Re: Jane & Jenny McCleary from Ireland to PA
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In reply to:
Jane & Jenny McCleary from Ireland to PA
Glenn Rea 10/08/02
When your great-grandmother’s brother the Rev. Samuel M. Irvin died in Kansas, an obituary was printed in the New Castle (Pa.) Courant on April 1, 1887, and it stated that he “was the first cousin of Thomas McCleary of this city.” In the absence of corroboration, such a citation can mislead a person into an incorrect interpretation. For instance, do we know that “first cousin” in 1887 always meant what it does today, or did it have the more generic meaning of “kinsman”? Or possibly the name meant was Thomas McCreary of Neshannock Township, whose mother’s maiden name was Margaret McCleary? The McCreary lands were just to the north of New Castle and the McCleary farm was to the west of town, and the two names were often confused in public records.
If you take the straightforward interpretation that the Rev. Samuel M. Irvin was the first cousin of Thomas McCleary (1814-1889), then you’re into my side of the McCleary family. Thomas’s father was Samuel McCleary, my ggg-grandfather. The Irish-born Samuel (abt. 1788-1844) was one of New Castle’s leading merchants in the 1820s and 1830s. But all I know of his parentage is what’s told in
Biographical Sketches of Leading Citizens Lawrence County Pennsylvania (1897), under the entry for Thomas’s brother Joseph McCleary: “Thomas McCleary, our subject's grandfather, was born in County Down, Ireland, and came to this country with his family, living only three months after his arrival. He had settled in Mercer County, near Mercer, and there left two boys and three girls. One boy died in youth. The other, Samuel, who was born in the same place in Ireland as his father, came to New Castle…”
It’s too bad that those biographical sketches often have errors. I wish I had references to the names of those three girls, but nobody in my family could name them even 40 years ago then I began asking. Whether they were Jane and Jenny or Margaret is certainly possible, but there’s not enough evidence to persuade me yet.