Francis O’Dowd (Alice’s Brother)

Francis O’Dowd	Born	May 26th 1874 at Canterbury Road Toorak, Victoria.
	Married	Mary Jane Lonie June 14th 1899 in St Kilda, Victoria. She was born in 1879 in St Kilda and died in 1940 in Ballarat, Victoria aged 61 years.
	Children of Union	James Andrew Francis (Frank), Thomas Richard, Ernest Patrick and John Augustine.
	Died	1952 in Parkville, Victoria aged 78 years.

Francis O’Dowd’s name appears as Mollie’s godfather on her Baptismal certificate on March 26th, 1899 in Fremantle. I’ve presumed that it was by proxy, as later events show that by then, he had met and fallen in love with Mary Jane Lonie – on the beach at St Kilda.

After or because of his marriage, he seems to be on the outer with his family, hence in The Undertakers’ Mother, I’ve dramatised tension between Francis and his parents and sisters. The fact that Catherine ‘cut him out of her Will’ shows he had a serious ‘falling out’ with his parents. Whether it was the result of his marrying in haste or something more, it is unknown.

The only boy in a family of five girls, Francis may have had a difficult life. Oral history mentions that he was a very good artist and he was set up to become a compositor or printer, but fled into the country and wasn’t seen for some years. At the time of his wedding to Mary Jane Lonie, he was a butcher and 24 years old.

According to their Marriage Certificate, Francis and Mary Jane were married in the Presbytery of Sacred Heart Church West St Kilda – indicative of a small wedding with only their witnesses.

Family oral history tells of Francis ‘getting his father drunk one night and having him sign everything over to him. Father appeared on Maggie’s doorstep the next morning saying he’d lost everything except the blanket in his hands.’ It appears that Thomas never made a Will of his own. We presume that Catherine covered all their joint property and chattels with her own Will. So what this story means is somewhat of a mystery. The year is unknown.

Francis was a butcher and apparently drove around in a horse and carriage that resembled a Rolls Royce of its day.

Trevor (O’Dowd) Shattuck – May 2011

In May 2011, Nola Lyttleton Henderson, Maggie’s grand daughter, received a big surprise when via the internet, she was contacted by Trevor (O’Dowd) Shattuck, grandson of Francis O’Dowd. Trevor lives in South Carolina, USA.

All previous research indicated that although Francis and Mary Jane (Lonie) O’Dowd had four sons, the O’Dowd name had died out as there were no sons to carry on the name in 2011. This fact is correct, but the O’Dowd male blood line is alive and well in the USA. As a child, Trevor travelled to the USA in 1946 with his mother, Ursula, who became a war-bride to Walt Shattuck. She had divorced his father, John Andrew (Frank) O’Dowd in 1945. On his father’s death in 1951, Trevor was adopted by Walt Shattuck. Hence Trevor’s children and grandchildren are Shattucks, not O’Dowds. He now maintains regular contact with his newly-found Aussie cousins, as he tries to piece together his own family history.

Several photographs supplied by Trevor Shattuck show a very happy and contented older Francis and Mary Jane O’Dowd with family members and in particular, their son Ernest and his wife, Mary Brenda and daughter, Ann. Frank and Ursula appear to be very happy in a group photograph c. 1939.