Thomas and Catherine (Mannix) O’Dowd – (Alice O’Dowd’s Parents)

Thomas Michael Joseph O’Dowd	Born	June 19th, 1842 at Riverstown Ardee Co. Louth Ireland.
	Died	March 20th, 1919 in Mansfield, Victoria of a cerebral haemorrhage aged 76.
Catherine (Kate) Mannix	Born	March 9th, 1835 at Gowran Co. Kilkenny, Ireland
	Died	November 26th 1914 in Richmond, Victoria of cardiac mistral obstruction aged 79.
	Married	December 26th, 1864 in Saint John’s Catholic Church Heidelberg, Victoria.
	Children of Union	Mary (1866 – 1931), Julia (1867 – 1948), Catherine (1870 – 1876), Alice (1872 – 1944), Francis (1874 – 1952)Kate Margaret (Maggie) (1876 – 1965) and Eleanor (Ellen / Nell) (1879 – 1961).

Historically from an Australian perspective, the O’Dowd family became an intricate part of Thomas Tobin’s life when he paid them a visit sometime after his arrival from Ireland in 1889. Thomas Tobin’s Irish Marriage record to Maria Christie states that they were married ‘on the 3rd day of July A.D. 1889 in the presence of John O’Dowd and Margaret Tucker.’

Research in Ireland has so far failed to ‘identify’ John O’Dowd. It seems that the siblings of Thomas Michael O’Dowd, resident of Melbourne, were Ann (1835 – ?), Peter (1836 – ?), Robert (1838 – ?), Mary (1840 – ?) and Alice (1845 – ?). Therefore, we assume John O’Dowd was a cousin, uncle or nephew of Thomas. I’ve chosen to make him a cousin in The Undertakers’ Mother and given him a fictional occupation with Thomas Tobin at Dundrum Asylum.

Any known facts about Thomas O’Dowd and Catherine Mannix are taken from their children’s birth certificates, their marriage and death certificates and the research notes of Andrew Barfoot. [Denise]

Thomas Michael O’Dowd

Thomas Michael O’Dowd was the son of Michael O’Dowd (a farmer) and Catherine Lawless. As a young man of 21, in August 1863 he arrived in Melbourne on the Result as an unassisted migrant. It’s interesting to note that shipping records show his name as ‘Dowd’* as does his baptismal certificate.

It appears that he was a ‘gentleman’s gentleman’ or a groom although the shipping records state his occupation as a ‘trader’, a common title for an unskilled labourer. His children’s birth certificates indicate several different ‘professions.’ It’s believed that during his working life in Melbourne he worked as a gardener at the Botanical Gardens.

Meeting Catherine (Kate) Mannix, who had arrived on the Utopia in June 1861 from Gorteen, (reads as Gordon on Alice and Francis’s birth Certificates) County Kilkenny, Ireland, they married on Boxing Day in St John’s Catholic Church Heidelberg in 1864. Their marriage certificate states that they were both living in Heidelberg at the time of their wedding. Her age is recorded as 26 but she was really 29. Thomas was 22.

Oral historical information concerning Thomas Michael O’Dowd from Alice Lyttleton (1914 – 2009) daughter of Maggie:

He was brought up and educated with the titled son of the ‘castle/property whatever’ and lived in the lodge where his father was lodge keeper. It was the aristocratic son** who brought him out to Australia. He or his wife however, eventually got sick of it and decided to go home. He wanted to give Thomas all the land he owned, (now Caulfield Racecourse) but Catherine, who was illiterate and knew she would be the one who had to look after it, sign deeds, basically do everything, did not want the responsibility and did not want to live in the country.

* Research shows that the ‘O’ prefix in Irish surnames frequently died away with Anglicisation and was discouraged by English civil servants in the 19th century. A common accusation at the time of the Famine was that a family bearing the ‘O’ prefix would drop it for a bowl of soup! Hence they were dubbed ‘soupers’. [Denise]

** I have searched extensively for the name of this ‘gentleman.’ I have checked land records at Gisborne and Caulfield as well as shipping passenger lists. The most likely candidate (but not proven) is Thomas’s best man, Henry Ewins Saunders. The signature on the O’Dowd Wedding certificate looks like the hand of a well-educated person, but such a person does not appear on the Result shipping list. Perhaps he voyaged to Australia earlier and then sent for Thomas? [Denise]

Catherine (Kate) Mannix

Catherine was the daughter of Patrick Mannix (a bootmaker) and Margaret Ward and was about seven years older than her husband. Being an assisted migrant, on arrival in Melbourne, it is believed that she worked in service for W. Shaw of Fenwick Street Geelong. She was illiterate and signed her mark with a cross on her Marriage Certificate, Mary’s and Maggie’s Birth Certificates and later, her Will.

Family anecdotes concerning Catherine Mannix include:

Apparently on the voyage to Australia on the Utopia, a fellow passenger offered to teach her to read and write, but she was too proud to let him help her.

She followed her boyfriend from Ireland, but he didn’t wait for her and married someone else; and / or she’d expected to find him easily, but didn’t; so she married Thomas O’Dowd instead. About 3 months later, she saw him in the street and had to walk on by.

According to some family stories, she was among the crowds in Melbourne to see Burke and Wills off on their explorations in 1860. As Catherine didn’t arrive until 1861, it is most likely that she joined the 40,000 strong crowd to ‘see them off’ at the time of their funerals in 1863.

Catherine believed in making the right impression at all times. At least one story tells of a visitor arriving unexpectedly and she whipped the sauce bottle off the table and hid it behind the lounge chair. [Mary Stanley]

Read more about the family in the O’Dowd Family Stories, such as the O’Dowd occupations and Catherine’s Will and Codicil.