Away to America!

The Marriage of John Clancy and Alice Bryan

Inistioge, County Kilkenny



My great aunt, Alice (O'Brien/Bryan) Clancy, was born in Inistioge, Kilkenny, on May 1, 1872, the daughter of Michael and Ellen (Tobin) Bryan.  I knew from the ships manifest that she emigrated to Boston from Queenstown in September of 1899 with her future husband, John Francis Clancy, on the S. S. Cephalonia.



S. S. Cephalonia

Alice and John are both listed on the manifest, and although O'Brien is lightly crossed out, there is nothing else written in.  Both listed their last residence as Kilkenny, and while John had $5 with him, Alice had $100!  That was a lot of money in 1899.  Calculating for inflation, that would be over $2,700 in today's money.  Alice had been in the United States before, in Boston, in 1898.  They were going to her brother, Patrick O'Brien, at 140 Bennington Street, in East Boston.

Although John and Alice had a large family, and their first son Michael John was born on July 22, 1900, a mere 10 months after landing in Boston, I was never able to locate a marriage record for them in Massachusetts.  I had looked in Boston, where they first lived, then in Lynn, where they eventually settled.  When I was in Dublin last year I looked in Kilkenny, but there was no record marriage there either.

I expanded my search and found their marriage on September 12, 1899 in Queenstown, County Cork.  Their names, age, condition and father's names matched.  Since the ship left Liverpool on September 12, it appears they were married just before boarding by Fr. Thomas Madigan.  Alice's name may have been listed as O'Brien on the manifest because the ticket was purchased in that name before she married.  Residence at time of marriage for both is listed as Harbour Row, which is in the area of the docks.

Cobh is almost 90 miles from their home in Inistioge.   On the map at left, Inistioge is in the upper right hand corner and Queenstown in the lower left.   Even if they had planned to emigrate, if the marriage was approved by the families, you would expect it to be in the local parish.

Alice's mother had died earlier that year, and most of her siblings were grown.  Her sister Mary had already married.  Her brother Patrick and sister Johanna had both emigrated to Boston and married there.  That left Edward, Kate, Nellie, William and Michael at home.  Nellie and William eventually left to joined Alice in Lynn, Massachusetts.    Her father may not have wanted to her to leave, with five children still at home.  Why they were married in Cobh may never be clear, but it appears they eloped.

From now on, I'll take the possibility of elopement into account when looking for a marriage!


Pictured on the right, circa 1940, from left to right is Alice (Clancy) Hyde, Alice's daughter, Mary Scanlon, Nellie's daughter, Nellie (Bryan) Scanlon and Alice (Bryan) Clancy.



Copyright 2013 Kathleen Sullivan. All Rights Reserved