Based on his wedding date and the birth dates of his children, John Lynn was born between about 1830 and 1836, probably near Kilcurry in Co. Antrim, see the Lynn family origins. At this stage we do not know who his parents were, although using the Irish naming conventions, it is likely that his father was James and his mother Anne or Mary.

John married Mary O'Kane 18 July 1856 in the Ahoghill Parish. Unfortunately their parents names are not recorded in the church register. The witnesses were Hugh & Teresa McCourt (note that the grandparents of Frank McCourt of Angela's Ashes, Francis and Mary, were from nearby Moneyglass).

Mary was born about 1830 in Casheltown, Co. Antrim, Ireland. Her birthplace is recorded as Castletown on her gravestone, but this is almost certainly a mistake. Mary was the daughter of Michael O'Kane and Nancy Connery.

John and Mary probably lived in the Clooney Road in the Kilcurry Townland, Co. Antrim, where John was a farmer. Note that Clooney Road runs into the Carmagrim Road which is the main road in the Casheltown Townland and leads directly to the Augnahoy church.

It is almost certain that the family church was the Augnahoy Roman Catholic church on the road between Portglenone and Ahoghill. While this is further from where they lived than the Ahoghill Church, there are many Lynn, O'Kane, McCorley and Graffin graves at Augnahoy and virtually none at Ahoghill. Some gravestones of interest from Augnahoy are recorded in the footnotes.

Both Augnahoy and Ahoghill churches were part of the Ahoghill parish and fortunately many of the church records are preserved. Unfortunately they do not appear to record which church the events took place at.

The panel on the right shows some of the Lynn / O'Kane records from the parish records which we recorded during a brief visit to the NLI in Dublin in April 2006. Unfortunately time did not allow us to spend enough time to read the older records on the microfilm or to look thoroughly through all of the records and so more research is needed in this area.

Items of interest:

• John & Mary's marriage, 1856
• Births to John & Mary of:
  • John 1864
  • Anne 1867
  • John 1870
  • Thomas 1872
• Variable spelling of Kane / O'Kane

Note the two Johns. My suspicion is that the first, born 1864, is actually Michael. The minister may have made an error and written down his father's name. However countering this argument is the absence of the three oldest children. This may suggest that the family moved away from the Ahoghill parish (or attended a neighbouring parish) from 1856 until about 1864 during which time the three older children and perhaps Michael were born. In this case presumably John b 1864 died before 1870 when the second John was born. Michael more or less confirms this in his two poems on the death of his brother Pat, in both he refers to "Annie, John and little Tom", implying the order of birth.

In either case Michael's brother John, who later emigrated to Australia must be the one born in 1870.

There are two interesting connections to the family in Antrim:

The first is the possibility that we are related to Rody McCorley, hung by the British on the bridge at Toome in Antrim in 1800 following the 1798 rebellion. He was immortalised in a ballad. Mike Camden was told by relatives in Antrim that Rody was one of the McCorleys related to the family, presumably to the O'Kanes. It is interesting to note that he was betrayed by a McErlane (note 3), but the families must have made the peace, as a McErlane was a witness at Thomas Lynn's christening.

My impression is that this is story is probably wrong because McCorley was a Presbyterian, see Note 3.

The second is the link with the McCourts: the witnesses at John and Mary's wedding were Hugh and Teresa McCourt and at Edward Lynn (John's brother?) and Maria O'Hara's wedding a Mr McCourt. Both weddings were in July 1856.

Some initial research shows the McCourts may have been related to the family of Frank McCourt who lived in the Moneyglass area, just south of Kilcurry. If so they were close neighbours.

The father of Frank McCourt, author of Angela's Ashes, Malachy McCourt, was from Roguery Rd near Moneyglass. A passage from Angela's Ashes mentions this, the family returns to Ireland from the USA and is walking to McCourt's grandparents house (see the sidebar)...

There is a website The McCourts of Moneyglass giving some family history. The grandparents, Francis (b 1863) and Mary McCourt were from the next generation to Hugh and Teresa, and so it is feasible that Francis could have been their son or nephew. Unfortunately the site does not go back an additional generation and there is no way of knowing who the author is or of contacting them.

The website says: "Grandpa McCourt's house stood on the corner of Loup Road and Roguery Road in Moneyglass. The road junction was (and still to this day is) known locally as "McCourt's Corner". Grandma McCourt ran a little grocery shop at the side of the house." This is only a few miles from the Lynn's house on Clooney Road and even closer to the O'Kanes on the corner of Carmearny and Kilcurry Roads (see the map).

Between about 1856 and 1872, John and Mary had at least 7 children, 5 boys and 2 girls. The births of the last three are also listed in Portglenone, Antrim, Ireland (IGI records), with only the 1864 John recorded. In the following I will assume that John was born in 1870.

Little is known about the family's life in Ireland although one of Michael Lynn's poems, Lough Beg Shore, gives some indication of his life there.

In 1876 their oldest son James emigrated to New Zealand (see note opposite, re other emigrations in that year) and most of the family followed him over the next 22 years. James left Glasgow on the "Oamaru" on the 23rd Sept 1876, arriving at Port Chalmers in Otago on the 17th Dec 1876. He spent some time exploring the country, finally settling in Hastings in the Hawkes Bay about 2 years later. He wrote to his family recommending that they too should emigrate.

Patrick emigrated next, in 1878 on the "Adamant", also to New Zealand. He became ill with TB and returned to Ireland where he died (the year is not yet known).

At the time of Patrick's death Michael was in New Zealand and wrote a poem home, In Memorium, (a snippet is in the side box) showing that Mary and John and their three youngest children, John, Annie and Tom, were still in Ireland at that time, dating the death between 1883 and 1898, probably about 1890.

Next to leave were Michael, his sister Mary and her husband Patrick Graffin who left London on the "SS British King" on the 1st November 1883, arriving in Wellington on the 22nd December (they probably left the ship in Napier or Gisborne - check).

Their 4th child, John was born on 13 November 1870. He emigrated (probably between 1883 and 1890) to Australia (most likely to Sydney).

From family records and the New South Wales Registry of Births Deaths & Marriages we can make some good guesses about his family. NOTE that these need to be validated by purchasing the certificates!

John was married to Elizabeth (Aloysius?) (Campbell?), probably in Ireland as there is no sign of the marriage in the excellent NSW or the Victoria BDM or immigration records.

From family history, John Lynn and Elizabeth Campbell had at least two children, Tom and Jack:

Thomas (Patrick?) born 1899 (record 27260/1899) to John and Elizabeth Lynn Sydney, was possibly married to Eileen Lilian Thompson at Marrickville (near the airport, Sydney) in 1942 (record 31301/1942) and probably died in 1959: LYNN, THOMAS PATRICK, father: JOHN, mother: ELIZABETH ALOYSIORS, place: KATOOMBA (Blue Mountains, NSW) (record 6923/1959).

John (Joseph?) born 1901 (record 7483/1901) to John and Lizzie Lynn in St Peters (central SSW Sydney), was possibly married to Mary Margaret Gannon at Sydney in 1937 (record 12021/1937) and probably died in 1962: LYNN, JOHN JOSEPH, father: JOHN, mother: ELIZABETH, place: SYDNEY (record 18777/1962).

John probably died in Newtown (central SW Sydney) in 1922 (record 6933/1922).

Elizabeth probably died at Randwick (central E Sydney) in 1945 (record 5147/1945): LYNN, ELIZABETH ALOYSIUS, parents THOMAS and ANNIE.

Finally Mary (O'Kane) came out to New Zealand with her two youngest children, Annie and Thomas in 1898 (emigration details unknown). There is no record of John Snr emigrating, implying he died c. 1897.
It is interesting to note that several other families connected to the Lynn's also first emigrated in about 1876.

Family	From	Date	Ship
Patrick Dimond and Mary Ann McSwiggan	Ballymaguigan	Oct 1876	Inverness
Bernard Walls	Ballymaguigan	1876
James Lynn	Kilcurry	Dec 1876	Oamaru
William John Walls	Ballymaguigan	Feb 1878	Carnatic
James Mackle (Dunedin Mackles)	Derrinraw	1875/76
Walls (Dunedin Walls)	Ballymaguigan	1876/78

John Lynn probably died in Ireland between 1895-1898. The most likely date was shortly before Mary emigrated in 1898.

The lives of James, Mary and Michael are covered in more detail in other sections.

Mary died of old age on 9 August 1916 in Manutuke, west of Gisborne in New Zealand aged 86. She was buried 2 days later in plot 3, Block G of the nearby Patutahi Cemetery.

Annie never married and continued to live at Manutoke with Thomas. She died 5 March 1937 and is buried with her mother in the Patutahi Cemetery, Gisborne.

From the Poverty Bay Herald, 6 March 1937:

Thomas also never married. He died 15 July 1954 and was buried with his mother and sister Annie in the Patutahi Cemetery.

From the Gisborne Herald, 17 July 1954: