James Hefferran

  General Notes:

Quarantined! The 1837 Lady Macnaghten Immigrants
Perry McIntyre & Elizabeth Rushen
Anchor Books Australia 2007 ISBD9780980335408
Pages 112-113
HEFFERNAN, James, Letitia, Ellen, Catherine, Bridget, Frances, Mary Ann and Michael
James Heffernan aged 38 and his wife Letitia 37 were head of a Roman Catholic family from Cork City. James was a slater and plasterer and he and his wife could both read and write. Their eldest child, Ellen 12, could read only but none of the other five children (Catherine 10, Bridget 8, Francis (sic) 8, Mary Ann 7 and Michael iy2) were literate. James Heffernan occupied Berth 19. Frances, incorrectly noted as a male child, was to have shared this Berth with him. Letitia was in Berth 17 in the female quarters with her daughters Ellen and Mary Ann. Ellen Flynn 22 shared adjoining Berth 18 with the other three Heffernan children, Catherine, Bridget and Michael. They had no relatives in the colony and all were stated healthy on arrival except the baby, Michael who was 'sick'.
Another son, James Heffernan and his wife Jane (nee Lenihan) fol­lowed his parents to NSW arriving on the Magistrate in June 1838. This family settled in Melbourne and one of their 11 children was Dr Edward Bonaventure Heffernan (1848-1908) of Brighton, Melbourne. James died 1880 in Melbourne. A summary of the lives of the children who accom­panied James and Letitia follows:
1. Ellen: born c.1825, Cork; married 26 Nov 1839 to Charles H. St Julian (alias Charles Trout) at St Marys Roman Catholic Church, Sydney; Charles was principal journalist of the Sydney Morning Herald; Ellen died in 1861; 8 children; family vault at Waverley Cemetery, Sydney.
2. Catherine: born c.1827 Cork; married 1851 to John Walsh.
3. Bridget: born c. 1829 Cork.
4. Frances (Jane): born c.1829 Cork; married 28 Dec 1856 to John Stewart at Bombala; died 7 Mar 1928, noted as aged 91 on head­ stone at in Presbyterian section Rookwood; husband John Stewart died 4 Dec 1898 aged 67 and was buried at Bombala, NSW.
5. Mary Ann: born c.1830 Cork.
6. Michael B: Born c. 1835 NSW; died 1877 Bega district.
7. Peter A: born c. 1841 NSW.
8. William T: Born 1843 NSW.
9. Daniel: born 1845 NSW.
Letitia Heffernan (Hefferon) died on 9 June 1854 and was buried in the Catholic section of Redfern cemetery.
[NSW BDM deaths 1854 1830/119; Marion Diamond, Creative Meddler: The Life and Fantasies of Charles St Julian, MUP, 1990; H.B. Coffey and M.J. Morgan (eds), Irish Families in Australia and New Zealand, Revised Vol.2, Eades-Little, 1788-1985, Magenta Press, Melbourne, 1985, pp.122-3; Rookwood Cemetery Transcriptions, CD-ROM, SAG, Sydney, 2002; descendant, Max Ryan]

  Noted events in his life were:

• Immigration, 26 Feb 1837, On "Lady McNaughton".

James married Letitia in IRL. (Letitia was born in 1800-1814 and died on 9 Jun 1854 in Redfern, NSW, AUS ^{1 2}.)