Prologue

 This is the start of a long journey. Nowhere near as long as that of Edward Griffin and Catherine Sheehan in 1854, but, I expect, long enough. My intention is to retell the story (partly narrative, partly not) of the great adventure which began in the Townlands of Corkaboy in County Kerry, Ireland, in the 1840s, and finished in the suburbs of Adelaide over a hundred years later. Or finished for the purposes of this story, at least.

Why am I writing this account? One reason is simply because it is very interesting. There's lots of bad things which happen - violence, death, famine - but also lots of family, love, births (and more deaths), and triumphs over adversity. Another reason is more self-serving. Recently my brother Paul and I went off cycling around the streets of Adelaide. We got to West Terrace Cemetery. Paul wanted to show me the graves of Edward Patrick Griffin (my grandfather), and his wife Elizabeth (Bessie) Larkin. I expected to see a nondescript headstone, probably in need of repair. Instead when we got to the designated spot there was nothing except bare dirt - no headstone, not even any grass - bare dirt. They had completely disappeared from history. Today they only exist as dim, fractured memories in the minds of a very few people. I never knew EPG at all ( he died in 1929, well before my time), and the only memory I have of Grandma Griffin (the only name I knew her by) was me as a five or six year old barging into the loo at Nash St Croydon Park only to find Granma Griffin seated majestically on the throne. It was a fleeting acquaintance. She died in 1959, outlasting EPG by 30 years.

I can't say I've spent much time thinking about how long memories of us last after we're gone - who does? But the shock of suddenly realising, as we both stood staring at a patch of bare dirt in West Terrace Cemetery, that your forebears will be completely wiped from history unless something happens to make it otherwise was the seed that started this journey. 

A second reason is that I want to leave our grandchildren with a story to tell. I don't expect they will read the story for many years to come - I'm nearly 70 and am only just starting to take an interest so I can hardly expect them to suddenly rush to Grandad's webpage to discover new things. Not when they'll have their own lives to lead. But one day, when they're fiddling through some ancient technology (like web pages (remember them?) and even books  (look, you can't even swipe across the page!), they might discover not just an interesting story, but an explanation of where they have come from, to help them understand where they are going to.

One great benefit of leaving it till now is that other people have done most of the work for you. There have been two Griffin family histories published that I'm aware of. Mary Medwell put together Flight of the Griffins way back in 2002, and I have been in contact with Mary and she has given me permission to make use of much of the detailed, painstaking research she assembled over many years - doing it the old school way - taking the train into the city in Adelaide to access all that the libraries could offer. Her generational who-married-who listings are a wonder to behold. Thank you Mary. Tony Griffin has also published Pioneers in a Harsh Land which follows the life of John Griffin (one of EPG's brothers) through the late 19th C. His book has been very helpful in getting a background to the growth and eventual abandonment of Hammond.

So, as I write this I am still unsure what the end result will look like. Ideally it would be a comprehensive, detailed historical narrative which is academically unassailable. No-one will come along later and say "This is a load of rubbish!" as I rush off to hide in the bushes. All my sources will be "impeccable" and all my re-creations of what may have been will be greeted with wise nods from the critics. Not much chance of that.

The first problem is that details are scarce - very scarce, and those we do have are not certain. It seems one of the the only things we know about Edward Griffin is that his name wasn't Edward Griffin - or at least that's what his marriage name wasn't. It was Edmundi. However, it appears not all is lost. Consistent spelling of names was not a thing in 19th C Ireland, especially when it would seem Edmundi's education pre-1830 would have been skimpy at best. Catherine Sheehan (or is it Sheeham?) would have been one of the first to have an elementary education in the 1830s as she was born in 1828. However, anything beyond that is open to argument. When they arrived in Adelaide on the Coromandel in 1855  Edward Griffin was listed as 36 years old. So he would have been born in 1818 or 1819. It would appear he was actually born in 1816. Remembering what year you were born was also not a thing in 19thC Ireland. Their marriage in 1845 doesn't appear to be contestable - provided you accept that Edward and Edmundi are the same person.

There is a lot more information available post 1845 in Ireland, and post-1855 in South Australia, but still not enough to construct a fully fleshed personal story. A sudden discovery of a treasure trove of personal letters would be great, thank you very much, but it appears that is not to be. If they did exist they would probably be rotting away slowly in a box somewhere. It's quite possible that Edward was illiterate - literacy levels for the 1830s generation would have been a lot higher than for the one before. Possibly Catherine was his eyes and ears to the written world. Never mind, for the Irish the oral tradition of story and song was culturally deep enough.

Sources? Griffith's Valuation, also known as the Primary Valuation of Ireland, was invaluable for authenticating land ownership and occupancy of Ireland in the mid 19th century. I used the search facility available through askaboutireland.ie to find the exact location of Edward Griffin's Corkaboy tenant share, as well as other handy information. Geohive.ie, "Ireland's National Geospatial Data Hub", has a very useful section called "Irish Townland and Historical Map Viewer". For mapaholics like me it was fascinating to trace locations back and forwards through time. Seán Moraghan's compelling account of the Ballyeagh Massacre in Days of the Blackthorn provided most of the backdrop to the account of these events in 1834 as described in Chapter 2. For Catholic Church records of baptisms and marriages I accessed irishgenealogy.ie site. The Aylmers of Ballyaylmer, an 1842 novel written by fellow Kerryman Gerald Griffin (no relation) was useful for delving into local habits and customs.

So, this is not a family history. It includes all the historically accurate information which this writer has been able to gather, and then goes on to construct an account, given what we know. For example, it would appear that Edward Griffin was a farmer labouring his plot in the Corkaboy Townland of County Kerry, Ireland in the 1840s. From this it is possible to find out all that we can about life as a farmer in 1840s Ireland (it wasn't pretty), and the things that happened that led to emigration to Australia ten years later. Similarly, the voyage from Southhampton to Adelaide in 1854/5 is described using the one unassailable source (the ship's log) and from accounts of other voyages of the time, with Edward and Catherine (and family) as central characters.

 So, it's not 100% fiction either - it's a story for my grandchildren, real enough to be interesting in the telling.

Enjoy.

Garry Griffin

March 2021