1840 living BOI PP1840BOI
ESR has arrived Russell 1844
from findagrave PACH
Denis McCarthy was probably born in County Cork, Ireland, in about 1814, but his parents? names and his place of birth are unknown.
It is possible that Denis was the convict who was transported from Cork to New South Wales on the ?Blenheim? in 1834, for stealing rope, however this is unconfirmed. This Denis McCarthy was granted his Certificate of Freedom in 1841. Many ex-convicts and escaped convicts crossed the Tasman to New Zealand and became whalers.
It is not known when Denis McCarthy arrived in New Zealand, however, in the early 1840s he was a whaler in the Bay of Islands, where his son Charles was born. Charles?s death certificate gives his mother?s name as Emma Hunt, and his father?s name as Denis McCarthy, a whaler.
Emma Hunt did not arrive in New Zealand until November 1840 on the Martha Ridgway, and according to family folklore, she and Denis eloped soon after. Denis already had a young son, John. What became of John's mother is not known.
There are no marriage records to confirm Denis's and Emma's marriage, but it is likely that they married in the Bay of Islands.
By 1845 Denis was a shop keeper in Russell and he appears on the Jury List for Russell in that year. However, soon after, the McCarthy family relocated to Auckland, and in about 1845, Denis opened a butcher?s shop in Queen Street. It is believed that the McCarthy family was living in Russell at the time of Hone Heke's sacking of Kororareka in March that year. The town was destroyed and residents were evacuated to Auckland.
Denis was a staunch Roman Catholic, and Denis and Emma?s children, Elizabeth Louisa, Denis and Ellen were all baptised at St Patrick?s Cathedral. Their baptism records indicate that the family arrived in Auckland in 1845.
Denis died of natural causes in 1851 after falling from a boat on Auckland?s North Shore.
There is no burial record available for Denis, however there are St Patricks burial records for two of his infant children, Denis and Ellen at the Catholic Diocesan Archives.
It is believed that Denis and his two infant children were buried at the Symonds Street Cemetery. Catholic burials at this time were at Symonds Street rather than at St Patricks, and graves were later removed to make way for motorway development and re-interred in a mass grave. Many of the removed graves had no headstones, and Denis and his children do not appear on the Catholic memorial at Symonds Street Cemetery.
Only three of Denis's children survived to marry and raise families - John, Charles and Elizabeth. Dennis McCARTHY was a tradesman, Russell in 1840.
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