only son, Ian, is my father. Gertrude’s middle daughter, Gwen, was my mother.