Thomas Arthur Frost

  General Notes:

Thomas was not with his family when they came to N.S.W.They said they left him back in Ireland.

Thomas Frost notes:
Thomas and Isabella resided at the Meelick Fort Cottage. Their seven children were Bessie (Elizabeth?) b 1862, John 1863, Adelaide 1866, Thomas 1867, Isabella 1869, Emily 1871, & Mary 1874. Isabella Martin died 24 Dec 1875. (Emily and Mary also died in December 1875. Adelaide married in 1893 to Andrew Robertson of Scotland and emigrated to Porirua, Wellington, NZ.)

He also notes:
Thomas Frost married Catherine O'Shaughnessy on 5 Feb 1879 at St. Michael's RC church in Limerick City. They lived on a farm in the townland of Pass in Killeely, Co Clare until about 1885 when they moved to Limerick City, eventually settling at #4 Pennywell Road. Their children were Mary Jane b 1879, Alice (Alicia) 1881, Catherine 1882, Christina Margaret 1885, James 1886, William 1888 (the aforementioned), & Josephine 1893 (who died in infancy).

Thomas Arthur Frost died 28 Feb 1900 at the Limerick Workhouse.

Catherine O'Shaughnessy married Mathew Broggy of Derrymore-Meelick situated in Killeely Co Clare on 14 Feb 1901 at St. John's RC Cathedral in Limerick. They welcomed a daughter Ellen Broggy [Bruggy] in 1902 and a son, Mathew, in 1903.

John Frost (c1793 - 1864)
John's origins are unclear to me. The certificate documenting his death on 23 January 1864 provides his age as being 70 years. If we accept this literally, his approximate year of birth would be around 1793, but certainly a range of 1791-1797 would seem reasonable. At the time of his death John appears to have been residing in Cratloe or the adjacent Cratloe Moyle, which in turn is adjacent to Meelick.

Records at Parteen-Meelick RC church identify John Frost and Mary Frost as the parents of Thomas Frost (baptised 10 Oct 1834) and Mary Frost (baptised 30 Jul 1836).

Records at Parteen-Meelick RC church further document the Marriage of John Frost and Mary Frost on 12 Jun 1835.

Freeholder records document a John Frost with farmland at Meelick in 1818. Tithe records dating from 1832, 1854 Griffiths Valuation, and Grand Jury-Cess Tax records all document John Frost as a lease-holder on farmlands in Meelick and Cratloe.

John Frost of Meelick Fort is documented as the father of Ellen Frost (b c1832) in her marriage to Thomas Keays in Co Clare on 20 Apr 1850; and the father of Adelaide Frost (b c1833) in her marriage to Harrison Lee on 26 May 1853. The mother of these two daughters (Ellen and Adelaide) is presumed to be Mary Frost as Thomas was born to Mary in 1834.

John Frost is also the father of John Joseph Frost b 9 Jan 1849. The mother of John Jospeh is named Catherine. Her maiden name is unknown to me. Catherine died 12 Jun 1892 in Cratloe at the reported age of 85, the widow of John. In light of the evidence of the marriage to Catherine, my assumption has been that Mary died sometime after the birth of Mary Frost and before the birth of John Joseph - i.e. from about 1836 to about 1847. [Your information is that Mary Anne Frost emigrated to Australia in 1837 - with her husband John. I wonder if it's possible that Mary, aka Mary Anne, came to Australia without her husband. We would be left, however, to account for another John Frost in Australia in that case.]

As to John Frost's possible origins, a record from St. Michael's RC church in Limerick City, dated 26 Oct 1792, documents the baptism of a John Frost who was the son of John Frost and Mary Flanery [Flannery]. There are so many John Frosts, it is hard to speculate with much confidence.

I found it interesting that St. Michael's also has a record from about 30 years earlier documenting that John Frost, the son of John, was baptised on 1 Jan 1762. While St John's RC church, also in Limerick City, records the baptism of a John Frost, son of George, on 16 Aug 1759.

N.B. The area of eastern County Clare is adjacent to Limerick City where four Catholic churches were located in close relative proximity to one another- St. Munchin's, St. Michael's, St John's (later a cathedral) and St. Mary's.


The Crotty - Frost Lineage:
Note - my research on this branch is less thorough.

Mary Crotty (1888-1928)
Mary Crotty married William Frost in Chicago in 1917, as outlined previously. They are my grandparents. Her parents, Maurice Crotty and Alice McNamara were natives of Limerick and emigrated to Chicago sometime after their marriage at St. Michael's RC church on 7 March 1881 and close to the time of their daughter's birth in 1888, for which I can find no record in the US or Ireland. Mary's three older brothers were all baptised at St. Michael's in Limerick. Mary may have been born in Illinois, USA.

Mary's Mother, Alice McNamara (1864-1917), was the daughter of Maurice McNamara (1835-1895) and Catherine Frost. Thus, another branch of the Frost tree. Like the other Frosts, these Frosts were farmers from Eastern Clare.

Catherine Frost (1835-1880)
Catherine Frost was the daughter of Thomas Frost and Catherine Allen. She married Maurice McNamara at Parteen-Meelick RC church in Co Clare on 8 Apr 1856.

Thomas Frost (1801-1885)
Thomas Frost resided in Killeely in the townland of Derrymore (Derra) in eastern Co Clare. He married Catherine Allen at Parteen-Meelick RC church on 6 May 1823. Their children included Mary Frost (b 1832), Catherine (b 1835), Elizabeth (b 1837), James (1840) who died as an infant, James (1842), and Thomas (1844).

  Noted events in his life were:

• Baptism, 10 Oct 1834, Meelick, County Clare, Ireland UK.

• note. ⁷²⁴

Thomas married Isabella Martin on 20 Feb 1861 in Ennis, County Clare, Ireland UK.⁷²⁴ (Isabella Martin was born circa 1835 and died on 24 Dec 1875.)

Thomas next married Catherine O'Shaughnessy on 5 Feb 1879 in St Michaels, Limerick, Ireland UK.⁷²⁴ (Catherine O'Shaughnessy was born circa 1835.)