Thanks for that feedback. Last item first, regarding Thomas Hogan the police constable from Feakle who was arrested, escaped, and later turned himself in. "Peasants into Patriots" by Caroline Maguire repeats a common newspaper mistake that there were two constables, Thomas Halloran and Thomas Hogan:
When the constable Thomas Hogan was arrested and escaped in Feakle in early March 1866, about 50% of the Irish newspapers reported his name as "Thomas Halloran", in error, including the Clare Journal of 12 March 1866 which you had previously transcribed on the Fenian thread. Other newspapers, such as the Limerick Chronicle of 6 March 1866 (see my posting from 4th of May), correctly reported the escaped prisoner as "Thomas Hogan". Many newspaper articles of this time period reported their news verbatim from other newspapers, so easy for errors to get repeated across Ireland and Great Britain. The Dúchas story you provided was accurate in reporting the escaped prisoner as "Thomas Hogan".While the RIC's interest in local political campaigns and episodes was certainly not as marked as that of the priests, there were signs of a rising interest in political concerns in the police force. . . This link with insurrectionary nationalism resurfaced in 1860 and a handful of instances revealed that some members of the constabulary were sympathetic to Fenianism, including sub Constable Thomas Hogan (a figure who, still recalled some seventy years later) used to 'go out drilling the boys' (footnote 42). In Caher, near Scariff, East Clare, two constabulary men were responsible for facilitating Thomas Halloran, a suspected Fenian and also an ex-constable, in his escape from prison, . . .
Regarding the headstone for John Maguire, I amazed myself that I was able to transcribe so many words as wouldn't have succeeded one year ago. Recently, I've been playing the new on-line game Wordle which requires guesswork in selecting words when only a few letters are known. Sheila, I was going to describe Wordle to you further, but from a quick google search, I see that it is very popular in Ireland. Fortunately, the John Maguire headstone and Wordle used the same exact font and are both written in "all caps", so this made the transcription easier. After another look at the headstone, I've completed the 5th line to end with "AND PATRIOTIC SPIRIT". The last word of the 6th line is a seven or eight letter word that ends in "ATED". I'm fairly certain this would be "ANIMATED" ("full of life or excitement; lively"), but am open to a better suggestion.
THIS MEMORIAL
HAS BEEN ERECTED
BY HIS FRIENDS FELLOW TOWNSMEN
AS A PROOF OF THEIR ESTEEM
FOR THE MANLY AND PATRIOTIC SPIRIT
WHICH ANIMATED
THROUGHOUT HIS CAREER
When the 58 year old John Maguire, who I believe was the uncle of the young Fenian patriot John Maguire, died two months later in 1872, he was reported as "married". In the Bassett's Directory for Ennis in 1875, listed as an "Ironmonger" was "McGuire, Catherine, Mill Street"; most likely the widow of John Maguire. Her later whereabouts are unknown; she was not reported in the same directory for 1881. Living in Ennis in the 1901 census, there was just one Thomas McGuire (age 28) at an Ennis hospital, and one Maguire born in County Meath. Could not find a death record for Catherine Maguire.
https://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/cocla ... ongers.htm
Sheila, thanks for pointing out that the "material" witness who had absconded was specifically noted to be Joseph Brady. This was the reported reason to delay the trial of John Maguire, John Byrnes, and the two military prisoners in July 1867. Odd that the Crown didn't want to go to trial based upon the testimony of the two informers, Simon Nevin and Michael Ryan, as they identified the men as having been at Drumcliffe. Perhaps at the special investigation in late March 1867, they were found to be not so credible? James Hynes, who represented some of the accused prisoners, did an excellent job at the special investigation in attacking the credibility and character of Simon Nevin:
Simon Nevin (≈1793 - 1873) and Margaret McNamara (≈1806 - 1882) were the parents of two children reported in the Ennis baptism register: Bridget "Nivian" (born 1842) and Simon Nevin (born 1845). The family appears to have been very poor. At a meeting of the Ennis Union on 24 October 1866, a "Nuisance Inspector's Report" stated that on the 19th, the inspector had "visited Coravaran as far as Newpark, and found a slight nuisance existing at Widow O'Connor's and Simon Nevin's and their houses not whitewashed" (Clare Journal, 25 October 1866). Simon Nevin, age 80, tinker, married, died at Ennis workhouse on 19 November 1873. Margaret Nevin, age 76, laborer, widow, of Currovoran, died at Ennis workhouse on 26 April 1882.Cross-examined by Mr. Hynes—I am a tinker, but never worked at my trade; I do not spend my nights out, and days in bed; but often spent a night at a dance, or other places; I never attempted to rob a man or child; my father and mother are living at Corovorin; they got £20 from my sister in New Zealand; my father had £6 in the box; two of them were lost although the box was locked; my father did not charge me with robbing him; my mother did not say so; they were not obliged to give over the money to Mr. James Bourke, of Carrahan, or his son; I know a boy who rides into town on a grey pony; I don't remember ever laying hands on him; I will swear I did not; I never got my hands into his pockets; I was committed and sent to jail for a criminal assault on a girl; old James Sullivan and a cousin of my own were my bails; I have sworn against Sullivan's sons; I can't tell you how old I am I think about twenty-one; I think Kelly is older than I am; I will swear he is; we were going to school together; I know the two Sullivans and him as long as I know anybody; I have not betrayed every one of my companions; . . .
Cork Examiner, 27 March 1867, page 3
https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/ ... 254953.pdf
https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/ ... 837490.pdf
The following incident was brought up by the defense counsel, James Hynes. In January 1866, "Simon Nevin, described as a tinker, living at Curravaran, was found guilty" for having assaulted a young woman from Newpark on 7 November 1865, and sentenced to six months' imprisonment with hard labour. He had been acquitted on a charge of attempt to commit a rape (Clare Freeman and Ennis Gazette, 6 January 1866).
Bridget Nevin, born in 1842, must have been the sister who sent the family money from New Zealand. A Bridget Nevin married Patrick Wickham in 1867 (per NZ Marriage Index, 1840-1937). Bridget Nevin Wickham died in Wellington in 1890:
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/191 ... Y4MDUuMA..
Sheila, your assumption that "approvers" would generally be required to change their name and emigrate is likely correct, but I'm not so sure with Simon Nevin.
There was a Simon Nevin, a tinker by occupation, who had a child in Ennis in 1868 with a Mary McNamara, who I initially thought would prove that he had actually remained. I was able to trace this couple back to a marriage of Simon Nevin to Mary McNamara in Kilrush on 16 August 1866. "McNamara" was not clear in the marriage record, but was consistently so in later baptism records of three children (Judith "Navan" in 1868 in Ennis; Honor in 1873 in Ennis; James "Neaven" in 1876). Unknown civil marriage record in 1866. However, this Simon Nevin becomes a widower and remarries in Kilrush in 1878 to a widow Mary McNamara Boulton, daughter of John McNamara, where Simon was identified as the son of Hugh Nevin (who was also reported as a father in the Ennis baptism records of 1855 as living in Corovoran). This Simon Nevin married to Mary McNamara (two times) was most likely a cousin of the informer Simon Nevin, who during his testimony in March 1867 did not appear to be married. When Irish names are fairly uncommon in a location, such as Simon Nevin, it is very easy to make incorrect assumptions. An ancestry family tree with Bridget Nevin of New Zealand, daughter of Simon Nevin and Margaret McNamara, born in 1842, have as her sister (and only sibling) the Honor Nevin, daughter of Simon Nevin and Mary McNamara, born in 1873. Thus, if the informer Simon Nevin did leave Ireland, I doubt he joined his sister living in New Zealand.
Very likely, had there been an actual trial of the accused Fenians, a jury would have found Simon Nevin's testimony not very credible. But for John Maguire and John Byrnes there never was a trial; they were held in Mountjoy Prison under the Habeas Corpus Act until they both agreed to leave Ireland and go to America.
The Irishman and Flag of Ireland newspapers both included more moving coverage of the death of John Maguire on 13 May 1872 compared to the brief report in the Clare Journal from my last posting.
DEATH OF A PATRIOT
Ennis, May 13, 1872
SIR—It is with extreme sorrow I have to communicate to you the death of Mr. John Maguire, of Ennis, which took place on yesterday, from consumption, to the inexpressible regret of a numerous circle of friends and relatives. But for a short time ago he was in the full bloom of vigour and manhood, a fine specimen of humanity, and a general favourite in this town. His illness was borne with Christian resignation, and in his dying moments he had all the consolation that religion can afford. Much heartfelt sympathy is felt for his friends in their sad bereavement, and the announcement of his death cast a melancholy gloom over the town. The deceased was quite a young man, and a true patriot in every sense of the word. He suffered a long incarceration in Ennis Gaol, having been arrested in March, '67, with several others, on suspicion of being concerned in Fenianism, and was subsequently transferred to Mountjoy Prison, from which he was discharged on consenting to go to America, from which he returned in a delicate state of health, but was gradually recovering until the malady set in to which he succumbed, and which he doubtless contracted during imprisonment.
—Requiescat in pace.
The tear that we shed,
Though in silence it rolls,
Shall long keep his memory
Green in our souls.
The Irishman, 18 May 1872
In an amazing coincidence, this Friday, 13 May 2022, will be the 150th anniversary of the death of the Irish Fenian and patriot John Maguire. From the census reports there do not appear to be any relatives of John Maguire who remained in Ennis. John Maguire gets a brief mention in "The Irish Republican Brotherhood in Clare 1858 - 1871" by Eva Ó Cathaoir and Mathúin Mac Fheorais, but his death in 1872 and burial at Drumcliff cemetery were not mentioned. Similarly, John Maguire's headstone was included with the transcriptions for Drumcliff Old Graveyard by the Clare Roots Society, but there is no mention of him being a Fenian prisoner and Irish patriot.THE FUNERAL OF A PATRIOT AND MARTYR IN ENNIS
On Tuesday evening, the 14th instant, the funeral of John Maguire, who was both a patriot and a martyr for the cause of Ireland, was carried out of Ennis in a most solemn and respectable form. He was a young man that had as good worldly prospects before him as any other of his class in this town, but his young heart always burned with an ardent love for his country, and in her cause he nobly sacrificed all with his life. He was arrested in March, 1867, with several others, accused of taking a leading part in the rising, and the following summer he was confronted in the dock with forty others of his brother patriots in chains before Judge Keogh. The prosecution was given up, but he and John O'Bryne were kept in jail under the Habeas Corpus Act. After being confined in Ennis jail for eighteen months [in fact, about six months], he was transferred with O'Bryne to Mount Misery in Dublin, where, after seven months, the tender mercy of Gladstone was extended to him to transport him to America in bad health from long confinement. He returned to Ennis about twelve months ago with a broken-down constitution, where he lingered until last Monday at three o'clock, when he resigned his pure spirit in the hands of the Redeemer at the age of twenty-nine [age 24 per death record and headstone], fortified with all the consolations of his holy religion. At six o'clock on Tuesday evening the congregated trades, with their usual spirit of nationality, mustered at the Mechanics' Institute, all wearing white linen scarfs tastefully tied with ribbons. When all was orderly arranged, they were conducted to the house of the uncle of the deceased, where his remains lay, by the secretary, Mr. [Michael] G. Considine, where there were several of his friends and associates draped in black, with a large number of the stalwart sons of toil, the Labourers' Association. Those wearing black fell to the rear, and the secretary placed the trades in front of the coffin—the hearse and white plumes, with several carriages, proceeding a long way in front. The entire Catholic clergy of the town were in attendance. The Very Rev. Dean Kenny, P.P.; Rev. Robert Fitzgerald; Rev. John Fogarty; Very Rev. Francis McLaughlan, O.S.F.; Rev. Mr. Cahill, O.S.F.; Rev. Mr. Casey, O.S.F. The funeral passed in solemn silence through the several streets. As soon as the funeral reached Drumclift, the place of his interment, a distance of three miles, the coffin being borne on the shoulders of his countrymen the entire way, the secretary halted the trades at the entrance, where they opened line while the coffin was borne through the centre. During the time all were uncovered as a mark of solemn respect for the remains of the martyr who lived and died so young for Ireland. The burial service of the Church having been read by the Rev. Mr. Fogarty, assisted by the Rev. Mr. Cahill, his remains was consigned, amidst the tears of hundreds, to an Irish grave in the land he loved so faithfully in life. After the funeral several of the most respectable young men of the town formed a committee, and a large sum of money has been subscribed on the spot to erect over his grave a suitable monument. The Trades secretary [Michael G. Considine] will receive subscriptions for the noble object and forward them to the committee.
FIDEA. ["faith" in Latin]
Flag of Ireland, Saturday, 25 May 1872, page three
In the United States, the last Monday in May is the Memorial Day national holiday to honor the U.S. military personnel who have died while serving in the armed forces. There is an American tradition that on the Saturday of the three-day weekend, Boy Scout troops, and maybe a few Girl Scouts, will visit their local national military cemetery and place an American flag in front of each headstone. Standing to attention, they will say out loud the military service member's name and unit, and then give a military salute. In the background, you might hear a Boy Scout playing "Taps" on their bugle.
This might sound like over-the-top patriotism to Irish people and perhaps not an annual tradition they would want to adopt (unlike Wordle, which already has an Irish language version). But this Friday is the 150th anniversary of the death of Fenian John Maguire. The Irish post office failed to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Fenian Rising of 1867, so I reckon it would be fitting if there was at least some memorial for the Irish patriot John Maguire. Is there not a Boy Scout or Girl Scout troop in Ennis that could pay their respects at Drumcliff cemetery on Friday? Probably bring some garden tools and tidy up around his headstone? Maybe buy a small Irish flag from an Ennis souvenir shop to place in front of his headstone? Say a few words and let John Maguire, who died so young for Ireland, know that his great efforts were not in vain?