Catherine Meehan was born on January 15, 1860, in Bruree, County Limerick, Ireland, to Timothy Meehan and Johanna Lyons. Sponsors were Ellen Russell and Patrick Lyons.
If it weren’t for a DNA match between my cousin and me, I might have given up on this story altogether. Some of the dates we’ve found just don’t line up—off by a year or two in some cases—and there are still a few documents I’d love to track down. But at the end of the day, the DNA doesn’t lie. It confirms that the “Catherine May” in our records is, without a doubt, a descendant of the Meehan and Shanahan families from Bruree, County Limerick.
Catherine married Thomas Ah Fie on March 10, 1884, in Townsville, Queensland, Australia. Over the next 16 years, they had eight children together. As the generations passed, the family name evolved—Ah Fie became Ah Fee, then Ah Foy, and finally, just Foy. Catherine lived a long life, passing away in Queensland in 1927 at the age of 67.
It’s incredible to think that, despite all the gaps in the paperwork, DNA brought her story back to us.
Catherine Meehan’s story is a bit unusual, but between my cousin, Victoria and myself, we figured it out. We are DNA matched as 3rd cousins, but (if Catherine Meehan was Catherine May) to be precise, we are 3rd cousins twice removed. Victoria died in 2016 RIP. I am glad we got to connect, she seemed like a fun lady with a good sense of humour.
Victoria’s paternal great-grandfather, John/James Wild, was adopted in Australia by an Irish family. He married Alice Mary Flynn, daughter of Peter Thomas Flynn (ex Dublin) and Catherine Quinlan (ex County Clare, near Limerick). Initially, Victoria thought that John/James Wild was the link and we would be able to go no further. However, that was not the case. Nor was the match on her father’s side of the family. Vic had lots of memories of family conversations and rumours from her childhood, which agreed with the information I already had on the Meehan family from Bruree.
Our shared ancestors are on Victoria’s mother’s side of her family.
There was a story passed down in Victoria’s family about two Chinese brothers who “bought” two Irish sisters, married them, and went on to raise large families. It sounds shocking at first, but when you consider the time and place, it starts to make sense.
Back then, Australia had the “White Australia Policy,” which severely restricted the rights of Asian immigrants. They couldn’t vote or own freehold land—unless they were married to a white person. So, marriage wasn’t just about love or companionship; for many, it was also a means of survival and securing a future.
It’s one of those stories that makes you wonder—how much of it is family lore, and how much is rooted in the realities of the time?
Question: Where is the second sister?
I recently came across a fascinating record—a passenger list from the ship Aldergrove, which departed from Plymouth, England, on August 17, 1883, and arrived at its destination on October 31, 1883.
The document consists of 20 pages in total, but I’m including just two here. The first details the journey itself, while the second contains something particularly interesting—two Meehan girls listed on the official assisted passenger list. It’s a small but significant piece of the puzzle, another thread in the tapestry of this family’s journey.
- Kate aged 19 which would make her date of birth 1864. Occupation is domestic servant.
- Maggie aged 16 which would make her date of birth 1867. Occupation is domestic servant. One problem I have is that this Maggie does not exist, to the best of my knowledge among Catherine Meehan’s sisters. She had a sister named Margaret but she married Patrick Collins and had 3 children by him.
If Kate on the Assisted Passenger List is, in fact, our Catherine Meehan/May then she would have been pregnant when boarding the ship in Plymouth in August 1883 and given birth in Australia in either November or December 1883. She would have been extremely fortunate to have survived the sailing from Ireland to Liverpool and then the journey from Liverpool to Plymouth. The fact it was a summer sailing and not a winter one would have made a huge difference if the story of the Irish Channel crossings on the emigrant ships were anything to go by.
link to the full immigration list https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSDY-G9BX-Q?view=index&personArk=% 2Fark%3A%2F61903%2F1%3A1%3AQLF6-Y32T&action=view
Victoria’s mother remembers one of her grannie’s having fiery red hair. The rest of her father’s side had darker Asian skin/hair/eyes.
Victoria was one of 6 children—actually seven—but one brother twin died shortly after birth. Half of them were fair skinned, light-haired, and freckled. The other half had olive skin, dark hair and dark eyes. Victoria was the only one with blue eyes.
There were a few differences between Victoria’s memories and my paperwork, the main one being that my Catherine’s surname was Meehan, but Victoria’s was “May”. However, that could easily have been because of the inability of people writing records to differentiate between the two sounds – which is something quite often found in old records. Victoria said that Meehan was another name mentioned in her mother’s family, with disagreement about whether the last name was May (as per some records) or Meehan, as per oral history.
Catherine Meehan was the oldest of a family of seven. Two girls and 5 boys after that.
Catherine Meehan’s only sister, Margaret, got married (like her mother) around age 20, on 17 October 1883. Her dad was a cooper and her husband’s dad was a carpenter – a good match financially. Margaret was married in October 1883 and her witnesses were Michael O’Neill and Catherine Cox, not her sister, which must mean her sister was not at home. However, there is a bit of mystery around Margaret’s husband, too. He is not with the family in either the 1901 or the 1911 Irish census.
It is worth noting that Margaret is called “Maggie” on her 1883 marriage certificate.
Question: Where is Patrick Collins?
Catherine’s daughter, Frances, was born in 1883
On November 7, 1890, Catherine gave birth to a daughter, Ellen. On the birth registration, the father is Thomas Ah Fie, aged 34, a cook from Canton, China. It goes on to state that Thomas married Catherine May, aged 29 (making her birth year 1861) from Limerick, Ireland, on March 10th, 1884, in Townsville. The record also says that 7 year old Frances was born out of wedlock, while 4 year old Susan and 2 year-old Christina were born legitimately within marriage. That means that Frances was born sometime in 1883.
It’s also noteworthy that Catherine is called “Kate” on her baptismal record above
On January 25, 1909 Catherine’s husband, Thomas, died.
The Irish census for 1911 poses a slight question/problem for me. In 1911 Catherine is listed as living back home in Ireland with her mother, sister etc. in Bruree, And her occupation is domestic servant. Catherine was not on the 1901 Irish census. A possible reason for this could be that her husband Thomas Ah Fie passed away in Australia in 1909, her children were relatively grown up and she was free to go back and visit her mother.
Is this our Catherine Meehan/May/Ah Fie, Ah Foy? Back in Australia in 1913.
Is this our Catherine Meehan/Foy? If so, was there some controversy? Why does it specify that it was erected by her daughters and not just her family?
Children of Catherine Meehan and Thomas Ah Fie:
There are more questions than answers when one starts lo