THE CLEARYS OF ANGLESBORO

COUNTY LIMERICK, IRELAND.

Gleann na gCreabhar (Glen of the Woodcock) was renamed Anglesboro by our British mates when they blazed a path under the Galtees.  Mr Oliver Cromwell paid a personal visit.  The Clearys have been there for a very long time.  Tithe records indicate that in 1830 Michael and Patrick Cleary occupied 39 acres on the Boro Road adjoining a thatched stone cabin.  By the late 1840s the fields (now in two lots) were in the name of William Cleary.

The Cleary cabin today. The cabin faces away from the Boro Road and stands at the southern end of the Cleary farm.

 

William Cleary - memory of father John Cleary of Beehenagh who died 24th June 1813, aged 54 years. His daughter Margaret January 3rd 1820 aged 22 years.

I found this inscription in the Kilbehenny cemetery when I was there in 1973. Is he the right William Cleary?

 

Patrick Cleary Erected by Thomas Cleary in memory of Patrick Cleary of Loughaun also his wife Johanna. His brother John died April 2, 1832 aged 35.

I didn't find this inscription, but the Rev Wallace recorded it in the 1950s.

 

In 1856, at age 26, Margaret Cleary, the eldest daughter of Michael Cleary and Mary Martin, married Edmond Casey.  Edmond Casey (Skeheenarinky) and his son Patrick of Anglesboro (died Dec  1939) can be found in the newer Mitchelstown cemetery. There is no mention of Margaret on the stone and although the date is about right I am not certain these are the right Caseys. I suspect they are.

Local land records suggest Margaret and Edmund eventually occupied the Cleary cabin, which is today occupied by Billy Casey, a direct descendant of Michael Cleary. The Caseys were a well known local family, related to Val Noone, Melbourne editor of the Irish-Australian magazine, Táin.  During the Famine, Edmund Casey and William Cleary were among a collection of people who donated to the local relief fund. Their contribution was 10 shillings each.

Looking towards Knockaceol - Hill of the Music. The original 39-acre Cleary field runs from the bottom left of the photo along the boro road for about 450 yards. The borheen running to the pit marks its northern boundary.

The view of Knockaceol from the Boro Road. This borheen marks the northern boundary of the Cleary field.

In the 1850s neighbouring tenants included John and Margaret Condon (95 acres that took in a part of the mountain), John Allen (whose 31 acres ran in a narrow strip that ran between the Clearys and the Condons), and the Howards - William, Edmund and John - whose fields adjoined the Condons on the right hand edge of the mountain.

Research by a relative of Michael Daly suggest that Daly - who occupied a field with William Cleary in the late 1840s and held another 31 acres behind the Cleary fields - emigrated to Tasmania in 1854. (See history menu). His land appears to have been taken over by John Allen in the 1850s.

David Condon's 8-acre field appears to have adjoined Daly's (later Allen's) northern field.

Baurnagurrahy; birthplace of republican Liam Lynch.         The Cleary cabin is about two hundred metres south of Lackendarragh on the Boro Rd.

The following parish records provide an insight into filial connections on the Boro road.  My great, great grandfather, Michael Cleary, married Mary O'Leary (probably around 1843) after the death of his first wife, Mary Martin, and had another brood of children.  If you have any stories or think you might be connected please email me on phil@etu.asn.au

PARISH OF GALBALLY

March 2nd 1829 

Michael Cleary and Mary Martin.

Witness Michael Martin and James O'Donnell.

PARISH OF KILBEHENNY

14th April 1830

Margaret of Michael Cleary and Mary Martin - farmers Borough.

Sponsors Laurence O'Brien and Alice Mansfield.

22nd September 1831

Johanna of Michael Cleary and Mary Martin - farmers.

Monaeerherine (sic).

Sps Patrick McGrath and Mary Condon.

PARISH OF KILBEHENY

16th  February 1844

Honora of Michael Cleary and Mary Leary.

Sps John Heffernan and Catherine Condon.

This Honora  married James Hannigan in Anglesborough on 25/1/1872. (witnesses Daniel Cleary and Ellen Cleary) and had among her children, Donncadh O’Hannigan (leader of the East Limerick Flying Column) and Donal who also fought in the War of Independence and met Liam Lynch after Easter 1916. 

After the truce O'Hannigan took the side of the Free State but was never happy fighting the same men he'd commanded against the British.  Not long after IRA man Dannie Shinnick was killed in a failed ambush attempt on his unit near Anglesboro, O'Hannigan handed in his uniform. In 2002, Limerick County Councillor and Ballylanders publican, John Gallahue, received permission from O'Hannigan's daughter, Sister Carmel O'Hannigan, for a plaque to be placed outside O'hannigan's house on the Boro Road.

A fluent Irish speaker, O'Hannigan was a legend around the Galtees and forthright in his criticism of republicans who didn't know their Irish Gaelic. 

22nd March 1844  

Pat of Michael Heffernan and Ellen Condon.

Sps Michael Cleary and Honora Lewis .

1st November 1845

Patrick Cleary of Michael Cleary and Mary Leary.

Sps Michael O'Brien and Ann O'Donnell.

Dear Mr. Cleary,

I will need to return to find more information regarding my family's O'Leary / Leary members. All I ave found to date is that Johanna Leary (Hannah O'Leary) was born about 1829 in Ballyfauskeen / Ballyfaskeen. Her parents appear to be Daniel (O')Leary and Mary McCary. As I recall from my notes, Daniel's father was John O'Leary. This may be erroneous. The witnesses at my greatgrandfather's (John Flynn), birth / baptism in Ballylanders was Nell Leary along with a Thomas Riordan. I have assumed to date that Nell was Hannah's sister. It seems my Flynn family were settled in Cullane at the time of the Griffiths valuation but I haven't found them after this time. As I said, there is a long way to go yet and it will require a return. Please feel free to let me know if you are familiar with any of these Learys. It could be a big help to me. Many thanks and best wishes, Phil.

Mark S. Flynn Garretson
PO Box 650
Kathleen, FL 33849
U.S.A.

22nd September 1850

Michael of Patrick Cleary and Mary Clancy.

Sps Michael Broderick and Margaret O'Brien.

21st April 1851

Michael of Michael Cleary and Mary Leary.

Sps Mary O`Brien and ...... Riordan.

2nd June 1853

William of Michael Cleary and Mary Leary.

Sps Denis Lahiff and Ally Massey.

9th February 1855

Daniel of Michael Cleary and Mary O'Leary (sic).

Sps Thomas Condon and Margaret ?

10th

Mary of same parents, Anglesboro.

Sps John Cleary and Mary O'Brien.

14th November 1856

Michael of Patrick Fitzgibbon and Joanna Clohesy.

Sps William and Mary Laughton (sic)

7th April 1858

William of Michael  Gorman (sic) and Honora Walsh.

Sps William and Catherine Cleary (Michael Gorman listed in Ballynatona).

AFTER THE FAMINE - BOUND FOR AUSTRALIA

In October 1863, Michael Cleary's two eldest sons Dinny and John Cleary (my great grandfather) boarded the Great Australia for Melbourne.  Only three years earlier Dinny had been risking his life in the service of the Pope against Garibald. Whether John was with him is uncertain. And whether the Pope had come good with a promise of free passage anywhere in the world is equally unclear.

On the Great Australia was Peter Cleary and his sister Elizabeth from County Clare. Peter died in April 1913 and his sister Eliza Collins (nee Cleary) died six months later. Information on the Clearys from Clare can be found on the website: www.familyorigins.net email: webmaster@familyorigins.net

In 1974, at the Kangaroo Hills farm (near Daylesford in Victoria) of Dinny Cleary's grandson Michael, I was shown a flintlock pistol that belonged to the old firebrand. It was thought to have been a relic of his service in the Papal Brigade.  Among the local Galtees brigade was a Danagher and a Madden; prominent names in contemporary Australian football. In Australia Dinny married a Tipperary widow Ellen Heagney (nee Doyle) and settled down to farming in Kingston, Victoria. 

Around the the turn of the century his daughter, Ann Cleary, married Ned Hayden, son of the Haydens from Tipperary. The wedding party is captured in this beguiling photo taken at the family home, Cora Lynn.  The photo is a telling document of life and relationships in the Cleary clan.

A clan wedding - Ann Cleary marries Ned Hayden

Inhabited until the late 1970s, the old house (seen above) is now, sadly, in decay.

The chapter "Garibaldi or the Pope" in my book Cleary Independent (HarperCollins 1998) is devoted to the Clearys and the people of Knockmagh. Click on History for more information about the Clearys.