Letters and information about the family history of the Dillons and Feehans from Clonpet Co Tipperary Ireland who emigrated to Victoria Australia..
The following information and documents relate to the Feehans and Dillons from Co Tipperary who emigrated to the colony of Victoria.
This information was put together by the late Vic Feehan. It was kindly sent to me by Pat Feehan and published with his permission.
It is a draft which unfortunately was not completed but the letters and details included are still wonderful, especially the letters. It is so rare to find letters from this time.
The following is a letter from Richard Feehan in Melbourne to Richard Dillon in Co Tipperary ireland dated Dec 4 1873.
This letter is from Bridget Dillon in Melbourne in 1850 to her sister Honora Dillon in Co Tipperary. Bridget married Richard Feehan in 1853 in Victoria:
Three more Bulla Victoria Australia Parish Maps from the 1850s and 1860s showing the land holdings of William Patrick “Big Bill” Fanning.and others
Map of the Township of Bulla Victoria Australia 1855
If you right click the image and then open in a new tab you can get a larger image and can use zoom function. In this map from 1855 W. Fannan has a block of land in Quartz St Bulla.
Map of Bulla Parish Victoria Australia date unknown
Has to be after 1854. W Farman has 346 acres on Emu or Bolinda Creek purchased on 7 June 1855. W.Farman also has the 119 acres “Sunnyside” next to M. Loeman. In town it looks like lot 47 is owned by E.Fanning. ?? Could be Ellen Fanning wife of John Henry Fanning son of William Patrick Fanning.
This is the 1856 Parish Plan for Bulla then called Bulla Bulla in Victoria Australia showing the land holdings of William Patrick Fanning (listed as W. Fannan).
Plan of the Parish of Bulla Victoria Australia 1856Location of the Shire of Bulla within Victoria
This Parish Plan was kindly sent to me by my first cousin Teresa Fairbairn nee Fanning.
Lot 19b was where Big Bill had “Sunnyside” built and where he and his family lived and where his descendants still live. The other 346 acres was the land that his son John Henry inherited. It was called “Emu Flat” and the Fannings living there were called the “Flat Fannings” and those at “Sunnyside” were the “Hill Fannings”. It is interesting that even in 1856 William Patrick Fanning is listed as W.Fannan.
Historic Bulla Bridge, built 1869, crossing Deep Creek at Bulla Victoria.
“Sunnyside” was the original homestead of William Patrick Fanning and his wife Catherine Hayes who emigrated from Thurles Co Tipperary Ireland to Victoria on the Enmore in 1841. They spent some time at Werribee before settling here at Bulla north of Melbourne. These photos were taken in in c1867, 1907, c1940 and 2011.
William Patrick Fanning and his daughter,Johanna and Tommy, a ward of the state, at Sunnyside Bulla Victoria Australia c 1867
“Sunnyside” was the original homestead of William Patrick Fanning and his wife Catherine Hayes who emigrated from Thurles Co Tipperary Ireland to Victoria on the Enmore in 1841. They spent some time at Werribee before settling at Bulla which is north of Melbourne.
Sunnyside Bulla Victoria Fanning Home date unknown c1940Winifred Fanning at Sunnyside Bulla Victoria Australia c1943Sunnyside House Jun 2011Sunnyside Front of House June 2011
Edward Francis Fanning, 1887-1968, was the second son of Edward Francis Fanning and Bridget Anna Collins. He married Matilda O’Connor and had one child Catherine. He worked as a clerk and died at Melbourne Australia in 1968.
Edward Francis Fanning at his brother Frank’s Wedding in 1915
Edward, known as Ned, was the second son of Edward Francis Fanning and Bridget Anna Collins. he was born at his grandparents’ home in Northcote, Melbourne, on June 1 1887.
His mother died in childbirth when he was one year old. His father married her sister Sarah in 1890 and had five children with her, only three survived to adulthood.
He was educated at Xavier College in Melbourne and his education and that of his older brother William was paid for by his grandparents Patrick and Mary Collins of Northcote.
Edward was the informant on his grandfather, Patrick Collin’s death certificate in 1905.
He worked as a clerk and lived in Northcote, Essendon and Caulfield. He married Mathilda (Hillda) O’Connor and they had one child, Catherine Mary (Maisie).
He died on the 15th of October, 1968 in Caulfield. He is said to have kept a diary up until 1967.
The following genealogy report details the ancestry of Edward Francis Fanning.
John Henry Fanning was born in Victoria Australia in 1842, son of William Patrick Fanning and Catherine Hayes, and died in Melbourne in 1894. He married Ellen Gormley and had sixteen children with her. He was a farmer and lived at Emu Flat in Bulla Victoria. he is buried in Bulla Cemetery.
John Henry Fanning was the eldest son of “Big Bill” Fanning and Catherine Hayes. He was born in 1842 in Werribee, Victoria, Australia.
One story about him is that he took off and went up north to Queensland and was breaking in horses there. He was supposed to have been cut off by his father for doing this. He is also supposed to have eloped with the station manager or owner’s daughter.
He married Ellen Gormley in Sydney, in Nov 1870, at St Patrick’s Church. Ellen was the third third daughter and youngest child of Cornelius and Anne Gormley.
Marriage certificate of John Henry Fanning and Ellen Gormley 1870 Sydney
He married the daughter of Connor Gormley, a farmer in NSW. This may well have been where he was breaking horses. It looks that they may have eloped as they were married in Sydney which is a long way from either of their family homes. Although Ellen did get the permission of her father to marry as she was under the age of 18, although the above record has her age as 21? It also has her place of residence as Sydney.
Ellen’s parents were Cornelias (Connor) Gormley and Ann McDermid and Ellen was born in Ogulary (Townland or Parish of Ogulla) Co Roscommon, Ireland about 1851. Cornelius was the son of Thomas Gormley. She and her family came out to Australia on the “Ellenborough” arriving on 12th October, 1853. On board were her father, listed as Connor Gormley, a shepherd, aged 43, her mother, Ann aged 35, her sister Sarah, aged 11, her sister, Eliza aged 6 and Ellen aged 2. Her brothers, Thomas aged 13 and Peter aged 9, were also on board.
Her family lived near Kempsey in New South Wales at Belmore River, where they farmed. Her parents and brother and sister are buried in Frederickton Cemetery, just north of Kempsey.
John Henry Fanning was also not left the Family property which is customary as he was the eldest son. Was this because of his wild ways? or did he get the best deal anyway? “Emu Flat”, 342 acres purchased by his father on July 7 1855, was larger and supposedly a better property. John Henry’s branch of the family became known as the “Flat Fannings” as opposed to the “Hill Fannings” up on a hill at Bulla.
John Henry Fanning from Bulla is listed as signing the Petition for Clemency for Ned Kelly in 1880.
In 1888 he put up for sale land at Emu Creek:
Sale of Land at Emu Creek by John Fanning 1888
John Henry Fanning and failure to control rabbits
John Henry Fanning died aged 52, in 1894 in St Kilda, Melbourne of a liver ulcer which he was sick with for six months. He was supposed to have died after being trodden on by a cow.
When he died in 1894 at age 52, his youngest was one year old. Ellen Fanning leased Emu Flat and moved to Essendon. The property was sold about thirty years later and had become very run down.
John Fanning died without a will and his probate papers are online at PROV. His land of 346 acres was mortgaged and the remaining balance of his estate was 793 pounds.
On his land was a four roomed stone house. It is hard to imagine 18 people living in a four roomed house. Ellen came to live at 35 Keilor Rd Essendon with her children.
John Henry Fanning is buried in Bulla Cemetery with his wife Ellen Gormley and many of his seventeen children.
John Thomas Fanning, son of Ellen and John Henry Fanning and grandson of Cornelius and Ann Gormley, also lived at Belmore River before he enlisted in 1916. He is listed in the Sands Directory 1858-1933 at Gladstone in the years 1910-1914. In 1914 he had 14 horses and 65 cattle on 149 acres. Gladstone is a village in the Belmore River area. He farmed land owned by his uncle Peter Gormley. After Peter Gormley’s death in 1916 Ellen Fanning was left this land . She sold it in 1924.
Ellen Fanning nee Gormley Bulla Cemetery
Ellen Fanning died 21 May 1928, aged 76 years. In this grave is buried a John Fanning who was buried on 26 Nov 1925.There is no death record for him or details on the cemetery records other than his name and burial date.
Grave of John Henry Fanning died 1894
John Henry Fanning died on the 28th October 1894, aged 52 years.
These graves are in the Bulla Cemetry, Victoria, Australia. A number of their children are also buried in the cemetery at Bulla:
Grave of Teresa and Francis Fanning Bulla CemeteryGrave of Laura and Thomas Fanning Bulla CemeteryGraves of Georgina and Johanna Fanning Bulla CemeteryEdward Fanning 1948 & Margaret Fanning nee Mallon 1951 Bulla CemeteryEileen Mary Fanning & Frederick Joseph Fanning Bulla CemeteryJohn Thomas Fanning 1957 Bulla Cemetery
The following reports trace the ancestry of John Henry Fanning back to Co Tipperary Ireland and also describe his descendants in Victoria Australia.
Ancestry of John Henry Fanning 1842-1894 Victoria Australia 2015Descendants of John Henry Fanning 1842-1894 Victoria Australia updated 2015
Edward Francis Fanning was born in 1850 to William Patrick Fanning and Catherine Hayes from Thurles, Co Tipperary, Ireland. He inherited “Sunnyside” and was a farmer. He married Bridget Anna Collins in 1884 and had children by her before she died in childbirth. His second wife was her sister, Sarah Collins, who also died young. She had five children. Edward’s surviving children were William Patrick, Edward Francis, John Hugh, Francis Collins and Thomas Fanning. Edward, called Ned, died in 1927 at Bulla and is buried in Melbourne Cemetery.
Edward ( known as Ned) was the youngest son of William and Catherine Fanning who emigrated to Victoria in 1841. He was born on the 15th of Feb, 1850, at Bulla.
Ned attended the denominational school at Bulla and took over the farm after his father’s death and remained there until his death in 1927 at the age of 79.
He was a member of the Royal Agricultural Society, a founding member of the Victorian National Party, and accompanied the Burke and Wills expedition when they passed through Bulla. He is my great grandfather. My great grandmother was his second wife, Sarah Collins.
He married his first wife Bridget Anna Collins on Jan 2, 1884, at Bridget’s parents’ home in Northcote.
Bridget Anna Collins and Edward Fanning Marriage 1884
Bridget Anna Collins (pictured left) was the eldest daughter of Patrick Collins and Mary Gribben. She was born in Footscray, Melbourne in 1860. Her family home was in Waterloo St Northcote, Melbourne.
Her father, born in Co Limerick Ireland, was a Police Constable. His wife Mary came from Co Down in Northern Ireland. Pat Collins came out to the colonies sometime between 1853 and 1856 and worked on the gold fields before becoming a police constable in Melbourne. His wife, Mary, arrived from Ireland in 1857. Bridget Collins was born at Footscray in Melbourne, Victoria, in 1860. She had four older brothers and seven sisters.
Bridget married Edward Francis Fanning, the youngest child of William Patrick Fanning, “Big Bill” and Catherine Hayes, in 1884, at her parents’ home in Northcote, Melbourne, Victoria. She was twenty four and Edward was thirty four years old when they married.
Bridget had three children: William Patrick born in 1885 at Bulla, Edward Francis born in 1887 at Northcote and Thomas Augustus who died, at Deep Creek, after three days, in 1888. Bridget died in childbirth on July 2 1888, after giving birth to Thomas. She was twenty seven old and had been married less than four years. Edward was left with two young sons, one three years old and the other two years old, to look after. Bridget and her infant son, Thomas, are buried in the Melbourne Cemetery.
Gravestone of Bridget Fanning nee Collins Melbourne Cemetery
Two years later, on the 18th of February, 1890, Edward married Bridget’s younger sister, Sarah Ann Collins, at St John’s Church, Clifton Hill, Melbourne. Sarah was born in Fitzroy, Melbourne in 1870.
Family stories have it that after Bridget died Edward needed help with his young children and Sarah Collins came to live there and help out. Apparently she fell pregnant to Edward and a huge rift came between the two families over this out of wedlock pregnancy. This explains the Collins family looking after the eldest two boys but not the children of Sarah and Edward. One of the boys complained that Edward kept the half brothers separated from each other.
Ned and Sarah Fanning had five children but only three survived to adulthood: My grandfather, Francis Collins Fanning born 1892, John Hugh Fanning born 1893 and Thomas Augustus Fanning born 1894. John Augustus Fanning died aged 2 mths, and Joseph Leo Fanning also died as a baby.
Sarah was only 27 when she died of tuberculosis (called phthisis in those days), in 1897. She had been sick for two years. Below is the memorial card for Sarah Fanning.
Sarah Fanning nee Collins Memorial Card
Their son, Thomas, also died of the same disease in 1915, at age 20. He died in a sanitarium in Surrey Hills, Melbourne, after being ill for four years with tuberculosis (sometimes referred to as consumption).
Apparently there was talk of Edward marrying another Collins sister, Tottie (Mary Josephine Collins) but this did not eventuate.
Edward was a farmer and lived his whole life at “Sunnyside” in Bulla.Edward was elected to the Board of Advice for the Bulla District in 1878 and re-elected in July 1881.This was reported in the Argus on June 18, 1878:
Edward Fanning Elected School Member, 1878, The Argus
The above photo of Bulla residents was taken in 1921. Edward Fanning is the sixth person from the right standing, directly behind the seated woman in black.
Ned Fanning died in 1927 and is buried in the Melbourne General Cemetery in Carlton with his parents, William and Catherine and Sarah and Bridget, his two wives and his infant son Thomas Augustus. His death was mentioned in The Argus:
Edward Fanning Obituary Kilmore Free Press 13 Jan 1927Sarah Fanning nee Collins and Edward Francis Fanning Melbourne Cemetery
The following genealogy reports trace the ancestors and descendants of Edward Francis Fanning 1850-1927 Bulla Victoria Australia.
Edward Francis Fanning 1850-1927 Ancestor Report 2015Edward Francis Fanning 1850-1927 Descendant Report 2015
Johannah Fanning the daughter of William Fanning and Catherine Hayes was born in Bulla, Victoria Australia in 1848. She married William Frederick Dell in 1884 and had two children who died as infants. She and her husband worked in hotels all their lives. She died in 1923 and is buried with her husband in the Melbourne General Cemetery in Carlton Victoria Australia.
Johanna Fanning outside her family home “Sunnyside” at Bulla Victoria Australia
This picture was taken outside “Sunnyside” c 1868. She would have been about twenty years old.
Johanna Louisa Fanning was born in 1848 at Bulla in Victoria.
She married William Frederick Dell on the 17th Nov, 1884. She was 36, although the marriage certificate says 27, and he was also 27.
They were married in St Francis’ Catholic Church, Melbourne.
On her marriage record Johanna signed her name using the more English “Joanna”.
Joanna Fanning and William Dell Marriage 1884
William Dell was born in Berkshire, England about 1857. His being English did not please Johanna’s Irish father and it is said that Johanna was cut out of the will because she chose to marry an Englishman. She was the only child not to receive property from her parents.
On her marriage certificate her occupation is given as “Hotel Keeper” and address as Bulla. I wonder what hotel she was working at or managing.
Family stories have them owning a pub in Richmond. In 1888 on her daughter’s death certificate she is again listed as a hotel keeper.
From the years 1909 to her death in 1923, she lived at 145 Surrey Rd, South Yarra, Melbourne and her occupation was described as “Home Duties”.
Her sister, Mary Skehan of Monegetta, left Johanna 50 pounds in her will in 1900.
Joanna was 74 when she died.
She had a very sad life, in that her only two children died as infants.
William Frederick Dell died after only two weeks on 28 Dec, 1887. His parents’ address at this time was the Norfolk Hotel in Flinders Lane, Melbourne.
Joanna Louise Dell was born at South Yarra, but died after five months, at Bulla, on 3 Dec 1888.
William Dell died in Richmond in 1939 aged 81.
On the census forms he is listed as a Gentleman in 1884, a Hotel Keeper in 1888 and from 1909 to 1924 as a Cook.
In 1936 he was living at 7 Claremont St, Sth Yarra, Melbourne.
Joanna and William Frederick Dell are buried with their two children, in the Melbourne General Cemetery, in the Catholic section, but not in the Fanning plot.
Joanna Dell Death Notice Oct 1923 The ArgusMemorial Notice for Joanna Dell The Argus 1925
Francis Collins Fanning was the son of Edward Fanning and Sarah Collins. He was born in Bulla Victoria in1892 and became a builder. he lived in Essendon Melbourne. He married Ida Mackey in 1915 and they had four children. In 1932 he died aged 40.
Frank Fanning on the left and Pat Kelleher in the middle at Kilmore
Frank Fanning and a priest at Camperdown Presbytery 1930Francis Collins Fanning center Victoria Australia
My grandfather Frank Fanning is in the center. I don’t know when this was taken but he is obviously in his work clothes.
He was a talented builder. He is said to have built the original St Theresa’s Primary School and quite a few of the local picture theaters around Essendon.
His son Jack, also a builder, built the Presbytery at St Theresa’s. One thing I remember my father telling me about him was that he played the violin I also have been told he liked to bet on the horses.
One story I heard was that one time he won a thousand pounds on the horses and wanted to buy his daughter Eileen a piano with it, but Ida my grandmother was opposed to spending the money in this way and wanted to buy property. Frank prevailed and Eileen got a piano.Given how strong willed my grandmother was, this was no mean feat!
Advertisement for Frank Fanning Essendon Builder
Francis Collins Fanning, “Frank” Fanning, my grandfather was a builder in the Essendon area. This advertisement was in the local Church paper and may have been around 1923.
House built by Frank Fanning 1924
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Ida Theresa Mackey married Francis Collins Fanning on the 25th September 1915, in St Monica’s Church, Essendon, MelbourneWedding of Ida Mackey & Francis Collins Fanning 1915
Eileen Glass nee Mackey, Edward Francis Fanning, Francis Collins Fanning, Ida Mackey, Mary Breen nee Mackey, 1915
The wedding was at St Monica’s Catholic Church in Essendon, Melbourne, on Sept 25, 1915.
Hanging Rock John Edward Fanning, the boy in the middle, Nance Fanning nee Kelleher on the right, Jack Fanningher husband on the left, Frank Fanning on Nance’s right about 1928
Ida Fanning was an avid card player and president of the card committee at St Columba’s College in Essendon, where she organized the card afternoons until the early 1960’s. She also held card afternoons at her flat “Collida” in Stanley St Essendon. The name being a combination of her first name Ida and Collins, my grandfather’s second name. On her flat at Stanley St Essendon there was a brass plate with Collida on it. She taught me to play euchre in her front room. She loved the British monarchy and had numerous royal memorabilia.
Frank died at the age of forty after a three year illness.
Francis Collins Fanning Death Certificate 1932Obituary for Francis Collins Fanning in the Kilmore Free Press 3 March 1932
Ida Fanning died age 84 and they are both buried in Fawkner Cemetery Melbourne.
Grave of Ida and Frank Fanning Fawkner Cemetery Victoria
