The Brady Family Fued

I’ve been researching the Brady Family history, particularly my paternal grandfather’s family who settled in Australia in the 19^th century.

Our grandfather, William Henry Brady, was born in 1882 in Wangaratta, Australia, the third child of John Anthony Brady and Margaret (Fogarty) Brady. Both John and Margaret immigrated to Australia from Ireland

In 1877 they married in Melbourne and the Brady family settled on Templeton Street in Wangaratta, Australia. They had three children: John Anthony (junior), Margaret Frances Brady and William Henry Brady, our grandfather. John Anthony Brady was a “hawker” or traveling salesman. Margaret Brady operated a store and boardinghouse out of her house where she had a license to sell “colonial wine” (wine produced in Australia). She was also working for the Wangaratta Hospital as a “ward keeper.” It would appear that a ward keeper provided non-medical housekeeping services.

In my research, I found an article in the local paper, the Ovens and Murray Advertiser, 25 August 1884, reporting on a case in the Wangaratta Police Court, Thos. Brady v Margaret Brady for wages Thomas Brady claimed Margaret Brady had failed to pay him while he stayed with her so that he could consult with an “Indian Eye Doctor” (see attached). There were several Brady families in Wangaratta and surrounding towns at the time. More research is required to find if they are related.

Some fascinating details in this story. Mrs. Brady said that she agreed to let Thomas stay and supply him with “tea and sugar,” providing that he worked in the garden. “Tea and sugar” probably included all food. There was a famous Tea and Sugar train that traveled a thousand miles each week into the Outback to provision settlements that didn’t have access to stores.

Her son John, who would be about 17 at the time, testified that he saw Thomas “knocking about the place” and only “working for his tucker.” Tucker is Australian slang for food. You have heard the word used in the song “Waltzing Matilda” (https://youtu.be/TkSKEGf1AKA).

The case was dismissed by His Worship, the judge.

First Post

The purpose of this blog is to document some of the findings of my geneaological research into my family history: the Bradys and the O'Briens.

My interest began after I traveled to Australia and New Zealand for

a cruise in January, 2016. My cousin, Bernadette DeAngelis, asked me if I were going to visit the town in Australia where my paternal grandfather, William Henry Brady, was from. I was only in Australia for a day to get on the boat and another to return home, but the next year when my mother, Elizabeth Brady died and I took possesion of her family photo scrapbook, I thought that I should try to look into our history.

Several other family members, Michelle Brady and Erin Henry, had already done the foundational research and I'm greatful for their work.

I've only been doing this reasearch for only a few months and I have a few "lessons learned."

• The Bradys and O'Briens are prolific. Ours are very common names. We come from clans which are everywhere around the world. My grandfather was born the small town of Wangaratta in the southwest of Australia, I found at least three separate Brady families. I don't know if they were closely related, but it was not unusual for immigrants to settle near family or former neighbors. On my 2016 cruise, I met a woman whose maiden name was Brady and she was from Wangaratta. To quote Disney, "It's a small world after all."
• The internet has been an unbelievable resource for the study of genealogy. From my computer I can search and look at records from all around the world from hundreds of years ago. Millions of records are being added each day. The internet allows us to read newspapers, look at photographs, open records and talk with people around the world. 
• By combning historical research with DNA testing, we can map even more of our history. 
• That history shows how much we owe our ancestors (both related and not so closely related). They led led difficult lives. Many infants didn't survive to childhood. Many children never live to adulthood. They worked hard, traveled and fought to build better lives for us. We should remember them.