Glovers of Killeentierna

[janglover]

Hi there,
I have traced my Glover line to 1837 in Killeentierna when my gg grandparents married. They were William Glover (Stonemason) and Gobnait Brosnan.(No parents mentioned on their cert.)I have hit the proverbial brick wall. There seems to have been a pocket of Glovers in the area at that time, who were all stonemasons. As Glover is not a Kerry name, I am trying to find out where they came from originally. I have searched all parish records, all volumes of OCM , newspapers and cannot get a lead.
The oldest Glover I can find on the parish register is the mention of Walter Glover(soldier) at the marriage of his daughter Mary in 1848.
I don't know where to start looking next. I've thought of military records for Walter, or maybe the Glovers were building churches and there might be some records of stonemasons kept somewhere. Any ideas ?

[Christopher]

Hi janglover,

It's difficult to say where your Glover ancestors may have originated. Irish Ancestors Surname Search shows the highest density on the name at the time of the Valuations
was in the following counties: Down (25), Antrim (18), Roscommon (13) and Cork (10) ... the other counties had Glovers but the families were in single numbers.

You might possibly get a clue where they originally lived by looking at the names of the major landlords in Kerry and seeing whether the had estates elsewhere in Ireland. The landlord may have arranged for Glovers to work in Kerry.

Christopher

[janglover]

Thanks  Christopher,
According to Griffiths, they were renting a house from Richard Meredith, the local landlord. I never thought that he might have estates elsewhere. That's a great idea, I will have a look and see what I can find for him.
Thanks again
Jan

[aghadowey]

Gobnait is the Irish form of Abigail so also keep an eye out for Abigail in case the English version of the name was used in some records.

[janglover]

Cheers Aghadowey,
Will do !

[leprechaun]

 The Irish name Gobnait, was a fifth century Irish Saint 11 Feb is her feast day.
             She is patron saint of Irish Bee keepers,and for that reason her name has sometimes been Anglicized as Deborah.a name in Hebrew that means Bee. Lep

[aghadowey]

Yes Lep, had forgotten about Gobnait also being used for Deborah.

[leprechaun]

 That's Ok I know a few Gobnait's 

[Christopher]

Hi Jan,

Merediths of Kerry are mentioned in "A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain and Ireland" by Sir Bernard Burke, Ulster King of Arms. He was also the author of Dictionaries of "The Peerage and Baronetage" and "The Extinct and Dormant Peerage" as well as others.

Christopher