Genealogy
Patrick and Mary live?
(Annie Burke standing)
Over the coming years, the family are variously described as living at "Kirwee", "Aylesbury" or
(most often) "Charing Cross".
Recently I found that an electoral reference number, and a map from Canterbury Museum Library led me to the original land that Patrick Riordan owned. It is on one of the corners at Charing Cross. Contact Me if you would like more details!
| Contact Me |
Patrick Riordan was born in Curraheen, Co Limerick, Ireland, sometime in the late 1840s, the child of John Riordan and Bridget Quane. He seems to have arrived in New Zealand when he was aged about 21, around 1868.
Mary Burke was born in the Parish of Inchture, Perth, Scotland, on 21 August 1862. She was the first child for her Irish father, Martin Burke, who left Co Mayo around the time of the Famine as a child, and her Scottish mother, Ann Philp. She emigrated with her parents to New Zealand aboard the "Mermaid" when she was still only a toddler, arriving in Lyttelton on 16 February 1864.
Patrick Riordan married Mary Burke on 11 April 1882 at the Catholic Church in Lincoln. Patrick was then in his early 30s and described his occupation as a farmer. Mary was aged 20, resident at Lincoln, and her occupation was described as a servant.
Over the next ten years, Patrick and Mary had six
children: John, Martin, Patrick
Joseph, James, Bridget and Annie.
Mary contracted consumption and died in March 1892, leaving Patrick as
a widower with young children. She is buried in the Darfield Catholic
Cemetery beside the Catholic Church, alongside her mother Ann, her uncle
John Burke, and her husband Patrick Riordan.