THOMAS MORONEY 1878-1950

The Rest of the Story of Thomas Moroney.

Tom Moroney was the eldest son of Thomas Moroney and Kate Conole. He is the only child of that union to live to adulthood and stay in Ireland. He does not have a civil birth registration of a baptismal certificate as he was the first child and arrived a little early.

He worked on the Farm a few miles south of where he was born in Miltown Malbay. The Matthews was a 388 acre farm set up by the absentee landord that live in England. It was a model farm and used to teach the local farms improved ways of farming.

My grandmother, Molly Moroney and sister, Anne Moroney (Neylan) also worked on the farm.

Tom married late in life and never had children. He married Mary Fitzgerald anothe servant on the farm. She was older than he was.  After the civil war in Ireland and the landlords were driven away land was divided and Tom and Mary were a good field and good two story house on the farm in which they had worked. He raised hounds and trained them for many people. One of t he people he trained for was the Matthews family that had moved back to the city of Limerick where they had originally came from.

When Tom died in 1950 he was buried in Kildimo Graveyard. On my previous trips to Ireland 1979, 1980, 1981, 1998 etc. I combed the Kildimo graveyard for his grave with no success.

About 5 years ago (2004) a grand nephew of the Matthews, Siney Matthews visited Kildimo to vist the grave of Tom and mary Moroney. He knew where the grave was and was suprised tht Tom and Mary's name were never put on the gravestone of Edmond Fitzgerals, Mary's father where they were buried. So about 5 years ago Siney Matthews hired a sculputre to enter the name so the two people that were so dear to him whenhe was al little boy visiting his family in Kildimo.

That is why, we now have another little piece of Ireland to call our own.

Mary died in 1952 and as she weakened she moved from their little house down the road a 1/4 mile to the home of her friends the Brackens in Any Bridge where she died. The Brackens still live in their home.



The first time I visited Ireland in 1979 and the other five times I have inquired about our last know living Moroney relation in Ireland, Thomas Moroney.

I know where he lived and where he was buried and many times I walked through the Kildimo graveyard looking for his grave. I could never find a stone with his or his wife, Mary Fitzgerald’s name on it and then yesterday a friend of mine sent me this inscription from a limestone cross with a double kerb around the stone in Kildimo Graveyard.

IN LOVING MEMORY
OF
EDMOND FITZGERALD
KILDIMO
WHO DIED 27TH DEC 1920 AGED 88
ERECTED BY HIS SON
EDMOND
HIS DAUGHTER MARY MORONEY
DIED 20 AUG 1951
HER HUSBAND THOMAS MORONY
DIED JULY 1950
RIP

The Kildimo Graveyard is on the Killernan Road. This is the road that starts at the Crosses of Annagh Pub and heads EAST. The graveyard is on the left hand side of the road about 1 mile from the Crosses of Annagh. If you continue on the road another mile is Ahy Bridge. You can take a left there and go by Thomas and Mary Moroney’s old house on the right had side of the road. It is used as storage for cattle feed and hay now. If you continue on the Killernan Road you will pass the O’Brien farm on the left and the O’Neill farm is another mile on the right.

THOMAS MORONEY
1878 – 1951

Thomas Moroney was the first child of the twelve children of Thomas Moroney and Catherine Conole of Islandbawn townland, Miltown Malbay, County Clare, Ireland

There is no baptism or civil registration birth record for Thomas Moroney. As a young man Thomas found work on the Mathews farm in Kildema South townland. This was a farm owned Lord Leconfield and managed by the Mathews family of Limerick. Thomas and Mary Margaret (Molly) Moroney and possibly Anne Moroney worked on this farm. Also working on the farm was Mary Fitzgerald and her father, Ned Fitzgerald who were very helpful to the Moroney children.

Thomas married Mary Fitzgerald on 22 January 1910. On their marriage record they were listed as full age with their residence in Kildimo. Their witnesses were Michael Downes and Anne Shannon. Thomas signed the certificate with an (X) and Mary signed her name in the presence of Reverend John Kingston.

In the 1901 census, Mary and Thomas were both listed as servants on the farm of Robert Mathews and his mother, Ann Mathews. In the 1911 census Thomas and Mary were listed as farm servant and wife. Edmond Fitzgerald was listed as father-in-law.

When I visited the former Mathews farm in June 1980, Martin Cahill (R.I.P.) was the owner of the property. His father, Ned Cahill took the farm over in 1912 when the estate was split-up and subdivided into smaller fields; some going to the neighbors. I told Martin of my relationship to Thomas Moroney. He thought very highly of Thomas and Mary. He said “that every thing he knew about farm machinery he learned from Thomas Moroney”.

The Cahill family moved into the big farm in Kildimo in 1912. At this time Thomas and Mary received a home in Dunsallagh a former building on the Mathews estate that is still standing and a pasture field. Martin Cahill said “Thomas was the best dog and horse trainer in the area”. Whomever, I spoke with in the area remembered Tom and Mary and everyone had nice things to say about them. Martin Cahill is a relation to the O'Brien family through the O'Halloran family. He did not know that the O'Brien family was also related to the Moroney family. When he found this out he said that explains why Thomas was friends with Paddy Stephens O'Brien of Killernan townland. Thomas’s sister, Molly married Paddy Stephen’s brother, John O'Brien.

My Uncle John S. O'Brien told me that Thomas Moroney did travel to the United States one time in the early part of the century but he returned stating that during the visit to America he never saw a decent horse the whole time he was there. This was before 1910 because it was Mary Fitzgerald back on the Mathews farm that convinced the Mathews family to give Thomas his job back on the farm.

Thomas died on the 29 July 1950 at the Ennistymon Hospital. He was listed as married, 72 years old, and pensioner. His cause of death was congestive cardiac failure 14 days, chronic myocarditis, 2 years certified. Margaret Cullinen, occupier at Ennistymon Hospital registered the death on 18 August 1950. His wife Mary died some time after Thomas and they are both buried in Kildimo graveyard with Mary's father.