FatherPatrick Meagher
MotherMargaret Doherty
Pedigree

Birth, Death, Marriage

Eliza Meagher was born circa 1838 in Templemore, Ireland.1,2,3,4 
She married Thomas Milovitch, son of Pietro Milovitch and Catherina Ivanowich, on 25 October 1864 in St Kilda, Victoria.2 
She died on 21 July 1898 in Mooroopna, Victoria.3 

Family

Thomas Milovitch b. 1830, d. 20 Dec 1910
Children
ChartsMilovitch, Thomas, descendant chart
O'Connell, Annie, pedigree chart

Story

Eliza was born in Templemore, county Tipperary in Ireland about 1838. On her death registration, the place of birth is 'Burrisbeen'. This is possibly Borrisbeg, just north of the town of Templemore.5,3,4
 
She arrived in Australia on the Mermaid from Liverpool about 1854.5
 
Marriage and Family
Eliza Meagher and Thomas Milovitch were married at St Mary's Roman Catholic church in St Kilda on 25 October 1864. They had five children between 1865 and 1875.2
 
Family Life at Tahbilk and in Prahran
On their 1864 marriage registration, Eliza gave her current and usual residences as Prahran, while Thomas gave his as Tahbilk. During their early married life, around 1866 when their first child Annie was born, they lived in one of the small, four-roomed vignerons' cottages at Tahbilk vineyard.

By the time the second child Mary arrived in 1867, Eliza and Annie were living in Prahran. Thomas was by now described as a labourer, most likely at Tahbilk. The remaining three children, Peter, Edward and Korizo, were born in Windsor (1869), Prahran (1872) and Prahran (1875) respectively. And for those three births, Eliza gives a Windsor or Prahran residence.

At least four of the five children were born at different addresses. The couple's marriage, and the birth of all five children, occurred within an area of less than 1 km radius around Prahran and Windsor.

During all this time, Thomas remained at Tahbilk where he worked.

By 1890, at least two of the children, Mary and Peter, were living at Tahbilk.

Thomas was a Catholic, the dominant religion in the part of Dalmatia in which he grew up. And Eliza was an Irish Catholic. The Catholic church would have played a significant role in Thomas and Eliza's family and social life. Perhaps they even met through the church.6,2,1,7,8,9,4,10
Vigneron's cottage Tahbilk vineyard
Death of Son Peter Nicholas 
Peter Milovitch died in June 1890. He was just 20 years old and was working at Tahbilk at the time. One newspaper reported he died of 'brain fever', but his death certificate says he died of bronchitis.

Within 12 months the family had relocated to Mooroopna.11,10
 
An In Memoriam appeared in The Age three years after his death:
MILOVITCH - In sad and loving remembrance of our dear son, Peter Nicholis Milovitch, who departed this life on 15th June, 1890, at Chateau Tahbllk.
Immaculate heart of Mary,
Your prayers for him extol,
Oh, sacred heart of Jesus,
Have mercy on his soul.
- Inserted by his loving father and mother, brother and sisters.12

 
Family Move to Mooroopna
It is uncertain where the family was between Korizo's 1875 birth in Prahran, and 1891 when they were in Mooroopna. Mooroopna Justice of the Peace, WS Archer, said in an 1891 document that he had known Thomas for seven years. This would seem to imply that Thomas was in the Mooroopna area by about 1884. But the death registration for their son, Peter Nicholas, says he died in 1890 in Tahbilk. And the informant for that information was Peter's sister, Mary Elizabeth, who gave her residence as Tahbilk. This implies that the family, or a significant part of it, was still in Tahbilk in 1890.8,13,14,10
 
Family Life in Mooroopna 
By late 1891 the family was living in Finsborough St, Mooroopna (later 24 Main St).

At this time, eldest Annie was 26 and youngest Korizo was 16.

The brick section at the front had a wine shop and two other rooms. The timber section at the back had five rooms with lined partitions of wooden dado (lower part of the wall) and the balance paper and canvas.14,15
 
Elizabeth St Property 
In January 1895, Eliza purchased a block of land in Elizabeth St, Mooroopna. She purchased it from Elizabeth Harvey Patterson of Shepparton, 'gentlewoman', for £81/12 (about $163).

The property had a 75 link (15 m) frontage to Elizabeth St by 307 links (62 m) deep. It was lot 12 (later no. 9) Elizabeth St.16,17,18,19
Title held by Eliza Milovitch, Mooroopna, Jan 1895
Image: Land Registry Services
In July 1898 when Eliza died, the property passed to Thomas. At this time it was still only a block of land.

In his March 1899 will, Thomas left his interest in this Elizabeth Street property to his daughters, Annie Fortin and Mary O'Connell.16,17,20
 
Heart Disease and Influenza
Eliza Milovitch died of heart disease and influenza at home in Finsborough St (later Main St) in Mooroopna on 21 July 1898, aged 60. She was buried at Nagambie cemetery on 23 July with her son Peter.

Eliza had a valve related heart condition for three years, and influenza for three weeks. She was seen by Dr Florence the day before she died. The informant was son-in-law, Henri Fortin.

Her headstone says she was 64 years old, though five other documents, including her death registration, indicate she was 60.3,21
Headstone of Eliza, Peter & Thomas Milovitch, Nagambie cemetery
Complications Administering Thomas and Eliza's Estate
When his wife Eliza died, Thomas began administering her estate. Unfortunately, the process was incomplete when Thomas died. Because there was property involved, someone had resolve Eliza's estate so that it was clear which property and other items would then form part of Thomas's deceased estate.

Eldest daughter, Annie Fortin took on that role, which required considerable effort. To proceed more quickly and easily, she had the other three children, Edward, Mary and Korizo, officially relinquish any role in the administration of their mother's estate. This required not only legal documents from each of them, but also documents from attesting witnesses to those documents.

Annie then acted alone to prepare documents for Eliza's estate, including a valuation of the Elizabeth St property. Letters of administration for Eliza's estate were granted to Annie Fortin on 28 August 1911.

There may have been some pressure on Annie to take on this role being married to Henri Fortin who had a key role at Trojano Darveniza's Excelsior winery. Thomas Milovitch's wine shop owed Excelsior Vineyard a substantial sum of money at the time of his death. And Thomas's probate could not proceed - and Excelsior would not receive their money - until Eliza's estate was first settled.17,16,15
 

Citations

  1. [S344] Ann Melvouch, birth registration no. 5961, 17 November 1865.
  2. [S67] Thomaso Melowich and Eliza Meagher, marriage registration no. 4062, 25 October 1864.
  3. [S66] Eliza Milovitch, death registration no. 13331, 21 July 1898.
  4. [S343] Peter Nicholas Melovitch, birth registration no. 4561, 26 October 1869.
  5. [S49] The Ascendants of Michael Henry O’Connell, The Descendants of Michael Henry O’Connell, family tree, unpublished, 28 June 1991.
  6. [S330] Croatians in Australia: Pioneers, settlers and their descendants, Wakefield Press, 2004, p. 71.
  7. [S62] Mary Melovitch, birth registration no. 23994, 10 September 1867.
  8. [S341] Korizo Mellivitch, birth registration no. 25087, 5 January 1875.
  9. [S342] Edward Patrick Melovitch, birth registration no. 18760, 26 February 1872.
  10. [S349] Peter Nicholas Milovitch, death registration no. 13136, 15 June 1890.
  11. [S429] 'Tabilk', Weekly Times, 1869-1954, newspaper, 28 June 1890, p. 28, viewed 1 August 2018, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/221186590
  12. [S171] 'In memoriam: Milovitch', The Age, 1854-, newspaper, 15 June 1893, p. 1, viewed 1 August 2018, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/193429112
  13. [S166] 'Thomas Milovitch', A712 Letters received, no. 1891/R11040, naturalisation, 1891.
  14. [S561] LANDATA, online property information, certificate of title, vol. 1119, folio 223687, Mooroopna, 1879-1935.
  15. [S339] 'Thomas Milovitch', VPRS 28 Probate and Administration Files, no. 118/620, probate, 20 February 1911.
  16. [S345] 'Elizabeth Milovitch', VPRS 28 Probate and Administration Files, no. 69/654, probate, 14 November 1898.
  17. [S347] 'Elizabeth Milovitch', VPRS 28 Probate and Administration Files, no. 121/621, probate, 11 September 1911.
  18. [S469] Kaz Corbo, personal communication, 6 December 2018.
  19. [S561] LANDATA, online property information, certificate of title, vol. 1404, folio 280681, Mooroopna, 1882-1921.
  20. [S338] 'Thomas Milovitch', VPRS 7591 Wills 1853-1992, will, 13 March 1899.
  21. [S134] Nagambie Cemetery, cemetery and register, Eliza Milovitch and Peter Nicholos Milovitch headstone, photo taken by Peter Phillips 1998.