Fr Laurence Browne (d.1909) of Darragh; PP Tubber & Doonbeg

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pwaldron
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Fr Laurence Browne (d.1909) of Darragh; PP Tubber & Doonbeg

Post by pwaldron » Mon Aug 23, 2010 10:08 pm

Can anyone out there tell me the names of the parents of Fr. Laurence John Browne?

Fellow forumite Paddy Casey tells me that Fr. Browne was a native of Darragh, Ennis. He studied in Maynooth and was ordained in Nenagh in 1857. From 1869 to 1877 he was Curate in Kilkee (Paddy Nolan, "A History of Kilkee Church", 2008, p.97). He was transferred to the parish of Kilkeedy (Tubber) in 1877. He was Parish Priest of Tubber from 1877 to 1890 and of Killard (Doonbeg) from 1890 to his death in 1908 (see photograph of tombstone below).

He died in office in Doonbeg and was buried in a priests' plot beside the old church (demolished in 1976), but the priests' graves were not included in the transcriptions at http://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/coclar ... veyard.htm

In the 1901 census, he is listed in the parochial house in Killard claiming to be aged only 50 (implying that he was only six years old when ordained!) along with his unmarried nephew William Browne (30) and widowed relative Mary Anne Butler (34). See http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/p ... d/1080034/

On 6 May 1907, Rev. Laurence Browne P.P. travelled to Dublin to appear in the Chancery Division before the Master of the Rolls in the matter of Butlers minors. Fr. Browne and Sir Augustine Baker were joint guardians of the minors, including Miss Anne Butler of Ballylinn (Ballyline?), Co. Clare, daughters of the late Colonel Butler and the guardians' consent was required for the proposed marriage of Anne Butler to Stephen Ullens de Schooten of Antwerp. The case was reported in the Irish Times of the following day.

In another thread on this forum (http://www.ourlibrary.ca/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=195), we have the following:

Mr. Theobold BUTLER, of Ballyline House, county Clare, died a few days ago. He caused a flutter in Clare society by marrying the daughter of his herdsman...changing his faith from Protestantism to Roman Catholicism at the same time. He has died intestate, leaving two daughters. Aged 30.
The Leeds Mercury 20 Feb 1886.

This is probably Theobald's marriage:

Name: Theobald Butler
Registration District: Ennis
Event Type: MARRIAGES
Registration Quarter and Year: Apr - Jun 1884
Estimated Birth Year:
Age (at Death):
Mother's Maiden Name:
Film Number: 101254
Volume Number: 4
Page Number: 101
Digital Folder Number: 4179387
Image Number: 00499
Collection: Ireland, Civil Registration Indexes, 1845-1958

There is a marriage of a Mary Griffey on the same page.

Could the herdsman's daughter be the Mary Anne Butler in the 1901 census?

Could a herdsman's relative have been a priest in nineteenth century Clare?

I am looking for confirmation (or otherwise) that Fr Browne and his older fellow West Clare parish priests Fr Michael Meehan (1810-1878, P.P. Carrigaholt 1849-1878) and Fr Michael Quinlivan (c.1814-1894, P.P. Kilkee 1881-1894) were all first cousins. Fr Meehan's mother was Bridget Quinlivan, so there is no doubt about that part of the relationship.

In 1867, Fr Browne officiated at the marriage of `his cousin' Margaret Killeen, daughter of Michael Killeen and Margaret Kelly; in 1856, Fr Quinlivan had officiated at the marriage of her brother, Michael Killeen, described as his cousin. Matthew Tobin in his article on Priests of the Diocese of Limerick 1878-1917 (NMAJ, 1997, p.140) writes: `Edward Thomas O'Dwyer was a cousin to Laurence Browne, parish priest of Doonbeg in the Diocese of Killaloe'. Bishop O'Dwyer's mother was a Quinlivan, whose relationship to Fr. Quinlivan is so far unknown, but Fr Quinlivan was a chief mourner at the funeral of the bishop's mother in 1889 (http://www.limerickcorp.ie/media/o%27dw ... a%20fr.pdf).

Can anyone piece together these pieces of circumstantial evidence into an accurate family tree? Unfortunately there are no living descendants of these four clerics to whom these questions can be addressed!

\pw
Last edited by pwaldron on Sat Jan 07, 2012 11:17 pm, edited 3 times in total.

smcarberry
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Re: Fr. Laurence Browne

Post by smcarberry » Tue Aug 24, 2010 1:07 pm

In view of no other response to this topic, I will suggest something although I have very little background with Irish clergy. However, I received highly useful information on the Dominican priest James Carbery (who owned a little Clare property in the 1860s) which I received from that order's headquarters in Dublin. That info, from their archived file on the priest, included the identities of the priest's parents, a photocopy of his photograph, and beneficiaries named in his 1887 will. I learned the correct order from a reference librarian at Maynooth, who consulted the Catholic Directory. Since you know Fr. Browne's ordination details, I assume you know his order and can contact the archives or headquarters, for which details now appear online, accessed with Googling. A similar effort could be made for the other priests whom you are researching as possible cousins to Fr. Browne.

From the little bit online on Fr. Browne, I am assuming he was a Franciscan. The screenshots below show his 1888 listing in Sadlier's Catholic Directory, which doesn't show his order but does indicate his office was in Gort. The Paulist magazine Catholic World shows that the Franciscans owned property in Gort and the other orders did not. If your Fr. Browne was in fact a Fransciscan, then when making contact with that order you will want to be careful to distinguish him from the other Franciscan Fr. Laurence Browne of the same time period (see the screenshot on the Wexford-born one who started life as Richard Browne and assumed the forename Laurence upon ordination). I know you can easily get the details for the Franciscan headquarters, but here it is since I bumped into it while doing some Googling on this topic:

Franciscan Library and Archives, dmkilliney@eircom.net
Dun Mhuire,
Seafield Road,
Killiney, Co. Dublin
Tel: 01 2826760

Order of Friars Minor: O.F.M.
Franciscan Friary, 4 Merchants’ Quay, Dublin 8.
Tel. (01) 6771128
E-mail: adamandevefriary@eircom.net

Here is another source for the 1888 directory information:
Sadliers' catholic directory, almanac and clergy list quarterly - Google Books Result
1888
... Laurence Browne, po Gort. ...
books.google.com/books?id=CNPUAAAAMAAJ...

posted by Sharon Carberry
Cath clergy, Dioc Killaloe, pt2 Sadliers Diry 1888.jpg
Cath clergy, Dioc Killaloe, pt2 Sadliers Diry 1888.jpg (92.32 KiB) Viewed 50930 times
Cath World vol 33, for Gort.jpg
Cath World vol 33, for Gort.jpg (15.99 KiB) Viewed 50928 times
Wexford-born Fr.jpg
the other Fr. Laurence Browne
Wexford-born Fr.jpg (87.97 KiB) Viewed 50928 times

pwaldron
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Re: Fr. Laurence Browne

Post by pwaldron » Tue Aug 24, 2010 6:55 pm

Hi Sharon

Thanks for all your efforts but sorry to tell you most of what you have found are red herrings!

The Laurence Browne in whom I am interested and his probable cousins were all priests of the Diocese of Killaloe (Diocese of Limerick in the case of Bishop O'Dwyer), so they were not members of the Franciscans or of any such order.

For priests of the Killaloe diocese, the standard source is the late Monsignor Ignatius Murphy's three-volume history of the diocese. Sadly, he died before completing the third volume, which others saw to publication after his death. He included obituaries of priests who died before 1900, but not for those who died after 1900. He was the diocesan archivist and I believe that there is a file on each priest in the diocesan archives but that it contains no more than what appears in the Murphy books.

The `p.o. Gort' reference appears to mean `post office Gort'; the local post offices generally carried more modern local names than the ancient parish names. Paddy Casey will presumably be able to tell us why the 1888 note was not `p.o. Tubber'.

I will get one of my Doonbeg contacts to check the priests' plot there for a tombstone inscription.

There was a biography of Bishop O'Dwyer by Fr Tom Morrissey published a few years ago. My copy is out on loan at the moment, but I think I would have noticed if it contained any significant mention of Fr Browne.

\pw

smcarberry
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Re: Fr. Laurence Browne

Post by smcarberry » Wed Aug 25, 2010 11:24 am

Paddy,

If only the mention of Gort eventually produces some additional info for you on your Fr. Browne, then a posting mostly full of red herrings was worth the effort. Out in the hinterlands, here in North America, our research involves lots of unproductive leads and review of non-relevant data because it is a big country for immigrants to disappear into and so many people of the same name came over in the same time period.

Nice to see that one of my newspaper items delivered in a big batch to the Forum could be of some use for you. I have taken to posting links to digital collections of such things, rather than any item text, since we are now in an era of such increased online resources.

You notice I am not wading into the deeper water of the various relationships you discussed among the cousins. Just the aspect of using priests' biographical details for family research is a good topic, as some family historians don't see a benefit from that. However, with so many governmental records lost or never made in the first instance, finding a file on a priest could be highly productive. I don't believe I have seen an article or book on that subject. My reply serves the purpose of getting out the word that the various religious orders have kept such records and might readily provide photocopies. For priests not within a specific order, reaching a diocesan file appears to be much more daunting. Such a thing must have existed, and, per conventional wisdom as I understand it, an Irish office would have been loath to destroy its own records So, barring a natural catastrophe causing destruction, those records ought to be somewhere. Your thoughts ?

Sharon C.

pwaldron
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Re: Fr. Laurence Browne

Post by pwaldron » Thu Aug 26, 2010 12:15 pm

Sharon

I have asked some of my Clare Roots Society colleagues who have more experience than I have of the Killaloe Diocesan Archives to post here.

You will find some comments on Catholic Diocesan Archives generally at
http://www.cigo.ie/campaigns_church.html

My Doonbeg researcher has kindly taken time out in the middle of a very busy week to visit Fr Browne's grave, which unfortunately gives only the years of his service in Doonbeg: 1890-1908. The fact that his successor was not appointed until 1909 does suggest that he died in office in 1908 and that there was a brief interregnum afterwards. But the Irish Civil Registration Indexes don't have any matching death record.

\pw

Paddy Casey
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Fr. Laurence Browne

Post by Paddy Casey » Mon Aug 30, 2010 3:33 pm

Paddy,

On an impulse I contacted St Patrick's College in Maynooth ( http://www.maynoothcollege.ie ) to ask whether they had records of their graduates which might show the parent's names. I thought this might be of general interest, not only in relation to Fr. Laurence Browne of Tubber, but also for general genealogical research relating to clergy in Ireland.

Cora in the President's Office told me that this information would normally be recorded but the records relating to Fr.Laurence Browne would have been destroyed, together with all their other records, in a fire in 1940.

Such a pity.

Paddy

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Re: Fr. Laurence Browne

Post by pwaldron » Mon Aug 30, 2010 6:18 pm

Thanks, Paddy.

That suggests that parents' names are not among the details included in the following book:

Author Hamell, Patrick J. (Patrick Joseph), 1910-
Title Maynooth : students and ordinations index 1795-1895 / by Patrick J. Hamell.
Publisher Birr ([St. Brendan's] Birr, Co. Offaly, Ireland) : P.J. Hamell, [1982]
Description 199p. ; 24cm.

Another source is:

Maynooth: A Select Bibliography of Printed SourcesAuthor(s): Mary Ann LyonsSource: Irish Historical Studies, Vol. 29, No. 116 (Nov., 1995), pp. 441-474.

Lyons say that Hamell provides ordinations and prize lists (1795-1864), a matriculation register (1795-1895), Maynooth College calendar and a list of students ordained outside Maynooth. No mention of parents' names. Lyons also confirms that a fire in New House in 1940 destroyed the College Roll Book.

pwaldron
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Re: Fr. Laurence Browne

Post by pwaldron » Mon Nov 01, 2010 11:58 am

I took advantage of a visit to Doonbeg cemetery on Saturday (for the wreath-laying ceremony in memory of Michael McNamara, William Shanahan and Alan Lendrum who were killed in the parish in 1920 during the War of Independence) to take this photograph of the inscription on Fr. Browne's grave:
LaurenceBrowne2.jpg
LaurenceBrowne2.jpg (200.71 KiB) Viewed 50661 times

Sduddy
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Re: Fr. Laurence Browne

Post by Sduddy » Tue Nov 02, 2010 6:20 pm

On the thread of Theobald Butler's wife - I have her In Memoriam card, which says, "Mrs Theobald Butler, Ballyline, died 12th July, 1901, aged 43 years" - just a couple of months after the census was taken.

The fib about his age, told by Fr. Laurence Browne, interests me, because I had been told that Fr. John O'Malley, the successor to Fr. Browne in Kilkeedy, was a brother of a Mary McNamara (nee O'Malley/Maley/Mealy ect.), but had dismissed this when I saw that the 1901 census gave his age as only 49, whereas hers was given as 74. That a priest would tell a fib had not occurred to me.

S. Duddy

pwaldron
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Re: Fr. Laurence Browne

Post by pwaldron » Wed Jun 15, 2011 11:01 am

My biography of Bishop O'Dwyer has now been returned to me, but there is no mention of Fr Laurence Browne in the index. The author also appears to have confused Bishop O'Dwyer's grandfather Edward Quinlivan (whose widow lived at 14 William Street in Limerick) with Fr. Quinlivan's father Michael Quinlivan senior (who died in 1862 at Ballyroughan in county Clare). Each of these men had a son named Laurence/Lawrence Quinlivan, the former Mayor of Limerick and the latter heir to Ballyroughan. This may have been the source of the confusion.

By coincidence, on the same day I found a list of priests of the united parishes of Moyarta and Kilballyowen which shows that Laurence Brown [sic] was briefly a curate there in 1878, just before the parishes were separated on the death of his cousin Fr. Michael Meehan in William Street the same year. This was presumably a brief stay between his sojourns in Kilkee and in Kilkeedy documented above.

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Re: Fr. Laurence Browne

Post by smcarberry » Wed Jun 22, 2011 2:59 pm

Found while reviewing news items returned from the Library of Congress newspaper database, using a search term that included "clare" but nothing else in this news item. Just pure serendipity.

I am at a loss to reconcile the gravestone stating 1908 as the death year and the reference in this news item of late 1909, to the death being recent.

Sharon Carberry
Fr. L. Browne 1908 death.jpg
Fr. L. Browne 1908 death.jpg (51.88 KiB) Viewed 50225 times

pwaldron
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Re: Fr. Laurence Browne

Post by pwaldron » Wed Jun 22, 2011 7:35 pm

Well done, Sharon! I guess he may have retired due to ill health and/or old age the year before his death.

pwaldron
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Re: Fr. Laurence Browne

Post by pwaldron » Wed Dec 14, 2011 12:02 am

Thanks to Kathy Rhodes for identifying Fr. Browne's parents.

The parents of Fr. Laurence John Browne were: Jane and William Browne.

(No additional clue as to Jane's maiden name yet.)

Here's the evidence for Jane and William being Fr. Laurence's parents (2 obits):

"DIED. March 26, at her residence, Darragh, county Clare, aged 78 years, widow of William Browne, Esq., and mother of the Rev. Laurence J. Brown, R.C.C., Kilrush." (Source: Genealogybank.com; Date: May 11, 1867; Location: New York; Paper: Irish American Weekly; Article type: Mortuary Notice; Page 4.)

"DEATHS. On Sunday, at Darrah [sic], in the 78th year of her age, Jane, relict of William Browne, Esq. The deceased was a member of an ancient and respectable stock, and deservedly regretted by her family and friends." (Source: Limerick Chronicle; Published 28 Mar 1867; url: http://www.limerickcity.ie/media/Browne-2.pdf )

NOTEs: Slight prob w/ DOD here-- the American paper saying she died on 26 Mar 1867 (which was a Tuesday) and the LC stating that she died on a Sunday.

Kathy suspects that Fr. Laurence's dad William Browne died prior to 1855, because his widow Jane is listed in Griffiths (surveyed 1855) as follows:

Griffiths Valuation Record Information:
Tenant Family Name 1 BROWNE, JANE
Landlord Family Name 2 BURTON, HENRY STEWART
Location / County CLARE / Barony ISLANDS (PART OF) / Union ENNIS / Parish KILLONE
Townland DARRAGH, NORTH / Place Name DARRAGH, NORTH / Place Type TOWNLAND
Publication Details / Position on Page 15 / Printing Date 1855 / Act 15&16 / Sheet Number 41 / Map Reference 16
(Source: http://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith- ... nameSearch )

Darragh is in the parish of Killone and sure enough the Brownes are buried in Killone Abbey:

I H S | Erected | by | MARY FITZGERALD BROWNE | in memory of her beloved husband | PATRICK BROWNE | of Darragh | who died 18th Nov 1910 aged 82 | also his beloved parents | William & Jane Browne

(Source: http://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/coclar ... urname.htm )

Patrick was away from home for the night of the 1901 census, but returned in time to sign the form as head of family:
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/p ... h/1070697/ and
http://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/coclar ... th33_6.htm
The handwriting is so bad that it's hard to be sure whether Andrew Molony was a Son (as in both transcriptions) or Serv.

By 1911, the only Browne in Darragh North was a William (54, Single):
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/p ... th/354472/

So far, I've been unable to find either Patrick or William in 1901 and unable to find Mary Fitzgerald Browne in 1911.

Next step will be to check the Clare Champion for a report of Patrick's funeral in 1910.

Sduddy
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Re: Fr Laurence Browne (d.1909) of Darragh; PP Tubber & Doon

Post by Sduddy » Wed Jan 11, 2012 4:35 pm

Paddy, you noted that Mary Anne Butler, the widow of Theobald Butler, of Ballyline House, was staying at Fr. Browne’s house on the night of the 1901 census. You ask if Fr. Browne could have been related to her. I see from the Crusheen baptism records (on this web-site, under Research support – Links to Genealogical Sources) that Mary Anne’s brother, John Griffey, was married to Lizzy Browne.

Sheila

Sduddy
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Re: Fr Laurence Browne (d.1909) of Darragh; PP Tubber & Doon

Post by Sduddy » Wed Jan 11, 2012 4:53 pm

Sorry, that should be Genealogical Services (not Sources)

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