Francis Leonard (1859-1945)

Francis Leonard (1859-1945) was baptized in April of 1859 at Donabate Parish.  He was son to Mathew Leonard and Anne Brien, of the Portrane Cottages, Burrow Road, Portrane, Donabate, Dublin.

Frank (known by his loved ones as Fransheen), was a great believer in Irish fairy culture, according to old Paddy Lynders who lived in the Burrow near Frank.

As mentioned in his father's blog post, the Leonards, although they didn't suffer as much as other families in Dublin during the Famine, they were certainly hit hard enough that many of the family sought employment overseas.  Thomas D. Leonard was the first to leave the Burrow of Portrane, in 1850, and started a successful florist business in Portland Maine.  After a couple decades there, Thomas had purchased an entire block of the West End of Portland (Briggs Street), built houses there, and summoned his family over.  His nieces and nephews heeded the call, and Frank sailed to Maine with his brother Mathew John in 1881, along with other siblings.  Frank lived in Portland for three years, having worked at JB Brown's sugar mill in Portland.  But, he missed Portrane, and moved back in 1884, living at the old family homestead at House 15 in the Burrow, eventually taking over the lease upon the death of his father Mathew in 1904.

According to Paedar Bates' Donabate and Portrane, a History, Frank was a member of the Gaelic Football Club of Donabate at some point.

Frank first married to a Catherine Kent of Rush, in 1898, and she died in Portrane of tuberculosis at age 27, in 1901.  They had no children.

ST. PATRICK'S RC CHURCH
DONABATE, DUBLIN
(courtesy of Peadar Bates)

On August 11, 1904, he married 17 year old Margaret Byrne (1887-1961), by pastor Anthony Murphy, at the newly erected St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church in Donabate (which had replaced the older and smaller one just across the street).  Margaret was born in Dublin, daughter of Joseph Byrne and Margaret Reilly of Balcunnin.

Frank and Margaret had eight children:

1.  Thomas Leonard (1905-1993) married Alice Cowley of Swords, and had three children, and at least 16 grandchildren.

TOMMIE LEONARD
(ABT 1980)

2.  Maria (1907-1909), died as a toddler.

3.  Margaret Mary Leonard (1910-2001), who married Michael Hoey (1900-1986) from Meath.  They had seven children.  Margaret and her family moved into the Rose Cottage owned by the Leonards.

4.  Elizabeth Agnes Leonard (1911-___), likely died young.

5.  Ellen (Nelly) Leonard (1914-____), who married Edward Willett.  Ellen is pictured above, second row, last girl on the right in this 1927 picture.

6.  Catharine (Kathleen) Leonard (1914-_____), never married.  She was a twin to Nelly.  Kathleen is pictured above, front row, first girl on the left in this 1927 picture.

7.  Agnes Leonard (1916-____),  who married a Daniel O'Rourke, and had two sons

8.  Alice Rosaline Leonard (1917-2004) (named after Frank's sister).  She married William McLoughlin in 1939, and had a daughter Ann.  She made a visit in 1964 to the Portland family, and she hosted her brother Mathew's and Elizabeth's children when they visited her in Donabate, Dublin.

Petty Court

On December 15, 1877, when he was 18, Frank filed a complaint against Charles Teeling, for failure to pay him his due wages (£13).

On March 1, 1913, the School Committee brought Frank to court because his son Tommy failed to attend school.

On June 19, 1915, Frank brought his sister-in-law (and neighbor) Mary into court because she hit him in the face with a shovel.  But she also brought a counterclaim against him for grabbing her by the back of the neck and throwing her violently against the hedge.  The case was adjourned until August, where neither of them appeared in court.

On November 4, 1916, neighbor Margaret Kelly assaulted Frank's wife Margaret, by pulling her by the hair across the floor.  Mrs. Kelly failed to appear in court.

On June 15, 1918, Frank brought his neighbor, Joseph Fulham, into court for hitting his son Tommy (aged 12).

Dog Licenses

Frank applied at least twice for dog licenses, in 1896 and 1898.  He owned red terriers (his father Mathew owned terriers as well, so Frank had grown up with them).

Based on the fact that Frank had marked "X" as informant of his father's death certificate (1904), his marriage license (1904), and also on his son Thomas' birth certificate (1905), it stands to reason he wasn't able to write - either during that time period, or permanently.

Frank farmed the land for most of his adult life.  At some point, the land was deemed unsuitable, though, and his son Thomas had to find other work.

In 1922, Frank and his family likely celebrated the liberation of the Irish Free State from the United Kingdom.  In the 1940s, about a year or two before he died, Frank acquired title to the Portrane Cottage that had been so long in the hands of the Estate of George Evans.  Upon his death in 1945, the fee land passed to his son Tommie, and is still in the hands of this family today.

Frank and Margaret are both buried at Old Donabate Parish Cemetery, next to an old limestone gravesite that may in fact be where his father Mathew is buried, and surrounded by grass (also potential other Leonard burial sites).

GRAVE OF FRANK & MAGGIE LEONARD
OLD DONABATE CEMETERY

MYSTERY GRAVE NEXT TO FRANK'S
(POSSIBLY HIS FATHER MATHEW'S)

***
SOURCES:

• Donabate and Portrane, a History, by Peadar Bates
• 1901 Census of Ireland
• 1911 Census of Ireland
• Baptisms, Parish Registers, Donabate
• Civil Birth Records, Balrothery, Dublin
• Civil Marriage Records, Balrothery, Dublin
• Civil Death Records, Balrothery, Dublin
• Memorials of the Dead, by Brian Cantwell
• Petty Sessions Dog Licenses
• Interment.net

The Leonards of Portrane Ireland

Leonard is an English surname, which was used to Anglicize Germanic, Scottish and Irish surnames between the 1500s and 1700s.

In Ireland, the name Leonard was used for a variety of Irish surnames, like Glennon, Lennon, and Lennan, which in many instances originally came from the Gaelic name O Leannain (derived from the word leann, which denotes a cloak).

My Leonard ancestors began inhabiting the Burrow Townland of Portrane Civil Parish (Port Reachrainn) at some point between 1760 and 1804, based on historical maps.

Portrane is a portion of the larger Donabate Catholic Parish, located in the Balrothery Poor Law Union of North County Dublin (and North Dublin has been known as Fingal since 1994, for administrative purposes).  Portrane did not suffer as much as most of Ireland did during the Famine, due to proactive farming practices.  Nobody died of hunger there, and their literacy rate during the Famine was at about 50%, which was higher than average.  Neighboring Ballisk Townland, for a comparison, had a 12% literacy rate during that same period.

1760 Map
Portrane
(Burrow on the right known as The Warren)
(No houses located on The Warren, when other houses are noted elsewhere in Portrane)

1804 Map of Portrane
(Burrow on the Left)
Note Charles Leonard listed as tenant here

1821 Map
The Leonard House is among the earliest structures appearing in the Burrow

1829 Map
Burrow Townland of Portrane
North County Dublin
(Leonard House is Shown with Red Arrow)

Portrane was owned by the Archbishop of Dublin up until the late 18th Century, whereupon it was purchased (seized) by Irish landowners (the Evans Family).  Captain Hampden Evans and his sons, George and Joshua, were the area's landlords (and influential politicians) up until the early 20th Century, and were known as benevolent landlords to the tenant farmers.

GEORGE HAMPDEN EVANS
PORTRANE LANDLORD

During this time, the Evans Family inhabited a glorious estate known as Portrane House, located in southern Portrane (Portrane Demesne), and reportedly took relatively good care of the many tenants in the Parish, including the Leonards.  After the turn of the century, due to a variety of land acts benefiting the post-Famine tenants, the Leonards, along with their neighbors, each were able to purchase their individual lands from the Evans family, with some help from the federal government.

In 1903, the Evans family had died off, or moved away, and their massive land holdings in Portrane Demesne were acquired by the Health Service Executive (HSE) in order to install a satellite facility to handle the overflow of patients being admitted to Richmond Asylum at Grangegorman in Dublin City.  This new facility was called Portrane Asylum (now known as St. Ita's).  The Asylum has long been one of the main employers of Portrane, and is the workplace of many of the Leonards and their neighbors.  While St. Ita's stopped admitting inmates.

ST. ITA'S

The eldest Leonard ancestors I've traced to date are Thomas Leonard and his wife (maiden name Byrne).  Thomas was born in 1773, but it's unknown at present if he was born in the Burrow, or if he had moved there as an adult.  Given maps of 1760 showing no houses drawn on them, when houses were drawn in other parts of Portrane on the same map, it is understood that the Burrow was uninhabited in 1760 (and was then known as The Warren, due to the large number of rabbits living there).  Myxomatosis killed off the Burrow rabbits in the 1960's, however hares have made something of a return in recent time. 

Per the above map, certainly by 1804, the Leonard Homestead (aka Portrane Cottages), had been established and was being leased to Thomas' elder brother, Charles Leonard, along with a farm lot across the road (these lots were called Burrow Gardens).  While the Burrow was certainly hit by the potato Blight, it apparently wasn't as bad as it could have been.  Nobody in the Burrow died of hunger.

When Charles died (at some point before 1847), his nephew Patrick took over the leases (not sure why Patrick's father Thomas wasn't viewed as equipped for this).  In April of 1865, Thomas died of old age (92 years) at the Cottages, and in August of that year, his son Patrick died at the Balrothery Workhouse.  Patrick's eldest son, Mathew (my 3rd great grandfather) took over the lease and farm lot from his father, until his own death in 1904, whereupon the lease passed to Mathew's son Francis.  By the time of Francis' death in 1945, the Leonard family finally owned the Portrane Cottages, and are still owned by them to this day, marking a 7th generation of Leonard ownership, as of 2019.

Many of the Leonards and their neighbors of the Burrow are buried at Old Donabate Cemetery, and many of these burials are without memorial, as can be seen in this night time shot from 2019 (note the old Donabate Parish church (1803-1903) is next to the graveyard, and the new larger church (built 1903), looms in the background, across the street.

The view of this graveyard is taken from Smyth's Bridge House, a structure which has been here since 1842, and has long been the local watering hole of the Leonard kin.