Clare Past Forum

In the 1940s and 1950s my mother a Clare woman from Meelick used to refer
to an inheritance from the United States calling it the O'Dea millions.
Would anyone be able to specify what it was, and who in Clare benefited?

Key to finding information on this matter is the name of the Clare man who emigrated to the U.S. and acquired what the newspapers called a 5-million- dollar estate, apparently from his multiple occupations of attorney, "oil man" (investor), and real estate owner: Michael Francis O''Dea. He apparently never married and died alone in a Los Angeles, California hotel. His estate was probated in court there, where hundreds of claimants filed for a share of the money, including the rejected claim of a woman claiming to be his daughter from his relationship with a entertainment dancer. In 1944, the court made a final ruling allowing distribution to start, following a settlement made by a set of first cousins to deal the claims of a set of second-cousins. Note also that a nephew in Australia had put in a claim, but then died before distribution could begin.

Here are news stories of the time, reported in various locations:

O’Dea d. 23 Jan 1923 in a “small” Los Angeles CA hotel; size of estate discovered after his death: https://tinyurl.com/4whw8bs9

Australian man died age 61 in 1940 while awaiting approval of his claim to the O’Dea estate, based on his father being the millionaire’s brother.
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/arti ... 20millions

CT woman b. 1862 in effort to establish kinship with Michael Francis O’Day, March 1939: https://tinyurl.com/4njtnew7

Los Angeles judicial settlement on distribution of O’Dea millions, March 8, 1944 Washington, D.C. newspaper: https://tinyurl.com/79shn542

many thanks

Matthew Mac Namara