Charles & Thomas Leonard (18th Century Migrants to the Burrow)

By 1788, brothers Charles and Thomas Leonard were the first of my Leonard family to have migrated to the Burrow Townland (then called the "Warren," due to the large number of rabbits on the land prior to human settlement).

Their lease for the Leonard lands, the farming of the lands, and the initial building of the Leonard houses (Century Cottage and Rose Cottage), was all held in ownership by Charles, on land leased to them by the local Evans Family of Portrane Demesne (just south of the Burrow).  The original landowner was Eyre Evans (1682-1750), who had relocated from Cork.  Such land was granted to him by the Archbishop of Dublin around 1722, and was kept in the Evans family until 1946, when it finally was conveyed to Frank Leonard's widow Maggie.

According to various parish registers, Charles Leonard (born approximately 1765) appears to have been married three times, and had four children:

• With first wife Elizabeth, Charles had two boys Thomas (1788-) and Richard (1792-).
• With second wife, Eleanor Tallon, Charles had Mathew (1795-) and Mary (1797-).
• June 1800 marriage record shows Charles marrying an Anne West.  No subsequent children.

See below 1804 map of the Burrow lots.  The land that on the right side of Burrow Road is labeled Charles Leonard (that's the house lot), as well as across the street (that's the farm lot).  These farmlots were called "Burrow Gardens".  These were narrow stretches of gardens which locals leased and grew vegetables for their own use. It was probably because of this that there were few deaths if any during the Great Famine of the mid-19th Century. You can see that Charles Leonard possessed over 3 acres in the area.

1804 Map of the Burrow of Portrane
(formerly known as the Warren)

Charles' brother, Thomas (1773-1865) (my 5th Great Grandfather), was, according to oral tradition, has married to a woman by the last name of Byrne.  Thomas had three children in the Burrow:

1.  Patrick Leonard, my ancestor (1795-1865), who took over the house lot and farming from his uncle Charles.

2.  Mary Leonard (1804-_____) married Thomas Finegan, and had six children in the Burrow.

3.  Thomas Leonard, Jr., who drowned (according to Patrick's great grandson, Thomas).

Thomas died of dysentery, a widower, at age 92, at home in the Portrane Cottages.

***

Ireland, Catholic Parish Registers

Ireland, Civil Registrations (Deaths)

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

Patrick Leonard of the Burrow (1795-1865)

Patrick Leonard was born in 1795 at the Portrane Cottages in Burrow Townland, son to Thomas Leonard (who was the first Leonard to arrive in the Burrow, along with his brother Charles).

Patrick was a tenant farmer to Irish landowner Joshua Evans, and had at least seven children with his wife Elizabeth Horish:

1. Mathew Leonard (1819-1904) (my 3rd great grandfather), who inherited the land from his father Patrick upon his death in 1865.  Mathew married Anna O'Brien of Blanchardstown, and had eleven children, most of whom migrated to Portland Maine in the 1880s to be with their uncle Prod (see below).  Two of these children (Frank and Patsy) came back home to Portrane to take over ownership of the houses upon Mathew's death.  During the time of Mathew, according to the 1901 Census, the family house had only two rooms, and outside there was a cow house, a stable, a fowl house (referred to as out-offices by the Census).  By the time of the 1911 Census, Mathew's son Frank had the homestead, and had added a second cow house to the out-offices.

2. Elizabeth Leonard (1824-__), who married a John Harrison.  I wonder if John was a relative of Eleanor Harrison, the wife of the landlord?  There was a James Harrison in Donabate Parish records whose son Nicholas had Mathew Leonard as his godfather in 1850.  Elizabeth had some issues with her elder brother, Mathew, according to court records.  Apparently Mathew was often litigious against his sister, and others in the Burrow, for letting her chickens onto the crops on his property.

3. John Leonard (1826-after 1897) appears in a Donabate Parish baptismal record on April 16, 1826.  He may be the same John Leonard of South Dublin who married Lucy Dunne in 1867, since on this marriage return, he named his father to be Patrick Leonard.  He may also be the father to a John Leonard (1854-1906) who died at Portrane Mental Asylum (St. Ita's).  John appears in at least five Burrow dog license registers:

• March 1878, black and tan terrier
• March 1894, blue terrier
• May 1895, red terrier
• March 1896, grey and white terrier
• March 1897, two red and white terriers (one male, one female)

4. Thomas D. Leonard, (1828-1912) nicknamed "Prod," a gardener who emigrated in 1850 to Portland Maine, and married Alice Wade.  Prod started the wave of Leonards in his family moving to Portland from Portrane.

5.  Ellen Leonard (1829-___) (and her husband Thomas Keane) are offering their son Patrick for baptism September 10, 1848.  Mathew Leonard is listed as godfather, so it's quite likely that Ellen is another daughter of Patrick.

6.  Mary Leonard (1831-___) appears in a Donabate Parish baptismal record on April 9, 1831.

7.  Charles Leonard (1834-____) appears in a Donabate Parish baptismal record on November 25, 1834.

Patrick (aka "Pat") appears on the Burrow tithe books in 1833 below:

A word about the tithe system from above:

From 1823 to 1838, there was a law called the Tithes Composition Act.  This required all Irish citizens to pay a monetary compensation to benefit the Irish Anglican Church (instead of an amount representing a portion of fee land holdings), regardless of whether the citizens attended this church.  I believe my ancestor Pat Leonard was a Catholic, so it's likely that he is listed above as having paid money to a church he didn't attend.  There was a rebellion in the 1830s whereby the peasants refused to tithe the church.  The rebellion was so popular that Great Britain couldn't enforce the Act.  In 1838, the Act was repealed, and a new law was put in place, requiring all Landlords to do the titheing.  Of course, Landlords simply raised the rent on their tenant farmers in response.  But it calmed the masses, as they didn't feel robbed by the Crown.

See Patrick's listing below on line 22 and 34 of the Burrow section of the 1847 Griffiths Valuation, where it shows the Burrow's majority landlord to be Joshua Evans, Esq. (who was also then a Commissioner to the Court of Bankruptcy).

Also below are the Wade and Smart families, also figuring into the Leonard family:

Patrick died in the Balrothery Workhouse in 1865 (just a few months after his father Thomas died at the Portrane Cottages).  I have yet to review the Minute Books from this place, now available online, to try and learn more about Patrick's time there.  While none of the Leonards died of starvation, it's clear that there were financial troubles stemming from the Famine, and the Workhouse was often a place for people to go when they needed care or a place to live.  It's interesting to me that Patrick had still owned the houses in Portrane at the time, which passed to his son Mathew after his death.  Was the house too crowded for Patrick?  Was there a disagreement with his son?  Did he need some kind of care that Mathew couldn't provide?  I may never know.

BALROTHERY UNION WORKHOUSE
NORTH COUNTY DUBLIN
(NOW IN RUINS)

Across the road from the Workhouse is a mass grave with a single tall Celtic cross, bearing no names, but erected in 1918 "to the memory of the many unfortunate people who lie buried in this sad place."

I wonder if Patrick is buried in this mass grave, or if he is buried alongside his other family at Old Donabate Cemetery?

Leonards of Portland, Maine

As discussed in other blog posts, the surname "Leonard" is of English origin, but was also used for Anglicizing the German surname "Leonhardt", and the Irish surname "Lennan", which was rooted in the Gaelic "O'Leannain"...among other uses.

There have been Leonard families living in Portland Maine (most of them around the corner from each other in the Irish West End) since the migration during the Great Famine, yet there were a very few Leonards that appear in earlier records.  In addition to my own Irish Leonard family, I will seek to trace and number the larger Leonard families of Portland in order to eventually determine whether or not any of them may be linked to mine or to each other, perhaps enlisting the help of some of this blog's readers.  Families for which I've established a blood connection I've numbered similarly.

1A.  The Thomas D. Leonard Family of Dublin

Thomas D. Leonard (1828-1912) was my 2nd great grand uncle, who came from Portraine, Dublin, Ireland in 1850, during the Famine's height, and managed to set himself up quite well as a florist and private gardener, buying up a large block of Portland's West End (Briggs Street).  These properties stayed in the Leonard family for 80 years, having been rented, sold and/or bequeathed to his extended family who came over from Portraine, and their own families.  In the 1920s, these properties gradually began being rented and sold off to Polish immigrant families (many of whom were friends to the Leonards).  Thomas married twice, had five children, four grandchildren, and one great grandchild.  He has no living descendants, the last to die being Thomas Leonard Graney in 1972.  More can be read about this family here.

1B.  The Mathew John Leonard Family of Dublin

MATHEW JOHN LEONARD
AROUND 1881, JUST AFTER EMIGRATING FROM DUBLIN

Mathew John Leonard (1854-1939) was my 2nd great grandfather, who came from Portraine, Dublin, Ireland in 1881, along with his siblings Patrick, Francis, Elizabeth and Ellen, to live near his uncle Thomas in Portland's West End (see above paragraph).  Mathew worked on the railroad and made his own beer at home (useful during the Prohibition era) in the back of his house on Briggs Street.  He married once, had three children, four grandchildren, five great grandchildren, at least 13 great great grandchildren, and two more generations after that.  With this respectable number of descendants, Mathew only has five living male heirs, including myself, none of whom are going to have additional male heirs.  More can be read about this family here.

2.  The Owen Leonard Family of Cork

Owen Leonard (1827-1903) was from County Cork, Ireland, born to Patrick & Dorothy Leonard.  He arrived in 1848, another Famine refugee.  He also lived in Portland's West End, among my Leonards (I wonder if the question was ever raised about potential relations).  Owen married Ellen Coughlin, and had at least seven children (John A. "Chubby" Leonard, Eugene W. Leonard, Mary E. Leonard-Coyne, Johanna F. Leonard-Owens, Nellie, Kate, Maggie), at least six grandchildren (John A. Leonard, Jr., Joseph B. Coyne, Ella A. Coyne, Catherine Coyne, Ellen Owens, and Eva Owens-Savage), and multiple successive generations.  

Chubby got into quite a bit of trouble, with break-ins and robberies:

Portland Daily Press
Sept 16, 1867

Portland Daily Press
Apr 21, 1875

Portland Daily Press
May 17, 1876

Portland Daily Press
Jan. 13, 1888

Chubby's son, John A. Leonard Jr., is of particular interest to me, because he had two daughters (Mary and Elizabeth, pictured below), and Mary bears a very striking resemblance to my Leonard family.

MARY CLEMENT LEONARD
(1910-1999)
Possible Cousin?

ELIZABETH LEONARD-NEY
(1917-2009)

These (and many other) pictures, with names thoughtfully written on the back, had been found in a shoebox of an elderly lady who had passed away in Portland.  Due to my interest in this surname, I was forwarded these pictures in 2011 by a granddaughter of hers, who happens to be my distant cousin from a separate line, and a fellow researcher.  Since these girls' ancestor came from County Cork, and my ancestor came from County Dublin, I'm tempted to pass off their resemblance to my family as mere coincidence.  However, I've separately researched an Irish Thomas Leonard born in Gibraltar, Spain, 1779, who supposedly had ties to County Cork and County Dublin, and was a Colour Sergeant of the York Chasseurs who eventually settled in Perth, Canada.  According to family tree drawings collected in Dublin during a WWI visit there from my great grand uncle, Mathew John Leonard, Jr., that our furthest back ancestor was Thomas Leonard, from Spain...but all documentation I've read on the York Chasseurs doesn't indicate if Thomas had any Dublin children.  Further, in my correspondence with Nicole, a purported descendant of Thomas' Cork children, she wasn't able to verify if this famous Thomas had any children in County Dublin.  She also couldn't verify that an Owen Leonard of Cork was part of this family.  It would certainly be interesting to believe that this Thomas was father to all of them, and I'd like to find out for certain in my lifetime.


3A.  Samuel Stephen Leonard

Samuel Stephen Leonard, born in Portland in 1803, worked as a blacksmith, and enlisted in the Army in September of 1824, but deserted in 1826.  Samuel moved to Schuyler County, Illinois at some point before 1850.  He died of pneumonia in Wayland, IL, at 72 years of age, leaving a wife and seven children (he also had a previous marriage which bore him an additional seven children).  He was proprietor of what was known as the old Skidmore Hotel, on the northeast corner of the square in Brooklyn Township, IL. He was the supervisor of Brooklyn Township at one point, and was a leading and influential citizen of the community where he resided.  His brothers, Abraham and Albert Gallatin Leonard, lived in Windham, Maine, as did his uncles Samuel and Charles.

Some better documented accounts point Samuel's parentage to a William Leonard, a blacksmith, of Portland, but this has been disproven by descendants of Samuel, and the running theory is that Samuel's father was an Abraham Hayden Leonard of Windham (more on him below).

SOURCE: History of Monmouth and Wales, Volume Two by Harry H Cochrane, published 1894. (Albert G Leonard died in Monmouth, ME in 1880.), page 390.


3B.  Abraham Hayden Leonard of Windham and Portland

Abraham Hayden Leonard (born 1768 in Springfield, Mass) lived in Windham and married a Nancy Stevens in 1801 in Portland.  Nancy died in Portland in 1807, and then Abraham remarried to a Susannah Dyer in 1808 (also of Portland).  Abraham always remained in Windham, and was not a permanent Portland resident.  Some descendants of Samuel Stephen Leonard above believe Abraham to be Samuel's father.

Abraham was a descendant of the noted Leonard family of Taunton Massachusetts (as were potentially many others in this writing), descending from John Leonard (1615-1675) who immigrated in 1639 from Pontypool, Monmouthshire, Wales to Springfield, Mass.

Source:
A genealogical history of Robert Adams, of Newbury, Mass: and his descendants, 1635-1900, by Andrew Napolean Adams, 1 Jan 1900, Google Books; Online
Genealogical and Family History of the State of Connecticut (, 1911), University of Connecticut Libraries, Vol 1, Pgs 232-233.
Descendants of William Scott of Hatfield, Mass., 1668-1906 by Orrin Peer Allen, 1906.
Massachusetts, Springfield Vital Records, 1638-1887, FamilySearch.org.
North America, Family Histories, 1500-2000, Ancestry.com.


3C.  William Leonard Family of Randolph Massachusetts

William Clarence Leonard (1856-after 1920) was born in Randolph Massachusetts, son to John Warren Leonard of Randolph and Susan Thornton of Appleton, Maine.  Somewhere just prior to 1880, after his father died, William, his mother, and his wife Martha Dyer lived in Portland, Maine, and had a daughter, Stella Leonard-Elliott.  William's brother, Ernest W. Leonard, also moved to Portland at that time (after living in Appleton for a stint).  Ernest married Charity Coffin, and had one baby, Alice, who died at four months, then had four other children in Portland (William, Edna, Ernest Jr., and Leroy).  At some point between 1890 and 1900, Ernest moved his family to Cambridge, Mass.  No Leonards remained in Portland from this group.  William Clarence's great grandfather was Seth Leonard, born 1782 in Plymouth.  Seth was a descendant of the Taunton Leonards from Wales, which I'm separately related to.

3D.  Reverend George Washington Leonard of Raynham Massachusetts

George (1802-1831) was son to Eliakim Leonard of Raynham Massachusetts, and is also a descendant of the Taunton (Raynham Forge) Leonards originally from Wales.  George married Abbie Spencer of Raynham, and moved north to Portland, where they are buried.  George was a minister at First Baptist Church in Portland (which is likely what caused the move).  They had one daughter, Caroline Ranstone.  

4.  The Thomas Leonard Family of Meath

Thomas Leonard (1807-1873) and his wife Mary (1814-1869) migrated from County Meath, Ireland to Deering/Westbrook, Maine just prior to 1840.  They had at least five children (Patrick, James H. Leonard, Margarete, Merrill & Mary E.), the first four of which were born in Ireland.  Thomas naturalized in 1855.  Their children moved to Portland and lived in the West End among my ancestors and other Leonards in the late 1800s.  Thomas and Mary are both buried in Evergreen Cemetery.  Thomas died of heart disease and Mary died of consumption.  It appears that Mary lived in the poor house in Portland for the 1850 and 1860 Census, and was listed as 'insane'.  They also apparently got into some trouble for drunkenness, per the below.

Portland Daily Press
Jan 4, 1871

5. The Patrick Leonard Family of Ireland

Patrick Leonard (1827-1892) was a laborer who migrated to Portland in the 1840s.  He was born in Ireland to John Leonard and Ellen McGowan.  Patrick lived in a boarding house owned by Mary Preble in 1850, and then married a woman named Catharine soon thereafter.  Their son Thomas died at age two, and their daughter Ann (1858-?) married John Dow.  They lived on Federal Street and Patrick was listed as unable to read or write.  He and his wife Kate got into trouble for intoxication a few times during 1873, per the below newspaper clippings (and Patrick appears in several listings from 1870-1872 for public drunkenness and nuisance).  

Portland Daily Press
July 10, 1873

Portland Daily Press
Aug 14, 1873

Portland Daily Press
Sep. 19, 1873

In November of 1885, after a night of drunkenness and debauchery, Patrick wound up in jail for the night, and Catharine was found dead the next day.

Portland Daily Press
Nov. 9, 1885

Patrick himself died in 1892 of phthisis.

6.  Jacob Leonard (1780-1843)

Jacob was African American barber who lived at Hancock Alley, and is buried at Eastern Cemetery.  No additional records available for Jacob.

7.  Beverly Leonard Family of Canada

Beverly Leonard (male) and his wife Emma migrated from Canada in 1926 with their son Gardner, and lived on Ellsworth Street in Portland's West End.  These are English Leonards, and therefore no relation that I can tell.


8.  Edward Leonard Family of England

Edward Leonard of England lived on Coyne Street with his son Edward, Jr., for the 1930 Census.


9A.  Leo Leonard Family of Albion Maine

Leo Melvin Leonard (1876-1971) was born and raised in Albion, Kennebec County, Maine, son to farmer George P. Leonard, a third generation Leonard farmer from Albion.  The furthest back this research appears to go is to John Leonard, born in Maine 1750, who was a Rev. War veteran who moved to Albion after the war, to farm and start his family.  It's unclear if this John was of Irish or English heritage.  It's most likely that he was English, because in 1750 there weren't as many Irish immigrants as English with that name.  Leo spent some time working as an attendant at the Danvers Massachusetts Mental Hospital (1900 Census), and came back to Albion, and married Margaret Flynn, where he there worked as a mail clerk.  He and Margaret moved to Portland and had three children who survived to adulthood (Leo Blair Leonard, Hazel E. Leonard, and Joseph Henry Leonard).  This family lived on Roberts Street, over near St. John's Street.  Leo also worked at the nearby Union Station Terminal as a railroad clerk.


9B.  Merton Leonard of Albion Maine

Merton Leonard (1884-1952) was younger brother to Leo Melvin Leonard above.  He and his wife, Edith McKinney, migrated south from Albion to Portland, Maine (9 Whitney Avenue) between 1900 and 1910.  He worked as a locomotive engineer at Maine Central Railroad and also as a fireman.  They moved back to Albion between 1933 and 1940.  No children.  Merton was described on his WWI draft card as being 6'3" with blue eyes and black hair.


10.  Levi A. Leonard Family of Massachusetts

Levi (1828-1887) migrated from Mass. in the 1850s, worked as a boatman at the Portland Customs House, and later served in the last year of the Civil War Navy.  He was married three times, and had at least five children, none of whom appear to have survived to adulthood.  For the 1870 and 1880 censuses they were living at 19 Vine Street.  He died of consumption.  Levi's parents were also from MA, so it's likely this was an English family, since the Irish generally didn't emigrate to the USA until after the 1840s.


11.  James Leonard Family of Canada

James W. Leonard and his wife Celina were French Canadians who migrated to Portland in 1881.


12.  Bernard Leonard

A Bernard Leonard (??-1963) lived on Congress Place in Portland, but also lived in South Portland and Freeport.


13.  Jeremiah Leonard Family of England and Ireland

Jeremiah P. Leonard (1839-1915) was a coachman and hostler born in England.  He lived briefly in Ireland where he likely met his wife, Ellen Foy.  Their first child, John, was born in Ireland in 1860.  In 1867 Jeremiah and family moved to 243 Danforth Street, in Portland, Maine, where they then had Joseph Leonard, followed by Fenwick T. Leonard (1868-1929) and Christopher W. Leonard (1872-1939), who both worked as motormen.  Jeremiah died of arteriosclerosis.  His death record states that he lived in Canada at one time.  It doesn't appear that any of his four children bore him any grandchildren.


14.  William Leonard of 1874

A William Leonard married a Catherine A. Henry in Portland in 1874.  No further information found as yet.


15.  Charles W. Leonard (1889-1969)

Charles was originally from Milo, Maine, but moved to Portland and married his wife Marjorie in the 1910s.  He enlisted in WWI, and eventually moved to Cape Elizabeth by 1930, where he had five children.

Summary of Discoveries

This post is intended for my immediate family, who might wish to get a general idea of "where they come from", and learn of some of the discoveries we've made to date about our shared ancestral history.  Below is one summary for each of the four main family names ("surnames") in our family, which will contain references to other families of interest.

There are many hyperlinks to other pages on this blog if the reader wishes to explore further.  Any text that is colored in orange can be clicked on, and a new research page is displayed covering that topic in more detail. These links contain particular stories we've uncovered (or heard told) of our ancestors, along with hundreds of old photographs of people, places (then and now), houses, and historical artifacts, as well as visual diagrams of family trees.  

At any time, the reader can always use the search box to the right of the screen to see what has been written about a particular ancestor.  Also, each page has been tagged with family names, so the reader can easily scroll down on the right side of any page, and click on a surname in order to retrieve all the pages associated with that family name.

This blog has been a continued source of enjoyment for me since 2009.  It is a great way for me to practice my biography writing; and, using a narrative style helps me make sense of some of the context of the vast amount of information at my fingertips.  I'm constantly editing and updating these pages as I uncover more information.

Yet none of this would be possible without the help of many dozens of other cousins and other researchers who have shared their research with me, or who have given their time to looking for materials for me in their hometowns - such materials which cannot be found online or through mail order.  This blog is just as much an interactive project as it is a tribute to our shared ancestors, and I hope it shall continue to develop over the years as more researchers stumble upon these pages...

LEONARD

Our surname Leonard used to be the Irish "Lennan" in Dublin during the late 1600s, before the Brits changed it. (this I confirmed with Y-DNA testing, and as of November 2014 this line is associated with Haplogroup R-P312, but the group keeps changing as the research gets more specific)  Many centuries before that, it was the Gaelic "O'Leannain".  Many Leonards appear to have an artistic temperament, and are keenly interested in painting, music, and flowers (also drinking).  The Leonards in our family are very few and far between in America, and are dying out.  I'm one of the last five male Leonards descending from our immigrant ancestor, Mathew John Leonard of Portraine, Ireland, hard working railroadman and beer maker.  Five male heirs remain, and none are likely to have any male heirs themselves. The surname will probably die with me.  Our immigrant, however, had many siblings in Portraine, one of which has dozens of living heirs still at the old Leonard Homestead, and in the surrounding area.  We believe that this Leonard line is influenced by the "Black Irish", being potentially linked to Spanish blood many centuries back; but, the only confirmation we have of that was that our ancestors from there were dark haired, and not red haired.  The theory of the Spanish Armada and its influence on Ireland is often overstated, so it will have to be a tall tale for now.  The Leonards and their associated Irish Catholic families (Smart, Devine, Wade, and Graney) were very well represented in the West End of Portland Maine from 1870-1940, and some of the remaining descendants removed to South Portland.  My grandfather, the Pearl Harbor veteran Thomas Edward Leonard, was a 'half breed', since his father was from the Irish Leonard family, and his mother was a Danish girl whose parents were from Aalborg in northwestern Denmark, and Skroebelev, in southern Denmark.  I've been fascinated with the Danish link for years now, and have met many of our distant and very friendly Mortensen cousins in New Hampshire who descend from the same Danish immigrants, who were largely all sawmill workers residing in Berlin NH.  In 2012, my travels brought me to Aalborg and Skroebelev - and I have visited the churches and villages where they came from, and the graveyard where some of them are laid to rest.  Many in my immediate family refer to the "Leonard Look", given the very striking shared physical traits among us, and many of our cousins (chubby cheeks, long face, deep circles under the eyes).  I've come to believe that this look is actually coming from our Danish heritage, after having met many of these distant cousins in NH in person and receiving many dozens of old photos.  So it's really the "Mortensen Look", if you ask me. If you click around the hyperlinks in here, you will find old photographs which illustrate my point.

FULLER

The English Fuller name is overwhelmingly well represented in New England and elsewhere, and is one of the most common colonial names in the region, so many genealogists have published volumes for us, leaving a lesser burden of research than the Irish and Danish connections above.  Our Fuller immigrant was Edward Fuller of the Mayflower, who traveled from the small town of Redenhall, England with his brother, Dr. Samuel Fuller.  While Edward died the first winter in the New World (like many from that ship), his son Matthew (who came over a bit later) had many thousands of descendants, all of whom are our distant cousins.  The six children of Harold Fuller (Nana's brother) each have had some interest in ancestry passed down from their father, and they've been very kind and interactive with me in the research.  There are many interesting connections.  The Fullers intermarried with the farming Osborn family of Fairfield and Winslow Maine (distant cousins still remain there today) who were Revolutionary War patriots from East Hampton, Long Island, New York (and whose ancestors before them were originally from Ashford, Kent, England).  Our Fuller line is also connected to Lady Godiva, famous exhibitionist and activist.  Also, our particular Fuller line is additionally descended from John Alden of the Mayflower (along with his wife and her parents).  This Alden line later connected down to the Burrill line of central Maine.  The Burrills intermarried with the Osborns, who intermarried with the Fullers, and all three families contain many direct ancestors.  There are many instances of cousins marrying here (which is not as genetically problematic as people think).  Also connected to the Fuller line is the Murch line, which is a colonial Maine family from Gorham and Rockland, who are also connected to the famous Jameson line, Revolutionary War patriots of Scotch-Irish descent, and who were founding members of many towns in Maine (Rockland, Friendship, and Cape Elizabeth to name a few), along with the McLellans (also Scotch-Irish) who were wealthy landowners in historic Portland.  Our Murch line is directly descended from Susannah Martin, the oldest person be executed during the Salem Witch Trials of 1692, and also the Welsh born Leonards (no relation to our irish Leonards above) but who were founders of the towns of Taunton and Raynham Massachusetts, and creators of the Leonard Forge - the first iron forge in America, and a premier iron supplier during the Revolution.  This Leonard line directly descends from John of Gaunt, son to Edward III of the Plantagenet line.  This Murch line is also of multiple Mayflower descent.  They are linked to the Stephen Hopkins family (the same Hopkins who discovered Bermuda) and also the Francis Cooke line.  Therefore, Nana (Lorena Bell Fuller-Leonard) was of pure colonial stock (with some Scottish and German blood, from the Holland family), and had ten Mayflower passengers in her direct ancestry.  Our Fuller/Murch line is probably filled with the most historical wealth of anywhere else in our tree.  They were early Christian Scientists, dry goods merchants, property owners, and railroad engineers.  Other related surnames of interest would be the Bell family of Scotland by way of Nova Scotia, Canada and Dover, Maine, and the Beans of New Hampshire, our ancestor of whom was a Scottish prisoner of war and sold as a slave upon arrival in the New World.  This ancestor has links to Scottish and English royalty, Robert the Bruce and the MacBeans of Scotland, the Plantagenets, the Normans and the Anglo Saxon Kings of England, ancient France, ancient Ukraine and Sweden, and ancient Germany.

Nana's ten Mayflower ancestors:

1. John Alden
2. Priscilla Mullins (his wife)
3. William Mullins (her father)
4. Alice Mullins (his wife)
5. Edward Fuller
6. Mrs. Edward Fuller (his wife)
7. Francis Cooke
8. Stephen Hopkins
9. Elizabeth Fisher (his wife)
10. Constance Hopkins (Stephen's daughter)

Blood Connections to Notable People (via Nana's ten Mayflower connections):

• 2nd President John Adams is my 3rd Cousin, 8 times removed.  Our shared ancestor was John Alden of the Mayflower.
• 6th President John Quincy Adams is my 4th Cousin, 7 times removed.  Our shared ancestor was John Alden of the Mayflower.32nd President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was my 9th cousin once removed.  Our shared ancestors was Francis Cooke of the Mayflower.
• 21st President Chester A. Arthur was my 6th cousin five times removed, and a descendant of Susannah Martin, just like Nana.  Susannah Martin was hanged for being a witch in the Salem Witch Trials of 1692.
• 32nd President Franklin Delano Roosevelt is my 9th Cousin, once removed.  Our shared ancestor was Francis Cooke of the Mayflower.
• 41st President George Herbert Walker Bush is my 18th cousin.  Our shared ancestors were Edward the 1st, King of England and Francis Cooke of the Mayflower.
• 43rd President George Walker Bush is my 18th cousin, once removed. Our shared ancestor was Edward the 1st, King of England and Francis Cooke of the Mayflower.
• Poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was my 5th cousin 6 times removed.  Our shared ancestor was John Alden of the Mayflower.
• Author Henry David Thoreau was my 6th cousin 4 times removed.  Our shared ancestor was Francis Cooke of the Mayflower.
• Filmmaker Orson Welles was my 8th cousin, 3 times removed.  Our shared ancestor was John Alden of the Mayflower.
• Actor Dick Van Dyke was my 10th cousin, once removed.  Our shared ancestors were John Alden and Francis Cooke of the Mayflower. 
• Actor Richard Gere is my 10th cousin.  Our shared ancestor was Francis Cooke of the Mayflower.
• Artist Norman Rockwell was my 10th cousin.  Our shared ancestor was Stephen Hopkins of the Mayflower.
• Playwright Tennessee Williams is my 10th cousin once removed.  Our shared ancestor was Stephen Hopkins of the Mayflower.
• Artist Georgia O'Keeffe is my 9th cousin twice removed.  Our shared ancestor was Edward Fuller of the Mayflower. 
• Mormon Church Founder Joseph Smith, Jr. was my 6th cousin 5 times removed.  Our shared ancestor was Edward Fuller of the Mayflower.
• Former Vice President Dan Quayle is my 10th cousin, once removed.  Our shared ancestor was John Alden of the Mayflower.
• Politician Sarah Palin is my 10th cousin twice removed. Our shared ancestor was Stephen Hopkins of the Mayflower.
• Painter "Grandma Moses" was my 8th cousin, twice removed.  Our shared ancestors was Francis Cooke of the Mayflower.
• Actress Marilyn Monroe was my 9th cousin, twice removed.  Our shared ancestors were John Alden and Francis Cooke of the Mayflower. 
• Radio personality Wolfman Jack was my 9th cousin, twice removed.  Our shared ancestor was John Alden of the Mayflower.
• Celebrity Chef Julia Child was my 9th cousin, twice removed.  Our shared ancestors were John Alden and Francis Cooke of the Mayflower.
• Musician Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys is my 10th cousin, once removed.  Our shared ancestors was Francis Cooke of the Mayflower.
• Mayor of Portland during the Civil War, Captain Jacob McLellan, was my 2nd cousin six times removed.  He served from 1863-1865 and in 1868.
• Actor Mickey Rourke is my 7th cousin once removed, via our shared connection to Susannah Martin, who was hanged during the Salem Witch Trials of 1692.

Blood Connections to Notable People (via Nana's Royal line):

• Queen Elizabeth II is my 20th cousin. Our shared ancestor is Edward III of the Plantagenet Line.
• King Robert the Bruce of Scotland was my 20th great grandfather.

TEMM

Grammy Clarke's maiden name was Temm.  Her grandfather, Wilhelm Marcus Timm, was a sea captain from Hamburg, Germany with a mysterious past.  In 1852, upon marrying his wife, Sarah Jane Brownrigg of Pictou, Nova Scotia (who was descended from English, Scottish and French sea captain immigrants), in Portland, Maine.  Sarah Jane's brother was a successful businessman, running a number of boarding houses on Fore Street which housed merchant seamen (and where other activities likely happened).  After their wedding, Sarah Jane and Marcus changed their names to Brown (not exactly sure why).  All five children were born with the name Brown, including our ancestor, John Henry Temm (who was born in a boat in Portland harbor). The Brown name stayed until 1864 (just a few years before Marcus' death in 1868), when the whole clan moved from Portland Maine to a large tract of farmland in Scarborough and reverted back to the Temm name (with John Henry's two daughters marrying a Clarke and an Ahlquist).  We are related to all Temms and Ahlquist families in Scarborough (and many of the Clarkes), through Marcus, and there are quite a few still there on old Beech Ridge Road in the vicinity of where our ancestors were early landowners, the land being in the Temm family since 1864.  My interest in the German root of the Temm/Timm surname brought me to Hamburg Germany back in 2012, and I truly felt a connection to the City, and didn't spend all of my time looking through all available church records, trying to find Timms.  Grammy Clarke's mother Hattie was a Morgan, descended from the New Hampshire Elliot and Morrill families (wherein may lie some Native American blood and further research is imminent as of November 2014, but for now this Clarke-Temm-Morgan-Morrill line is classified as DNA Haplogroup X, which has some chance of being divided into a Native American/Central Asian subgroup) and from the brother of "Captain Morgan" the famous Welsh pirate who has a brand of rum named after him, through  Hattie's father William Morgan, a Civil War patriot from Winterport, Maine. The wealthy Holmes family of Plymouth, Massachusetts figures prominently in our Morgan line, and was also directly descended from Thomas Rogers.of the Mayflower and his son Joseph.

CLARKE

Our Clarke line is entirely colonial English, via Central Connecticut.  Our immigrant ancestors, John and his son Thomas, were a settler of Jamestown Colony and steward of the Mayflower, respectively.  This is a common surname to be found in New England, with many thousands of descendants still there today (particularly in central Connecticut, several towns of which were founded by our ancestors linked to the Clarks).  They were humble farmers, carpenters, and blacksmiths.  Many of the colonial era houses they built in CT still stand today.  Many veterans in this family group, including James Clark, who fought in the War of 1812, his son Leonard Sherman Clark, who fought in the Civil War with his sons, and several Revolutionary War veteran ancestors, like John Coult and the Pecks.  The 19th century Clarks of Connecticut frequently intermarried with the colonial English Tooker and Hall families, who also have descendants living there today.  I've been very fortunate to meet distant cousins descending from the Clark, Tooker, and Hall families of Lyme and East Haddam Connecticut, many of whom share a significant passion for their ancestry, which is surprisingly well documented, considering these historical families' impoverished working class background.

To summarize my (and my siblings') specific heritage:

1/8 Danish (Mortensen/Petersen)
1/8 Irish (Leonard/Howlett) (with potentially very small percentages of Spanish)
1/8 Scottish (Bell/Bean/Lissen/Jameson/McLellan/Blair)
1/8 German (Holland/Temm)
4/8 English colonial (with very small percentages of French, Irish, and Welsh)

Tom & Agnes Leonard

My paternal great grandparents were Thomas Mathew Leonard (1891-1943) of Portland, Maine, son to Mathew John Leonard and Lizzie Howlett, immigrants from Portraine, Dublin, Ireland and Agnes Thalia Peterson (1898-1934) of Westbrook, Maine, daughter to Christian Petersen, immigrant from Ålborg, Denmark and Lena Mortensen, immigrant from Skrøbelev, Denmark.

Tom was named after his uncle Tom, the first Leonard immigrant from their famine-starved family to arrive in Portland.  Young Tom was a bit of a wayward soul. He worked as a theater janitor, cook, a fireman, a novelty supply shipper, and later as a porter at an advertising company, also having served for about a week in the Army at the very end of WWI, in the 8th Company, 2nd Battalion, 151th Depot Brigade out of Fort Devens in Worcester.  It's unclear not sure why he was discharged, but it's likely that the Brigade had disbanded in the final days of the War.  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, Thomas Edward Leonard (who was actually born Thomas Mathew Leonard Jr., but for whatever reason his middle name changed). Thomas' father Mathew, as well as his brother Mathew, lived at 8 Briggs Street with the family.  His wife Agnes died there in 1934, and his father died there in 1939.  At that point Thomas was stuck paying rent to his aunt Annie (who had managed to get herself named executrix of his father's estate, and had left nothing to either of his sons).  He was unemployed for a few years at that point, but managed to get a part time job as a caretaker at a girls private school (probably the school affiliated with St. Dominic's).  He remained at 8 Briggs Street until his death from emphysema on October 15, 1943, at age 52 (the anniversary of his mother's death).  He 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.

Agnes met Thomas around 1914, while Agnes was working as a laundress out at Levinsky's Plaza in Portland. They married in 1916, two months AFTER giving birth to Thomas Edward Leonard (my grandfather).  I imagine that there must have been some scandal there.  Not only was the child conceived AND born out of wedlock into an Irish Catholic family, but Agnes was Danish, not Irish like the rest of the family's in-laws. I wonder how Agnes was treated by Mathew Sr. Well, the whole family ended up living together on 8 Briggs Street in Portland, so it must have worked out ok.  From what I understand, everyone loved Agnes, especially Old Matt.  In the winter of 1933-1934, Agnes caught a terrible cold, which led to an ear infection.  Very shortly thereafter she developed purulent meningitis, and died five days later, at the very young age of 38 just a few months before her sister Julia died.

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

What's had seemed like 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 bothered to pay for an engraving of their names too.  I did so myself in 2015, and I'm hoping that the contrast will even out.

Below are Tom & Agnes' pedigree charts.  Tom was 100% Irish, and Agnes was 100% Danish.

Mathew Leonard from The Burrow

Mathew Leonard (1821-1904) was my 3rd great grandfather, the eldest child to Patrick Leonard (a tenant farmer in the Burrow Townland of Portrane, County Dublin) and his wife Lizzie Horish.  Mathew grew up in the Leonard Homestead (which had been leased by the family since the late 1700s), also known as the Portrane Cottages.  Mathew's grandfather, Thomas, and his father, Patrick, each died in 1865, leaving Mathew with the lease until his death in 1904.  The land and cottages would eventually all be Leonard owned by the 1940s (thanks to the Wyndham Land Purchase Act). 

Around 1850, at the end of the Famine, Mathew married Anna O'Brien (aka Anne Brien), of nearby Blanchardstown, and had eleven children, some of whom migrated to Portland Maine:

-Mary Leonard (1850-bef 1939) was baptised 8 Nov 1850 (the record states that her parents were "Michael" Leonard and Anne Brien of Donabate).  No further information.  She must have died before 1939, since her brother Matt's obituary doesn't list her as a sibling.

-Patrick J. Leonard (1852-1853) died as an infant.

-Mathew John Leonard (1854-1939) "Old Matt" was my paternal 2nd great grandfather, who emigrated to Portland Maine in 1881.

-Elizabeth Leonard (1857-1894) emigrated to Portland and married a railroad fireman named John H. Devine (1858-1894).  Elizabeth's godfather was old family friend Patrick Wade, who also emigrated to Portland Maine.

-Francis Leonard (1859-1945) sailed to Maine with his brother Mathew John in 1881, but only lived there for about three years, and returned to the Burrow.  He has many descendants, some who still live in the Burrow today.

-Ellen Theresa Leonard (1861-1893) (aka "Nellie").  She arrived with her brothers in 1881.  In 1888 in Portland, she married James Joseph Smart (who born in the Burrow to Charles Smart & Jane Dockrell).  James had recently arrived from living with his grandparents in Lancashire England and had been working in a copper mill lab.  James got a job in Portland as a telephone worker for NET&T.  They lived on 24 High Street, 5 Stevens Place, then later 2 Martyr Street (with other Smarts).   Both Ellen & James died young of pulmonary tuberculosis in Portland, and are buried in Calvary Cemetery, South Portland Maine.  James' cousin Charles, also from the Burrow, lived on 16 Briggs Street with his wife, Nellie Curran, and Nellie's parents, James and Rose Curran.  This was one of the row of houses on Briggs Street owned by Nellie Leonard's uncle Prod.  Ellen is the only child of Mathew's for which I cannot find a baptismal record, so I wonder if she might actually be Alice or Agnes below.

-Annie T. Leonard (1863-1948) was baptised in Donabate Parish, just like her siblings. At age 21, she married William Quinlan at Old Donabate Parish, but divorced him and migrated to Portland in 1913 upon hearing that Prod had left her money from his will. She remarried soon after arrival in the US, to a Willard Harland Batchelder. When her brother Mathew John was suffering from dementia in the mid 1930's, Annie took the opportunity to get his will changed so that she received his entire estate, minus $1.00 apiece for his sons Matthew Jr. and Thomas Matthew (so they couldn't contest the will). There was much ill will toward Annie after that family drama, and to this day the mention of Aunt Annie to any Leonard descendant produces a furled lip. She was a live-in housekeeper for the church for the remainder of her life. Not sure what she did with the money.

-Alice Leonard (1865-1898).  Alice was a spinster, living in the family house in the Burrow until her death at age 33 of tuberculosis.

-Agnes Leonard (1867-1870).  No further information.  She must have died before 1939, since her brother's obituary doesn't list her as a sibling.  A death record from 1870 is available at the General Register Office, and it might likely be her (given that the age was 3 years old).

-John Leonard (1870-1897).  John died in January 1897, of peritonitis.  His death certificate said he was married.

Back Row: Patricia Leonard, "Charles," Grace Mary Liversage
Front Row: Anneleina Leonard, Patrick Leonard, Mary Elizabeth Roberts-Leonard, Christine Leonard
(About 1940, England)
Photo Courtesy of Diane Rollins

-Patrick J. Leonard (15 Feb 1872-after 1948) (named after his deceased infant brother (and his grandfather) Patrick) was nicknamed "Patsy".  Patsy married once when he was young, to Bridget Davis, who died in 1903.  In 1909, he moved to Portland Maine to live and work near his brothers, around the time he was named a successor executor to his uncle Prod's estate.  He married Mary Elizabeth Roberts-Liversage there in Portland, July 1910.  Mary was a widow from Brighton, England, with two daughters (Ruth & Grace Liversage).  Patsy didn't enjoy America, and missed his home.  By March of 1911 he had brought Mary & her daughter Grace back with him to live in The Burrow, and lived in the house next door to his elder brother Francis.  Mary's daughter, Ruth Liversage-Davis, had remained in Portland with her new husband (and apparently one of Mary's brothers - Joseph Roberts - was living in Portland at the time as well).

In February 1913, Patrick was cited for failure to pay the Poor Rate Collector, and forced to pay one pound, six shillings, seven pence.

In January and also May of 1915, the School Committee got after Mary for her daughter Grace failing to go to school.  Mary had to pay fines, and Grace was forced to attend school until the age of 14.

Apparently Mary and Francis didn't get along, because court records of June, 1915 show that Frank grabbed her by the neck and threw her against the hedge, and she hit him on the side of the face with a shovel.  In In the 1910s in the Burrow, Patrick and Mary had three daughters of their own:  Anneleina, Mary Christina (Crissie) and Bertha (Patricia).

In March of 1915, his two younger daughters, Crissie and Patricia (somehow listed as Utreshia) had never been vaccinated (likely for pertussis), since 1912, and the Poor Law Union fined Patrick and imprisoned him at Mountjoy, forced to serve hard labor for a week.

Oral tradition has it that Patrick likely later moved the whole family to England (possibly Brighton), where all three girls married Englishmen.  According to Mary's brother's obituary in 1951, Mary was alive and well and living in England, but English Probate Records show Mary to have already died in 1943.  *** I did find a Dublin-born Patrick Leonard of the right age working as a gunner for the Royal Artillery in Lancashire England, 1891 (coincidentally where his brother-in-law James Smart lived in 1881).  It's entirely possible that Patsy met Mary in Lancashire initially, then moved with her to Maine temporarily, back to Dublin, then to Brighton or Lancashire, England.

Friendship with the Riley Family of Donabate

• In a baptismal record from September 17, 1843, Mathew appears as godfather to Nicholas Riley, son to John and Ellen Riley.
• In a baptismal record from December 6, 1846, Mathew appears as godfather to Margaret Riley, daughter to Patrick and Sarah Riley.
• In Mathew's son Patrick's 1872 baptismal record from Donabate Parish - his godparents were Richard and Margaret Reilly.

Dog License Registers

Below are some dog license applications of Mathew for his many male dogs over the years.

Apparently he owned a black and white terrier in 1875, a red shepherd in 1876, a white bull in 1878, a white terrier from 1879-1881, a white bull in 1882, a black and tan terrier in 1887, a grey terrier in 1888, and a brown terrier in 1893, 1895 and 1899, and two brown terriers in 1903 (just before he died) and typically paid £2 and six shillings per license:

Court Cases

On May 27, 1876, James McQuaid complained about Mathew having a dog without a license, and Mathew had to go and get a license.

On April 30, 1887, Constable William Walsh filed a complaint against Mathew's wife, Anne Leonard, for carrying an unlicensed dog in the Burrow, and was charged 5 shillings, plus 1 shilling admin fees.

On July 23, 1887, Mathew filed a complaint against his own sister, Elizabeth Harrison, for allowing twenty fowl to trespass on his property.  On the same day, Mathew also filed a complaint against his neighbor, James Wade, for the charge of seven fowl trespassing on his cropped land.

On May 18, 1895, Mathew filed a complaint against Terence Dougherty, also of Portrane, on a charge related to goods sold.  The case was dismissed:

Census Records

The 1901 Census of The Burrow has Mathew & Anna Leonard living at Burrow House #5, with Patrick and Francis.  They had a chicken coop, horse stable, and cow house.  By then, Francis was already a widower, and had yet to marry Margaret Byrne.  Not sure yet where the others were living who stayed in Ireland (Annie, John, Mary, Alice).  (All images can be enlarged by clicking on them.)

The 1911 Census of The Burrow has Francis and Patrick with their own families, living at Burrow House #15 and #16.  According to the Farm House exhibit, Francis & Patrick had a farm with two cow houses, one chicken coop, and a horse stable.

Mathew died in 1904 at home, of cardiac failure, after three weeks of illness.  Anna passed a few years later, in 1907, at Portrane Asylum (later known as St. Ita's).  Given that Mathew's son, Frank, signed (with his mark, meaning he couldn't read or write) as informant on the death certificate of Mathew, I'm inclined to believe that Anna was already institutionalized at the Asylum during Mathew's death, or else she would have been the most likely informant.  It's troubling to me that the decision was made to place her there, but this was a common practice, if any kind of illness or senility was occurring, not just mental illness, they were placed in the local sanitarium.

Old Donabate Parish Cemetery, has a burial list online (managed by Fingal County Council), but it is limited to what gravestones have been easily identified and transcribed (pursuant to Memorials of the Dead publications).  There are many green patches with no stones on this burial ground, so I can't help but wonder who else is buried there.  

When I was in Ireland in October 2019, I did some research, and learned that unfortunately Donabate Parish didn't keep burial records at all, and that they rely upon the Council, who only relies upon the published book mentioned above.  I spoke with the Parish undertaker (Michael Rocks of Swords), and he said that they have their own burial records only going back to 1924, and that prior to that, the Parish would simply provide a pine box for the family, and let them go ahead and conduct the burial themselves - the church would simply not get more involved than that.  Therefore, given Mathew and Anna's deaths in 1904 and 1907, I have no hope of identifying the burial locations.  However, one particularly large patch of grass at the cemetery contains one small limestone gravesite immediately to the left of Mathew's son Frank's gravestone, and that may in fact be where Mathew and other Leonards are buried.  That's the best I can guess at this time.

FRANK LEONARD GRAVESITE (GRAY STONE ON THE RIGHT)
OLD DONABATE CEMETERY
(NOTE GRASSY AREA AROUND IT - POSSIBLY BURIAL LOCATIONS FOR OTHER LEONARDS)

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
• Petty Sessions Small Claims Court
• Petty Sessions Dog Licenses
• Interment.net