Person in this family
Mary Grady
1800 – 30 April 1876
Mary Grady was born in County Limerick in 1800, the daughter of John Grady and Johanna Burns, and married William Hickey in 1825. She emigrated with him to Queensland and outlived him by fourteen years, dying at Ipswich on 30 April 1876. She is buried in the Roman Catholic section B at Ipswich General Cemetery; the plot is not recorded.
Proved by a record
Mary Grady was born in County Limerick in 1800, married William Hickey in 1825, and died at Ipswich in Queensland in 1876 — and was in this archive twice.
Born at County Limerick, Ireland Died at Ipswich, Queensland, Australia
Recorded as: May Hickey, Mary Grady Hickey
How is this person related?
Andrew John Leahey’s no single word covers it — connected through Ellen Condon, who is a great-great-grandparent's sibling
Gina D. Cacace’s connected in this tree, but not by a line this tool can name
Abigail Ann Leahey’s no single word covers it — connected through Ellen Condon, who is a great-great-great-grandparent's sibling
Marie C. Fitzgerald’s no single word covers it — connected through Ellen Condon, who is a great-grandparent's sibling
Kevin Leahey’s connected in this tree, but not by a line this tool can name
Worked out from the recorded parents and marriages. No sex is recorded for anyone in this archive, so the wording stays neutral.
Life
Mary Grady was born in County Limerick in 1800, a daughter of John Grady and Johanna Burns, and married William Hickey of County Tipperary in 1825. Their son John was born at Limerick Junction on 11 March 1827. The family emigrated to Queensland, where William died in 1862 aged about sixty-three; Mary outlived him by fourteen years and died at Ipswich on 30 April 1876.
She is the point at which this archive reaches back furthest on the Queensland side, and through her parents it reaches into County Limerick before 1800.
She was here twice. A FamilySearch cemetery-inscription entry for her son's burial at Ipswich in 1906 names his mother as “May Hickey” — her married surname, and the ordinary familiar form of Mary — and that was entered as a separate woman. The consequence was that John Hickey stood in this archive with a father and two mothers, the only person in the corpus with three parents. Neither the duplicate detector nor the integrity check could see it: the first matches on first and last name, and Mary Grady and May Hickey share neither. It surfaced only when a new check ranked unverified parent links by how many people hang below them, and John Hickey — with seventy-seven — came out at the top of the list with three parents printed beside his name. The two were merged on 9 August 2026.
Family
Parents
Spouse
Children
See this family in the family treeWhere they lived
Use the place list first. The map below is optional.
Places listed on this page
- County Limerick, Ireland
- Ireland
- County Limerick, Ireland
- Ipswich General Cemetery, Ipswich, Queensland, Australia Cemetery or burial place
- Ipswich, Queensland, Australia
- Queens, New York City, New York
The map could not load. The complete place list is above it.
The pins show approximate places. The line only joins them in time order; it does not prove the route travelled. 3 of the places listed above are recorded only as a county or country, so they are not pinned. Cemetery and burial places have red pins.
What the records say
2 records transcribed.
Record exhibit
Mary Grady Hickey memorial and Queensland death registration
This old record gives information about the person or family named here.
Partly proved
Verbatim transcription currently held in this archive — reproduced in full.
Mary Grady Hickey, born 1800 County Limerick, Ireland; died 30 April 1876 at Ipswich, Queensland. Buried Ipswich General Cemetery, Roman Catholic B, plot unknown. Death registration 1876/C/1008, aged 70, father John Grady, mother Johanna Burns. Married William Hickey 1825.
Record exhibit
Australia, Cemetery Inscriptions, 1802–2005: John Hickey
This old record gives information about the person or family named here.
Partly proved
Verbatim transcription currently held in this archive — reproduced in full.
John Hickey, age 70, estimated birth year 1836, died 18 July 1906, buried Ipswich Cemetery, Ipswich, Queensland; mother May Hickey; spouse ELLEN CONDON. [COMPILED] “Your web browser is not fully supported.” The fetched shell exposed no underlying inscription and was not used to strengthen identity or parentage.
Historical context
These background articles explain the places, work, and events in this entry.
What Sponsors and Witnesses Can Tell Us
Catholic registers often preserve the people standing just outside a family photograph. A baptism normally names the child, parents, date and sponsors or godparents; a marriage normally names the couple and wit…
Reading Irish Civil Registration
The year 1864 is the dividing line in this family’s Irish paper trail. Civil registration began in 1845 for non-Catholic and civil marriages, but from 1 January 1864 the law required registration of all births,…
Farmers and Labourers in North Cork
Two words in the Cork records—“farmer” and “labourer”—describe different positions in the same rural economy. When John Fitzgerald married Margaret Fraher at Kildorrery in 1870, the register called John, his fa…
The Irish Road to Ipswich, Queensland
Most branches on this site point toward New York or New Jersey. The Hickey–McGreevy–McGuire cluster points in the opposite direction, to Ipswich, Queensland. The Australian evidence is uneven: cemetery records …
What we still don't know
- [A SECOND SELF, MERGED] She was in this archive **twice**: as Mary Grady, and as **'May Hickey'** — the name a FamilySearch cemetery-inscription entry gives for John Hickey's mother, which is her married surname and the ordinary familiar form of Mary. The duplicate had been entered as a **third parent** on her son's record, so he stood with a father and two mothers. The duplicate detector could not see it: it matches on first and last name, and these two share neither. Merged 9 August 2026.
- [CONFLICT] Her death registration gives her age as 70, which would put her birth about 1806; her memorial gives 1800, which would make her 76. Both are recorded and neither is preferred, because the registration's age was spoken by whoever reported the death.
- Her burial plot, which the cemetery records only as Roman Catholic section B.
- The townland in Limerick she came from.