The O'Dea Families

     Mary Purtell was born on March 28, 1817 in Thomastown in the Parish of Kilkenny, County Kilkenny. Note that the gravestone lists Mary's date of birth as 1808. The record of her immigration in 1844 indicates that she was 25 years old (although she asserted that she was 23) and this would mean that she was born between 1817and 1819. That record also identifies her parents as Michael and Mary Purtell. A search of Irish records turns up only one Mary Purtell (whose record we are using here) from that time period whose parents were Michael and Mary. The gravestone originally probably read 1818.^1,2 She married Michael O'Dea, son of John O'Dea and Penelope Meagher, on June 1, 1848 in Yass, New South Wales. Micahel and Mary began their courtship on board ship, but apparently Michael tried his hand at other ventures before returning to Australia to marry her.^3,4 Mary Purtell died on July 17, 1894 in Killarney, Victoria, at age 77.⁵ She was buried in Tower Hill Cemetery, Koroit, Moyne Shire, Victoria. Although the tomstone read 1808 as Mary's birth, it is probably 1817. See above.⁵
     She immigrated on July 31, 1844 to New South Wales. Michael and Mary Purtel immigrated to Australia on the same ship and that is where their courtship began. Mary's immigration record notes that she was certified as being 25 (but 23 by self-assertion), her parents, Michael and Mary, were deceased and that she had two cousins in the area, Michael and Matthew McNamara living in Yass. A later record notes that she "went with the Walshes" on August 8.^6,7