Henry Clancy (abt. 1866 - 1952)

Born about 1866 in County Clare, Ireland

Ancestors

Husband of Mary (Houlihan) Clancy — married 25 Aug 1894 in County Clare, Ireland

Descendants

Died 28 Apr 1952 at about age 86 in Detroit, Wayne, Michigan, United States

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Biography

BIRTH: 8 Jul 1878 in Harry Henry's death record is clearly far too late, as it implies that he was married at 16 and was a twin of his sister Nora. Kittye Clancy said that her father was 28 when he married in 1894. Harry Henry was 34 in 1901 and 45 in 1911, but only 40 when he arrived in the U.S. in 1914 according to the manifest of the Cedric, implying a birth anywhere between 1865 and 1874.

Henry's birth does not appear to have been registered, and there are gaps in the Doonbeg baptismal register, including one from 5 August 1861 to 27 April 1867. This suggests that Harry Henry's age may be understated in all the above sources, and that he may have been born before civil registration began on 1 January 1864 and during the break in the Doonbeg baptismal register. However, his sister Marcella's birth also appears to have gone unregistered long after the introduction of civil registration, and his year of birth appears as 1865 on his tombstone.

Henry Clancy jr. of Killard was present at his father's death there on 25 December 1897.

Harry Henry Clancy inherited his father's half of his paternal grandfather's farm in Killard and lived there until 1914. In the 1901 census, he, his wife and three children resided in a second class house, having between two and four rooms, stone walls and a thatched roof with three windows in the front. On 10 April 1914, he sailed from Queenstown on the Cedric with his wife and seven of their children, arriving at Ellis Island on 18 April 1914, en route to Detroit. [The year of arrival is also confirmed by the U.S. Federal Census of 1920 for Detroit.]

The Clancy farm in Killard was transferred to Michael Kelly in 1915.

CENSUS: (1901 - house 11 in Killard (Killard, Clare)) Clancy Henry 34 Male Head of Family Roman Catholic Co Clare Farmer Read and write Irish and English Married -

CENSUS: (1911^[1] - house 26 in Killard (Killard, Clare)) Clancy Henry 45 Male Head of Family Roman Catholic County Clare Farmer Read and write Irish and English Married - - - -

This was the only Henry Clancy in Killard in the census of 1911, so must be the Henry Clancy of Killard who was present at the death there on 1 Jun 1911 of Michael Lynch, married, 75, labourer.^[2]

Harry Clancy of Killard was also present at the death there on 28 January 1913 of his brother-in-law Thomas Houlihan; the death certificate does not specify the relationship.

Harry Henry's eldest son Tom Clancy had been living in Detroit with one of his Houlihan aunts since emigrating in 1913 with his uncle Simon Houlihan, a few months older than him, and he prepared the way for the rest of his family. (The youngest child, Kitty, was born in America. Three others had died in infancy in Ireland.) Family tradition is that Harry Henry's wife had written directly to Henry Ford seeking a job for her husband and he was offered a job by Ford in Detroit.

Mary (Houlihan) Clancy had decided that her whole family should follow the eldest son to Detroit, rather than have her children emigrate one by one.

Mary Seán Nóra Kelly told Mark Clancy in 1991 about the day that the Clancy family left in 1914. She remembered Harry Henry stopping in to say goodbye "he lit his pipe right there in the that fireplace". She also remembered Lex, the Clancys' dog, who had to be left behind. No dogs on the ship. "He howled all night for days and days, 'til me mother took him in".

BURIAL: Harry, his own wife, four sons, and their wives are buried together at Mt. Olivet Cemetery in Detroit. His son Harry is in the same cemetery but a different location.

DEATH:
Name: Henry Harry Clancy
Event Type: Death
Event Date: 28 Apr 1952
Event Place: Detroit, Wayne, Michigan, United States
Gender: Male
Age: 73
Marital Status: Widowed
Birth Date: 08 Jul 1878
Birthplace: Ireland
Birth Year (Estimated): 1879
Father's Name: Harry Clancy
Mother's Name: Marnan
GS Film number: 001973242
Digital Folder Number: 005363702
Image Number: 02225
Collection: Henry Harry Clancy, "Michigan, Death Certificates, 1921-1952"^[3]

BURIAL:
Henry H. Clancy
Cemetery: Mt. Olivet Cemetery
Location: Section 25, Lot 485, Space 3

Sources

1. ↑ http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Clare/Killard/Killard/365224/
2. ↑ https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/deaths_returns/deaths_1911/05393/4505779.pdf
3. ↑ "Michigan Death Certificates, 1921-1952," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KFHV-XX6 : 13 March 2018), Henry Harry Clancy, 28 Apr 1952; citing Detroit, Wayne, Michigan, United States, Division for Vital Records and Health Statistics, Lansing; FHL microfilm 1,973,242.

See also:

• Find A Grave: Memorial #217870765