Just a guess here, but could Clara perhaps be Clare More, a townland of about 266 acres in the civil parish of Kiltinan, Poor Law Union of Clonmel in Tipperary, South Riding? The civil parish of Kiltinan is actually split between the PLU of Clonmel and that of Cashel. Griffith's Valuation shows both a Clare More (266 acres) and a Clare Beg (73 acres). I have noticed that it is common in Catholic parish registers to drop the More when referring to the larger townland of a More/Beg pair. This happens in Tipperary N.R. with Dromard More and Dromard Beg in the civil parish of Killavinoge and in neighboring County Laois with Grange More and Grange Beg in Aghaboe parish. So maybe people would have said Clara in this case, which could sound like Clare. If you google "Richard Pennefather" Clonmel and select the result titled "The Gentleman's Magazine - Google Books Result 1849", you will find an article about the death of a Richard Pennefather who was one of the guardians of the Clonmel Union. He was also a high sheriff of County Tipperary in 1840 [see http://www.irelandoldnews.com/Galway/1840/NOV.html]. His estate was at Kilteevan, in the civil parish of Newchapel, which is quite close to Kiltinan. There were many other men named Richard Pennefather, so this might not be the right one, but it seems to make sense in this situation. The surnames Wall and Meagher appear on the Tithe applotments for Kiltinan Civil parish online at http://www.connorsgenealogy.com/tipp/KiltinanTithes.htm . Maher/Meagher is a very common name in Tipperary, so it will be more difficult to pinpoint without the more unusual Wall. My husband has Walls associated with his Barry family (along the Limerick-Cork border, near Charleville) and I have Mahers in my lineage - my ggg-gmother was Bridget Maher (wife of Edward Harrold), from along the Tipperary-Laois border Geralyn Wood Barry in Oregon MForman wrote: > Having received some great assistance a while ago from members of the list > regarding my O'Brien family from Ballywire I am hoping I may have similar > good fortune concerning some of my wife's ancestors. > > William Charles WALL arrived in NSW in 1841 on the ship Forth together with > his wife Mary. William was described very briefly on the passenger list as > 25 years old, a farm labourer, native of Clonmell, Tipperary, and the son of > John and Elinor WALL, postmaster. His wife Mary was aged 23 at the time, a > farm servant and also a native of Clonmell, and her parents were listed as > Thomas and Mary MAHER. The person certifying that they were of good > character was Richard Pennefather, but there is no indication of his rank or > profession, and he is completely unknown to me. Both William and Mary were > Catholics. There is no mention in the document whether or not their four > parents were alive in 1841. If the ages stated were correct William was born > about 1816 and Mary about 1818. > > William and Mary had two sons before they sailed to Australia in 1841. These > did not accompany their parents but were left in Ireland until 1848 when > they arrived in NSW on the ship Sir Edward Parry. The passenger list does > not indicate that they were travelling with anyone in particular as the > names are found in a separate list of single males with ages ranging from 8 > to 29 and no-one else was listed as coming from the same place. The two > children were John Wall aged 10 and Thomas Wall aged 8, both Catholic and > both from Clara, Tipperary. Whoever wrote the passenger list would have come > top of the class in writing, and the place given in the document (as > distinct from whatever the children may have said) was clearly written Clara > Tipperary, not Clare nor Cahir, both appearing in the list for other people. > Just to confuse things, when John Wall died in 1918 his death certificate > stated that he came from County Clare, Ireland. > > The only other information I have comes from the death certificates of > William and Mary. These tell me that William's parents were John WALL and > Ellen ENGLISH, and Mary's parents were Thomas MAHER and Mary WALLACE. If the > ages given in the certificates are accurate, William Wall was born in 1814 > and Mary in 1820, and they were married in about 1836 when Mary was 16 years > old. While there is some discrepancy in the ages compared with the ship's > list, both records and the ages of the two children point to a marriage in > the latter part of the 1830s. Unfortunately the death certificates are not > specific about the location of the births of William or Mary nor the > marriage, stating only that all three events occurred in Ireland. > > I think I have three questions about all of this: > - Does any-one have any knowledge of this family group? > - What records are available which may help me to find out more about them > in Ireland and where should I look to find these records? > - Can anyone pinpoint the location of Clara, Tipperary, or, if such a place > does not exist, hazard a guess as to another Clara nearby or some other name > in the locality which may have been heard as Clara by the person who wrote > the passenger list? It may be that the young boys were living with relatives > until they were thought to be old enough to follow their parents to NSW. > > Marshall Forman > Adelaide > South Australia