Mystery Man Edward Townsend Foley

[majm]

   What if Megan lived at 20 Exeter Place and that Mary lived perhaps across the street and came to Megan for the accouchements 

Sands 1883 alpha page 189 etc  ... at 23 Exeter Place,  Mary ANDREWS. 

http://cdn.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/learn/history/archives/sands/1880-1889/1883-part2.pdf

So various households in Exeter Place at that time had a female head of the household...
At:  (odd numbers on south side, from Wexford to Foster Streets, and even no.s on the north side,
no 17,  Sarah LEWIS
no 23, Mary ANDREWS  (this is at Foster street end)
no. 2, Eliza BETHEL
No. 18, Eliza M'GRATH

JM

[majm]

The Benevolent Society's Asylum was still in Devonshire Street in 1887.    There's a map at City of Sydney.   Asylum next to burial ground, all walking distance from Foster St. 

http://cdn.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/history/maps/1177/1177_001.pdf   ADD ... look for 'Sydney Terminus' as in where the trains terminated BEFORE they built Central Railway... 

And from NSW Resources here at RChat,  here's an index for the Benevolent Asylum.

http://www.sydneybenevolentasylum.com/index.php?page=search-index

JM

[odysseyov]

Thank you, JM - I've searched under Murphy and sent a message to the Benevolent Society.   I think I went down that road a few years ago but maybe they have something new.   My thinking is that Mary left her husband and children for someone else - he was a musician and is on record as having frequent trips away from home, leaving her to manage alone.  But I can't see that she would have just left without inducement - she left him for someone, and it would make sense that it was someone with money - hence my interest in Edward Foley who had been a goldminer and an entrepreneur.    However something must have gone amiss there because she was not using either Foley or Minton other than to register the birth;  which suggests she had no idea who the father was and simply used his name to make it legal.       

[majm]

NSW ER 1878 EAST SYDNEY
Joseph MEGSON, household, 7 Exeter Place

JM

[majm]

   Exeter Place was off Elizabeth Street, and Exeter Place ran North South between Wexford and Foster Streets....  so my mind boggles at the lack of proper address for this one , but I am sharing just to bring some smiles to all of us.

NSW ER 1878 EAST SYDNEY
Thomas MITCHELL, household, off Exeter Place...

JM

[majm]

NSW ER 1878 EAST SYDNEY
 Alexander MURPHY, off Wexford Street, household.

JM

[majm]

Maria's death notice, 1919, states 'at her residence'. So separated, divorced, he deceased. I am beginning to think there was only one Edward Townsend.1st column:

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article28095854

Jamjar

NSW ER 1902 DALLEY  polling at Long Cove. 
Maria FOLEY, Halloran Street, domestic duties.

No others with that surname at that polling place. 

Some local history re Long Cove ... 

https://arhsnsw.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Long-Cove-Viaduct.pdf

JM

[majm]

NSW Police Gazette 29 May 1872  https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/251601985

Apprehensions
Edward Townsend Foley, charged on warrant, issued by the Townsville (Queensland) Bench, with inflicting grievous bodily hard on one William Kinton Gibbs, has been arrested by Sergeant Fort and Constables Gallagher and McGillion, Tambaroora and Hill End Police,  Remanded to Townsville, Bail refused. 

 (Tambaroora and Hill End were in that era, in a gold rush )

NSW Govt Gazette 12 June 1877  https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/223761263

Tambaroora and Turon Mining District
# 1250
Edward Townsend FOLEY, William Henry KENNEDY,  Thomas BURNS and John PORTER at Hawkins Hill, Hill End, 22 Nov 1876
And # 1252 with KENNEDY, FOLEY and BURNS etc 2 Dec 1876

So there’s some names of some associates…

JM

[odysseyov]

  Exeter Place was off Elizabeth Street, and Exeter Place ran North South between Wexford and Foster Streets....  so my mind boggles at the lack of proper address for this one , but I am sharing just to bring some smiles to all of us.

NSW ER 1878 EAST SYDNEY
Thomas MITCHELL, household, off Exeter Place...

JM

I think there were four households "Off Exeter Place" according to the rate assessments.   The birth Certificate for the infant is non-specific, just Exeter Place;  but the death Certificate states No. 20.   Not sure where all this leads or where to go next.   Nothing definitive anywhere.   Was Mary a "fallen woman"?   Or simply unfortunate enough to have thrown in her lot with someone who had latent syphillis.   It wasn't her husband - the five other children were fine, despite having to be put in the Destitute Children's Asylum for 9 months when Mary left the first time.   BTW is there anyone by the name of Moran or Cooney anywhere near Exeter Place?   I don't know the area well enough to know what is where - left Sydney over 40 years ago and haven't been back since - I do remember the steam trains, though and travelled on those lines.