Parish Dunbuy reference & Surname McInerney.

[greinwald]

I am doing research on my wife's ancestors, surname McInerney/McNerney, who immigrated to Pennsylvania, USA, in the 1850's. They are said to be from County Clare. In a local cemetery, there is a stone that says Martin McInerney, 27, died 2 Dec 1862. The inscription says "Gloria in Excelsis Deo, Requiescat in Pace, Erected by his beloved wife Mary, a native of the Parish of Dunbuy, County Clare, Ireland, All of you who goes by the way pray for me."

I cannot find the Parish Dunbuy in County Clare. Could this be an old Parish that was incorporated into another Parish? The Clare County Library suggested this might refer to the village of Doonbeg (Dunbeg) in the parrish of Killard. Could Martin's wife Mary have confused the parish with the town?

My wife's ancesters are John McInerney, b. 1813 d. 9 Apr. 1884 and wife Margaret Tolman b. abt 1813 d. 20 Dec. 1866. They immigrated about 1853. Their children born in Clare County were: Mary J., b. abt 1839, John, b. abt 1840, Patrick Henry, b. abt 1841, Michael J., b. Aug 1843, Martin W., b. 1849, Thomas, b. 4 June 1850, and James A., b. May 1852.

If anyone has information on the above, I would very much like to here it.

Thanks, Royce Reinwald, Florida USA

[pwaldron]

The names Doonbeg and Killard are used interchangeably for the parish, since the church is in the village of Doonbeg (Cromwell's army destroyed the original church in the townland of Killard). McInerney is a common name in the parish.

Up to 1855, the parishes of Killard/Doonbeg and Kilkee/Kilfearagh were administered jointly, so if you have identified the correct parish you should find the McInerney children's baptisms in the registers in Kilkee, which cover both parishes from 1837 (when they start) up to 1855 (when the parishes were separated).

[miriam scahill]

Hi Paddy - thanks for explaining the situations re church records in Killard (Doonbeg) and Kilfearagh (Kilkee) - On http://www.clarelibrary.ie - genealogy - church records - it says on Killard Parish to see Kilfearagh Parish - but your dates clarify the situation. Maybe you might write to Clare Library to show that Killard is a separate parish.
There are McInerney families in many townlands in Killard parish - and as you said a copy of Bapt. Cert will give an address.

[pwaldron]

Hi Miriam - long time no hear - You have alerted me to something that I didn't know about the Kilkee records. Both http://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/coclar ... rishes.htm (taken directly from one of James Ryan's books) and http://www.from-ireland.net/cla/rc/clarercindex.htm#26 (which lists the contents of the microfilms made by the National Library of Ireland and passed on to the LDS church) suggest that the surviving Kilkee records go back only as far as 1869. I presume this means that the microfilming process back about 50 years ago missed the records in Kilkee for 1837-1869. Can anyone confirm this?

There is a similar situation for Moyarta and Kilballyowen (which I think were separated at the time of Fr. Meehan's death in 1878) as for Kilfearagh and Killard.

There must be an accurate list of Clare parishes with the dates of their surviving registers online somewhere but I cannot find it - even at http://clareroots.com/ where one would expect it to be prominently displayed. Can anyone else point us to an accurate list?

Paddy

[pwaldron]

There is an alternative and more complete list of Clare parishes with dates of registers available via http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/brow ... larerc.htm
It confirms that the early Kilkee records exists but have not been microfilmed.

I've just sent this message to John Grenham who maintains the Irish Times site:

You might like to note additionally for Killard parish that it was part of Kilkee parish up to 1855. Also that Kilballyowen parish (with churches in Cross and Kilbaha) was separated from Carrigaholt parish in 1878.

Both splits coincided with the deaths of the incumbent parish priests, Rev. Michael Comyn on 7 Nov 1854 and Rev. Michael Meehan on 24 Jan 1878. By coincidence, both priests died in William Street in Limerick, probably in the same house, as Fr. Comyn died in the home of Fr. Meehan's sister.

These two pairs of parishes have been amalgamated again in the last year or so as the incumbent PPs in Carrigaholt and Doonbeg/Killard are both now well past the retirement age of 75.

Another interesting aspect of this story is the typo in the printed version of Griffith's Valuation, where Meehan appears as Sheehan!