Michael James Cleary
Brigid Baker (nee Cleary), of Brisbane, Queensland, saw information on this web-site and provided further information.
According to the Clare Heritage and Genealogical Centre, Michael Cleary was born in approximately 1835 in Miltown Malbay, County Clare, Ireland. His father was James Cleary, a farmer of Illaun, Miltown Malbay, and his mother was Margaret Madigan. Brigid Baker has a letter written in 1971 by her grandfather (Michael's son) in which he said that Michael's mother died at his birth and that Michael was raised by his paternal grandmother.
Commonly sons were given only one name but the father's christian name was used as a second name to help distinguish from other family members of the same name. Thus the man known as Michael James Cleary was christened Michael Cleary and was the son of James. In his Irish hometown, everyone knew he was a Cleary and, as there were other Clearys, he would have been known to the locals as Michael James.
The details of Michael's departure from Ireland are not known. The letter written by his son states that Michael " left Ireland in his 18th year and went to Victoria where his two sisters married two brothers named Finn. He did not return to Ireland". This implies that the two sisters had emigrated earlier. Michael's "18th year" would have been approximately 1853. Information on his death certificate indicates that Michael resided in New Zealand from approximately 1860.
A cousin with the same name, Michael Cleary, son of Anthony, also from Illaun, Miltown Malbay, is thought to have travelled from Ireland in about 1869, and it seems that having a cousin in Dunedin may have influenced Michael Anthony to go to New Zealand. It appears that the cousins remained in contact in later years with Michael Anthony Cleary's son in Australia writing a letter to Michael James Cleary in New Zealand (see below).
At some stage, Michael James Cleary travelled temporarily to Melbourne, Victoria, where he married Catherine Kiely in St Francis' Church on 19 January 1875. On the marriage certificate, Michael is described as a miner whose usual residence was in New Zealand; his age is given as 35 which is five years less than his actual age.
Michael James Cleary and Catherine Kiely were parents of five children.
The Electoral Roll for Dunedin Central in 1882-84 included Michael Cleary, described as a "carter", living in Hanover Steet. He and his family were recorded in the Electoral Roll for subsequent years living at 151 Castle Street and then later at 26 Leith Street. It appears that his widow may have returned to 52 Hanover Street after Michael's death.
The generation of Clearys who emigrated were Gaelic speakers. James Francis Cleary (born1881) told his grandson, Farrell Cleary, that, as a child, he sometimes went to the Dunedin wharves with his father when he had his carting business - one day he heard his father speaking a strange language to some sailors and was told it was Gaelic.
As noted elsewhere in Letters of a School Boy, Hoxton Park, 1894-1896, one of the letters of the young Michael Francis Cleary was addressed to a "cousin", also named Michael Cleary, in Castle Street, Dunedin. It appears that the letter from the schoolboy was addressed to his father's cousin.
>Michael James Cleary died on 18 June 1909 at 26 Leith Street, Dunedin in New Zealand and was buried in Southern Cemetery, Dunedin.
