Tranquil Tombstone: The Search for an Irish Family Tombstone

A Tombstone Tale

From an Old Family Home Movie

The Daniel Mullane family lived in Clonmel. Co. Tipperary for many years. Our branch of the family left Ireland for the United States in 1885 but most of the others stayed in the town by the River Suir. The New York Mullanes and the Irish Mullanes kept in touch over the years with cards, letters and visits. 

A home movie documents a visit by the Coyle sisters, granddaughters of Daniel Mullane, back to Clonmel. The black and white movie shows the streets of the city, an outing to Saint Patrick’s Well, people smiling into the camera and the family tombstone.

I have tried to find that tombstone for several years. I wrote letters to the churches in Clonmel and searched websites. I was told, more than once, that many people at that time did not have tombstones because of the expense. But I knew it existed because of the blurred images on the movie reel.

I knew that Daniel & Bridget (English) Mullane had been married in Saint Mary’s Church 25 August 1866. Their oldest children, including my great grandmother, were baptized there. Beginning c 1872 they were members of Saints Pater and Paul Church. Therefore I assumed the tombstone was near of one of those two churches.

In April 2012 our oldest daughter and I spent a few days in Ireland. I was excited to visit Clonmel, walk the streets my family had walked and to find and photograph the tombstone. We walked carefully through the church yards examining each faded tombstone but found no Mullane stones. Both churches were locked and we saw no offices to make enquiries. I was very disappointed. Could the stone have been knocked over or destroyed? I was to later discover that it was in a cemetery just a few miles down the road from Clonmel.

Home again I reread my Irish resources for a suggestion on how I could find this tombstone. I contacted the South Tipperary County Archives. They had been helpful to me in the past and they emailed to me the death notice & obituary for Daniel Mullane. His funeral service had been held at Saints Peter & Paul Church but he was buried in Newcastle. I wrote to the parish priest and he kindly confirmed that the tombstone is there!

Obtaining a clear digital photograph of this tombstone is a priority on my Genealogy To Do List. I did not want to put it off. Recently, I decided to ask members of the Tipperary County Facebook group if anyone lived near the cemetery & would be willing to photograph the tombstone for me. I quickly had a response that directed me to HistoricGraves.com. Amazingly, they have the stones in Middlequarter, Newcastle, County Tipperary and they have the family tombstone photographed & transcribed! That put a big smile on my face!

From Historic Graves

The clear digital photograph shows the entire tombstone with a Celtic cross on top, the original engravings as shown in the home movie and engravings made since that time. Basically, it details Daniel & Bridget (English) Mullane and most of their children. The following is a transcription with the colored portions showing information that is new to me:

Pray for the Souls of

Daniel Mullane

Clonmel

Who Died 25^th March 1930

Also his Wife

Bridget Mullane

Who Died 30^th Nov  1920

And Their Daughters

Julia Horgan

Who Died 31^th Oct 1918

Bridget Keeton

Who Died in USA 28^th April 1946

Ellen Mullane

Who Died 17^th June 1965

Aged 91 Years

Also Their Son

Timothy Mullane

Who Died 29^th Aug 1963

Aged 92 Years

And

Daniel Mullane

Who Died 4^th February 1969

Aged 86 Years

R.I.P.

 Although Daniel had 11 children, only two had children. There were 9 grandchildren & 6 of those had no children. My mother was the only great grandchild I know of. Therefore, I feel an added responsibility to gather & share this information. If not me, who else?