Research furnished by Hibernian Research Co. Ltd, Ref - K - 281/FD, 28 October 1997
  
Anne Clonan, maiden name unknown, was born in County Meath or  Westmeath in the late eighteenth century. The first name of her husband is unknown but they had the following children: Julia born around 1835, Elizabeth born around 1843, Bridget, Patrick, Thomas. The youngest child Anna may also have been born in Ireland. The mother Anne was widowed while still in Ireland before the family emigrated to the United States sometime in the period 1848-1851.

The civil registration of births, marriages, and deaths in Ireland dates from 1864. In the period prior to civil registration, it is necessary to rely on the registers of baptisms and marriages maintained by the various churches.

As County Meath is thought to be the more likely place of origin of the Clonan family, the search was initiated in this county.

Griffith’s Valuation - County Meath

In order to produce accurate information necessary for local taxation, a great survey, the Primary Valuation of Ireland or Griffith’s Valuation, as it is known, was carried out between 1848 and 1864. It provided for a uniform valuation of all property in Ireland to be based on the productive capacity of the land and the potential rent of buildings. The Valuation is arranged by county, barony, poor law union, civil parish and townland, and lists every landholder and every householder in the country. Griffith’s Valuation for County Meath was published in 1855.

The name Clonan/Cloonan is quite rare in County Meath occurring only four times. The entries occurs in the following parishes:

• Parish of Kildalkey - once in Griffith’s Valuation, also in Tithe Book

• Parish of Killaconnigan - once in Griffith’s Valuation

• Parish of Tullaghanoge - once in Griffith’s Valuation

• Parish of Athboy  - once in Griffith’s Valuation

Parish Registers - County Meath

A search of even one parish register can be quite time consuming; however, the registers of County Meath have been indexed. Hence a search was carried out of all the parish registers of County Meath with particular emphasis on the parishes noted in Griffith’s Valuation. The following entries were noted in the Roman Catholic parish of Kildalkey:

Parish Register - Kildalkey 

Parish Register - Kildalkey - Baptismal Dates:

Based on the names of the children, there is no doubt that this family is relevant to this search.

Few Catholic registers records burials; however, the following record was noted in the Kildalkey register:  

Territorial Divisions  

The townland of Corballis is situated in the barony of Lune, the civil parish of Kildalkey and the registration district/poor law union of Trim. In terms of Roman Catholic divisions, it is situated in the Catholic parish of Kildalkey. The townland was the basic ‘address’ of a family and normally consisted of only ten to twenty families.

Griffith’s Valuation - townland of Corballis

As already noted, there is only one entry in Griffith’s Valuation for the parish of Kildalkey. This entry occurs in the townland of Corballis as follows:

Plot 5 b – Anne Clonan – rented from Charles Gasteen – house and garden – 0.0.20 acre – valued at 0.8.0.

As already noted, Griffith’s Valuation for County Meath was published in 1855; however, the actual survey probably dates from one to two years before this. The recording of Anne Clonan indicates that the family left Ireland later than originally thought.

Tithe Book - Townland of Corballis

The Tithe was a form of tax which was paid by people of all denominations for the purpose of maintaining the Church of Ireland which was the official Church of the state. Originally the tithe was paid ‘in kind’ but an Act of parliament in 1823 required it to be paid in cash. The amount set at ten percent of the produce for one year. To facilitate this, all agricultural land was surveyed and valued between 1823–37. Naturally these tithes were fiercely resented by non-members of this church, the vast majority of the population and resulted in much conflict and an eventual Tithe War.

There is no record of the name Clonan in this townland. (the name ‘Mathew Conlan’ is recorded and this may be a misspelling of the name Clonan.) In many cases the Tithe Book for the parish of Kildalkey only records major tenants.

Census of 1901 - Townland of Corballis

The only census records which have survived intact for the entire country are those of 1901 and 1911.

The census of 1901 was searched for the townland of Corballis. As expected, however, there was no record of the name Clonan at this time.

The neighboring townlands were also searched. There were two Clonan families recorded in the neighboring townland of Coolronon.

Griffith’s Valuation for the Surname Carty/Carthy

The name Carty/Carthy occurs thirty three times in County Meath. As the marriage of Mathew Clonan and Anne Carty took place in the parish of Kildalkey, it is likely that the Carty family was from this parish.

The Catholic parish of Kildalkey includes all or part of the civil parishes of Kildalkey, Killaconnigan, Killyon and Castlerickard. Within these parishes, the name Clonan occurs three times, all in the civil parish of Kildalkey. One or more of these entries are relevant to the family of Anne Carty.