Letterkenny Day Four

This morning a photographer came from the local paper and took my picture with the administrator of the Cathedral parish, Fr. Eamonn Kelly, to accompany the article that is scheduled to appear on Friday. Afterwards I did some work on my research.

I concelebrated the 10:00 Mass, visited the perpetual adoration chapel, and then stopped in at the diocesan archives, where I was given a good welcome, a cup of tea, and a tour. They will look out for material that might be helpful for me.

After dinner I went and got a cell phone with a local phone number, so the locals don't have to make an international call to reach me. Then I went back to the County Library and continued research there.   I found a very useful article by Patrick Fitzgerald, whom I met at the American-Ulster Symposium at Quinnipiac College a number of weeks ago. What he says about Irish emigration, that it all needs to be seen as one continuum, and not the Scotch-Irish Protestant emigration followed later by the Catholic emigration of the famine. The emigration to Belleville in the 1810s-1820s was Protestant and Catholic. I will be going to the Center for Migration Studies, where he works, before I leave Letterkenny. It is about an hour by bus from here.

After "tea" I went with Father Eamonn and Fr. Steven Gorman, one of the curates, to the wake of one of the parishioners. The wake was held in his house, with the casket in the bedroom on the bed. Funeral parlors have not caught on here.

First Two Weeks in Ireland: Doolin, Co. Clare

I did not have easy access to the Internet the first two weeks in Ireland, so I did not begin my blog right away. The blogs for the first two weeks were not written at the time. I am writing them after the fact. 

We arrived at Shannon Airport, picked up the car and drove to Doolin. We had no problem finding Doolin, but did have to call the caretaker to direct us to the house. It is a short walk from the main area of Doolin, and we are surrounded by cows. There are also several small castles in the area, some of which you can see from the cottage.

                                             Eileen looking out the kitchen window.

Saturday we pretty much just settled in. We went to the local church on Sunday for Mass. The priest began by saying that he had finished looking at the parish survey he had done, and that the general consensus was that his sermons were too long and too complicated. He said that that would change. So he gave a nice introduction to the readings, and then did not say anything afterwards.

On Monday of the second week we went to visit our new-found cousin. Tony O’Driscoll is the great-grandson of Eugene McEnery, brother to our great-grandfather, Thomas McEnery, sons of Patrick and Catherine (Riordan) McEnery of Crean, Mongay, Co. Limerick.

After tea and scones, Tony took us searching for McEnery related sites. We visited the cemetery in Newcastle West where his parents and grandparents are buried, as well as a number of other relatives. We then went searching for Crean. I had been sent a photograph of the McEnery farm by a former neighbor. We were able to find Crean, but even with the help of the photograph, which we showed to several people, we were not able to locate the site of the farm.

We had more luck finding the ruins of the McEnery Castle, in Castletown. They are overgrown, and it is hard to judge the original extent of the castle, but it was much more than just a tower.

Dublin Day Four

Tuesday, August 19

This morning I took a walk to St. Stephen’s Green. Stopped by the Boston College in Ireland house right on the green and was given a tour by a graduate student who is writing her dissertation on Irish emigration to America. We exchanged cards. Sat in St. Stephen’s Green for a while, enjoying the warm sunshine.

While there I received a text message from Brendan O’Brien, the Irish cousin of “Moon” O’Brien. Hugh Welsh had given me his e-mail address. Hugh’s brother had met him, and mentioned my interest in the history of the Belleville Irish. We are going to get together soon.

On the way back to Trinity, I went to the National Museum. Saw the Ardagh Chalice, St. Patrick’s Bell, the Stowe Missal cover. I missed the Tara brooch. I’ll have to stop in again. It is right down the street and is free.

Dublin Day Three

Went to the National Library of Ireland and registered for my reader’s card. Used the Irish Times on-line database and found three McEnery obituaries. Looked at some Friends of Irish freedom material, and a couple of books on Ulster emigration to America—all published in the US! Went to the Chester Beatty Library, famous, among other things, for its collection of early scripture fragments. I went back to my room for a nap, and woke up towards evening.

I also received an e-mail from a Belleville native, a numismatist (coin collector) who is studying the early copper industry in Belleville and a private mint that was set up there. We will exchange information.

On my way to pick up Eileen the day before we left, I went to use the DuPont archives in Belleville to see a letter from John Mitchel of Belleville, who was working for the Bellona Powder Mill and was making some contacts of behalf of DuPont. He was trying to get Nicolas Roosevelt to hurry up with the steam engine he was building for DuPont.

Dublin Days One and Two

Arrived in Dublin yesterday. I came with my brother and sister-in-law from Doolin, and we stopped at the Famine Museum in Strokestown on the way. It was interesting, but there was a lot of texts and very few objects. The many papers from the Mahon family (the owners of the house) were interesting.

Once I found my way in yesterday and got settled, I decided just to relax.

This morning I headed out to Mass at the Cathedral, and ended up at the 11:00 sung Latin Mass (novus ordo). I took a walk around town before and after. Dublin is swarming with tourists and with sports fans. 

This afternoon I headed off to Old Kilmainham Road, where some Curleys were living in a tenement around 1908-1910. These may have been the relatives that Michael Curley supposedly wrote to, “Old Kilmainham” having probably been handed down in the tradition as “Old Killarney”. I didn’t quite get all the way, but it was obvious that the neighborhood has been rebuilt, and the tenements long gone.