Robert Pollock McKell & Helen Park – Dunoon, Scotland
Thomas McKell & Jane Alcorn – Cowra & Carcoar, NSW, Australia
Thomas McKell & Susan Kelly (Edwards) – Bathurst, NSW, Australia
This is the story of Thomas McKell & Jane Alcorn who married at Dunoon Scotland in 1838 and arrived in the colony of New South Wales in 1839. There were five children – Jane, Robert, Annie, William & Thomas and this is also their story.
Thomas married for a second time at Bathurst in 1855 to Susan Kelly (Edwards) and they also had five children – George, Henry & Ada. Two of their children died as infants.
The files attached below include information on the McKell family in Scotland covering the period from about 1775 up to 1882. The family at Cowra and Bathurst in New South Wales from 1839 to when Thomas McKell died at Parramatta in 1886. The first generation covering the early period from 1839 to 1886 and, then, from 1887 to 1921 when the last of first generation died. There is also some information on the second generation from 1856 up to 1921.
The related families include the McGrath’s, Cassidy’s & Layburn’s of Carcoar, Grenfell & Hill End, and the Hood family of Bathurst, Armidale & Newcastle.
Most of the information has been gathered from the old newspaper articles available through the National Library of Australia website – Trove. Other sources of information include –
- The State Library of NSW & the Mitchell Library
- The State Archive of NSW at Kingswood
- Register of Births Deaths and Marriages in each Australian State
- The Government Archives in each Australian State
- The Register General of NSW – historical maps and records (LPI)
- The Family History Groups at Bathurst, Blayney, Carcoar, Cowra, Kurrajong & the Macleay River, and others
- and the generosity of the relatives of the McKell family in Scotland and each of the families of the first generation in New South Wales.
Many of the family history websites and archives can be accessed through the website Coraweb.com.
Information has also been gathered by travelling to the various towns and out into the countryside where the McKell family lived and worked throughout New South Wales, starting with Cowra, Carcoar and Bathurst. The museums in these towns were a good source, as well as speaking to the towns people and farmers along the way. The Police Magistrate, Thomas Charles Kerr McKell (1849-1914), was appointed a Magistrate for the Colony and served in over 100 towns in most areas of the State. Many of the old court houses still exist and remain in use. Some have been converted to country police stations. Others are now used as museums and art galleries.
The research undertaken by John Thomson into the Kelly/McKell families in the 1980’s should be acknowledged here. His detailed chronology was the starting point to this further study of the early family history.
McKell Family – Lochwinnoch & Dunoon Scotland (1875 to 1882)
McKell Family – Cowra & Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia (1839 to 1886)
McKell Family – 1st & 2nd Generations (1886 to 1921)
Other McKell Families (from 1830’s)
This file includes the family trees of other McKell families to arrive in the colonies of New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and South Australia during the 1800’s and early 1900’s.
The Simon Family
Thomas Simon & Mary Beech – Parramatta, NSW, Australia
William Henry Simon & Isabella Cramer – Newcastle, NSW, Australia
Francis Simon & Mary Ann Jones – Windsor, NSW, Australia
The convict Thomas Simon arrived in the colony of New South Wales in 1818. He was a native of Worcestershire England and he married Mary Beech in 1826. She was also a convict and a native of Birmingham England. They lived at Parramatta and they had 10 children, four of whom died at a young age. Thomas & Mary’s story is included in the file attached below along with two of their children – William Henry Simon of Newcastle and Francis Simon who became the Mayor of Windsor in 1881.
The families related to the Simon family include Richard & Ann Hall of Newcastle and William John Hannabas of Pitt Town & Windsor.
The information on this family was gathered from –
- The Family History section of the State Library of NSW
- The Register of Birth Deaths and Marriages in NSW
- National Library of Australia website Trove – Old Newspapers
Simon Family – Parramatta, Newcastle & Windsor NSW (1818 to 1920)
