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Catherine Wilson (nee McFall) (1832 – 5 November 1922)

Catherine Wilson was the mother of Abraham Wilson.

Catherine was born in Ireland in 1832 (birth date unknown).  She married Christopher Wilson, at the age of 19 years, in Daleyard, Ireland.

Catherine’s parents were John McFall (Farmer) and Mary Sturger.  It appears John McFall died and Mary remarried Thomas Bunting.  Catherine may have assume the name of her stepfather while growing up, though she later used the name McFall when recording the birth of her son Abraham.  Mary then had another daughter, Ann Eliza, who later moved to Australia.

Catherine probably had little to no schooling as she was illiterate.  When registering the birth of Abraham, she used a mark ‘X’ to sign her name.

At the time of Abraham’s birth, the family lived at Derryadd, Armagh Ireland.  Christopher later died suddenly in a Shipyard accident in Northern Ireland.

Catherine emigrated to Australia, with sons Robert and Abraham.  Older brother Thomas Andrew had probably already arrived in Australia, and met them on arrival. (I have not confirmed this, hopefully further research will find the answer).

She died aged 90 years 5 November 1922 at the Dunwich Benevolent Asylum.

The Dunwich Asylum was located on  North Stradbroke Island, Moreton Bay, Queensland.  It ran from 1865 before closing in 1946.   It was an institution for people of all ages who were unable to care for themselves, which included the elderly, infirm and the senile.

5 thoughts on “Catherine Wilson (nee McFall) (1832 – 5 November 1922)”

    • Thankyou for the information. The link didn’t work for me, so probably the website has been changed, probably due to me not answering you earlier. But I should be able to track this down on the internet and confirm your information. Thanks again!

      Reply

      • Hi Kim,

        I just redid the search on “www.townlands.ie” and below is the link I get these days.

        https://www.townlands.ie/armagh/oneilland-east/montiaghs/montiaghs/derryadd/

        I knew of this because I have worked on shared family history with a distant cousin Bev (Kiwi, now living in USA) who descends from Thomas Bunting and Mary Sturger, aka Sturgeon.

        BTW – Thomas was the nephew of Edward Bunting (1773-1843), Ireland’s acclaimed musician who is credited with “saving Irish music”.

        Thomas’s father, also Thomas Bunting, was born in Armagh town and was a builder/carpenter/architect in Portadown. I descend from Edward and Thomas senior’s brother, Anthony Bunting – also a musician. Their father was a carpenter/builder of Armagh town, born 1728 in Derbyshire England where he worked both as a carpenter and then a colliery boss, before moving to Tyrone as a colliery manager in 1754. After the Tyrone coal mine failed, he reverted to carpentry in Armagh town. His wife was Mary Quin.

        You can Google Edward Bunting, the musician. Bev and I (originally from Victoria, now in England) and many of our distant Qld Bunting cousins (Maryborough area originally) match on Ancestry DNA. You may match Bev, if you have done an Ancestry DNA test, but I have Bev’s DNA match data and couldn’t see you there just now.

        Frank Bunting

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