It’s the third generation of the families of Thomas and Ellen Clarke that married into the Mainey family.
Edward Mainey was born in 1801 in County Limerick. He married Margaret Connors who was born in 1817 in County Clare. They arrived in Sydney in 1841 on the Jane Gifford and soon after moved to Morpeth on the Hunter River. They settled on a farm, Croom Park, near Dungog. Their children were William, Timothy, Catherine and Michael.
After Edward died in 1861, Margaret sent William north, looking for land that they could select. In 1865, he selected land at Turners Flat on the Upper Macleay.
Catherine Mainey married Patrick O’Meara in 1869 in Kempsey. He was a son of Michael and Bridget O’Meara and was born about 1842 in County Tipperary. Their daughter Ann O’Meara married Ambrose George Clarke, a son of Michael Clarke.
Timothy Mainey married Mary Kilduff in 1880. One of their daughters, Rosanna, married James Cavanagh.
In 1878, Michael Mainey married Margaret Kilduff, Mary’s sister. Their son, William Peter Mainey, married Catherine Teresa Wittig, a daughter of Charles and Elizabeth Wittig, in 1905. Of their fourteen children, seven married descendants of Thomas and Ellen Clarke.