Phelan and Atkin Family History

In the centre foreground is believed to lie Raymond William Phelan (Springvale Cemetery) Raymond William Phelan was the only son of William Thomas Phelan, a prominent identity for many years in the Victorian Railways, and older brother of my great-grandfather Joseph. During my original research on the Phelans, I discovered through available BDM records that William and his wife Caroline had four children: the first, Irene, was born in Seymour (1889), while the next three, Raymond (1891), Kathleen (1892), and Caroline (1899) were all born in Ascot Vale. It was also straightforward enough to find that Irene had died unmarried in 1966, Kathleen the same at the young age of 20 in 1912, while Caroline married a John Tobin (they had one daughter Patricia) and lived until 1971. Raymond however had me stumped. The only obvious record in the death index of a Raymond Phelan was from 1951, but the information provided stated his age at 70 (ten years too old) with parents named Robert and...

In an earlier post I told the story of my grandfather Stan Phelan's experience in World War One, as well as that of his brothers Cecil and Gerald. Also serving was one of their uncles, Edward Phillip Phelan (known as Phillip). Phillip was the youngest of Jeremiah and Mary Phelan's ten children, born in Macedon in 1878 (his parents being about 57 and 45 respectively).  Little is known of Phillip's early years, though he is mentioned twice in the Woodend Star in July 1902. First he was appointed joint secretary of the newly-formed Macedon Football Club, then a week or so later he was one of several to provide entertainment at a function to honour the town's departing police constable - singing no less than five songs (as a side note, many of Phillip's siblings featured in the social pages at that time: John and James served as MC at all manner of social events, Frank occasionally sang, while Agnes was very active in the Macedon Dramatic Club). V ery soon however, Ph...

Mary Eleanor Phelan was the first-born child of our Irish ancestors Jeremiah Phelan and Mary Wilson. When I first started researching the Phelans, I found on Ancestry a marriage record between a John Browne and a Mary  Ann  Phelan in 1885, and while the different middle name was a bit odd, I thought it had to be the right record based on the date. Now that I am going over my research again, I am verifying information where there is any doubt around a life event (ie. birth, death or marriage), by purchasing the appropriate certificate from the Victorian BDM website. So in this case I decided to order the 'historical image' download of John and Mary's marriage certificate. Due to a technical problem with the website at that time I was unable to receive the download, and in the meantime I stumbled upon a second index entry for a marriage between a John Browne and a Mary Phelan (no erroneous middle name) that occurred just a year later in 1886. I now felt I had probably found...

As a youngster I was told that my grandfather, Phillip Stanley Phelan, had been a Prisoner of War in the First World War but that was about the extent of the story. I never knew my grandfather, and chances are that even if I had, I might not have got many details from him, as plenty of men who lived through that horrific experience didn't like to talk about it. Even when my interest in genealogy began I didn't have a huge interest in the war. However once I got looking at the records, I wanted to make sense of them and began to delve deeper into the stories. While Stan is my only direct ancestor to have served in the conflict, he was one of three sons of Joseph Phelan who enlisted, one of whom would pay the ultimate price. I also discovered many more relatives on Dad's side of the family who took part. One day I may write something more comprehensive about the experiences of all my relatives who served - there were many on Mum's side as well - but for now my post will ...

At the end of my previous post, my 2x great-grandfather Jeremiah Phelan had left his job as a policeman in Sydney and had made his way to Victoria, together with his new wife Mary. In 1857 Mary gave birth to their first child, Mary Elenor, and on the birth certificate it was recorded that they were living in Collingwood, and Jeremiah was now working as an overseer. Two years later a second daughter was born at which time the family was living in South Melbourne. Soon after this they would travel by Cobb & Co Coach to make a new home in Kyneton where Jeremiah worked as a builder and two sons were born. Another move followed in about 1863, down the road to Macedon, where they would remain for good, my great-grandfather Joseph Matthew Phelan being the first of five more children born there. Perhaps there was so much movement in these early days as Jeremiah was struggling to find his feet. In Macedon he worked in yet another occupation, variously recorded as carter, drayman or wood d...

My family's Phelan bloodline in Australia dates back to 1855, the year my 2x great-grandfather Jeremiah Phelan arrived in Sydney. Jeremiah was an Irishman from Queens County (modern day Laois), born in Abbeyleix in about 1821 and living nearby in Clonenagh. I have yet to uncover much about his life in Ireland but what we do know that is that on the 21st of April 1855, aged 34, he left Liverpool as one of 98 policemen on board the Exodus . Why were there so many policemen on board this ship? Just four years earlier, significant gold finds in the colonies of New South Wales and Victoria had led to enormous rushes of men eager to make their fortune. The population in these colonies boomed with overseas arrivals, while whole towns and cities were almost emptied of professional men. The police forces were not spared, and the government's ability to maintain law and order was seriously tested as a result of such a loss in numbers. The New South Wales government needed to attract me...

While Dad didn't talk about his uncles, aunts and cousins on the Phelan side too often, he did recall - in fact, my recollection is that Mum remembered at least as well as Dad - that his Uncle Bill (William Anthony Phelan) had too sons: Peter and Kevin. Strangely, they forgot to tell me that there was another son, also named William Anthony, but known as Tony. Yes, that's right - another Anthony Phelan, you would think that he would have remembered him! :) In fact since I started this research and coming into contact with more Phelans, I have actually met Tony's daughter Robyn (so, my second cousin) on a few occasions, and she is quite interested in all of this stuff too, so hi to Robyn if you are reading! But back to the story. The reason I remember Mum and Dad telling me about Dad's cousin Peter Phelan so distinctly was that they told me he had died, quite young, in a car accident. This tragic event happened in 1958, when Peter, who was a printer, was just 27 years ...

Dad's father Phillip Stanley Phelan was one of twelve children (eight boys and four girls) born to Joseph Phelan and Mary Gasperino. By the time Dad was eight years old, he had five uncles and three aunts surviving. As I have mentioned previously, I don't recall hearing much about them from him when I was growing up, and certainly not Austin George Phelan, who was the youngest of the boys in the family. Austin was born in Benalla in 1904, lived in the Essendon area all his life, like many of the Phelan clan, and worked as a brewery employee. But it is how he came to meet his wife Sara that proved to be of most interest once I started digging.  As you can see above, Austin was listed as the 'co-respondent' in the 1931 divorce case between John Carnegie Lovick and his wife Sara Annie Lovick. In other words, he was the 'other man' who had become involved with a married woman (who would later ultimately become his wife). Officially John Lovick was petitioning...

A postscript to my last story on how I met the Lesocks. When my parents and sisters moved to Roslyn Street, Burwood in the late 1960s, Frank Lesock and his family were living in Parer Street, just one street parallel to Roslyn, and were there for at least a few years into the 1970s, going by the electoral rolls. I touched on the fact that his children and my sisters were possibly attending St Benedict's Primary School at the same time. Well a couple of years after that article was written, after my parents had passed away, I was left with the family photo albums, including many of Wendy, Sue and Cathy's school photos. I was amazed to discover that not only was my sister Sue in the same class as Frank's daughter Cathy Lesock (in at least Grades 2 and 4), in the Grade 2 photo of 1962 they were actually seated next to each other! Second cousins who probably never even realised that they were related! St Benedicts Primary School, Grade 2, 1962. Cathy Lesock is seated fro...

Currently I'm researching the Lesock family. Dad's aunt Veronica Mary Phelan (known as Vera) married Frederick James Lesock, the grandson of a very early Chinese immigrant to Victoria, in 1922. Tragically Vera died in 1934, aged just 35, leaving a very young family. Perhaps her death at a time when Dad was still a child is a reason why he had no recollection of her. In any case, the story of how I came into contact with this family is an interesting one, and led to an amazing discovery regarding my workplace. I was asked to write about it for a family history newsletter called the ' Ah Shin Chronicles ' several years ago. I thought I would reproduce that article here in my blog: NOT JUST A LONELY PLANET BUT A SMALL WORLD TOO By Anthony Phelan I had always been interested in history, but for some reason had never thought much about my own. My Mum had a big family, that we were all close to, but my Dad’s side was a bit of a mystery. While he didn’t have any s...

Growing up, we didn't hear a lot of stories about Dad's side of the family. One I would have thought I would have heard more about was that of Leslie Joseph Phelan, my grandfather's older brother. Les was born in Benalla in 1891 and in 1910 went into the employ of the railways like his father Joseph (as would his brother, my grandfather Stan). That employment would see him posted to Seymour and Maryborough, where he spent the best part of his 20s and 30s. While in Maryborough Les was actively involved in the cricket and football clubs, serving as Secretary in both. He was heavily involved in getting a new Maryborough club up and running and entered into the Ballarat Football League, whose premiership it won in its first year!  Leslie Phelan, from his Maryborough days Returning to Melbourne around 1927, Les continued to work in the railways and in 1931 became the president of the Victorian branch of the Railways Union, and served as the Union rep on the Railways ...