Clancy's Carrigallen? Mixed roman cath & church of ireland

[JamArBuc]

Hi there,

There has always been a mystery in our family about (my) great grandfather - a John William Clancy. He was born 1860 ish and joined the British Army. His father was a catholic and his mother was a member of the Church of Ireland - all the boys in his family were raised their fathers religion and the girls their mothers. It was said that he was originally from Carrigallen, Co. Leitrim.

He eventually settled in Cork & married my great grandmother, Julia O'Callaghan and had 6 children (in Mallow). As far as we know, he may have had a sister O'Hehir ... and there were people belonging to him in London, where he is buried. Information is sparse about him, we only know he fought in the Boer War and was a soldier in the famous Afghan Kabul to Kandahar of the late 1800s.

Any help or insight into this mysterious ancestor of mine, or his family would be gratefully appreciated. There may be either relatives still about who are either roman catholic or church of ireland. Carrigallen is all we've currently got to go on!

[gortonboy]

hi,,this may seem a strange question,but bear with me   is there any family stories that he was a musician,,or a bugler?

[gortonboy]

this is him in the 1911 irish census . It does say he was born in Lietrim,,but i think he may have been born in London. Do you know if he had a brother called Thomas?

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Cork/Mallow_South_Urban/Barrack_Street/431090/

[JamArBuc]

We don't know any information on his siblings, just he had sisters in London. He was buried in London also. Yes that is him alright on the link you posted! How strange that he could be a musician / burgler!!!!!!!! We don't know either that he was born in London, though it would make sense as his eldest was born there and he could have possibly met his wife there (she was a teacher) ... that's very interesting now. Do you have much other information on the family? If they are the same?

[gortonboy]

hi,,i do not know if the army service record i have looked it is definitely your man,,,,but the fact he was discharged in mallow,,,and intended to stay there ,,plus he did serve in Afghanistan and was awarded a medal for kandahar,,,and servedc in South Africa??/  the evidence is mounting up....
you can download the record from the FINDMYPAST website,,,you do not have to subscribe,,,you just buy enough credits in order to download the record.

http://www.findmypast.co.uk/chelseaPensionerSearchResult.action?sdrfnbr=974526100

[gigimac]

We must be looking for the same family JamArBuc because I saw your post on Julia O'Callaghan.  I am curious about what you know about John Clancy.  I am just starting my research, my mother-in-law is Catherine Ryan, she is Elizabeth Clancy's daugther, Elizabeth is listed in the 1911 census with John and Julia...anyway, Cathy came to America in 1948 and knows very little of her family so I am trying to find out about them, this John Clancy seems like quite a character and I would love to know more...Thanks in advance for any help.

[gigimac]

Also, I found a John CLancy born in CloonClare, Leitrim, Ireland in 1857 to a John Clancy and a Maria McGowan.  I know his father was John Clancy because his marriage certificate to Julia states his name so I think this is a good chance it is him...he would have been born in 1857 if he was 54 in the 1911 census.

[gigimac]

Ok, this is coming together.  John Clancy married Eliza J Ennis in Leitrim in the 1850's in the Church of Ireland.  They moved to London either before or after John was born and then John Sr died around 1870 as he is not in the 1871 English Census but Eliza is listed with several children.  John Jr. already entered the Army at this time.  Eliza married a Stephen Hehir and she died in 1892. 
I hope you see this because I am dying to know how you are related to my husband and if you know what happened to the medals John was awarded.

[JamArBuc]

My apologies for the delay in replying to your last post - if you get in touch with Deirdre in Seattle she has my details. We have as much information as you, though I think the Cloonclare connection is a different Clancy family. In Ireland, there are traditional naming schemes - e.g. you might have a lot of Johns and Peters in a Murphy family for example, and there might be a lot of Murphys in Cork, for example - so this makes genealogy very tricky indeed. Local knowledge is what is really needed to get the precision in Irish genealogy.

John William Clancy had a brother called Thomas Ennis Clancy, and his mother was Eliza Jane Clancy (Lilly was called after her it could be assumed). I have done further research online on Irish search engines and FindMyPast through subscription and found further information on the Ennis family - though not very much. Some information is freely available online.

@Gortonboy - thank you very much for all your help in this thread, it really was of great assistance in researching our fragmentary family and well scattered family tree. I am unable to locate him precisely on the Chelsea Army Pensioner records though I am determined and will do it! Also, the very first I completely misread bugler as burglar! I though he was a criminal in my misreading of the text!