By: Paul Francis Owen Molloy27th Apr 2023 7:41PMTo Shirley O'Çonnor, you mention you have a different Molloy among your in-laws. Two O'Çonnor brothers married two Molloy sisters a few generations back. I'd love to correspond with you paulm@pfmolloy.com

By: Paul Francis Owen Molloy27th Apr 2023 7:39PMLike Patrick (my cousin) I am pretty certain that the Jack Molloy is our grandfather, John Patrick Molloy, born in Brisbane in 1892 while his family were making their way to New Zealand. So he would have been 18-19 in this photo if the date is accurate. His coaster mates may have called him Jack but my Mother, who turns 101 in a few weeks, and who has a fabulous memory, says she has never heard of him ever being called Jack in the family. One of his 5 sons, however, John Joseph Molloy, was Uncle Jack to us all his life. Mum also says she has NEVER heard of him playing the fiddle. I strongly suspect this was a pose simply for an interesting photograph.Would young men ever have played such a prank? Does a duck paddle? There was at least one other Jack Molloy working in the railway on the coast around this time, but I have seen photos and he's a different man altogether, and I haven't been able to find a link from him to our clan. There were certainly lots of Molloys on the coast as evidenced by this wonderful website, but the links between them and us remain elusive to me.

By: Paul Francis Owen Molloy22nd Jun 2021 5:06PMI am not on facebook, so I hope that Geoffrey Bell and others will see these comments. The Jack Molloy in the photo looks a lot like my late Grandfather, John Patrick Molloy. The age and timing are about right, and JP was indeed a clerk in the railway. Though no-one alive (including my 99 yr old Mother whose memory is fabulous) can ever recollect (a) his being called Jack and (b) his playing any instrument. John Patrick married a Ngahere lass by the name of Ethel Dempsey. They lived in Auckland. They had 5 boys, all deceased now, Charles, John Joseph (Jack), Pat (my father), Terry, and Thomas (who died as a teenager). I am one of John Patrick's 29 grandchildren. There are three Molloys in the Aratiki School photo of 1915, and I think they are in my tree. I would love to make contact with any Molloys or Dempseys, relatives or not.