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<\/a>Path behind old church looking towards church<\/p><\/div>\n
I then went looking for the priest’s house which was up\u00a0the hill above along with another priests house and the newer church. The parish priest was not home but I did get to talk with the gardener and a grandmother accompanying her grand kids home from school. \u00a0 She advised me of\u00a0the concept\u00a0that if there are two people with the same name their father’s name is added to distinguish one from another. \u00a0eg Mary O’Tool becomes Mary “Paddy” O’Tool. \u00a0 I had read of this happening long ago but had no idea that it still existed. \u00a0I left a note for the priest and returned a couple of days later to\u00a0discover that remaining baptismal registers were too recent\u00a0to provide the information I wanted for my great grandmother and her older twin \u00a0sisters.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Inside the new church<\/p><\/div>\n
The female owner of my B&B returned from an absence\u00a0and busied herself sourcing people who knew my relatives. \u00a0She, from her childhood, also remembered my great grand aunt Cecilia and one of her kids. \u00a0Descendants of Cecilia\u00a0had also visited in the past too. Two people came to visit me and showed me a photo of my great grand aunt \u00a0with her son and shared information. \u00a0One was generous enough to leave some of her records with me \u00a0until we met again a couple of days later to visit Cecilia’s home.<\/p>\n
The day before I left I was visited by a number of women who were related either as siblings and\/or as relations to my family many\u00a0generations ago. \u00a0There is \u00a0a strong knowledge of family genealogy\u00a0which is just as well due to the paucity of records. \u00a0Was rather hard to keep up with the conversation and source specific information due to the nature of the conversation. \u00a0Everyone always seemed to be talking and often it was in Gaelic if not directed at me as one promptly added information\u00a0to something another had said. \u00a0I need to email and seek specific information I missed in the confusion. \u00a0It was a real melee of conversation.<\/p>\n
We then drove to the land which Cecilia had owned. \u00a0Whether this is the same land that her father had rented in the mid 19th century \u00a0is unknown but seems a reasonable possibility but needs further investigation. \u00a0She was the only child left in Ireland with her three sisters having travelled to Australia. \u00a0Cecilia’s stone house still stands minus its porch. \u00a0A small window showed a good stack of turf; at least some of the house\u00a0is now used as a storeroom. \u00a0A modern house has been built adjacent but the owners don’t always live \u00a0there, seemingly a common occurrence. \u00a0Several of the people I met had grown up next door\u00a0and knew Cecilia when they were\u00a0children when they used to run errands for her. \u00a0Their family home could be seen and is lived\u00a0by another sibling while their homes are nearby. \u00a0The land was located near what used to be boggy land and the community’s common land ie land available for all. \u00a0The community sold the land in the 20th century and an industrial park and community facilities \u00a0created. \u00a0The industrial park was adversely affected by the most recent financial crisis with the closure of many businesses although some still do exist.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Roadway down to Cecilia’s property. \u00a0The main road has numerous such roads accounting for the scattered nature of housing<\/p><\/div>\n
According to my informants, towards the end of her life,\u00a0Cecilia sold her land to a farmer neighbour \u00a0with the understanding that she and her son, Eddie, could continue to live in the house during their lifetimes. \u00a0 Eddie was an odd character who had no employment and used to go off wandering for weeks at a time. \u00a0Cecilia admitted herself to the local hospital\/rest home twice\u00a0with the last one coinciding with one of Eddies trips. \u00a0When he returned he found the farmer had locked him out. \u00a0 One of the locals was so upset that he canvassed the community for donations of 5 ponds each to build Eddie\u00a0a hut on common land. \u00a0The hut is no longer in existence as the land was part of that sold for the industrial park but I was shown the location.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Cecilia’s house<\/p><\/div>\n
Turf in Cecilia’s old house<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/a>View from Cecilia’s property<\/p><\/div>\n