The above photo is of Tom and Letitia Ann DeLanty and their young family taken at Hunchy on Queensland's Sunshine Coast around 1918. Letitia Ann is the daughter of Letitia Rose Mulholland who married John Maltman in 1870 at Maryborough.Tom is the son of William Delahunty and Jane Fletcher from Mountshannon.
William Delahunty arrived from Kilkenny, Ireland around 1850. The name has been misunderstood across the desk so many times, that there are about eight versions of the name within this Australian family. However, William met a young lady from Co. Clare, Ireland and they married in January 1857. Jane Fletcher became an orphan, when about 15 years, as a result of the Great Famine in Ireland and was sent to Cork Harbour, where she lived (and worked) in the workhouses. Jane eventually boarded the 'Lady Kennaway' at Cobh Harbour,Co.Cork, before arriving at Sydney, Australia in December 1854 aged16. Many of her children's birth certificates state that she was born in Mountshannon, Co.Clare. On visiting the town in 1995, we were shown the place where the Fletchers used to live, along with an old forge, once operated by some of the Fletcher family. We believe Jane's father was William a bootmaker, while her mother is noted as Margaret. This does not always help to determine exactly who her ancestors were. Mountshannon is one of the most pleasant scenic rural areas on the west of Ireland. Unlike most of Ireland, the town of Mountshannon is only about 250 years old and was established as a protestant settlement under an incentive scheme of the Linen Board. The Parish was owned and controlled by the landlord Phillip Reade. Most of the inhabitants were brought down from the north of Ireland to work on the new industries he was developing there. From just where they came, in the north of Ireland, remains a mystery.On her arrival in Sydney, Jane was sent to the Maitland Workhouses, where all the Irish women from the Cork Workhouses were sent. After about two years it seems, she married William and their 12 children were born between Sydney and Armidale. Hundreds of descendants are scattered along the eastern states of Australia. Jane was buried at Sandgate Cemetery, Newcastle in 1922, while William’s resting place is unknown, after his decease in 1881 at Happy Valley in the Armidale region. He is just one of those ancestors who does not want to be found. Children of William and Jane are:-
1.male died young
2.Peter Dulihanty married Catherine Ilourigan
3.William Dulihanty unm. 4.Patrick Delanty unm.
5.Mary Jane Dulinty married Alfred Dains
6.Thomas (Dulihanty) DeLanty married Letitia (Maltman) Boyden
7.Helen Dalhunty married Jack Schofield
8.Nora (Honora) DeLanty married Jack Clark
9.Richard Delanty married Mary Elizabeth Ranger
10.Letitia (Dulihanty) DELANTE married John Gay
11.Margaret May (Dulihanty) DELANTE married Samuel Gay
12.Julia Delanty married William Burrows.Secondly Edward Farrow Heilbronn (Gympie family)
The descendants of William and Jane are scattered all around Australia and New Zealand.
During 2001 I shall include notes from snipppets I have gathered over many years.
William Dulihanty b.31.12.1887 to Peter Dulihanty & Catherine Hourigan (Tenterfield) No.B040463 Queensland.
CHERISH YESTERDAY..DREAM TOMORROW..LIVE TODAY..
