THE SEARCH FOR MARY’S GRAVE

My great great grandmother’s name was MARY GILMORE. She was born approximately 1816 in Co. Cavan. She sailed to Australia on the ship “Runnymede” from London on 25th May, 1841 via Plymouth. The ship arrived in Sydney on 30th August, 1841.

Mary Gilmore married James Herring at Campbelltown on 6th April, 1841. It is recorded in the Register of Roman Catholic Marriages. Their abode was Redbank (near Picton).

James and Mary Herring produced a family of eight children from 1843 to 1855 (Margaret, Charles James, Thomas, Mary Ann, Elizabeth Bridget, William, Rose and John).

Mary Herring was accidently killed on 17th September, 1863 aged 45 years at Picton, NSW, leaving her husband and seven of her children to mourn her loss. Sometime after, James moved to Goulburn, NSW.

James Herring died on 9th July, 1874 aged 57 years at Grafton Street, Goulburn, NSW. Son Thomas, who was living in Gundagai was the informant on his father’s death certificate.

The story begins-
Whilst studying my family history in 1986, I discovered on a death certificate for my great great grandmother, Mary Herring of Picton, that she had met her death “by a train passing over her” on 17th September, 1863.

This led me to the Mitchell Library in Sydney to check the newspapers of the day for any mention of the “accident” and/or “death”. I check “The Sydney Mail” dated 19th September, 1863, and it stated:

PICTON Thursday, 7pm
A woman was run over, and killed, about a mile from Picton, by the 5pm train from Sydney. Particulars not yet known. An inquest will be held to-morrow.

I also checked “The Sydney Morning Herald” dated 25th September, 1863 and it stated:

PICTON ….. and last night an unfortunate woman was killed by the engine running over her in the evening. She must have wandered on the line, but why cannot be told.

It was a shame that her name had not been stated, but the information confirmed the accident.

I then rang the State Rail Authority (formerly the NSW Government Railways) and asked for information on the accident. I was informed that the Railways are only interested in statistics – no name is needed for their records. The only information required was – male/female, age, date, time and place etc. This was most unfortunate for me and my research! I had read sometime back in a little booklet from the Wollondilly Shire Council, that the railway line to Picton had only commenced on 1st July, 1863, so that meant that Mary’s accident happened only 6 weeks after the railway line had opened. When I mentioned this to the man at the railways, he told me that Mary’s accident was probably the first fatality in the area, this seemed quite probable but I had no proof.

I contacted the Court House in Sydney by letter giving details of the accident etc. but my reply some weeks later was that – unfortunately the Court Records for that time, 1860’s had not survived. No luck again!

The next step in my research was to go to Picton and look for Mary’s Grave. I was sure she would have a headstone and I was hoping that it had survived.

So off we went – my husband, my two daughters and I. We packed a picnic lunch as somehow I knew it would be a long day.

Firstly, I went to the Police Station in Picton as the Court House was closed due to our visit being on a weekend. The police were very helpful and directed me to the various Churches and grave-yards and also the large cemetery of the district.

In earlier days, most churches had the cemetery at the rear of the Church, then as the population grew, larger cemeteries were opened. In his case Camden and Picton districts was well populated in the 1860’s. Many people left Sydney town and moved out Liverpool way, then to Camden and Picton.

I visited every church cemetery in Picton reading each headstone carefully. After no luck at all with the church cemeteries, I asked by husband to take me to the large cemetery on the top of the hill (Upper Picton Cemetery). I read each headstone carefully examining the dates and years and trying to get some sort of pattern of how the rows were laid out. In the older sections of cemeteries anywhere, there are many graves without headstones or markers of any kind. This can make it difficult to actually follow the rows of graves. After reading all the headstones in all the denominations I really wondered, just where was Mary buried!

By this time it was quite late in the afternoon. I was exhausted and frustrated but my daughters and my husband were bored – they had just waited in the car whilst I was doing all the hard work. My husband then suggested in a very calm manner that I give up and perhaps we could make another visit at a later date. Begrudgingly I got back into the car and we headed for home.

A few weeks later we did make a return trip to Picton. I went back “to the large cemetery on the top of the hill”. This time I was more determined than ever to find “Mary’s grave”. I searched under every shrub and bush and cleared away weeds from tops of headstones and graves. I was beginning to think I was too hopeful of finding a headstone after 123 years. I might add that my family sat in the car in the shade and ate an ice cream, while I searched alone, in the hot sun.

After much hunting I came across a sandstone headstone that had no inscription – so I thought. Upon closer investigation – down on my hands and knees and underneath the branches of the tree, I discovered the headstone had an inscription on it, but it was facing the trunk of a tree.

To my delight it WAS the headstone I was hoping to find. Sometime during the 123 years a tree had grown in between the headstone and the footstone.

Not all graves at the time had a headstone and a foot stone. This practice was mostly found in country cemeteries.

It just goes to show that determination and my strong feeling that there would be a headstone was enough for me to want to keep searching and I was rewarded! It was like winning the lottery.

The inscription on the top part of the large sandstone headstone showed –

SACRED
To the Memory of
MARY HERRING
who died Sept. 17
1863 Aged 45 years

The inscription in the middle of the smaller sandstone footstone showed

M.H.

There was a further inscription on the lower part of the headstone, but it was hard to read as the sandstone had been affected by the atmosphere. It mentions leaving a husband and seven children to mourn her loss.

What a wonderful day and so rewarding. It really was worth the second visit to Picton which was roughly a two hour drive each way from our home in Sydney.

We made many trips down south over the following years for either a picnic at a popular country town or enroute to visit family and friends in Gundagai.

We always stopped at Upper Picton Cemetery and placed flowers on Mary’s grave.

Information for this article is from the Archives Office microfilm
NSW Marriage Certificate No. 2674 Vol. 93 James and Mary Herring
NSW Death Certificate #D55045 Mary Herring