Who are we?

Crowe's of course!

Our family has a tradition that we are descended from a Patrick Crowe of Killaloe!

Naively, perhaps, we assumed that he was the father of our known earliest ancestor. Assumptions are dangerous things! In the past 12 months, we have pushed our knowledge of our heritage back a further generation and have renewed contact with an American branch of our family, that has resulted in an impressive widening of the family tree.

More particularly we are descended from John Walsh Crowe, who arrived in Australia on the ship, "Indian Ocean", which docked in Geelong, Victoria in November 1853. In case anyone is not aware, this was right in the middle of the Victorian Gold Rush, when immigrants from all over the world were streaming into ports, from Robe in South Australia, to Melbourne and Geelong in Port Philip Bay.

As an 18 year old youth with two mates, all unattached, John made his way to the diggings at Ararat, in Central West Victoria. Family tradition has it that the pickings were fairly slim and no fortunes were made

Eventually he ended up with his cousin Mary and her husband (John Carroll), in Yambuk. When land came up for Auction in the district, he was a successful bidder and, having married Mary Sinnott, a neighbour's daughter, moved to his new home, Woodlawn!! - probably what is referred to as a wattle & daub hut or a slab construction, either of which was usually “air conditioned“ and dirt floored. (In truth what usually happened was the erection of a tent that gradually evolved through to a more permanent abode as time and material permitted). The current stone house, was not built until about the mid 1860's, according to Jane Devlin, his daughter, in a series of reminiscences recorded some years ago.

As the opportunities arose, he was able to acquire other land through ceaseless hard work and innovation. That he was well educated back home in Ireland, didn't hurt. His wife, Mary, was also well educated, a hard worker and a woman who coped with the sometimes lonely and difficult existence in a pioneering family.

For more information about this family and our American cousins, you can click here. We hope you enjoy reading and looking through this site, as much as we have had developing it. If you would like to get in touch with us, or leave us a message, you can contact us here