A perplexing family riddle with a local link

KIERAN Glennon from Cherry Orchard in Dublin has contacted The Clare Champion seeking readers help in solving what he has termed “a perplexing riddle of family history”, which has roots in Cree.
Kieran’s grandmother, Nora Clancy, was born on April 30, 1901 in Cloonenagh, a townland in Cree, about 10 miles north-east of Kilrush. Her parents were Michael and Bridget Clancy and she was the fourth of nine children. Her siblings were Harry, Marcella, Daniel, Mary, Catherine, Michael, Patrick and Bridget. She qualified as a nurse and lived in Lahinch before emigrating to Australia in June 1928 as a passenger on a ship named the SS Hobson’s Bay.
“Coincidentally, my grandfather was also a passenger on the same ship. His name was Tom Glennon and he was originally from Belfast. I have no indication that they knew each other prior to the voyage but romance must have blossomed during the six-week journey to Australia because only two weeks after the ship’s arrival in Melbourne – in other words, long enough for them to post their wedding banns, they were married,” Kieran explained.
The couple then settled in Perth in Western Australia where Kieran’s father, Gerard, was born in May 1931.
“As a child, Gerard was always led to believe that his mother had subsequently died in childbirth in Australia when he was still very young and that his father and himself then returned to Belfast, where Gerard grew up. Any questions he raised about her were gently rebuffed, which he always assumed was due to grief at her passing,” Kieran said.
There is a rather intriguing twist to this tale though.
“While researching my grandfather’s life recently, I unearthed a passenger list from the ship on which he and my father travelled home from Australia in November 1932. As well as Tom and Gerard Glennon, also included on that list was Nora Glennon, my grandmother. The destination address for all three was given as 40 Francis Street in Dublin, where my father believes one of her brothers worked as a barman,” Kieran stated.
“The UK archive authorities have assured me that if her name was on that passenger list, it means that she disembarked when the ship arrived in Southampton. But thereafter, she appears to vanish into thin air – apparently, she never lived with my father and grandfather in Belfast and I cannot find any definitive record of her death in the registers for Ireland, the UK or Northern Ireland. Nor have I been able to trace her online on any later emigration lists to other countries,” he revealed.
Kieran’s father is now almost 80 and has never seen as much as a photograph of his mother. Naturally, Kieran is hopeful that if anybody in Cree or West Clare has any information that they contact him.
“Given that she came from a large family, I am hoping that there may still be surviving children or grandchildren of her siblings who could tell me what actually happened to Nora Glennon, née Clancy. Best of all would be if anyone could share any photos of her, it would be much appreciated,” Kieran concluded.
Kieran Glennon can be contacted at 108 Cedarbrook Avenue, Cherry Orchard, Dublin 10 or at 087 274 0323.