Category Archives: Irvine family

My Grandma Irvine: Lills Life and her autograph book.

GSQ Blog Posted on by

Inately proud of her extended family, Lill kept in regular contact with her extended family and friends. How do I know this, you may well ask? Primarily through her marriage, which came about through meeting her future husband while visiting interstate family on both her mother & father’s sides. Then there is that little book collected by many a young girl in the past, their autograph book. I have a copy of Lill’s little book, but more on that later. … Continue reading

Hugh Irvine: bootmaker and storekeeper extraordinaire.

GSQ Blog Posted on by

Many moons ago I tentatively knocked on the door of Ian Irvine, a second cousin of my dad’s. The door opened with a welcome and I fought back a lump in my throat, as gentle speaking Ian reminded me so much of my deceased father. Ian was my introduction to many in this family and I dedicate this story to now deceased Ian, Lex and Amelia; grandchildren of Hugh Irvine. I am grateful I spent many hours with them in … Continue reading

Love Letters to Maggie.

GSQ Blog Posted on by

This tale begins with the landing in Brisbane of the vessel Ariadne on 3 January 1864, that turbulent year for the city with two major fires in Queen Street.[1]  One of the passengers on Ariadne was James Carothers, a young 19 yr old lad from Fermanagh.[2] The young lad worked hard and by 1870 he had established a farm at Bulimba Point; Bulimba had been serviced since 1850 by Samuel and Matthew Buckley operating a rowing boat. In 1864, John … Continue reading

Andrew Gilmore Irvine: A bootmaker from Killyleagh.

GSQ Blog Posted on by

The fourth pregnancy of Sarah Irvine in the farming community of Ballytrim townland was no doubt a difficult time for her with three surviving children aged eight, four and two around her feet as this time her pregnancy felt different.[1] Husband James was a bootmaker in the nearby village of Killyleagh on the shores of Strangford Lough in Co Down and when Sarah gave birth to twins on 31 March 1849 it would have called on all the strength and … Continue reading

Francis Irvine – Immigrant, Bootmaker, Shopkeeper & Baptist elder.

GSQ Blog Posted on by

By Rod Irvine. Edited by Bobbie Edes Within our Killyleagh siblings, the eldest two brothers John (b 1841) and Francis (aka Frank, b 1844) were likely responsible for the Irvine family coming to Queensland; they were the ‘trend-setters’.[1]&[2] On Saturday 13 May 1865, just as the American Civil War was in its final convulsions, they departed Liverpool on the modern clipper Melmerby arriving at Brisbane in September of that year.[3] It is not unlikely that John and Francis heard directly … Continue reading