Looking for Clennan in Tipperary

Hello Rebecca,

I found the baptism transcription for a child of Pierce and Peggy “Clenon” at the Find My Past website, which shows that their daughter Catherine was baptized in the Moneygall and Barna Catholic Parish on 20 March 1831. This parish was primarily in Kings County (now called County Offaly), but also extended into County Tipperary. Unfortunately, the baptism record doesn’t give Peggy’s maiden name or the residence of the family at the time of the baptism..

The transcriptions at Find My Past are under Copyright and so I will not be including the transcription to this reply. However, linked to the transcription is a URL for a copy of the original baptism register held by the National Library of Ireland. See the following to access the register page for Catherine’s baptism:
https://registers.nli.ie//registers/vtls000634656#page/62/mode/1up

You can enlarge the page by means of round icons in the upper center/ right of the screen. The icons are white with green backgrounds. You can also access the full-screen function by clicking on the last icon on the right with the two arrows pointing northeast and southwest.

Catherine’s baptism is the 7th entry down from the top of the page and shows that the godparents were Hugh McLaughlin and Betty Clenon. Betty Clenon may have been Pierce’s sister, a cousin, or even an aunt. It’s also possible that Hugh McLaughlin could have been Peggy’s brother, but that is only conjecture on my part.

According to the National Library of Ireland, alternate names for the Moneygall and Barna Catholic Parish were just Barna, or Dunkeerin. There were and still are Catholic churches in both Moneygall and Dunkeerin, and both are close to County Tipperary, and so I can’t say for sure if Catherine had been baptized in the Moneygall Catholic Church or the Dunkeerin Catholic Church. A Google Map shows that Moneygall is only 4.1 miles southwest of Dunkeerin. See the map at: https://is.gd/41g183

The Catholic Church in Moneygall is called St. Joseph’s though I don’t know if it was known as St Joseph’s when Catherine was baptized in 1831. You can see the location of the church in Moneygall on another Google Map at: https://is.gd/6eWMwv

For a Google Street View of the St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Moneygall, go to: https://is.gd/W5reJd

The Catholic Church in Dunkeerin is called Saints Mary and Joseph and is located off Frankfort Drive. To view the location of the church on a Google Map go to: https://is.gd/3h3XxI

A Google Street View shows the church is a modern structure, though it may have been built on the site or near the site of a former Catholic Church in Dunkeerin. See: https://is.gd/fqhHwC

Historic 6 Inch Ordnance Survey Maps from the 1829 to 1841 time period, show the location of an “R.C. Chapel” in Moneygall and an “R.C. Chapel” in Dunkeerin. These maps would have been produced right around the time that Catherine Clenon was baptized.

To see the location of the R.C. Chapel in Moneygall, go to: http://maps.osi.ie/publicviewer/#V2,603103,681052,11,7

For the location of the R.C. Chapel and School in Dunkeerin, see: http://maps.osi.ie/publicviewer/#V2,606206,684844,11,7

Because Moneygall and Dunkeerin in County Offaly are close to the Tipperary border, it’s possible that Pierce, Peggy, and Catherine Clenon had lived in a townland in Tipperary close to either Moneygall or Dunkeerin.

I sincerely wish I could have uncovered more information than this Rebecca, but at least now you know your Clennons had resided along the Tipperary/Kings County (County Offaly) border, near Moneygall and Dunkeerin.

Best Wishes,

Dave Boylan