Unsung millionaires from Monaghan

You might remember that Frank Sinatra song, ‘Who wants to be a millionaire?’ and the way he rejects all the fancy things that come with a nice fortune. By the end of the song, he gets to the point when he says he only wants the love of the lady he is pursuing. I suppose few would not like to have sufficient funds. Enough that is, to always put food on the table, keep a roof above one’s head, to have warmth in winter and a little extra to spend on some of life's leisures like a car or holiday.

Of course, those things shouldn’t require you to be a millionaire in order to have them. They should be a basic right for everyone who tries their best each day. But, I suppose, nobody would reject the million euro if it arrived through work or the lottery. Then again, the old millionaire tagline is not so fancy as it used to be.

World inflation means that the millionaires of the old days would now be known as billionaires. A gentleman I spoke to some years ago told me it was easier to become wealthy in those times but that all the red tape of today likely prevents a few clever people from amassing the same rags to riches wealth that could be had in the past. Monaghan has produced a few millionaires over the years. Here we will look at some lesser known stories. Next week, we will look at unsung millionaires from Cavan.

‘Regular romance’

In the late 19th century, a Monaghan lass had a bit of luck after she emigrated to America around 1892 and found employment as a cook working for a millionaire. What is remarkable, however, is how the employer took a shine to the young woman named Miss Clerkin and soon proposed to her. Happily, for him, she accepted. They were then married. Unfortunately, the husband died and sometime afterwards she met another man by the name of Fitzroy, and they too tied the knot.

According to the papers, she became Mrs Fitzroy, wife to Captain Henry F. Fitzroy ‘late of H.M.S. Charybdis, at the Hotel Hamilton, Bermuda.’ They were married on August 9, 1905. The Lurgan Mail on September 2, 1905, described the Fitzroys as having ‘a regular romance’ - however you would interpret that. Mrs Fitzroy (née Clerkin) was the daughter of John Clerkin from Drumcald, Clones, Co Monaghan. It was noted that the Clones born lady was pleasantly endowed with a handsome fortune of ‘two million dollars'.

Pauper's brothers

An unusual conversation that came up at a Board of Guardians meeting in Monaghan Workhouse was reported in the Irish Weekly and Ulster Examiner on January 7, 1911. On the occasion in question James McQuaid JP sat comfortably in the main chairman’s chair as he listened intently to Francis McCorkindale’s extraordinary tale about the family of an inmate in the workhouse called Philip Kelly.

‘Philip,’ says he, ‘could be a rich man if he minded himself for, he could get £10 a week to mind him for fear of him losing his mind.’ You see the bold Philip’s two brothers had been working out in Australia and them both were now millionaires from all the hard graft they did. The guardians were informed of a letter received by a neighbour of Philip’s around ten years previous in 1901 and the contents of which explained the brothers' willingness to see their sibling right by £4 or £5 ‘each week to keep his life through drink'.

Willie Stephenson who was at the guardians meeting spoke up and asked if the man ‘got the money via the Parish Priest wouldn’t it be better?’ The master held out little faith in the scheme. ‘He is leaving the house now … he will be back before long,’ affirmed the master. To which Mr Loughhead added, ‘he won’t be out six months.’ There likely is a story to be told too about Philip Kelly’s brothers and how they made their fortune in Australia.

Cahans Presbyterian Church

During the late 1920s, the story of the ‘Clark millions’ got a few Monaghan families all hot and bothered according to the Frontier Sentinel on September 10, 1927. The article put a call out for Clark relatives to come forward and asked: ‘how many claimants will become entitled to a share of what are known as the Clark Millions (£113,000,000)’ and continuing, said that public interest now tended ‘to become more involved’, as people wondered ‘who were the parents of the multi-millionaire William Andrews Clark?’ It is said that Clark’s parents emigrated from Belfast to Connellsville, Pennsylvania, where William was born.

But it was revealed that the parents were John Clark and Mary Clark (née Andrews) who were both natives of Co Monaghan. The reporter excitedly pointed out that ‘the baptismal records of the Cahans Presbyterian Church, near Monaghan’ had been ‘inspected by three representatives of a syndicate which is acting for two New South Wales branches of the families’ who claimed ‘kinship with the deceased man of millions'. The Ballybay and Monaghan residents who suddenly remembered having Clark connections had ‘engaged’ local solicitors to prove their familial link to the millionaire’s family.

A Monaghan-based solicitor, Mr Rountree, who was representing some potential claimants, told the press of an Australian syndicate which ‘put up £20,000 to carry out the investigations'. The Frontier Sentinel said of the Monaghan families, ‘they evidently think they have a scent.’ There may be families in Monaghan today who will know of what happened to William A. Clark’s millions.

Money often causes a great stir of excitement among people. In the world of the 21st century, there may be those who have too much and others that have not enough. Many

an unsung millionaire will live a quiet life and that is why their story has not been heard, and they have managed well what they have. As one person put it to me, ‘money can be the route to all evil, but it is still useful.'

No truer words you will hear than the lyrics of the song ‘Money Makes The World Go Round,’ sung by Liza Minnelli in the musical Cabaret.