My great-grand parents, Martin RYAN c.1842-1916 (b. Co Limmerick, Ireland to James RYAN and Catherine McCARTHY) and Bridget RUSSELL c.1850-1925 (b. Co Tipperary, Ireland to Michael RUSSELL and Annie DWYER) were married at Saint John’s Catholic Church, Sandford on 25 May, 1873. They resided at Bahgallah circa 1873-1891, and I think I have just found record of four of their children (Daniel Sylvester Ryan, Martin James Ryan [my grand-father], Michael David Ryan and Annie Loretto Ryan) having attended Bahgallah State School on Peter Arnett’s web site – what a find! The family then moved circa 1891 to the Wool Wool and Nalangil districts, near Colac. However, their first child, Catherine Ryan, is buried (1876) in Old Casterton Cemetery, and their second, Patrick James Ryan is buried (1877) in New Casterton Cemetery. Daniel Ryan returned to Casterton in 1910 to marry Easter Jane O’Connell at Sacred Heart Catholic Church, before returning to the Stony Rises, near Pirron Yallock, to live.
I am trying hard to ascertain if any of the other Ryans in Bahgallah, such as Thomas Ryan (a co-founder of the Bahgallah State School), were related to Martin and Bridget Ryan (nee Russell). Their children attended the school at around the same time. I am hoping too to soon visit Bahgallah and see where Martin and Bridget lived, and the school (if it is still there). I have land records showing where they lived, but for some reason they seemed to have moved around Bahgallah a bit, or at least the land they tenanted moved (!) - mainly land near the Glenelg River at the ends of McIntyres Road, Casterton-Dartmoor Road and Widdecombe Road. I also look forward to visiting Sandford and the church where they were married.
I am also seeking information on Martin and Bridget Ryan after they moved to Wool Wool. Martin lived there until 1916, and Bridget until 1925. They actually had two more children in Bahgallah before moving, James Vincent Ryan and Ellen Eveline Ryan known as Nellie), although they are not mentioned in the Bahgallah school register, and then two more in Wool Wool, Margaret May Ryan and John Joseph Ryan. My grand-father, Martin James Ryan, married Bridget Teresa Donovan, at Saint Mary’s Catholic Church in Colac in 1909. Bridget Donovan’s family resided at Mamre homestead in Nalangil, which is quite well known in the district. I am very keen to find out where the Ryan family lived in Wool Wool, and I would be very grateful if any one in the Western Victoria Family History Network could assist me here.
I hope this information is of some use to you and the network, and I look forward to hearing from anyone who might have some more information about my family of Ryans from Bahgallah and Wool Wool, and the Russell and Donovan families that we are related to.
Shane L.J. Ryan
30 Renny Place
BELCONNEN, ACT 2617
AUSTRALIA
telephone: 02 6253 2347 (h); 0402 085 553 (m)