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Ireland (Historical Counties) => Ireland => Tyrone => Topic started by: ChristineClements on Saturday 05 April 25 15:34 BST (UK)
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Hi
My family member John Maxwell Clements was born in Omagh on 14th February 1866 and went back and forward to the US a couple of times. He is last known in Tyrone in around 1912 when he was going through a complicated divorce. I would love to know where and when he ended his days but i cannot find any death or burial records for him. He was an American citizen so i assume he went back to the US - if he is on the 1920 census its not under the name John Maxwell Clements.
This is probably a bit of a lost cause but i thought id ask!
Many thanks
Christine
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Have you checked passenger lists for him?
Did he have children you can trace?
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Is that his wife Ann Jane Clements coming from America to Ireland in 1910 - she seems to be on her own
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Born as John Clements in the townland of Drum 4 miles to the south of Omagh.
https://www.irishgenealogy.ie/files/civil/birth_returns/births_1866/03542/2303923.pdf
https://www.townlands.ie/tyrone/east-omagh/drumragh/loughmuck/drum/
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The divorce case was before a judge in Dublin in 1916, reported in the Derry Journal 1 Nov 1916, it states he is living in America but also that he had bought two farms in Tyrone when he first returned from America.
He’s mentioned in a land record of 1916.
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSJ4-Z539?view=fullText&keywords=John%20Maxwell%20Clements&lang=en&groupId=TH-909-69520-21393-87
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Is this him in the 1911 census at Drum aged 41 and with his wife Sarrah?
House 5 in Drum (Loughmuck, Tyrone)
https://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Tyrone/Loughmuck/Drum/874528/
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Hi
I cant find him on passengers lists after 1911 when he came back to Northern Ireland. I could see his wife Ann Jane go out to America to find him in 1908 but i didn't see her come back in 1910 although from you you say its most likely her in 1910. Its really sad if she stayed 2 years in America trying to make it work with him.
That is him aged 41 on the 1911 census although Sarrah is going by the name Sarah Clements she is likely still actually Sarah Norris as he is still married to Ann Jane!
I don't know of any children or what happened to him at all after 1912. Although the divorce case says he is in America i cant find him on the 1920 census or any death record. He didnt want to be found so maybe DNA match if he didn't have children may be my only hope of finding where he ended up
Many thanks for your help. The land deal is interesting - that's the two farms he bought that was core of the divorce case - the land was sold by the court to pay the alimony although its not clear when they vacated the farm.
Thanks
Christine
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Many thanks for your help. The land deal is interesting - that's the two farms he bought that was core of the divorce case - the land was sold by the court to pay the alimony although its not clear when they vacated the farm.
Thanks
Christine
The Valuation Revision records for Dunbiggan, on the PRONI website, show John & Sarah in the townland. 2 plots of land 16a & 16b, both roughly 16 acres. Their names were deleted in 1917. (That was the year Griffiths became aware of the change. It could have taken place before that).
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Thanks Elwyn
I can see i the local papers, the land being sold in 1915/1916 (i do know but not to hand) but i think John and Sarah left the farm vacant before then. Sarah signed the Ulster Covenant in 1912 but it looks to me like that left around 1912 and the court took over the farm until it could be sold and monies passed to John's first wife.
Presumably they could have gone back to America under a false name as it was before passports. He was an American citizen though so i thought he would surface somewhere once the divorce was finalised. I have also tried to trace the family of Sarah Norris and her brother James who was living with them in Nebraska but their are lots of people with those names so i couldn't pinpoint anyone.
Many thanks
Christine
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If someone was determined to disappear, it wasn’t too difficult then. Though an American citizen, he might not necessarily have gone back there. He might have gone anywhere. Scotland, England, Australia etc. His options were almost endless. None of them had any passport or entry restrictions in the period you are looking at.