Happy St. Patrick's Day 2014

Miltown Malbay, County Clare, Ireland in 1890 and 1998

Miltown Malbay, County Clare, Ireland   Then and Now.

 

By Kevin J. O’Brien

 

These two pictures were taken from near the same point over one hundred years apart.  I was startled to see how the little village of my ancestor has not changed in over the one hundred years.   The picture was taken looking North up the Main Street of Miltown Malbay.  At the far end of the street, it looks as if there is a building in the middle of the road.  This is St. Joseph’s RC Church that was built in 1839 shortly after Catholic emancipation.   My great grandparents, Tom Moroney and Katie Conole lived on the left side of the road just down from the St. Josephs on what was then called Church Street.   They were married at St Joseph’s in 1878 and all eleven of their children were baptized at this church.

 

 The early picture is from the 1890’s and is from the Lawrence Collection.  There are about 40,000 glass plate negatives in this collection taken from 1880 to 1914. They are held by the National Library of Ireland.  The images were produced commercially, the majority of them being taken by Robert French.

 

The later picture taken with the automobiles was photographed by a friend, Chris Carl of Michigan a grandson of another Moroney family from the parish.  Chris’s picture was taken on holiday circa 1998. 

 

My grandmother, Mary Margaret Moroney left Ireland from Queenstown, Cork on 13^th October 1898 bound for America.  The Lawrence picture is the picture my grandmother would have described to me of the streets she lived and played on as a child.  If she was alive today wouldn’t she be happy to see how well her native land looks.

Neddie Conole had the Prophecy

The Last Professional Keener in Miltown Malbay

MORONEY FACT SHEET

February 12, 2011 was the 133^th Wedding Anniversary of Thomas Moroney and Catherine Connole.  They were married in St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church in Miltown Malbay.  This church was built in 1839 and is still used today by the Catholic community in Miltown Malbay.

• Tom and Catherine had 11 Children.

• Two children stayed in Ireland and lived near Miltown Malbay, Co. Clare.  The oldest son, Thomas married and never had children and his sister, Margaret never married.

• Thomas Moroney died in 1927 and is buried in Ballard Graveyard.  A gravestone was erected in 1930 by his wife, Catherine Connole.  The money for the gravestone came from her brother, Paddy Console’s estate.  Paddy Connole was run over by a taxi Cab in Buffalo in Oct 1929 after a party for his niece, Mary Margaret O’Brien the oldest grandchild.  She was entering into the Religious Life the next morning.

• Catherine Moroney died 20 April 1944 at 86 years old.  Catherine was living by herself in a small house on the Ennistymon Road a few doors from Canada Cross.  She is buried with her husband in Ballard Graveyard.  Her name is not recorded on the gravestone but her great grandchildren placed a flat stone for her in 2009. 

• Catherine Moroney out lived five of her children.  Margaret died in Miltown Malbay as a young woman probably in the 1920’s.  Katherine died in a house fire in Buffalo, NY in 1905, Michael died in a car accident in Elmsford, NY in 1932, Delia died of Cancer in Jersey City, NJ in 1937 and Mary Margaret died of Cancer in Buffalo, NY in 1942.

• Nine children immigrated to America.  Mike and Delia lived in the New York City Area and Mary Margaret (Molly), Anne, Katherine, Ellen, Patrick, Elizabeth and Jane lived in the Buffalo, NY.

• Fifty one grandchildren were born in America. 

• 139 Great grandchildren were born in America.

• 208 + Great Great Grandchildren were born in America.

• 66 + Great Great Great Grandchildren were born in America.

• In August 2002 nearly 50 descendants of Thomas and Catherine Moroney traveled to Miltown Malbay to visited St. Joseph’s Church where the marriage was conducted 125 years ago.