I'm not linking to this on Facebook because it is mainly family history stuff and won't be of much interest to non-family.
This is me in the old cemetery in Irishtown (Cradle of the Land League), the building over my left shoulder (my left) is the Irishtown National School, which was opened in 1897. Mom, aunts Clare and Aileen and their brother Joe went there, and the previous generation of aunts and uncles, and the more recent generation of Cullina cousins. The grave with the Celtic Cross right behind me is Mary Cullina's, Mikey Cullina's mother and Ger's, Angela's, Anne's, Mike's and Mary's grandmother. She was a McTighe, she was old Luke McTighe's (grandpa's) sister. Next to her are other McTighe graves, Luke and Richard McTighe. They were grandpa's uncles.
Unfortunately, you can't make anything out here, but there is a visible ...ck McTighe... in the inscription on this nearby stone. I believe it's the grave of Patrick McTighe, grandpa's grandfather.
The flat stone to the left is Patrick McTighe's, the one to the right may be Michael McTighe's grandpa's father.
And nearby in this very small cemetery is the grave of Patrick McGarry, mom's grandfather, and Joan Cullina's and Jack and Paddy McGarry's father. Jack was Nora McGarry's (nee Diskin) husband, father of the McGarry cousins, and Joan is mom to the Cullina cousins. So for me, and Lizzy and Mike, we have two great-grandfathers one on our mother's side and one on our father's side lying in this graveyard, and a great-great-grandfather on our father's side. The same is true for the Cullina cousins, and their grandmother also lies here.
Here's a picture taken in the back behind the Cullina's house, not far from the graveyard. Our cousins, the McGarry's of Milltown, Galway and the Cullina's of Irishtown, Mayo, (the two towns are about three miles apart) were all really close to our mom, Cecilia Mary McGarry. And because of that, they are always very kind and generous to us. They always called her Pixie, which was a family name. The story I heard was that her brother Joe couldn't say Cecelia when he was young and so he called her Pixie and the name stuck.
Here's where Michael Cullina, Joan's husband, lies in the new cemetery. Mikey was a very kind man. He was a first cousin of my father's and when my mother left for America in 1960, Mikey and family reached out to my father (whom everyone calls Louie) and asked him to meet her in New York. According to Maureen Freeley, Mikey's half sister and Joan's next door neighbor, it was love at first sight. I don't remember mom ever saying that, but they did get married about a year later. Anyway, that's why Anne, Mike, Mary, Angela and Ger are second cousins to me, Liz and Mike on our father's side and first cousins once removed on our mother's side.
This is the 'corner house' where mom was born. It sits at the intersection of the two roads, one which runs from Ballandine to Dunmore and one which runs from Milltown to Ballyhaunis. Our great-grandfather built it sometime between 1906 and 1920. It probably would have been one of the bigger houses in town. The story is that our great-grandfather, Patrick, who was born just outside of Ballyhaunis, made a lot of money as a coal trader. Our grandfather, also Patrick but known as Paddy, was not such a great businessman, or much interested in business, and he didn't much look after the interests of his mother and siblings. As the oldest son he inherited pretty much everything, and kind of lived the high life. He liked to hunt and fish (and drink). He's also remembered as having a high performance sports car in Irishtown back in the twenties when most everyone was still getting around by donkey cart. Paddy also went to serve in the British army during WWII, even though he would have been in his late thirties or early forties, had a wife and four kids, and lived in the Irish Free State, which was neutral during the war. This was another decision that didn't make him too popular with his neighbors, or his family.
Nothing remains of the house where my grandfather Luke McTighe was born. It would have been a simple stone cottage in Cullane or Cuillaun (pronounced Cool-yawn), nearby Irishtown. It's not a village or anything, there's no church there. There are a few modern houses, but it's mostly stone walls and fields for grazing. The McTighes(McTigues) were herds, shepherds, they didn't own any land, they minded the sheep for the local landlord, and followed the herds from field to field. That's why some of the birthplaces for his generation are listed as Cuillaun and some as nearby Castlereagh.
This is all that remains of one of the stone houses at Castlereagh where a few of the McTighe's were born. Sorry it's not a very good shot. This house may have belonged to one of the Mooneys, grandpa's mother was Nappy Mooney, (Penelope McTighe).
Above is a picture of Nappy Mooney, our great-grandmother, seated, and next to her is our grandfather Luke. Luke McTighe was born in 1878 and joined the Royal Irish Constabulary in 1900, serving with them until they were disbanded in 1922 after the War of Independence. He serve in Kilkenny, Belfast and Dublin. He married Elizabeth Brennan from Monaghan and they had three children, Michael, born in 1912, Kathleen, born in 1915 and Luke (dad) born in 1916. My dad's birth certificate shows he was born in Rathcoole, a suburb southwest of Dublin on the Naas Road. My grandfather died before I was born, in 1961, and dad died when I was 7. Dad's mom died about a year later, so I didn't really know much about grandpa. I had heard from mom that things were hot for him during the Civil War when there was open hostility towards some ex-RIC men. She told me that when the kids were little the local priest would let them play in the churchyard because it was the only place where they wouldn't be harassed. In any event, grandpa Luke left Ireland in 1925, and the rest of the family followed in 1926.
I have to thank a couple of people who have done a lot of work researching the McTighe family history, firstly Father Simon (Thomas Jarlath McTighe) now deceased, a first cousin of my father's and my uncle Michael's, also Mark and Jerry McTigue, their great-grandfather Thomas McTigue was born near Irishtown and emigrated to the US in 1864, he became a railroad foreman in Great Barrington Massachusetts. He was a brother of my great-grandfather Michael McTighe and an uncle of my grandfathers. His son became President Justice of the Municipal Court of New York and his grandson (Mark and Jerry's father) became an attorney for the US Treasury department (Yay America).
Mainly I'd like to thank Michael Kirrane, of Tuam, County Galway, an ex-Garda, who in retirement worked for the East Galway Family History Society. Mark McTigue put me in touch with Michael and his wife Barbara who couldn't have been more gracious. Michael grew up in Irishtown and went to the same National School as my mother (quite a few years later), he knew Paddy McGarry and Joan Cullina and Nora McGarry (she was his doctor). Michael's great grandfather John Kirrane was married to Mary McTigue an aunt of my grandfather's.
Go Davitts!
No comments:
Post a Comment