Michael Howlett and Mary Ann McNamara
This couple were married on 31/8/1872 at the Ebbw Vale Roman Catholic Church (in the Bedwelty district of the county of Monmouth). The groom was a 29 year old bachelor and the bride a 26 year old widow. On the marriage certificate the bride's name was first written as Mary Ann McMahon, but then "Mahon" was crossed out and replaced by "namara". The name of the bride's father was similarly converted from Donald McMahon to Donald Mcnamara. At first I thought that perhaps there had been some confusion as to whether the bride should use her maiden name or the name of her deceased husband, and so I guessed that her first husband was a McMahon. But that guess was wrong, and now I believe that her first husband was named Patrick Donnell. The name McMahon on the certificate was just an error; apparently the priest was temporarily confused. The bride's name should really have been given as Mary Ann Donnell; why she chose to use her maiden name is unclear.
On the birth certificate of the couple's first child, Philip John Howlett, the family surname is given as "Hulet". The birth was registered on 20/5/1874, the informant being "Mary Hulet, Mother, Newtown Ebbw Vale", and she stated that her maiden name was Mary Ann McNamara.
In the space on the marriage certificate for the groom's signature the words "the mark of Michael Howlett" are written, and his X appears alongside them. In the space for the bride's signature, however, it just says "Mary Ann Mcnamara", and there is no accompanying X, so that superficially it looks as though she actually signed it. However, it looks to me as though everything written on the certificate was written by the same hand.
The witnesses, Michael and Mary Connors, both "marked" the certificate in the same manner as the groom. The groom and his father (William Howlett) and the bride's father were all described as "General labourers". The name of the priest was E. J. Sheehy.
On 28/7/1876, Michael and Mary Ann Howlett and three children sailed from Plymouth on the ship Lady Jocelyn, bound for South Australia. The children's names were Mary, Patrick and Philip. A record of the ship's arrival in South Australia gives the ages of Michael and Mary Ann as 26 and 24 respectively – ages that are inconsistent with the marriage certificate and their death certificates – and the children's ages as 8 (Mary), 5 (Patrick) and 3 (Philip). It is evident that Mary and Patrick were children of their mother's first marriage. It is recorded that Patrick died on the voyage.
Henceforth on this page "Mary Howlett" will mean Michael's wife, and the other Mary will be referred to as "Mary Donnell" to avoid confusion. However, I think that actually it is likely that Mary Donnell was generally known as Mary Howlett prior to her marriage.
Michael Howlett died on 24/3/1910 and Mary Howlett died on 29/10/1915; both are buried at Willaston. Their death certificates say that Michael was born in Wexford, Ireland, and Mary was born in Waterford, Ireland. Their ages at death are given as 67 and 72 respectively. The 67 is consistent with the marriage certificate, but the 72 is not. Perhaps Mary had lied about her age in 1872, or perhaps the informant of the death did not actually know her age.
The death certificates also say that in 1910 Michael had 2 sons and 2 daughters living, none deceased, and in 1915 Mary had 2 sons and 3 daughters living, two sons deceased. One of these deceased sons was Patrick; the other, presumably an older brother of Patrick, must have died as an infant. Michael and Mary must have had one son and two daughters after arriving in South Australia, and Mary Donnell must have still been alive in 1915.
A family history researcher looked up South Australian records for me and discovered two South Australian born children of Michael and Mary: Ellen (29/8/77) and Thomas (11/8/80), both born in the Lyndoch District, Barossa. My mother tells me that when she first met my father's family (about 1940) it included a woman known as "Aunt Nell", who was a sister of Philip John. Evidently this Aunt Nell was Ellen Howlett. My mother only met Aunt Nell once, and thought she seemed rather strange, possibly somewhat retarded. South Australian death records tell me that she died on 16/2/1949 at Marino. And then a photograph turned up in an old box showing (according to the writing on the back) Philip John Howlett with sister Nell.
According to a record submitted to the I.G.I. the Thomas Howlett who was born in Lyndoch on 11/8/1880 married one Elsie May Arthur. However, this is incorrect. In fact, Elsie Arthur married a different Thomas Howlett. Specifically, she married a 43 year old Thomas Herbert Howlett, son of Henry Howlett, on 28/8/1918.
A woman named Margaret Amelia Magor, who was born on 13/7/1865 and married Meds Oeder Georg Valdemar Hansen on 31/12/1892, had two children by a Thomas Howlett: one in 1896 and one in 1898. I do not believe that this was "my" Thomas Howlett, as he would have been a bit young for her, and was presumably living in Willaston, whereas these children were born in Adelaide. A woman named Catherine Judge, who was born on 15/10/1866 and married William Trezise on 21/1/1885, had five children by a Thomas Howlett between 1900 and 1908. William Trezise had died in the 1890's, but I could not find a record of a marriage between Catherine Judge or Trezise and Thomas Howlett. But again my Thomas Howlett was probably too young to be this Thomas Howlett, and also living in the wrong place.
The federal electoral roll for 1905 lists six Howletts living at Willaston. These definitely are my relatives! They are Michael and Mary, Philip John and Ambrosine Adelia, Ellen, Thomas and Bridget Gertrude. Clearly Bridget Gertrude was the other daughter of Michael and Mary whose existence was reported on their death certificates.
For a long time I wondered what had become of Mary, the daughter of Mary Ann McNamara by her first husband. I could find no marriage record for a Mary Howlett of the right age, nor any death record, yet she disappeared from her parents' household. Now I think I know the answer.
A search for children born in South Australia between 1895 and 1905 to women with maiden name Mary Ann Howlett uncovered four such children. These were Ilean Bridget Daley (11/5/1895) and James Roy Daley (17/7/1897), and Frederick William Schutze (19/3/1900) and Florence Elizabeth Schutze (11/7/1905). The fathers were James Daley and Frederick Daniel Schutze. I subsequently found a record of the marriage of Mary Ann Howlett and Frederick Daniel Schutze, and it transpired that this Mary Ann's father was a Robert Howlett. So that was not "my" Mary Ann. But then I discovered a record of the marriage of a James Daley, son of William Daley, to Mary Ann Donnel, daughter of Patrick Donnel, at the Catholic Church in Gawler on 19/9/1886. The bride's age was 19, consistent with her being 8 in July 1876. And then I found several more birth records: Mary Margaret Daley, daughter of James Daley and Mary Ann O'Donnell, born 5/8/1887; William Philip Daley, son of James Daley and Mary Ann O'Donnel, born 1/10/1892 at Willaston; Ilean Bridget Daley, daughter of James Daley and Mary Ann Howlett, born 11/5/1895 at Willaston; James Roy Daley, son of James Daley and Mary Ann Agnes Howlett, born 17/7/1897 at Williamstown; Amy Kathleen Daley, daughter of James Joseph Daley and Mary Ann Agnes Howlett, born 31/8/1899 at Williamstown. It appears to me that Mary Ann Donnell was not quite sure if she was a Donnell or an O'Donnell, or how many ells the name should have. She probably used the name Donnel at her marriage since she had to provide her father's name for the record, but when the births of the later children were registered she – or whoever registered the births – declared her maiden name to be the name she was known by before her marriage.
Bridget Gertrude Howlett married John Michael Leuwin Kempton, age 26, son of John Leuwin Kempton, on 16/4/1906. The federal electoral roll lists a John Leuwin M. Kempton, baker, of Block Road Willaston. The bride's age was 23. This couple had (at least) three children: Rita Mary Ellen, born 4/1/1907 at Urania, Gertrude May, born 21/6/1909 at Willaston, and William Lawrence, born 28/9/1910 at Willaston.