Eliza MCGIVERN was born about 1859 in Lisnacunna, Desertserges, Cork, Ireland[i] as the first child of Patrick MCGIVERN and Eliza SULLIVAN. She had twelve siblings, namely: Ursula, John, Barbara, Henry, Sarah, Margaret Teresa, Jane, Martha (Mattie), Thomas (Tom), Isabella (Bella), Robert, and <Unknown>. The family had a farm in Lisnacunna.

 

At the time of her marriage on 19 Feb 1881 Eliza MCGIVERN was living in Lisnacunna, Desertserges[1].  She was 22 when she married Robert CHAMBERS, a farmer, at the Desertserges Parish Church (By Licence; Witnesses: Patrick McGivern & John Smith) [1].  Her father Patrick MCGIVERN died ten years later in 1891 and her in-laws also passed away about the same time 1891/92. . 

 

Robert and Eliza had thirteen children.  Sadly her eleventh child, Violet, died in 1899 at age six months from bronchitis.  By 1901 the CHAMBERS had a farm in Ballinphelic, Dunderrow, Cork where she and Robert lived with nine of their children[2].  A family story in which Eliza was checking up on the family at one of the farms implied that she ran a strict household.  Their son Charles emigrated to Canada in 1910. 

 

The 1901 census records her religious application as “Church of Ireland” by 1911 the family had converted to what could be described as a protestant religious sect (split off from the Methodist church).  It went by different labels e.g. Coonyites, Church with no name, Tramp Preachers etc. (for further information <www.tellingthetruth.org>).  There is a very strong link to this organisation from its early days in Ireland via the MCGIVERN family.  Eliza’s sister Mattie was one of the first four women missionaries in 1904 and her brother Tom later travelled with William Irvine (the founder) to Canada.

 

In 1911 Eliza is found at her son’s house in Ballynora, Ballincollig, Cork.  By this stage Robert is unwell and it appears that they have employed a nurse to care for him.  Robert dies soon after the census was taken.  Robert Henry emigrated to the US in 1912 and daughter Bella emigrated to New Zealand in 1916 with family friends (SWEETNAM)

 

Due to the political situation in Ireland tensions had been raising in West Cork and this resulted in a number of incidence directed against locals of Loyalist leanings.  This included the CHAMBERS family and wider family; the BUTTIMER’S and MCGIVERN’S along with friends and neighbours. The years between 1919 through1923 were partially hard for the family, some events and their impact are described by Eliza’s brother Henry MCGIVERN in a submission he made to the government for compensation.  Farms in the area were raided for weapons, farm work disrupted leading to crop loss, money demand to be paid as part of an IRA levy.  Eliza and her family fled to Australia in 1923. 

 

She departed from London on the Demosthenes 06 Dec 1923, along with her daughter Minnie Ann BUTTIMER and her family. The ship travelled via Capetown, South Africa where it was quarantined due to influenza.   Newspaper reports tell of passengers arrested trying to break quarantine.Eliza arrived in Melbourne early 1924 where she lived in Benjamin Street, (1924–1937) Sunshine and by the time of her death she was living at 7 Kasouka Road, Camberwell, Melbourne on 26th March 1942.  She was buried on 27 Mar 1942 in Williamstown Cemetery, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.