Clare Past Forum

My 2nd great grandfather is Bartholomew Clune who first shows up as leasing property in Ontario, Canada in 1851. His census and death records give his birth year as between 1821-1824 in Ireland. His Catholic marriage record in 1857 gives his origin as Quin, County Clare and his parents as John Clune and Mary Frost.

Janet Frost's ""The Frosts of County Clare, Ireland" on the Library's website mentions a marriage contract between Mary Frost, dau of Tommy the Croppy Frost and John Clune in 1800.
I have also found reference to the baptism of Dionysius Clune of Cloonmore, child of Johannes Clune and Mary Frost in the Doora and Kilraghtis register on 28 Jan 1825
The Tithe Applotment Books, give a Jno Clune, resident Cloonamore or Clounmore, 1825
The List of Freeholders for 1821 gives:
John Clune
Place of abode: Clounmoney
Situation of freehold: Kilclounamore

Is Kilclounamore the same as Clounmore?
Could this be the same John/Johnathan Clune?
Is it likely that there is another John Clune married to Mary Frost in the area?

For what its worth, my 2nd G Grandfather appeared to have more money than the average Irish immigrant to Canada. I've found a few land records that show him buying and selling land in Ontario. He is listed as a "Merchant" in the 1861 census and "Gentleman" in the 1871 census.

Hi Canuck

I’ve been looking to see if there’s any evidence that Clonmore/Cloonmore/Clounmore was also called Kilclounamore. Clounmore means Big Meadow; the addition of "Kill" would make it "The Church of the Big Meadow".
The information on Doora civil parish: https://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/cocla ... /doora.htm includes the section of 1636-1703 Books of Survey and Distribution relevant to Doora: https://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/cocla ... parish.htm, and this shows that an alternate name for Cloonmore is Shanakill. Which suggests that there was once a church there (Shanakill = Old Church). I notice that John O’Donovan, in his account of the antiquities to be found in Doora, makes no mention of this old church, but maybe the ruins were no longer visible when he visited (c. 1840).
The Ejectment Books 1816-1835 list a John Clune in connection with lands of Kilbrican, known as Kilconymore: https://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/cocla ... /doora.htm. I think “Kilconymore” might be a version of “Kilclonymore” (Note. Very often these ejectments were just threats of ejectment and were not carried out).

There are only a couple of mentions of Cloonmore in the Doora-Kilraghtis registers of baptisms - when you look at Cloonmore on the 1842 map, you will see that there were practically no houses there. I noticed that Clonmore is given as the address at the baptism of Elizabeth Purcell in Nov 1880. I know, of course, that the Purcells are of no interest to you, but I looked at the civil record just to see if there was any variation on the placename and I was interested to see that it was given as Kilmore. But I’m not sure if this can be counted as good evidence - the first name of Elizabeth’s father is mistakenly given as Timothy (instead of James), so maybe the registrar was having an off-day. (Other civil records for the births of the children of James Purcell and Anne Daly give their address as Cloonmore): https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/ ... 043663.pdf

In answer to your second question, I don't think there would have been another couple called John Clune and Mary Frost.

It's good to hear that Bartholomew prospered in Ontario.

Sheila

I took another approach to this and went back to a very early home territory of the Clunes in Quin Parish, as given by James Frost in his 1893 book, The History and Topography of the County of Clare, p.55, where he links Clonmore with Creevagh, a pair of townlands more modernly appearing as Beg and More. The 1821 freeholders list on the Library website (genealogy section) shows no landholding Clune there at that time (appears taken over by the McNamaras).

Sharon Carberry

The 1829 freeholders list, prepared by Terry Eakin, has names of interest for you in Quin Parish, Bunratty Barony and also at Mount Ievers, an old Sixmilebridge estate, apparently technically in Tulla Barony. Note John at the head of the list and Bat/Batt at the end:

CLUNE, John, Bunra, Clonmoney, Kilclounamore, £50, 09/01/1809
CLUNE, Daniel, Bunra, Gurteensallagh, £10, 06/07/1829
CLUNE, Thady, Bunra, Toonagh, Toonagh called Middle Park, £10,07/07/1829
CLUNE, John, Bunra, Toonagh, Toonagh called Middle Park, £10,07/07/1829
CLUNE, Tim, Bunra, Gurteenasallagh, £10, 08/07/1829
CLUNE, Connor, Burre, Knockbrack, Craggagh, £20, 13/02/1824
CLUNE, Michael, Islan, Ennis, Highstreet, £20, 20/02/1824
CLUNE, Batt, Tulla, Mount Ievers, £50, 13/01/1812
CLUNE, Thady, Tulla, Mount Ievers, £20, 13/02/1824
CLUNE, Bat, Tulla, Mount Ievers, £10, 08/07/1829

I believe this list is available in several places online; I used this one:
https://www.irishgenealogy.net/forum/ph ... php?t=1615

The Clonmoney graveyard transcription is available in the Library's Donated Material section and is full of Frost names, none for Clune:
https://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/cocla ... veyard.htm

Thanks for all this. Janet Frost's "History of the Frosts" at the library website mentions a 1800 marriage contract between Mary Frost & John Clune. Her article doesn't provide a location to find that contract. Are there any suggestions?

Lorne

As Janet Frost's article was donated in 2008, it may well be that she can be contacted at the address she had at that time, and I assume the Library has that on file. The marriage contract is termed a marriage settlement for purposes of finding it at the Registry of Deeds, but having the exact reference number for it would be helpful, in order to reach the text in the books at Four Courts, Dublin, which are in beautiful handwriting and extremely well preserved. Perhaps Ms. Frost has a photocopy that will save you a trip. Eventually text transcriptions will all be available online, and many are already online at Nick Reddan's project site (the target 1800 deed is not, at this time). As well, the LDS/FamilySearch.org site has filmed images of all the deeds that supposedly can be reached online although actual access is cumbersome and beyond my patience.

Having read a few of the old marriage settlements at the Registry of Deeds,I can say you may find a very densely written document with a lot of references to prior transactions. Well worth the effort to reach it.

Thanks for the suggestion but I've already tried the library. They are unable to share poster's details or forward a contact request because of privacy laws. I'm going to follow your suggestion and rummage through the FamilySearch records. Unfortunately, I live in the U.S. and am unable to travel to Ireland at the moment.