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The Irish and American Clein families originated in Akmene, Lithuania. In 1878 a group of young Jews (not including a Clein) were sent from Akmene by their families to America to avoid conscription into the Tsar's army. A dishonest ship's captain put them ashore at Cork, Ireland instead of New York. The Jews of Ireland, whose numbers had dwindled so that they could not even gather a minyan for prayers, welcomed the boys with open arms. The boys wrote home, and their families and other Jewish families (including Cleins) emigrated to Ireland. In Ireland the family adopted the spelling "Clein" to distinguish themselves from the "German" Kleins (Hungarian Jews?). Today almost all Cleins with a "C" are related, from England and Ireland through America to Papua, New Guinea.