Winnie Tobin Kelly Wheeler – daughter of Thomas and Maria Tobin

Winifred Agnes	Born	Born February 15th, 1892 in South Melbourne, Victoria
	Married 1)	John Edward Kelly (1878 – 1941) on April 21st, 1917 at St Brendan’s Flemington, Victoria. John was a carpenter. They moved to Sydney and had a son, John, born prematurely at 6 ½ months and who lived for 10 days, dying on 22nd September, 1920.
	Married 2)	Richard Bennett (Ben) Wheeler (1882-1960) on August 30th, 1945 at St Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney NSW. Ben was a retired Police Sergeant. Thomas Tobin’s,(Winnie’s father) occupation is listed as a Retired Undertaker on their Marriage Certificate.
	Died	November 6th, 1961 in Ivanhoe, Victoria

It can’t have been easy for Winnie, losing her mother at such a young age and then gaining a step-mother that she barely knew. She was too young to understand her father’s grief and desperation. Then, as Thomas and Alice’s family of sons grew, we wonder how Winnie coped with Mollie and her family of little half-brothers.

On 21st April 1917, she married John Edward Kelly, a carpenter who had been born in South Melbourne, in St Brendan’s Catholic Church Flemington. She was a machinist and still living with the family at 38 Farnham St Flemington. She was 25 and he was 39.

Sometime before September 1920 they moved to Sydney where their baby son, John, was born prematurely at 6 ½ months gestation. According to his death certificate, he lived for 10 days. It must have been devastating for Winnie to give birth once and not be able to have more children. (Her Death Certificate states that ‘John, deceased’ was her only issue).

Winnie’s father-in-law was a building contractor and possibly his son worked with him in Sydney. He used to say that he was related to Ned Kelly and it’s interesting to read in John Brendan Tobin’s Old Letters from Ireland to Winnie, where he refers to her husband tracing his ancestors and adds with the wisdom of a 17 year old…

‘Of course no family is free from a wild member at some time or other and who knows, but his grandfather had reason for turning outlaw in the days long ago.’

Widowed at 49, Winnie gained work as a Matron at Boys’ Town NSW. We presume she had nursing qualifications by this stage. No doubt, she would have had some challenging times when working with disadvantaged youth.

Some family stories refer to a strained relationship between Winnie and her step-mother Alice. However, after Alice had a stroke in late 1943, Winnie came from Boys’ Town in NSW to nurse Alice in her last weeks.

During the war years, Winnie met widower Richard Bennett (Ben) Wheeler (1882 – 1960) and they were married on August 30th, 1945 at St Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney NSW. Ben was a retired Police Sergeant. It’s interesting to note that she states her father’s occupation as a Retired Undertaker on their Marriage Certificate.

After Ben’s death in 1960, she moved from Sydney to Melbourne, where she lived with her brother John and his wife Carrie in Ivanhoe. She died from cancer on November 6th 1961.

In 1919, Winnie decided to pursue her Irish roots and advertised in the ‘Irish Independent’. Her uncle John Robert Tobin saw her advertisement and started a correspondence with her. (Old Letters from Ireland)

It’s safe to say that she was ahead of the modern trend of ‘searching for her roots’.