Jones of Feakle. Research [and online maps of Clare]

[Lou Gage]

Jones (Feakle), Researching Michael Jones b. 1833 d. abt 1902 County Clare married to Bridget Sexton b. 1833 County Clare. Children are Mathew killed in Hurling Accident abt 1878, John who remained in County Clare and last known in 1929 when he wrote his nephew Clinton Jones in Brooklyn upon John's brother William's death., (John wrote from "Bridge House"). Of course, William Lawrence Jones b. 1863. Other brothers included Michael and Patrick. We believe Michael migrated to Canada while William & Patrick migrated to New York City//Brooklyn. Tidbits. Michael was a baker and son John may have also been a baker. John may have died in about 1933. Any help on this family would be helpful. Very confusing as there appears to be 2 Jones families in the village of Feakle. Also, does the term "Ayle Upper" have any meaning. An elderly cousin has that in her mind from a visit in about 1965. I am planning a Clare trip in Fall 2010. Hope the food in Peppers Pub is as good as I am told. Oh. The family may have been involved in hurling. Thanks LouGage

[mcreed]

Lou, Ayle Upper is a townland in the parish of Feakle in east Clare (http://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/coclar ... _upper.htm). Griffith's Valuation has a record of a John Jones living there in 1855 (http://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/coclar ... #ayleupper).
Regards,
Mike

[smcarberry]

Hi, Lou,

I have no Jones in my family's past so far as I know, but there is a John Jones burial of the latter 1900s in the Clonlea cemetery in Kilkishen (generally south of Feakle; the community of my forebears) on which I reported in another place. On that same mailing list, I discussed Jones in Brooklyn with Fr. William Mann, a Jones descendant seeking info on brothers Patrick and Michael (no mention of William). I have seen mention of Clare men named William Jones in the past, so I have no doubt that that forename was used in the Feakle and Scariff Jones families. As you state, your research is needing to distinguish between two Jones families in Feakle, although both are undoubtedly descended from a set of siblings in some generation. For that particular purpose, I have nothing pertinent.

The best I can do is to encourage you to see what hard data can be gleaned from past postings on the Rootsweb Clare mailing list, which can be done by using Jones as a search word in the list archives:
http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/c ... =IRL-CLARE

You may also want to check with Jim McNamara, who posted on the Rootsweb list about possibly being related via a McNamara with a Mary Jones of the time period and area that is involved in your research. That posting is now three years old and Jim may have found out more since then. Jim has been doing transcriptions from records and graveyards in his family's part of Clare, and those are online in the Library's donated materials section.

I will keep my eyes open for anything on a Michael Jones of Clare in Canada, where my Carberry family first emigrated in the early 1850s before ending up in Philadelphia.

When you find something more, I hope you post it here, as many of us can benefit from knowing more about the various Jones families of East Clare. There weren't a lot of them, per the usual scale of old families like McMahon and McNamara.

Sharon Carberry
USA

[Lou Gage]

Good morning. Thank you both for your help. I will pass along anything I get on the Jones family of Clare, and New York. Do you all know of a good on line map of Clare as I would like to see how the area is lain out. ? LouG

[smcarberry]

The good news is that there are various sources for detailed online maps of East Clare. There is one available on the Library website, although you may need plug-in software to run it, depending on your computer. I just used Google maps this week; that zooms down to where you can see houses. Apparently there is an ongoing effort to get down to livestock level, and I am pleased that a lot of East Clare has already been photographed that way so it's online. Paddy Casey of this group keeps more current than I do on map resources, so I hope he can confirm what is the latest and best for your purposes.

If all else falls short, I can scan in the Feakle portion of the Discovery Map that I have and send that to you directly. The useful feature of this map series is that it has been derived from the same materials/source as the old ordinance survey maps, so the modern placenames relate well to the old placenames you read in records.

Sharon C.

[Clare Admin]

Lou and Sharon,
here's a link to Ayle Upper townland on our 1842 Ordnance Survey map using our new MapBrowser system:
http://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/coclar ... B252%2B144

and here's Feakle on Google Maps:
http://maps.google.ie/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF ... 5&t=h&z=15

and Ayle on Google Maps:
http://maps.google.ie/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF ... 85917&z=14
Regards,
Clare Admin

[Paddy Casey]

Good morning. Thank you both for your help. I will pass along anything I get on the Jones family of Clare, and New York. Do you all know of a good on line map of Clare as I would like to see how the area is lain out. ? LouG

Lou,

Maps have already been mentioned here. To see how the area is lain out you might also like to look at the excellent aerial photographs provided by Ordnance Survey Ireland. They have a superb browser which allows you to punch in a given location (e.g. county=clare and townland = ayle upper) and then takes you right to the bird's eye view. To get you started go to the view of Ayle Upper at http://ims0.osiemaps.ie/website/publicv ... 9,684812,6 and take it from there.

You will have difficulty tearing yourself away. Cancel all other commitments. Get in a stock of snacks and drinks. Call in sick.

Paddy

[Lou Gage]

Now Paddy, I did look at the maps. I thank you for the site. However, since I am still learning County Clare and my Jones family history, both stateside and in Ireland I will use the map over time. As for calling in sick, I will hold that trick for later, as well. I think I will also have to look for some data on my O"Neil and Beattie lines in Northern Ireland. Any thoughts there. I am looking for a Parish of Lloyd in Antrim County. I think the parish (RC) is really Lawd but the gravestone is here in Charleston, SC. I guess the accents may have caused the error. Thanks again. I hope to visit the Banner County this fall. LouG

[Jim McNamara]

Hi Lou,

I could not help but chime in here. I have retreived many of the civil registrations of the JONESes of Feakle Parish area, in my attempt to link up my Macs to another researcher's Macs who is a descendant of the other JONES family.

Now the Mary JONES Sharon mentioned turns out to be the wife of my Great-Grandfather's brother, Michael McNamara of Laccaroe townland. Now I did retrieve the marriage record from GRO of Mary to Michael, and Mary's father is John JONES of Ballyglass. The date of marriage was 31 JUL 1879. The witnesses for this marriage were Patrick Moroney and Ellen Moroney (also marked as E. Flynn). I lost track of where this Jone JONES went. [Maybe you could return the favor and let me know where he moved to after this marriage, thanks.]

Now for the other Mac-JONES family I had been helping with, the main interested researcher is Jerry Chandler. He has been back to visit East Co Clare area as I have. His family of interest is Patrick JONES who first married Bridget McNAMARA (from Gorge that Gort) on 8 MAR 1886 and after her death he married Bridget McMAHON (from Curra) on 11 SEP 1898. This Patrick JONES died (probably of TB) on 8 APR 1900. His only son with this union died shortly after, 28 JUL 1900.

This Patrick JONES family had a pub in the area, I think in Scarriff, and Bridget the second wife is said to have given that pub to Patrick's brother after his death and moved on to Ennis. The JONESes had a very interesting story handed down. I am reluctant to repeat as I became convinced it was not true by my perusing of the 1901 census. Many of this JONES family did go to the United States.

Hope that helps,
Jim McNamara

[Jim McNamara]

Lou,

Forgot to say a few things. There is a great book titled "FEAKLE" by Kieran Sheedy. It was published in 1990 by the Feakle Hurling Club (!!!) and is all the history of the area and the entire second half of the book is entirely about the Feakle Hurling Club's history. All the games with lists of players and scores of games. If I remember correctly, this book is over 500 pages long. The Griffiths and Tithes are included in this book for all of Feakle civil parish making it a nice collection.

Now my Macs were not into hurling as best I could see so quit looking. My CLEARYs on the other hand were on three of the championship teams of Whitegate. I visited the Whitegate field which is sadly not used at all for hurling now - after locals invested a huge chunk of change to make it nice.

Good luck to you in your search.

All the best,
Jim McNamara

[smcarberry]

...my Great-Grandfather's brother, Michael McNamara of Laccaroe townland. Now I did retrieve the marriage record...of Mary to Michael, and Mary's father is John JONES of Ballyglass. The date of marriage was 31 JUL 1879. The witnesses for this marriage were Patrick Moroney and Ellen Moroney (also marked as E. Flynn). I lost track of where this Jone JONES went. [Maybe you could return the favor and let me know where he moved to after this marriage...

Jim,

I am guessing that you know that "E. Flynn" is highly likely to refer to the townland Enagh O'Flynn (now known as Enagh West and Enagh East, SE of Kilkishen's main street). The mention of Moroney would not be significant except that Kilkishen is the final resting place of a John Jones, as I previously mentioned. That burial was in 1989 for a man born in the early 1900s, and thus far too late in time to be directly involved with what you were discussing. However, the 1901 census for Lakyle has a John Jones of the right age to be the father of Michael McNamara's wife, and the Parish of O'Callaghan Mills has a baptism in 1875 for Michael O'Connell, son of James O'Connell of Cappalaheen, a nearby townland; the father James's mother was Johanna Moroney. Further, Michael O'Connell's baptismal sponsors were Mary Jones and Eugene Frawley. Eugene (interchangeable with Owen) was an uncommon forename in East Clare. The 1901 census has a Eugene Frawley living in Lakyle, son of Patrick (who may have been related to the prior Owen Frawley of Lakyle, the one who relocated to New Zealand in the mid-1800s). The LDS Pilot Search online database provides this info for obtaining the death registration of that John Jones of Lakyle:
Vol 4, p 332, Tulla registration district, John Jones, age 84, died Jan-Mar 1908

If in fact the Jones you are seeking is that one, then we might want to compare notes further on the McNamara individuals whom I have in my notes as related to Connells/O'Connells of this area. I have an extensive notebook of highly-organized
record references compiled by a Lenihan descendant knowledgeable about his Connell connection (that's the Lenihan family also shown in Lakyle in 1901), as well as direct contact with descendants of that O'Connell/Moroney family and information passed down to them. My Carberry family lived in Lakyle, with the last one leaving in 1864. The connections between families of Lakyle and Cappalaheen are deep and numerous, including this one (Jeremiah Tuohy is the other elder living at Lakyle in 1901, perhaps son of the one below):
RC marriage 3 Mar 1835: Matthew Hehir to Bridget Carberry of Lakyle
witnesses: Jeremiah & Michael Tuohy, Cappalaheen

Sharon Carberry

[Jim McNamara]

Image of Marriage record of Michael McNamara to Mary Jones

M_Mac_M_Jones_Mar.TIF (446.76 KiB) Viewed 27405 times

Hi Sharon,

Wow, you made me look. If this works, I have uploaded a B&W TIF of the marriage record, and see now the E. Flynn was the Priest of the RC Chapel at Scarriff, (Edw'd FLYNN). However, I don't doubt what you are saying as the townland names I have researched evolved periodically and was not uncommon for me to see at least a half-dozen names for the same townland. I have also seen that FEAKLE has been TEAKILL and in one death record I have it is shown as FEIKLE. I have also seen this spelling in the Baptism records of FEAKLE RC by the priest.

By the way, I have donated my [complete] transcription of the FHLC filming of the FEAKLE marriage register (1860-1880), to the Clare County Library site and see it is just up. See: http://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/coclar ... ex_bmd.htm

In this marriage register I see some JONESes listed as spouses and witnesses:

Year Mo. Day, Groom, Bride, Witness 1, Witness 2, Priest
1866 Feb 13, Pat Barrett, Margaret Donnelly, Mich’l Jones, Hanorah Cunningham, A Connellan
1868 Feb 9, James Jones, Bridget McGrath, Thos Jones, Bridget Tuohy, A Connellan
1872 Jan 31, Mich’l Jones, Margaret Nelson, Mich’l Mack, Bridget Nelson, A Connellan
1873 Jul 31, Richard O’Mara, Wenny Maly, Henry O’Mara, Mary Anne Jones, A Connellan

Best regards,
Jim McNamara

[Lou Gage]

Well folks please bear with me. Your research is so advanced of mine that I get confused in the details. Does anyone know of when a RC church was built in Feakle? I understand that it was in the mid 1860's and until that time people in Feakle went to Scariff for church services. This understanding comes from an elderly cousin who visited the area in 1965. Your help is appreciated. LouG Charleston, SC.USA Where my Beattie line married a Cleary. LouG

[Jim McNamara]

Lou,

The short answer is that Feakle Church was called St. Mary's and building started in 1826 and completed in 1827. I have added a more detailed treatment below for the churches in Feakle, Scariff, and Killanena below.

Best regards,
Jim McNamara
-------------------------------
According to the Family History Library Catalog:
"The original Catholic parish of Feakle was divided in 1842. This part became Feakle Lower, or Southern Feakle. The other part became Killanena, or Caher Feakle. For those records see Catholic Church, Parish of Killanena."
-------------------------------
The Kiran Sheedy book "Feakle" I mentioned earlier talks about the Protestant church built in Feakle:
"In 1824 a new Protestant church was built in Feakle on the site of the old church (in the graveyard) which had long since fallen down and the cost was mainly borne by a grant of £830 from the Protestant Board of First Fruit. The new church seated one hundred and fifteen people but the normal attendance was not more than twenty. The local population, no doubt, looked at it with mixed feelings as they felt that they too were paying for it in the form of
Tithes which had to be paid every year, in addition to their rent, for the upkeep of the Protestant clergy."
-------------------------------
Sheedy in this book further discusses the building of the RC Church in Feakle. This was called St Mary's Church:
"There was a prolonged drought also in the summer of 1825 but to everyone's relief it began to rain on St Swithin's day. And in the same year there was a major and badly needed boost for the parish when plans were drawn up for the building of a new Catholic chapel. The project was headed by that great entrepreneur parish priest Fr Tom McInerney who was a native of
Cragroe; he was also a substantial landlord who had at least seven families of tenants paying rent to him but he used his money over the years to fund various projects for the common good. The site for the new chapel was given by the Butler family of Castlecrinn who owned
land around Feakle village and they also subscribed a sum of fifty pounds. The cost of building was also partly funded by the levying of a penny per week on each household in the parish and the total cost was in the region of £1,300. Fr McInerney was never a man to take half measures and, no doubt prompted by the sight of the new Protestant church, he decided to build what would be described as the finest parish church of its time in the south of Ireland."

"During 1826 the cruciform building began to take shape and to dominate the countryside nearby. The master masons were the local Bouchier family and the nails were reputedly made by the Patterson family. The church was completed in 1826 and the official opening took place on Wednesday August 14th 1827."
-------------------------------
On Scariff RC Chapel:
For some of the families in my Macs' townland of Laccaroe Lower, some were married in Scariff RC Chapel and some in Feakle, even as late as 1875. My Clearys from another parish were married in Scariff chapel and had their children baptized there as well. For the most part, the marriages took place in the church the bride was from. Scariff chapel may have been a newer, nicer place and people may have gone out of their way to go to it.
-------------------------------
From "A History of Tuamgraney & Scariff" this is what is said about the Scariff church:
"The present church at Scariff was dedicated to the Sacred Heart on 28 July 1875. Work started on it in 1872. The P.P. was Fr. Matthew Kenny and the building was designed by T. Hennessy and built by T. Williams from Borrisleigh. The building contractor constructed the old bank in Scariff at the same time. The cost of building the church was a mere 1200 (pounds). The parish priest supplied half of this and the parishioners raised the rest. It was built on the site of an older thatched church built in 1825 of 900 (pounds)."

[Lou Gage]

Jim, thank you for your detailed answer. We believe that our Jones was a Feakle man but upon my gr grandfather death my grandfather wrote to both Feakel where apparently the priest (Father Duncan) did not find my gr grandfathers records but the records were found in Scariff by a Father Scanlan). So my Jones family may have been like your folks and used both churches. Oh, by the way William Jones was born on 3 May 1862. Thanks again. LouG