THYNNE/THYNE FAMILY STORY - MILTOWN MALBAY, CO CLARE, IRELAND

The story of Thomas Thynne/Thyne 

as written by his descendant, great great granddaughter,

Kerryn Taylor.

 This story was published in Australian Family Tree Connections as below.

You can click on the images to enlarge.

Following the article, is a short interview I had with Kerryn.

INTERVIEW

* Kerryn, Congratulations on having your story of Thomas Thynne/Thyne published in the March edition of Australian Family Tree Connections. Is this your first published article, or have you been writing for a while.

Yes, Chris it is my first published story so it was exciting to see it in print! I have been writing other biographies for other ancestors with the aim to compile them into some kind booklet, I am also interested in the local history of the time of that particular person so I spend many hours reading old newspapers in the library etc.

* What was it about Thomas that interested you enough to delve so deeply?

Thomas is one of my great, great grandfathers who emigrated here from Ireland exactly 150 years ago this past February, The Thyne/Thynne name is not common so I was intrigued to find out about its beginnings and my family and I still live in the area that Thomas choose to settle in. 

* Has it taken long to discover all the detail that you have?

It did take a few years on and off of reading anything I could and asking family members for any information they had, I came across some wonderful resources whilst looking on the internet, namely the Clare Library and internet sites such as Trove and The Public Records Office.  

* I note that you have a great photo of the Thynne family, could you please identify Thomas and his wife Margaret (Gannon)?

Thomas is in the back row far right and Margaret is in the front row 3^rd from the left, Thomas’s brother Patrick and his wife Margaret are in the picture with some of Thomas’s children, we are not quite sure what the occasion was, perhaps a wedding?

* You mentioned that the land they worked so hard to establish their home and livelihood is now beneath the Bungal Dam. Is there any trace of their names, on gravestones, etc. in the area? Perhaps a plaque in the church they helped to establish?

The old homesite is still visible from the view point of the dam, the pines that are in the photo are still there, we recently got permission to go in and look around and found lots of old relics, mostly broken china and farm machinery and the paths and tank stand are also still there. It is a beautiful, peaceful setting, we can see why Thomas and Margaret decided on that particular spot. There is a rose now planted in St Patricks Gordon for the Thyne/Thynne family and all the other pioneers of the district and almost all of the family who stayed in the area are buried at the Gordon (VIC) Cemetery. 

* I believe you have just had a great family reunion... where was that and how many attended... did they come from long distances? 

It was held on the 20^th – 22^nd of February 2015, we had close to 200 for all the days combined and we had cousins from almost all the states in Australia, New Zealand and the Fiji islands. Some of the highlights of the weekend were the unveiling of ‘Thynes Road’ in Mt. Egerton (this was done in part with the Pioneers and ANZAC project) a visit to the old homesite, tours of the old Gold Battery where some ancestors worked and lots of sharing and swapping of stories. 

* Were you able to connect with previously unknown cousins?

Yes, it was amazing really, we (the reunion committee) made efforts to send out newsletters leading up to the event and placed advertisements in newspapers and generally asked everyone to contact anyone they knew connected to the family, and we also rang numbers from the phone book. 

* Thank you for your time, Kerryn. I look forward to seeing more of your family stories published.

My sister Janine Ryan, myself (Kerryn Taylor) 
and cousin Monica Eastwood

Thomas and Margaret ( Gannon) Thynne in 1880's

There are more photos in this blog: http://ballarat19141918.blogspot.com.au/2015/02/the-thynes-of-mt-egerton-millbrook-and.html