Dr Ludwig Wilhem Schulzen

Dr Schulzen was the last Dr to see Patrick O'Neill before he died in 1874.

Dr Ludwig Wilhelm Schulzen (known as William) was born in Bremen, Germany c1820, according to his naturalization papers which can be viewed on the NAA site.

He looks to have first arrived in South Australia in c1847 and was a resident of Guichen Bay on the Eastern coast (probably now a town called Robe) when he was naturalized in 1851.

A google search indicates that he was an active botanist between the periods 1840-1850.

He looks to have moved to Victoria to the goldfields and was first registered as a Doctor in Victoria in 1856. His move was prompted by the South Australian government reducing the salaries of medical practitioners. They would never get away with that in today's times! There is more detail on where he was living in a great resource from the Medical Pioneers Site sent to me by the wonderful researcher Marg Morters.

The next trace of him is when he married Louisa Newsham (nee Singleton) in Patricks Plains NSW in 1866.

Patricks Plains was the original name for Singleton. Singleton was named after Benjamin Singleton, the first settler of the place. Benjamin, coincidentally, was Louisa's father.
Louisa, who was born in Patricks Plains on the 28th of September 1827, married William Newsham in 1850. They had a child, Claude in 1852 who died as an infant in 1855. The NSW BDM index shows that another child Claude was born in 1861, but I'm not so sure of that reference.

I'm not sure what happened to William Newsham as I can find no obvious death reference.

In the 1872 Greville's Directory, Dr Schulzen is shown as having rooms in King St, Clarence Town (more thanks to Marg for that reference).

Louisa died in 1908 in Singleton, whereas Dr Ludwig died in Greta in 1881.

The Death of Patrick O'Neill

Patrick O'Neill, farmer of Stanhope Homestead passed away on the 24th September 1874 at the age of 79 years. The cause of his death was "Granulated disease of the liver and kidneys". He was last attended to by Dr Ludwig Wilhelm Schulzen (stated on the death certificate to be William Schultzen), who was a local doctor of the time.

Patrick's wife had predeceased him by 9 years. The informant on his death certificate was his son, Patrick O'Neill Jnr who would have been aged 44 at the time. Patrick Jnr was living in the township of Greta, some 16km away, by today's roads.

Patrick's funeral was presided over by Father Michael McGrath, a young priest who would meet his death in an untimely accident some eight years later in Kiama at the age of 33.

Patrick Jnr performed the burial himself, the day after his father passed away at the Roman Catholic Burial ground at Lochinvar. The witnesses to the burial were Mary Smith and John Arthur Goulding, who I believe was the local constable.

Upon his death, four of Patrick's sons and two of his daughters were still alive. Three males and two females were diseased. I know one of the deceased females to be his daughter Esther, who died young at the age of 29 in 1869.

I have no record of the other children - perhaps they died before they emigrated to Australia. There are certainly some gaps in Esther Snr's childbearing years.

Patrick's tombstone is still visible at Lochinvar, although worn and damaged. Buried with Patrick, or at least commemorated by the same headstone, is his daughter Mary Ryan (nee O'Neill) who died on 22nd July 1895, at the age of 67.

With many thanks to another O'Neill descendant Janelle Collins for the excellent photograph.

The O'Neills come to Australia

The O'Neill family sailed out of Cork on the good ship William Metcalfe .

The ship departed on the 24th November 1843, and entered Port Jackson on March 14th 1844. Patrick and Esther's seven living children accompanied them; James b 1825, Mary b c1827, Arthur b c1829, Patrick b 1830, Catherine b 1837, Esther b 1839 and Thomas b c1843.

The family's shipping record is listed under the surname Neile. The majority of the people on the William Metcalfe were bounty immigrants, including the O'Neills.

I have on record a transcript of the Bounty Contract between the O'Neills and W.C. Wentworth.

"Patrick O'Neill and three sons engaged to serve the said W.C. Wentworth as farm servants and otherwise make themselves generally useful for the term of twelve months, and also to obey all his or his overseers or authorised agents lawful and reasonable commands during that period in consideration of which service the said W.C. Wentworth does thereby agree to pay the said Patrick wages at the rate of 30 pounds per annum and provide them with the following weekly rations:

beef or mutton 40lbs
flour 50lbs
sugar 6lbs
tea 14ozs

Witness they have intentionally affirmed their signatures to this document.

W.C. Wentworth
C.D. Logan
Patrick O'Neill"



W.C. Wentworth was a controversial politician, explorer and businessman. I'm yet to do more research into his land-holdings in the Hunter Valley, and why the O'Neills came to be there.

The O'Neill family elders (Patrick & Esther) both died at Stanhope Homestead, which was the property of Dr James Mitchell. Perhaps there is a link between Mitchell and Wentworth's farming properties.

The O'Neill's departure from Ireland pre-dated the potato famine, so was indeed a timely move for this family.

It seems that both Patrick and Esther both understated their ages for the shipping records. Perhaps there was an age requirement for bounty immigration.

Patrick states that he was 39 in 1844, but he would have been more like 49, and Esther states that she was 37 in 1844, but she was more in the proximity of 46.

Esther O'BRIEN of Ballybrack, County Wicklow

Esther O'BRIEN married Patrick O'NEILL in the Roman Catholic Church at Ballybrack, County Wicklow on July 5th, 1820.

I am very fortunate to have this marriage date as it was mentioned on Esther's death certificate. Her husband Patrick provided the information. Also mentioned on Esther's death certificate is the birthdate of one of her sons, James (5 August 1825).

Esther's parents are named as John O'BRIEN and Katherine O'BRIEN (formerly O'Brien), and John was a farmer. Esther's death certificate also states that she was born in Ballybrack County Wicklow.

Esther's death certificate states that she was 66 when she died in 1864. Her age on her tombstone is listed as 65. This would put her birthdate at c1798-9, making her approximately 22 years old when she married. Esther's cause of death was inflammation of the lungs, which she had been suffering for seven days.

She was buried on the 31st October 1864 at the Roman Catholic Burial Ground, at Lochinvar, by the Undertaker Robert Hyndes. The minister that performed her funeral was Patrick Healy, and the witnesses to the burial were Elijah O'Brien and William Tierney.

Death Cert 1865/004304 held on file.

O'Neill family of County Carlow

At this point I haven't gone too heavily into the history of the O'Neill family of County Carlow. This is a sept of the Ulster O'Neills, one of the three most important families in Ireland.

It seems that my O'Neills originally came from Hacketstown, County Carlow. The entry in the Singleton Pioneers Register states that they came from Coolmanagh, which is 4-5km west of Hacketstown.

My earliest traceable O'Neill ancestor to date is Patrick O'Neill who was born c1795 in County Carlow.

Patrick's death certificate states that his parents names were Patrick O'NEILL, and Mary NOLAN.

As a young man, Patrick seems to have met his bride in in Ballybrack, County Wicklow. This place does not seem to be a township any more, (according to google and google maps), but can clearly be seen in a map of the area from 1820. A recent googlemap of County Wicklow shows Ballybrack as a locality. It looks to be only a couple of miles away, across the county border. If you can spot Hacketstown and Rathvilly in the top right hand corner, you can see Ballybrack close by.

Patrick married Esther O'BRIEN on July 5th, 1820 in the Roman Catholic Church at Ballybrack.

Their first child James was born in the town of Coolmanagh, according to his death certificate.

O'Neill Family Research

I've decided to start a genealogy blog based on the fact that the internet is now a very powerful tool for genealogists worldwide.

I'm going to concentrate on my O'Neill family linkage first. Please feel free to contact me if you think there may be any connection at all.