Rounding Up The Flock

Pitt Street - 9 August 1841

If you think you might have a connection or can assist with any new information about this branch of the McNamara family please contact the webmaster using the form below.

The family's history in New South Wales prior to arriving in Queensland around 1850 remains largely unknown, except for a few hazy recollections of 100 year old James McNamara Senior, recorded in a Queensland country newspaper the Dalby Herald in 1942.

His obituary records his birth as Pitt Street, 9 August 1841 but failed to say if the birthplace was in Sydney or Parramatta. Despite having such a precise date, the best endeavors of the McNamara family researchers have not uncovered any evidence to verify that claim.

Who was Mary Ann Barry

John McNamara and Mary Barry may have been convicts, free settlers or bounty immigrants. We might never know, as any oral history, anecdotes or personal records have not survived, making family connections prior to 1850 all but impossible to trace.

In an era where large families were the norm, it is surprising that James McNamara appears to be the only issue of John and Mary Anne McNamara nee Barry.

This web site contains complete BDM extracts for James McNamara Senior's family in the hope that other descendants might recognise a lost branch of their family tree.

Missing Generation

The key to discovering vital details about Mary Barry and John McNamara would normally lie in locating their death certificates. Frustratingly none can be found in Queensland's Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages, posing yet another question, did they return to New South Wales and if so, when.

And who was the only witness recorded as Mrs. McNamara at the birth of William McNamara at East Swamp, Toowoomba in 1878 - could it have been the mysterious Mary Ann Barry or even the wife of an unknown sibling of James McNamara senior.

One thing is certain, a snippet of family information believed to be accurate is actually incorrect - but what that might be still remains hidden.

Missing Link

Much is known about James McNamara, Mary Fuller and their family after 1867 but the origin of his father John McNamara and mother Mary Anne Barry remains hidden from family researchers.

Could the answer to the mystery be concealed in two documents - the 1894 Death Certificate of Scottish born Mary McNamara nee Wilson and her marriage to John MacNamara in Belfast Ireland circa 1840 and the Marriage Certificate of John McNamara alias John Barry and Mary Ellen Lee who wed at Rolleston, Queensland in 1872.

The surnames of McNamara, Barry and Wilson appear to have an intriguing but obscure connection - a connection that refuses to yield its secret. Someone has the key to unlock the mystery of Mary Anne Barry, her family, her origin and her fate.