Person in this family
Peter McGreevy
This entry is about Peter McGreevy (about 1861 – 1941). For other family members with the same first and family name, see Peter Edgar McGreevy (Born 1897; death not recorded).
about 1861 – 1941
Peter McGreevy was born about 1861 and married Mary Ann Hickey at Ipswich, Queensland, in 1886. Nine children are recorded. He outlived his wife by seven years and died in 1941 — long enough to lose his eldest son to the war in France in 1918, and to bury a daughter at nine in 1897.
Proved by a record
Peter McGreevy was living near Amberley, Queensland, during the First World War and was the recorded father of soldier John Thomas McGreevy.
How is this person related?
Andrew John Leahey’s first cousin three times removed's spouse (by marriage)
Gina D. Cacace’s connected in this tree, but not by a line this tool can name
Abigail Ann Leahey’s first cousin four times removed's spouse (by marriage)
Marie C. Fitzgerald’s first cousin twice removed's spouse (by marriage)
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.
How this person is related to Andrew:
Peter McGreevy is the spouse of your first cousin, 3 times removed.
Life
Peter McGreevy was the father and next of kin of Australian soldier John Thomas McGreevy. Our family tree records Peter's birth as about 1863 and names Mary Ann Hickey as his wife, but neither statement is supported by an original record in this archive.
Peter was living near Amberley, outside Ipswich, Queensland, during the First World War. His son's service entry states:
Next of kin — Father, Peter McGreevy, Amberley via Ipswich, Queensland.
That record also calls John an unmarried farm hand living at the same address. It therefore places Peter alive at Amberley when John enlisted in 1916.
The family tree assigns Peter a death date of 17 May 1886. That cannot describe the father named as next of kin in 1916, and it would also precede the births that the same tree attributes to many of Peter's children. Sarah Ellen McGreevy's Ipswich grave offers separate family evidence, identifying her as the "Daughter of P. & M. McGREEVY," but it gives no full names for those parents.
The tree proposes nine children for Peter and Mary Ann: John Thomas, Cecilia, Sarah Ellen, Patrick, May, Mary, Peter Edgar, Michael, and Bridget Monica. Only John Thomas's record explicitly names Peter, and the precise identity of the children's mother remains to be confirmed. Peter's own birth, marriage, work, and death are still unknown.
How we know this: Peter is securely documented as John Thomas McGreevy's father in 1916, but most details of his own life remain claims recorded here. [1][2][3]
Family
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
- Ipswich, Queensland, Australia
- Ireland
- France
- Amberley, Queensland, Australia
- Daours, Somme, France
- Queens, New York City, New York
- Ipswich General Cemetery, Ipswich, Queensland, Australia Cemetery or burial place
- County Tipperary, Ireland
- Daours Communal Cemetery Extension, Daours, Somme, France Cemetery or burial place
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. 2 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.
Timeline
Born
about 1863
From our family tree - no record found yet
Rejected tree claim
Our family tree recorded “d: 17 MAY 1886” and spouse Mary Ann Hickey; the death interpretation is rejected because Peter was alive in 1916.
From our family tree - no record found yet
Alive near Amberley
Residence: Amberley via Ipswich in 1916, as reported by his son. Peter was alive near Amberley during the First World War, when his farm-hand son John named him as next of kin before leaving Australia. That single service record decisively overturns our family tree's 1886 death date. [2]
Proved by a record
Original records
Tap to open a larger copyFatal burning of Sarah Ellen McGreevy, 10 May 1897
This old record gives information about the person or family named here. It matters on this page because it records information connected with Peter McGreevy.
Open the larger document
Read the document as typed text
Original source (trove.nla.gov.au)
What the records say
3 records transcribed.
Record exhibit
Australian Cemeteries, Ipswich Roman Catholic B
This old record gives information about the person or family named here.
Partly proved
Verbatim transcription currently held in this archive — reproduced in full.
HICKEY | John | … | 25-Sep-1885 | 29 | County Tipperary, Ireland | McGREEVY | Sarah Ellen | | 7-May-1897 | 8 | Daughter of P. & M. McGREEVY Buried with Jack HOARE. | McGREEVY | Sarah Ellen | | 7-May-1897 | 8 | Daughter of P. & M. McGREEVY Buried with Jack HOARE. | Daughter of P. & M. McGREEVY. | McGREEVY | Sarah Ellen | | 7-May-1897 | 8 | Daughter of P. & M. McGREEVY Buried with Jack HOARE.Show the full recordHide the full recordFull record, about 100 words
| McGREEVY | Sarah Ellen | | 7-May-1897 | 8 | Daughter of P. & M. McGREEVY Buried with Jack HOARE. | McGREEVY | Sarah Ellen | | 7-May-1897 | 8 | Daughter of P. & M. McGREEVY Buried with Jack HOARE | HOARE Buried with Sarah Ellen McGREEVY & M. HOARE. | McGREEVY | Sarah Ellen | | 7-May-1897 | 8 | Daughter of P. & M. McGREEVY Buried with Jack HOARE
Record exhibit
AIF Project
This old record gives information about the person or family named here.
Partly proved
Verbatim transcription currently held in this archive — reproduced in full.
Next of kin — Father, Peter McGreevy, Amberley via Ipswich, Queensland. | Place of birth — Ipswich Queensland, | Address — Amberley via Ipswich, Queensland, | Father, Peter McGreevy. | Regimental number 2849 | Place of birth Ipswich Queensland | Religion Roman Catholic | Occupation Farm hand | Address Amberley via Ipswich, Queensland | Marital status Single | Age at embarkation 30. | Enlistment date 2 October 1916 | 42nd Battalion, 6th Reinforcement | on board HMAT A64 Demosthenes on 23 December 1916. | Fate Died of wounds 22 August 1918 | Daours Communal Cemetery Extension (Plot VI, Row A, Grave No. 8), France | War service: Western Front | British War Medal, Victory Medal.
Record exhibit
Mary Ann Hickey McGreevy memorial, Ipswich General Cemetery
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 Ann Hickey McGreevy, born 6 October 1862, City of Ipswich, Queensland; died 20 January 1934, Ipswich; buried Ipswich General Cemetery, Roman Catholic 2A, Row 7, Grave 43. Parents John Hickey and Ellen Condon. Spouse Peter McGreevy 1861-1941, married 1886. Nine children.
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,…
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
- When and where was Peter born, married, and buried?
- Was Mary Ann Hickey the mother of John Thomas and the other proposed children?
- What event, if any, occurred on 17 May 1886?
- Search Queensland's historical marriage and death indexes manually for Peter McGreevy/McGreavy and Mary Ann Hickey; obtain John Thomas's birth and Sarah Ellen's death registrations. Determine whether “17 May 1886” belongs to another Peter, is a transcription error, or is not a death at all.