William TAFFE and Cecilia Jane TAFFE (nee EVERS) arrived in Sydney by separate convict carriers from Dublin in 1827 with children William (b.1825) and Richard (b.1826-7). The family eventually settled in Maitland, NSW but both parents died in Sydney. So it appears that both eventually left Maitland and went in their declining years at least to live in Sydney. Their son William (b.1825) m. Caroline Stewart, daughter of a Morpeth grocer, George Stewart and they had a large family which they raised in Maitland but by the 20th century most had dispersed to other parts of NSW.

The other children of William and Cecilia dispersed to New England area ((John b. 1842; Joseph b. 1831; Richard b.1826-7), SE Queensland (Thomas b. 1833); and Sydney (Winnifred b.1837, m. James Pickering; Rachel b.1839, m. William Pickering).

I am a fifth generation descendant of William and Cecilia stemming from one of the New England Taffe families (GG Grandfather was John Taffe (b.1842).

The family research has been concentrated on the TAFFE line but the branches spread out across a number of family names notably, PIPER (central coast of NSW), COOK and JOHNS (coal mining families in & around Newcastle, NSW), as well as CAMERON and BAKER in the Walcha area (New England, NSW).

I am particularly focussed on the arrival experience of each family line and have spent a lot of time over the past 25 years digging about in old newspapers, interviewing older family members etc.

The family name is spelt in a variety of ways (TAAFE, TAFE, TAAFFE) and anyone with those spellings may be intersted in contacting me - especially if your family history geography is near some of the locations located above.

I have a well-developed family tree and can send you a copy if you are interested.

I would be very happy to hear from others researching this family or other names related to it.