(O)Cleary;
Variant Spellings; Clarey, Clairke, Clark, Clary, Clarke, Clarkins, Clerke, Clerkin, Cleery, Clery, Collery, McAleery, McCleary, McCleery, McEleary, McLeary, Mcleery, O'Clery.
The O'Clearys trace their ancestry to a seventh century King of Connacth, 'Guaire the Hospitable'. Their territory was in Galway in the Gort area. Over the years they have been driven northwards to Donegal and south to Tipperary and Waterford.
In Irish the name is O Cleirigh which is translated as 'descended from Cleireach'. Cleireach is the Irish word for clerk and it seems to have influenced this sept, as they are notable for poets, bards and historians. It is easily seen how difficult it may be to disentangle an ancestry from the Irish O'Clerys or the English Clarkes.
Mac Giolla Arraith, a branch of the O'Haras is another Gaelic name that is translated as Clarke.
Michael, Conary and Cucoigchriche O Cleirigh together with Fearfeasa O Mulcrony wrote that classic of Irish history called The Annals of the Four Masters.
Desiree Clery the daughter of an Irish silk merchant in Marseilles married General Bernadotte who later became Charles XIV, King of Sweden and Norway. Desiree's sister Julie married Napoleon's brother Joseph and became Queen of Spain as a result. Ann Clery married Commodore John Barry, founder of the US navy.
Thomas Clarke (1857-1916), the revolutionary was shot by the British after the 1916 Easter Rising.
Coat of Arms
(O)Cleary
Where the Family Lived (Blue Area)
Addresses for More Information
Ireland
Centre for Irish Genealogical and Local Studies, Carraig, Cliff Road, Windgates, Bray, Co. Wicklow, Ireland. (Sean Murphy, MA, Director)
General Register Office, 8-11 Lombard Street East, Dublin 2, Ireland.
Telephone (01) 671 1000
Website http://www.doh.ie/manual/chap4/gere.htm
National Archives, Bishop Street, Dublin 8, Ireland.
Telephone (01) 478 3711
National Library of Ireland, Kildare Street, Dublin 2, Ireland.
Telephone (01) 603 0200
Website www.heanet.ie/natlib
Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, 66 Balmoral Street, Belfast BT9 6NYY, Northern Ireland
Telephone (01232) 251319.
Website http://proni.nics.gov.uk/index.htm
University College Dublin, Adult Education Office, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland.
Website http://www.ucd.ie/delltti
Britain
Family Records Centre, London, England.
Website http://pro.gov.uk/about/frc/default.htm
Public Records Office, Kew, Surrey, England.
Website http://www.pro.gov.uk
General Register Office for Scotland, Edinburgh, Scotland.
Website http://www.open.gov.uk/index.html
National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth, Wales.
Website http://www.llgc.org.uk/index.htm
North America
Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints, Family History Information, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.
Website http://lds.org/en/ 2 how do I begin/0- how do I begin.html
Family Tree Maker’s Genealogy Site
Website http://www.familytreemaker.com/index.html
The Irish Ancestral Research Association (TIARA), P.O. Box 619 Sudbury, MA 01776, USA.
Website http://tiari.ie
Irish Genealogical Society International, St. Paul, Minnesota, USA.
Website http://www.rootsweb.com irish/index.html
New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston Massachusetts, USA.
Website http://nehgs.org/main-01.htm
Australasia
Genealogical Society of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia
Website http://www.alphalink.com/au/esv
National Archives of Australia, Canberra, Australia.
Website http://www.aa.gov.au/AA_WWW/AA_Home_Page.html
National Archives of New Zealand, Wellington, New Zealand
Website http://www.archives.dia.gov.nz
List of Links
Cyndi’s List of Genealogical Sites on the Internet: Ireland and Northern Ireland.
Website http://www.cyndilist.com/ireland.htm
UK and Ireland Genealogical Information Service.
Website http://www.genuki.org.uk
Copyright © 1998 by A. MacDarragh Burke, MD
All Rights Reserved.