Help Needed.

As Joseph is named on the German Death List, and his death location identified in German Army documents. We consider it highly likely that Joseph awaits identification. For this, we need to locate DNA carriers. In relation to mitochondrial DNA, our searches so far have revealed:

Joseph James CURRAN was born on 28th November 1886 in Maitland, New South Wales, Australia. His mother is recorded as Catherine (also known as Kate) Curran and his birth was illegitimate. Our researcher found court records which confirmed his father’s identity, and we managed to trace a very willing donor who has supplied a Y DNA donation. Tracing his mother, her family or any other births has so far (2022) proved impossible.

Joseph’s upbringing could fairly be described as awful and the following extracts from newspaper reports relate to two court hearings regarding his childhood.

Published 26 February 1887 (Joseph then aged 3 months):

Published 3 October 1894 (Joseph aged almost 8):

Joseph only lasted two weeks on Sobraon as he was physically too small and young. He was a small seven/eight-year-old while the others were 6 or 7 years older, so he was back where he started - on the streets of Maitland.

Little is known of the following years until he enlisted on July 10th 1915. He listed his address as in care of Maggie Kitching, Oxford Hotel, Maryborough in Queensland and gave his occupation as labourer. His mother is named as his next of kin - so they had maintained a relationship – and Joseph gave her address as Coonamble, Dubbo, the last known to Joseph. Sadly, and despite numerous attempts at contact by the Army, his mother was never located. Research has shown that a Kate Curran died on 25 April 1915 while working at Brewarrina Hospital, New South Wales. This appears likely to be “our Kate”, and it is possible that, unknown to Joseph, his mother had died three months before he enlisted.

Kate’s Irish parents came to Australia from Crossroads in Donegal under the Donegal Relief Fund which was set up to help distressed people in Donegal. Kate was born in Maitland, New South Wales in 1869 but her mother, Ann (nee Duggan), died in childbirth when Kate was two. This is what most likely led to the disintegration of the family. At this stage, Kate had two older sisters - Cicely and Bridget/Margaret- and brothers, John and Michael.

Kate’s father, Michael Curran, who was a fettler on the railways, remarried in 1876, left Maitland and had a new family. This new family - and their descendants - believed the children of his first marriage returned to Ireland.

This search has been most unusual for two issues which are rather unique - and the second of these, places a significant need on locating more donors for Joseph, or of finding an appropriate non-DNA identification method.

The first issue is that in most circumstances with illegitimate births, we manage to locate the mt DNA sample via the mother’s family quite easily, and struggle with ever identifying the father. In this case the reverse is true.

The second and far more important issue is that Joseph is identified, along with Cyril Johnston, Alfred Thompson and Leonard Broadhurst in the German archives for World War1. The remains of Cyril, Alfred and Leonard have all been identified – making it an almost certainty that Joseph lies in Pheasant Wood Cemetery awaiting identification. To put it bluntly, (and frustratingly) we know he is there, but have not been able to prove it!

Joseph was reported missing on 19 July 1916 and the German army later sent a report (known as a death voucher) confirming Private Curran’s details:

This information was re-confirmed by German authorities on 24 October 1919.

There is also a handwritten note on Joseph’s army file – ‘buried at Fleurbaix, Sh.36 NW H.21.d’ – which only adds doubt to the fate of Joseph. After wide consultation, it is thought that the reference in the NAA Service file, is not a site of burial, and that he indeed lies “Unknown “at Pheasant Wood Cemetery.

Joseph’s identity disc was received from German authorities in August 1916. It seems that attempts were made to return this to his mother, but that correspondence was returned unclaimed.

Mrs Curran was never officially notified of her son's death because she could not be traced, although the army attempted many times over the years to find her. As late as 1924, authorities were still seeking to trace next of kin to make payment of war pensions or the war gratuity to which serving soldiers and their next of kin might be entitled. As we now know, his mother, Kate, had died in 1915.

In May 1920, personal effects were sent in accordance with his will to Maggie nee Kitching - who had married widower James Joynson in August 1916. The inventory of personal effects consisted of wallet, notebook, and photo.

Notes on Private Curran’s file states that the soldier’s personal effects were placed into storage in December 1927. This is likely to include his identity disc probably returned unclaimed in May 1917 after being sent to his mother’s old address and other items listed but not returned to Maggie Kitching (eg. medallions, receipt for bank book, letters, etc.). Possibly it also included the memorial plaque and scroll issued for the families of deceased soldiers and also the medals issued (1914/15 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal) for Joseph Curran, initially noted as Untraceable and so filed.

1) Identified a Y donor from natural father’s line and Y DNA donated. A second Y DNA donor would be helpful.

2) Currently searching for a mtDNA donor from his mother’s line, having searched extensively in Australia and in Donegal, Ireland.

3) As for Joseph’s mother’s siblings, we have found possible traces of them in Australia:

4) Joseph’s grandmother Ann, nee Duggan (Dugan / Doogan):

We have used crowd funding to raise money for searching overseas for selected “difficult” soldiers using professional researchers. In this case we hired Michael Walsh and we also received much help from our own volunteer researcher Mairead Crinion, both living in Ireland, to further expand our knowledge.

An extract from notes of Michael Walsh helps identify the likely birthplaces:

Michael went on to evaluate evidence pointing to the respective parentage and birthplaces of Ann Duggan and Michael Curran. Evidence points to Michael’s father and grandfather both being named Manus Curran and likely residents of Meenaclady, the area just to the west of Glasserchoo.

In addition, our wonderful researchers from St Clare’s College are currently developing a media campaign for information on the family of Joseph J Curran. Their work began in August 2021 and aims to encompass social and other media.

We would be most grateful for any help with this genealogical brick wall.