The In-Laws
Allow me to Introduce Patrick Laheen and his family, who emigrated from Ireland on the “Charles Kerr”, arriving on the 8th January 1839. Daniel’s occupation was given as a “farmer” on one immigration record and “fencer and handicraftsman” on another. Although his passage was “assisted” I am not sure who it was that actually arranged and paid for the family’s passage.
With him onboard was his second wife, Mary Welsh and their two children Catherine and Margaret, as well as the three children from his first marriage: Thomas, Mary Anne, and Nancy Anne. Mary’s occupation was given on the immigration record as “farm servant”
By May 1840, the Laheens were living near scone as it was there and then that Patrick and Mary’s fourth child, “Patrick” was born, and two years later, “Bridget” was born.
The Bride: Nancy Anne Laheen
The full story of the Laheen family will be told in separate posts. For this story, we need to focus only on the young lady, “Nancy Anne”, who was commonly called “Annie”.
Annie was born at Mountshannon in County Limerick, Ireland, on 7th January 1829, the third child of Daniel and Mary Maher. Unfortunately, Mary died sometime after Annie’s birth, as by 1835 Daniel had remarried.
She was 10 years old when the family arrived in Australia, and I have come to speculate that the family moved to the Scone area soon after they landed and that Daniel and Mary were indentured to the White family who established their station, named “Belltrees”.
I also think that it was probable that Charles Hazell and Daniel Laheen and family were working and living here at Belltrees at the same time, and that this is how Charles met the young woman who was to become his wife.
Why have I reached these conclusions? Firstly, there were only three large stations in the Scone area in the 1830s and 1840s and these were a fair distance apart, making it likely that Charles and Annie would not have met if they were living on separate properties. I have assumed that they were living and working at “Belltrees” as this is where Charles and Annie were living after their marriage when their first three children were born.
The following photo of the original homestead was taken when Juliana and I visited Belltrees in 2012.
The Wedding
Charles and Annie were married at St Lukes Anglican Church in Scone on 7th May 1845. She was just 16 years old (and a few months) and Charles was 24.
We know that Charles was not a Catholic (described as a “Protestant” but he was probably Anglican, although we’ve no idea whether he was religious) but it’s a fair assumption that Annie was at least baptised as a Catholic, having come from rural Ireland. So, why were they married in an Anglican Church?
Put simply, there was only one Church in the Upper Hunter in 1845 and that was St. Luke’s, and, in those days, it was common for Catholics to accept the Anglican sacraments if the Catholic Church could not provide them. Perhaps, also, neither were religious people and the issue of which denomination did not matter to either of them.
The following information about St Luke’s is taken from the “Australia’s Christian Heritage” website: https://www.churchesaustralia.org/ which I accessed in 1/3/2024.
“The St Luke’s Anglican Church, Scone is part of the Parish of Scone and the Diocese of Newcastle. The current St Luke’s church was built in 1884, replacing earlier church buildings erected in 1841 and 1853. The first church building was consecrated by the Bishop of Australia, The Rev W Broughton in 1843. The adjoining cemetery was also consecrated in 1884. The bell was provided by William Dangar for the first building.”