From
Finnoe
To
Woodford
Charles Stanley
!842-1927
Charles Stanley (1842-1927)
Charles Stanley was born in Finnoe (pronounced fin-new) near Borrisokane in County Tipperary in
1842. He married Ellen Clancy (1847-1920) on 7th June 1866 and they had the following children:
Mary Anne (King) 1866, Samuel 1868, Joseph 1870, Bridget (Mackey) 1872, Margaret (McPherson)
1874, Ellen (1877), Maria 1879, Elizabeth (Brown) 1882, Charlesi (Brod) 1884, William 1887, Priscilla
(Pearl Donoghue) and Richard (1892).
Charles’ father was Samuel Stanley who farmed in the Finnoe area of County Tipperary. We know he
was a farmer from the marriage record of Charles and Ellen. Charles became a Roman Catholic when
he married Ellen, but he came from a Church of Ireland family. Unfortunately the pre-1870 records
from the local Church of Ireland parish of Finnoe, which had been forwarded by each parish for safekeeping to the Public Record Office of Ireland in the Four Courts complex in Dublin, were destroyed
in June 1922 together with the Census Records 1821-1851 when the buildings were the focus of
major fighting during the Irish Civil War. Census records 1861-1891 were inexplicably destroyed by
officialdom in 1918. So, in common with most families over this period, comprehensive and
sequential official records are not available, and the genealogical tools necessarily include detective
work and informed deduction.
According to the Primary Valuation of
Tenements (Griffiths Valuation) of 1857,
which is a key source for investigation of
anybody who was a landowner or tenant
at that time, there was only one Samuel
Stanley farming in the Finnoe parish at
that time. A little over one acre in the
townland of Commons of Carney was
leased in that name. An examination of
the subsequent records for that piece of
land in the Valuation Office revealed that
the tenancy was transferred to Thomas
Long in 1868. There is a marriage record
for Jane Stanley (father Samuel) to
Thomas Long in Finnoe on 4th August
1857. The tenancy was transferred again
in 1869 from Thomas Long to Richard
Stanley. There is also a marriage record
for Richard Stanley (father Samuel) to
Jane Haskett in Nenagh on 6th September
1853. There is also another marriage that
might refer to a daughter of Samuel and
this is the marriage of Maria to James
Hogan in Nenagh on 7th March 1854. This
marriage is worthy of note as anecdotal evidence would suggest that there are distant relations with
the name Hogan in the Stanley family, and also as Charles called one of his daughters Maria (born
1879 in Woodford). Family names tended to be passed down through the generations.
Sometime between the birth of Margaret (1874) and Ellen (1877), Charles and Ellen moved their
family across the River Shannon from Tipperary to Woodford, Co. Galway. Anecdotal information
would suggest that this move was prompted by Charles’ love of music and dancing as Woodford, at
that time, was a centre for Irish music and dance. He continued to work as a baker in Woodford. We
don’t know if Charles and Ellen visited with his family in Finnoe but we do know that there was
regular contact with Ellen’s family in Newlawn near Terryglass. Their son, Joseph, was the informant
on the death of Ellen’s father Joseph Clancy on 26th December 1890. And their daughter, Bridget,
was the informant on the death of Ellen’s mother Bridget Clancy on 24th August 1896. When Ellen
(born 1877 and daughter of Charles and Ellen) was emigrating to the United States in October 1905,
she travelled with Ellen, Martin and Julia Darcy and their place of residence (including Ellen’s) was
listed as Ballinderry, Nenagh. Darcy was the maiden name of Bridget Clancy. Ellen’s brother William
(born 1887) also travelled on the same
boat to the United States.
The census returns for 1901 and 1911
record Charles and Ellen residing at
Woodford Town in County Galway. At the
earlier date the household included
Charles, William, Priscilla, and Richard who
were aged 15, 13, 11 and 9 respectively. In
1911 Charles, 71, was recorded with Ellen,
Charles and Richard.
Charles Stanley died in Woodford in 1927
at the age of 85 and is buried in the
grounds of the local Roman Catholic Parish Church overlooking Woodford. His wife Ellen had
predeceased him by seven years.
-
o -
Many a family history is enlivened by a whiff of scandal or some minor or sometimes even more
major infringement of the law. Of course any consequent paper trail is beneficial to the genealogist.
The available evidence would indicate that Charles’ older brother Samuel may have been considered
a “black sheep” of the family. Born in 1835, Samuel married Anne Pilkington in Kilbarron (adjacent to
Finnoe) on 23rd September 1858. He came to the attention of the law and the courts, and served at
least three terms in Nenagh Prison. The first occasion was nearly six years after his marriage, and the
third in 1872 was two years after the birth of his son James. “Settling down” was not yet on the
agenda!
Samuel was convicted firstly in 1864 for assaulting and threatening two police constables at
Ballyhaden on 2nd May 1864. In the following year, he was sent to jail for one month on 4th October
1865 for common assault. The prison record reveals the following information about him – age 28,
height 5’9”, with blue eyes and light colour hair. His profession was listed as a baker and his religion
was Protestant.
Charles was also arrested and sentenced to one month imprisonment at the same time in October
1865. His crime was attempting to rescue a prisoner – most likely his brother Samuel! – from police
custody. The prison record
gives a description of Charles as follows – age 23, height 5’7½”, blue eyes and sandy hair. His
profession is listed as a baker and his religion Protestant. Both brothers were resident in Borrisokane
at that stage.
Seven years later, in 1872, Samuel was resident in Cloughjordan and was again committed to prison
in May of that year for assaulting Ann Drury in the town. The prison record confirmed that he had
been in jail twice previously.
Despite his propensity for assault, Samuel lived to the ripe old age of 83 years. He is recorded in the
1901 Census as a widower and working as a servant for a grocer, Mary Anne Murnane, in Portroe,
Co. Tipperary. In 1911, he is back in Borrisokane and living with his son James and wife and family.
www.familysearch.org has recorded the death of Samuel Stanley in Borrisokane in the first quarter
of 1918.
Sheila Whelan
(nee Stanley)
March 2012.
i
Charles (“Brod”) Stanley 1884-1958 was my grandfather.