Thomas Howlett of Dublin

This is a post about my third great grandfather, Thomas Howlett (1828-1878).  Thomas was a National School Teacher in Wicklow and Dublin counties.

A National School was, and still is, a secular elementary school, or public primary school, fully financed by the government.  It was set up in the 1830s to accommodate the need for a non-religious schooling, an alternative to parochial schools administered by the Roman Catholic Church or the protestant Church of Ireland.

Thomas appears in the salary books ("pay books"), which I was able to locate at the National Archives in Dublin, October of 2019.  I learned that from 1860-1862, Thomas was employed at Glenealy National School in Wicklow.

Patrick Mullarney, Thomas' brother-in-law, was also a National School Teacher in Wicklow and Dublin during the same time as Thomas.  I suspect that this might be how Thomas met his wife Sarah, Patrick's older sister, in Wicklow.

From a variety of records, it's clear that his parents were Jacobi (aka James) and Elizabeth Howlett of Wexford.  The one baptismal record that seems to match is from Ballyculane, Wexford, dated 1840, with parents Jacobi Howlett and Margarita Commins.  However, his marriage and death records declare him to have been born in 1828.

ST. MARY'S PRO CATHEDRAL
Dublin City

It's interesting that Thomas and Sarah were married in January 1863, at St. Mary's Pro in Dublin City, and that they baptized their daughter there in August of the same year.  It's quite possible that this was a shotgun wedding, with Sarah being two months pregnant at her wedding, and also being 11 years younger than her groom.  This might have invited a variety of scandals.

Sadly, though, in 1865, about a year and a half after the birth of their daughter Lizzie, young Sarah died of tuberculosis, back at her home in Ballymanus.  Her death record states she had the disease for ten months before dying.  That must mean that she contracted it when her daughter was exactly one year old.  At the time of her death, she was under the care of her brother Patrick, who was the informant on her death record (and not Thomas).  It isn't very clear to me that Thomas and Sarah had any kind of strong relationship.  They likely met through the School connection, had an evening of intimacy and were forced to be married because of it, probably only knowing each other 2 or 3 years total.  Given that Sarah was highly contagious, it's also quite possible that she left Dublin City to go back home to Ballymanus, leaving her daughter and husband behind, so she wouldn't infect them.

KINSEALY NATIONAL SCHOOL
NORTH COUNTY DUBLIN

After Sarah's death, Thomas worked briefly at St. Peter's National School in Dublin in 1867, but soon afterward was working as a school teacher at Kinsealy School, and there he met a farmer's daughter by the name of Bridget Campbell.  They were married at Baldoyle Chapel in 1870.

BALDOYLE PARISH
NORTH COUNTY DUBLIN

Thomas had been promoted to schoolmaster at Kinsealy by 1877.  He died of accidental drowning in Artaine, North County Dublin, on 2 Jan 1878.

In 1889, his daughter Sarah had sailed to New England, and in the same year married my 2nd great grandfather, Mathew John Leonard of Portland Maine (originally of Dublin).  I wonder if they knew each other in Ireland.  Her father had spent many years working in Kinsealy, about five miles south of Portrane, where Mathew John grew up...

***

SOURCES:

National School Teacher Salary Books (1868-1890)
Civil Birth, Marriage and Death Records
Catholic Parish Records (Marriage and Baptism)
Maine Death Record of Elizabeth Howlett-Leonard

Thomas Mullarney of Wicklow

My 4th great grandfather was Thomas Mullarney of Ballymanus Upper Townland, in the Glenealy Parish of County Wicklow.  He was born around 1808 and died around 1877. 

In 1835, in Old St. Michael's of Rathdrum (church is no longer there), he was married to Elizabeth Ellis, and they were both living in Garrymore, Ballinacor, Wicklow at the time. 

It's unclear when they moved to Ballymanus, and became caretakers of one of Daniel Tighe's properties there, but it was certainly between 1835 and 1841.

I learned of this ancestor upon a trip to Ireland in October 2019, by procuring the death record of known ancestor Sarah Mullarney-Howlett, who was mother to my 2nd great grandmother, Lizzie Howlett-Leonard.  On Sarah's death certificate, it stated she died in Ballymanus Townland, and was wife of schoolteacher (Thomas Howlett).  This was a revelation to me, as all my Irish ancestral research had, up to that point, been confined to North County Dublin.

Once I studied a bit more about Sarah, I learned that her parents were Thomas Mullarney and Elizabeth Ellis, also of Wicklow.  The 1852 Griffith's Valuation matched up the name Thomas Mullarney, at House Lot 3 of Ballymanus Upper:

I paid a visit to the Valuation Office in Dublin, and managed to get a nice copy of the Valuation Map for Glenealy Parish, which was used for the above valuation document:

Griffith's Valuation Map
1852
Thomas Mullarney Lot (See Arrow at the bottom)
Click to Enlarge

Ballymanus Upper/Glenealy
2019 Aerial
(See Yellow Pin for Mullarney Lot)
Is an old house still there?

I was also able to look through the old cancellation books, to run the full chain of title from 1842-1978.  The landlord for the Mullarney House was Daniel Tighe, who was also a neighboring landowner/tenant (as you can see from the above roster).  The Mullarney lot was measured at 9 acres, 3 roods, and 0 perches (about the size of ten football fields).  The 9 acre land was long valued at 5 pounds sterling (inclusive of house).  The house situated on it was always known as the "Woodranger's House" in these cancellation books.  I would be very curious to learn which house this is, and if it's still there.  As of 1978, the house lot had been subdivided onto a smaller land, and was then owned by a Bernard Kelly.

In researching the other small number of Mullarneys living in Glenealy Parish during this time, I've come to believe that Thomas had brother named James (1823), and a daughter or niece named Eliza (1845).  Eliza had her own child in the Rathdrum Workhouse, named William in 1868 - no father listed, and Mullarney was listed as Eliza's maiden name.

Thomas was listed as caretaker of this particular property of Tighe's, and he appears in many petty court sessions in Ballymanus/Glenealy, where he complained of trespassers and thieves:

• In March of 1841, Thomas witnessed Francis and Dennis Toole trespassing on his tenant property, breaking a fence, and apparently stealing holly crops.
• Also in March of 1841, Thomas witnessed Phillip Doolin breaking a fence and stealing oak crops.
• In January of 1842, Thomas witnessed Mary Toole and Elizabeth Dowdall breaking the fence and stealing oak plants.
• In June of 1842, Thomas witnessed Luke Cullen stealing sod and a horse from his tenant property.
• October 1842, Thomas witnessed John Fitzpatrick stealing oak trees from his tenant property.
• In 1851, Thomas witnessed Keven Develin stealing heath from his tenant property.
• March of 1854, John Beety stole oak trees
• Sept 1857 and in June of 1862, Thomas was charged for allowing his mare to wander out into the street.
• October 1857, Thomas was accused by a local tailor Richard Byrne of threatening his life.
• April of 1860, Thomas witnessed the trespass of cattle onto his tenant lands, said cattle owned by James Bradshaw
• In January of 1865, Thomas owed Joseph Cowley for goods.
• June of 1866, Thomas stood up as witness for his son William Mullarney, who was accused of assaulting Mary Kerwin.  William served a week of hard labor.  William was also charged with assaulting George Booth in March of that year, and George Byrne in October of that year.  This may be the same William who died in Rathdrum 1871.
• August of 1867, Thomas was charged with public drunkenness, and had to pay a fine of one shilling.
• July 1868, Thomas was charged with having an unlicensed dog.  He licensed a male greyhound two days later
• March 1869, licensed a slate mongrel.
• July 1871, licensed a black sheepdog.
• June 1873, public drunkenness again.
• March 1874, licensed a brown mastiff.
• March 1876, licensed a black sheepdog

Whom I believe to be Thomas' brother or father, James Mullarney of Ballymanus, had a few run-ins with the law:

• In May of 1842, James trespassed onto Daniel Tighe's woods property in Ballymanus, and was convicted.  He had to stay in prison for a fortnight and pay a fine.
• In July of 1864, he struck Martin Cullen on the public road in Glenealy, and had to stay in jail for a week and pay a fine.
• In 1866, he landed in prison (unknown charge)

William Mullarney, mentioned above, who had spent a week in jail for assault, and who might be little brother or nephew to Thomas, also had a record:

• One Eliza Mullarney had a child named William in the Rathdrum Workhouse on 19 Feb 1868.  No father listed.  Was this a child of William's?  Or was this Eliza the same who was wife to Thomas?
• April and May of 1869, William was arrested twice for assaulting George Loftus Booth, although the cases were dismissed.

By 1877, Daniel Tighe's son, James, acquired title to the land, and most all other land in the Parish,  and at that point, Thomas Mullarney drifts off of title.  He had clearly lost the lease by then.  What is not so clear is what happened to him after that, or when he died.

Thomas Mullarney and his wife Elizabeth had five known children:

• My ancestor Sarah Mullarney-Howlett (1836-1865).  Sarah died quite young, of tuberculosis, about two years after giving birth to my 2nd great grandmother, Lizzie Howlett-Leonard (pictured below).
• Patrick Mullarney (1844-1906).  Patrick was a national schoolteacher, just like Sarah's husband, Thomas Howlett.  Patrick was also schoolmaster of Glencullen National School in South Dublin from 1881-1894.
• William Mullarney (1850-1871).  William was a troublemaker, and often accused of assaulting people.  He died quite young at Rathdrum, after one year of decline, and the informant on the death record was his brother Patrick.
• John Mullarney (1852-1901).  John had a large family and lived in Georges Quay of Dublin City.
• Thomas Mullarney (1854-1873).  Died as a teenager.

LIZZIE HOWLETT
(ABOUT 1883)
GRANDDAUGHTER TO THOMAS MULLARNEY

Given that his wife Elizabeth died in 1892, a widow, at aged 82, it seems reasonable to believe that Thomas Mullarney was born around 1808 (Wicklow parish baptismal records from that period are hard to find online), and could have died around 1877, some point after he lost the lease to the Tighe family.

Thomas was born about ten years after the execution of Billy Byrne of Ballymanus, who put this townland into history.  I wonder if his parents knew Billy (or were somehow related to him)?

Patrick and his family lived in Glencullen, Rathdown, South County Dublin (just a bit north of Wicklow), so perhaps Thomas died in that area too.

***
SOURCES:

1901 and 1911 Irish Censuses
Wicklow Cancellation/Revision Books
Griffith's Valuation
Catholic Parish Registers (Wicklow and Dublin)
Civil Birth, Marriage and Death Records
Petty Court Sessions (Wicklow)
Dog License Registers (Wicklow)
National School Salary Books (Wicklow and Dublin)

Mathew John Leonard (1854-1939)

Mathew John Leonard (1854-1939) was one of eleven children born to Mathew & Anna Leonard of The Burrow in Portraine/Donabate, County Dublin.

Mathew and two of his sisters (Elizabeth and Ellen) sailed from Londonderry England on the ship S.S. Caspian, arriving in Boston Harbor on April 8, 1881. He was part of the mass migration of Irish to New England for industrial jobs, in the wake of the Irish Potato Famine and Cholera outbreak of the mid to late 1800's.

While he was my first direct Leonard ancestor to set foot on American soil, he wasn't the first in his own family to arrive. His uncle, Thomas D. Leonard (nicknamed "Prod"), had already set up a florist shop on 648 Congress Street in Downtown Portland Maine in the 1850's.  Prod had escaped at the height of the Famine, which must have ravaged the Leonard family badly, and had bought up an entire block of land, including several side by side houses, to entice his family back in Portrane to come and join him.

Upon Mathew's arrival, he moved up to Portland and took residence in one of Prod's houses.  Mathew started work as a railroad freight handler (and later a watchman) at the Portland Terminal Company, where he worked the remainder of his life, as did his son Matthew Jr.. At that point in time, Portland was becoming a major railroad hub, where 6 main railroads began to intersect there.

PORTLAND TERMINAL COMPANY RAILROAD CAR (1937)

MATHEW JOHN LEONARD, SR.

Portland, Maine, circa 1888

It's unclear where Matthew lived from when he arrived in 1881 until 1887 (perhaps just crashing at his uncle Prod's house), but first record of his residences appears on 42 West Street (1887), which is the right side of this building below.  A pretty big place, so I wonder who he was living with (perhaps just his sisters).

40-42 WEST STREET
(1924)

40-42 WEST STREET
(2022)

Then he moved to 39 Salem Street for the year 1888, renting this house from his Uncle Prod, just around the corner from him.

37-39 SALEM STREET
(1924)

37-39 SALEM STREET
(2022)

Then he moved to St. John Street for the year 1889.

177 ST. JOHN STREET
(1924)

177 ST. JOHN STREET
(2022)

He met Elizabeth M. Howlett (1863-1911), a fellow Irish immigrant from Dublin City (not sure if they knew each other prior to arrival in Portland). Elizabeth was daughter to Thomas Howlett of Dublin and Sarah Mullarney of Wicklow.  Mathew and Elizabeth married in Portland in September of 1889, and then moved to 14 Briggs Street, where they rented from his Uncle Prod (who owned all the buildings on that block), down near the waterfront, just a few doors down from Prod's house on 2 Briggs Street. 

In 1914, a few years after his wife Lizzie died, Mathew purchased 8 Briggs Street (built around 1834) from his cousin Margaret Wade-Lee, a niece to Prod's wife Alice Wade.  That house had been in the Wade family for some time, since Alice's brother Patrick had purchased it.  I'm thinking maybe he didn't want to live in the same house he had shared with his wife while she was alive - or, maybe 8 Briggs was a bigger house, and could house his growing family. 

Below is a 1924 tax record for the house:

Mathew was known as "Old Matt" towards the end of his life (to distinguish himself from his son Matthew, obviously known as "Young Matt").  Old Matt was known to be a fairly large heavy set man with a very friendly disposition and a slight accent.  He retired from the railroad in 1929 at age 74.  Old Matt had trouble with a prostate hernia, which was very uncomfortable, and visible to everyone.  He also had been badly injured while at work on the Maine Central Railroad:

Portland Daily Press
June 8, 1894

Towards the end he became senile and had arteriosclerotic heart disease (as well as cerebral arteriosclerosis).  He spent the last two years of his life with this disease, living at Farrington Hospital for the indigent (now known as the Portland City Hospital, behind the Barron Center), until his death at age 84.

LEONARDS ON THE BEACH (circa 1900)
From Left to Right:

Mathew John Leonard, Sr.

Elizabeth Howlett-Leonard

Thomas Matthew Leonard

Mary Duran-Graney

(Mary was a family friend from Ireland, also moved to Portland

whose daughter Lizzie married Matthew John Leonard, Jr.)

Mathew John Leonard and Elizabeth Howlett had three children:

-Thomas Matthew Leonard (1891-1943) (my paternal great grandfather, named after his great uncle Prod) was a bit of a wayward soul. He worked as a janitor, cook, a fireman, a novelty supply shipper, and later as a porter at an advertising company, also having served for three days in the Army in WWI.  He purchased 8 Briggs Street from his father, and two months later married Agnes T. Peterson, born in Westbrook, Maine to Danish immigrants, in 1916. They had one child in Portland, my grandfather Thomas Edward Leonard (whose birth record somehow says Thomas Mathew Leonard Jr.). Thomas Mathew's father Mathew, as well as his own brother Mathew, lived at 8 Briggs Street with the family.  Thomas Mathew died of emphysema at on October 15, 1943, at age 52 (the anniversary of his own mother's death).  My great grandfather Tom was described to me as a tall, lanky man with dark blue eyes who always carried a pipe to smoke with, and was a heavy drinker.

-Sarah Gertrude Leonard (1892-1916) was nicknamed Sallie (which was a common nickname for Sarah at the time).  She married a laborer named Michael Peter Petroski, born in Detroit to Russian parents.  They married on August 20, 1914 when she was five months pregnant (it was also her brother Thomas' 23rd birthday...).  They had one son, Leonard Petroski, who died in infancy in 1914.  Sally died one year later of tuberculosis, at age 24.  Sallie and her son are buried in the family plot with her parents and brother (Thomas Matthew).  Her death record states that she had TB for two years, which would mean she had contracted it prior to her pregnancy.

-Matthew John Leonard, Jr., (1895-1985) worked at Portland Terminal Company with his father. He married Elizabeth B. Graney, daughter of Mary Duran and Patrick Graney, and part of the large group of Graneys that moved from Galway Ireland.  Young Matt and Lizzie lived nearby in Portland's West End. Prod's daughter (Elizabeth Ellen) also married a Graney from the neighborhood (she and her family ended up renting 2 Briggs Street from her father).  Young Matt had two sons, John and Richard.

ELIZABETH HOWLETT-LEONARD
(circa 1880)

SARAH LEONARD-PETROSKI

Wedding Day
(5 months pregnant)

August 20, 1914

LEONARDS ON BRIGGS STREET (8/20/1914)
From Left to Right:

Matthew John Leonard, Jr.

Sarah Leonard-Petroski

Michael Petroski

"Mystery Woman"

I THINK this is my great grandfather

Thomas Mathew Leonard

In the 1970's that entire block of Briggs Street (then owned by others) was deemed blighted, and taken by the City through eminent domain proceedings, and conveyed over to the Redevelopment Agency.  It was completely razed and public housing was created, with a large parking lot and playground.  I managed to find pictures of the old houses by using 1924 Portland Tax Records, and they can be found here.

2010 SITE OF FORMER LEONARD LOT
(formerly 2-14 BRIGGS STREET)

WEST END, PORTLAND MAINE

As for Uncle Prod, it's interesting that he had the means to make it to the USA, marry his wife Alice, father two daughters, as well as have a servant (Johnnie Murray), and own the entire Briggs Street block, all on a florist's income. Prod died in 1912. His estate took a long time to settle, and Old Matt was the executor on it through 1928.  Prod's two daughters, Mary Leonard-Haley and Elizabeth Leonard-Graney, successfully got Old Matt removed as executor on the estate (claiming that he was taking too long to settle it), and placed a third party in charge of the estate, despite Old Matt's formal complaint that they were embezzling from the estate before it could be settled.

Mathew's sister, Annie Leonard-Quinlan-Batchelder, had moved from The Burrow to Portland specifically to collect on Prod's estate.  She also meddled in Mathew's estate once he became senile, and, with the help of an attorney, got herself named Executrix of his estate, and managed to get his immediate family cut out of the Will.  The antics of Evil Old Annie were still talked about for many decades thereafter.

In 1939, just after Old Matt had died, Annie also managed to get the 8 Briggs Street property out from under his son Thomas Matthew (who had just mortgaged the property at $150, I guess he couldn't pay the mortgage).  Annie sold the property in July 1942, to Lucille Chase.  This was about a year before Thomas landed in Mercy Hospital with emphysema, where he died in October of 1943.  Since his death certificate stated that his residence was 8 Briggs Street, I'm assuming Lucille may have kept Thomas on as a tenant until his illness and death.

LEONARD FAMILY GRAVE

Calvary Cemetery, South Portland, Maine

The above gravestone was ordered by my grandfather, Thomas Edward Leonard ("Tommy"), in 1968...25 years after his father passed.  He placed it at the demand of his cousin, Matthew John Leonard, Jr., (Young Matt) who was aware that Tommy had received the bulk his own father's estate, yet had done nothing about a grave to date, even though it was stipulated as his father's wishes that he do this. 

What's a great shame to me is that for the other five people buried here (Matthew John Leonard, Sr., his wife Elizabeth, their daughter Sallie, her son Leonard Petroski, and Annie Batchelder), nobody had bothered to pay for an engraving of their names too. 

In May of 2015, I paid for the stone to be updated myself, thanks to the help of Maine Memorial (I hope the stone weathers enough to make this look more even someday):

Sources:

Maine Federal Naturalization Records
US Census Records
Portland Tax Records