Re: Information is wanted of Thomas McNamara, of Glandree,
Posted: Fri Jul 10, 2020 7:00 pm
Hi Jimbo
Stephen McNamara is listed in Griffith’s Valuation of Ayle, Upper, as leasing Lot 13c jointly with two others – all three have equal shares of 54 acres (i.e about 18 acres each). The 1926 Rate Book for Ayle shows Lot 13c owned by Michael McNamara, who I believe is the son of Lawrence, and the husband of Stephen’s daughter, Bridget. I noticed that another share of Lot 13 is owned by a Martin McNamara, and I wonder who this Martin can be – can he be Michael’s brother Martin who was born to Lawrence McNamara and Honora Molony on 21 Apr. 1862? Well, Martin is not living at home in 1901 or 1911, so I doubt if it is he. I spent some time looking at the Ayle McNamaras, but found no Martin among them. Then I wondered if he could be Martin, the son of Patrick McNamara and Kate McMahon (b 1888), who remained at home and married in 1920, – though I can't think of any reason for him owning a share of Lot 13 in Ayle. I was looking at this family of McNamaras (you have done a lot of work on them) and I was looking at the inscription on their headstone in Feakle graveyard: http://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/coclar ... ptions.htm and noticed that Patrick died in 1943. But when I found the record of his death, for which Martin supplied the information, I saw that he was described as being 81 years of age, when he was actually much older - he was baptised in 1847, so must have been 95, or 96 in 1943. As you have found previously, Jimbo, the ages given at deaths are often seriously underestimated.
As I was saying in my last posting, I’ve been going through this thread in recent days, and I can see that I’ve been very fixated on the name Andrew. And I’ve been imagining that Mary McNamara’s family must have been still living in Glendree when she married James Madigan in 1860. Well, I’m now taking a fresh look at Mary, and think it is quite possible that her family had already emigrated while she remained with relatives, or even in the workhouse. I think that Mary was working as a servant in Liscullane, or nearby, when she met and married James. I think it’s possible that the Andrew McNamara, who is a witness at the marriage, is another servant, or neighbour, and may not be related to Mary, or at least not closely related.
Just lately I was reading again an article by Ciarán Ó Murchadha, “The Bad Times in Clare – Emigration and Aftermath”, in The Other Clare, Vol. 27 (2003), in which he distinguishes between the emigrants, who were not so very poor, and the poorer emigrants. Having described emigrants who were not so very poor, he goes on to write of the poorer emigrants and remarks on how rarely they figure in the emigration literature. He says
So I am thinking that if our Mary McNamara had a found work in Tulla, she may have been content to remain there while the other members of her family went one by one, or as a group, to America.
Sheila
Stephen McNamara is listed in Griffith’s Valuation of Ayle, Upper, as leasing Lot 13c jointly with two others – all three have equal shares of 54 acres (i.e about 18 acres each). The 1926 Rate Book for Ayle shows Lot 13c owned by Michael McNamara, who I believe is the son of Lawrence, and the husband of Stephen’s daughter, Bridget. I noticed that another share of Lot 13 is owned by a Martin McNamara, and I wonder who this Martin can be – can he be Michael’s brother Martin who was born to Lawrence McNamara and Honora Molony on 21 Apr. 1862? Well, Martin is not living at home in 1901 or 1911, so I doubt if it is he. I spent some time looking at the Ayle McNamaras, but found no Martin among them. Then I wondered if he could be Martin, the son of Patrick McNamara and Kate McMahon (b 1888), who remained at home and married in 1920, – though I can't think of any reason for him owning a share of Lot 13 in Ayle. I was looking at this family of McNamaras (you have done a lot of work on them) and I was looking at the inscription on their headstone in Feakle graveyard: http://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/coclar ... ptions.htm and noticed that Patrick died in 1943. But when I found the record of his death, for which Martin supplied the information, I saw that he was described as being 81 years of age, when he was actually much older - he was baptised in 1847, so must have been 95, or 96 in 1943. As you have found previously, Jimbo, the ages given at deaths are often seriously underestimated.
As I was saying in my last posting, I’ve been going through this thread in recent days, and I can see that I’ve been very fixated on the name Andrew. And I’ve been imagining that Mary McNamara’s family must have been still living in Glendree when she married James Madigan in 1860. Well, I’m now taking a fresh look at Mary, and think it is quite possible that her family had already emigrated while she remained with relatives, or even in the workhouse. I think that Mary was working as a servant in Liscullane, or nearby, when she met and married James. I think it’s possible that the Andrew McNamara, who is a witness at the marriage, is another servant, or neighbour, and may not be related to Mary, or at least not closely related.
Just lately I was reading again an article by Ciarán Ó Murchadha, “The Bad Times in Clare – Emigration and Aftermath”, in The Other Clare, Vol. 27 (2003), in which he distinguishes between the emigrants, who were not so very poor, and the poorer emigrants. Having described emigrants who were not so very poor, he goes on to write of the poorer emigrants and remarks on how rarely they figure in the emigration literature. He says
Boards of Guardians of Workhouses complained very much about this foisting of families upon them – which is how we have come to know of the practice. Here is group arriving in New York in 1853, aboard the Typhoon: Johanna McNamara aged 41, Eliza aged 18, Ellen aged ?, Thomas aged 8 and Joseph aged 3. A note beside Johanna’s name says “to Husband.” I should say at once that Eliza aged 18 is not Eliza Hornbeck, who in 1853 must have been already married to John Hornbeck if she was to give birth to Clarissa in 1854 (Clarissa Hornbeck is aged 1 in the 1855 census). No, the group is just an example of a family going to a father who was already in America: https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903 ... 3A2758-G76. The relationships are not given in this ships manifest, but if Eliza is a daughter of Johanna, the gap between her and the younger children suggests that not all of the family have made the journey.Wherever one searches for traces of those few among them who must have succeeded in emigrating – among the transported criminal element for example, or among the sponsored emigrants from workhouses – they prove impossible to distinguish clearly among those pauperised by famine from a more elevated social position. All we can say is that the poorer emigrants break down into several distinguishable categories, those who paid for their passage, those transported for criminal activities and those sponsored partially or wholly from workhouses. Perhaps the only clearly defined group among the first category were numbers of fathers of near-destitute families, who used the family’s resources to purchase passage to America, there to find work and wages with which to pay for the subsequent emigration of the entire family.
So I am thinking that if our Mary McNamara had a found work in Tulla, she may have been content to remain there while the other members of her family went one by one, or as a group, to America.
Sheila