John McNamara Alias John Barry

What's in a Name

In September 2004 family researchers discovered documents in Queensland's State Archives recording the marriage and death of John Barry also known as John McNamara.

The find linked for the first time the McNamara and Barry surnames on a document that was not directly related to James McNamara and Mary Ann Fuller- but the discovery raised more questions than it did answers.

The records show that 28 year old John McNamara alias Barry, was employed as a boundary rider at Albinia Downs near Springsure, 300 kilometers south west of Rockhampton, Queensland.

Diamantina Hospital Death

He married under the assumed surname of Barry in December 1872, fathered five children and died over fifty years later at the Diamantina Hospital for chronic diseases in South Brisbane in 1929.

His Queensland Death Certificate dated 5 July 1929 records the deceased as "John Barry known as John McNamara". In fact the reverse was true, John Barry was John McNamara's alias and he used both names for almost two decades around 1870.

Why the detail of dual identities was considered important and who provided it is just as mysterious as the "double" life of John McNamara alias John Barry. Diamantina Hospital admission records will continue to hold the secret until 2029.

His death was reported by the hospital assistant superintendent and dispenser Frederick Staubwasser. There is no indication from the death certificate if any immediate family were present at the passing of John Barry McNamara.

Double Identity

For more than half his life John Barry McNamara slipped into and out of his dual identities with apparent ease, leaving researchers pondering as to why.

The Queensland Electoral Roll of 1874 shows he enrolled under the name of McNamara and in 1878 he was recorded as John Barry McNamara - one of the more than 450 electors enrolled for the Springsure District.

Six years earlier in 1872 when he married Mary Ellen Lee under the assumed name of Barry he had an opportunity to bury his true identity forever, had he chosen to do so.

Secret Revealed

It was not until the birth of the couple's first child in April 1874  that Barry revealed his real name.

Springsure District Registrar a former explorer and colorful Police Magistrate John Graham Macdonald recorded on the Birth Certificate of Francis Barry (McNamara) that his father had married under the assumed name of Barry - confirming that John McNamara and John Barry were the same person.

Why Barry chose to conceal his name at marriage only to disclose it 16 months later following the birth of his first child is baffling.

Equally as perplexing is that having revealed his true identity he still continued to use the Barry alias. There is no evidence of any previous criminal connections or that McNamara might have been a debt defaulter.   

In the Name of the Father

Further investigation has revealed that five of John McNamara's children Francis, Margaret Ann, Patrick, William, and Mary have their father's alias recorded on their Birth Certificates but Michael the youngest does not.

This 1887 certificate records Michael's parents as John and Mary McNamara - a surname they had not used for almost fifteen years. However, Michael, like his siblings was married and buried under the surname Barry.

In 1880 the Blackall Registrar took issue with the father's personal details provided for the birth of the family's fourth child William Barry (McNamara).

Macdonald tersely noted, "The question of this man's name was settled last child and name must be altered."

The reference to "last child" was to Patrick born in 1878 but there is no clue on this birth certificate as to any problem with the family surname.

Who or what precipitated this zeal for administrative accuracy over a prolonged period by both the District Registrars of Springsure and Blackall and John Barry (McNamara) is yet to be discovered.

Just as confusing is the birth place of John McNamara alias John Barry. All his children's birth certificates record Limerick, Ireland yet his Marriage and Death Certificate show Sydney, New South Wales.

There is also continuing speculation as to the identity of his parents, Francis Barry and Mary Wilson as shown on the 1872 Marriage Certificate.

Connection or Coincidence

Finding an 1894 Queensland death certificate for Mary MacNamara nee Wilson has added another layer of complexity to the investigation.

For the first time family researchers have three documents that appear to connect the surnames Barry, McNamara and Wilson but they have failed to provide any definitive proof of any family relationship.

Could this Scottish born woman who died at Pullenvale, Queensland, 2 December 1894, be the elusive and mysterious Mary Anne Barry.

The Brisbane Courier reported twenty six years earlier, 2 December 1868 that John Macnamara had been successful in a homestead selection of 50 acres at Pullen Pullen creek. It does provide some circumstantial evidence that Mary Macnamara had lived at Pullenvale for over a quarter of a century.

If a clear connection can be proven it would link Mary Wilson to a marriage with John McNamara in Belfast circa 1840 and would raise an even more intriguing questions.

Mary McNamara is almost certainly the mother of John McNamara alias John Barry but can she be connected to James McNamara Senior who claims he is the son of John McNamara and Mary Anne Barry.

And who is really the father of John Barry (McNamara) - Francis Barry or Belfast man John McNamara. More intriguingly are these two men actually one and the same person.

The mystery, like that of Mary Anne Barry continues to raise more and more questions and not surprisingly due to lack of any hard evidence answers like the woman herself are well concealed.