Embedded Files
From Ballinskelligs to Co. Meath under the Land Commission Scheme
Mícheál Ó Leidhin
Historical Background
The Land Commission was an immensely important body for the people of Ireland over a period of almost 120 years from its inception in 1881 to 1999 when the body was dissolved. It was of importance not alone for the farmers but indeed for the entire nation.
The successes achieved through the land agitation and land war in the final decades of the 19th century forced the British Government to bring forward a great series of Land Acts which succeeded in transferring land ownership from British landlords to the Irish tenant farmer.
The following is an impressive statistic. From 1870 to 1963, an aggregate area of some 15 million acres out of a total 17 million acres in the country had been dealt with. Some 400,000 tenants and their successors were transformed into full land owners.
The Land Commission was at the centre of this great bloodless revolution.
The Land Commission was set up under Gladstone’s Act of 1881. This act was the first significant measure for the relief of the tenant farmer. It put in place the three “Fs” – fair rent, fixity of tenure and freedom of sale. Most importantly it also set up the Land Commission with machinery for fixing judicial rents. This Act brought relief to numerous farmers.
The Ashbourne Land Act of 1885 extended the Commission’s function from fixing rent to breaking up estates and facilitating tenants purchase of their holdings.
The Land Commission was the agency through which the land purchasing acts were implemented. The various Land Acts that followed provided money to the Land Commission so that a tenant could buy out his holding on easy payment terms over a long period of years. The annual payments to the Land Commissions were considerably less than the former rents.
In the period from 1881 to 1923 the Land Commission oversaw some 316,000 holdings being purchased by occupying tenant farmers. This involved 11.5 million acres of land.
It also oversaw the distribution of some 750,000 acres of untenanted land to 35,000 farmers by way of enlargement of uneconomic holdings and through the creation of migrant holdings.
New State 1922
The abolition of landlordism was a matter of extreme urgency when the new government came into office in 1922. Previous Land Acts had converted about two thirds of the country’s tenantry into owners but there still remained about 100,000 tenants on about 3 million acres as well as many large untenanted estates which were poorly managed. Naturally the tenants wanted to become owners of the lands they worked while uneconomic small holders and landless men, mostly the younger sons of small farmers, clamoured for the division of large grazing ranches.
Further legislation was obviously necessary to secure agrarian peace and this came with the 1923 Land Act. Thereafter the Land Commission was to be known as the Irish Land Commission.
Land Act of 1923
The main purpose of the 1923 Land Act was two fold: • To complete land purchase • To relieve congestion
* To Complete Land Purchase:
The Act provided that all tenanted agricultural land in the country should be vested in the Irish Land Commission. As a result every tenant was enabled to purchase his holding by the payment of an annuity usually 30 to 35% less than his old rent over a period of 69 years.
This in effect completed the land purchasing campaign and the landlord tenant system was now virtually at an end.
* To Relieve Congestion:
The Land Act of 1923 vested the powers of the Congested District Board with the Irish Land Commission and hence the Irish Land Commission had a fundamental role in the relief of congestion. The Act gave the Irish Land Commission compulsory purchasing power. With this power the Irish Land Commission was able to acquire certain holdings with the view of relieving congestion particularly along the western seaboard. As a result many untenanted estates were divided up among uneconomic small-holders and landless men.
It was under the scheme that the migrant small farmers from the west of Ireland were settled in the now divided estates in Co. Meath and surrounding counties.
From 1923 to 1978, 3,700 migrant farmers were settled in a total of 150,000 acres.
The migration from the west of Ireland started with the Irish Land Commission’s effort to establish Gaeltacht colonies in Co. Meath. To this end the Irish Land Commission acquired eight estates from seven different owners. Only two of the estates were owner occupied. In all 3,000 acres was divided between 122 migrant farmers from the Gaeltacht districts of the West of Ireland.
This is how the Rath Cairn Gaeltacht was established in 1935, when an estate near Athboy, Co Meath was divided between 35 households from the Connemara Gaeltacht.
Gibbstown Gaeltacht
The Land Commission attempted to establish another Gaeltacht colony in the Gibbstown Estate. It was in this estate that the first migrant farmers from Ballinskelligs settled.
The estate was formally owned by the Plunkett family, the ancestors of Saint Oliver Plunkett. During the Cromwellian invasion five of the Plunkett brothers were attacked. They jumped on horses but failed to escape. They were trapped in a big field and murdered – this field is still known as “The Racecourse”.
Ownership of the estate then passed on to the Gerard family who owned the property until 1926 when they sold the estate to the Irish Government.
In line with the policy of relieving congestion along the Western seaboard the Gibbstown estate was divided in 1937. 20 farmers were transferred from Kerry among them 4 families from Ballinskelligs, 20 families from Mayo and 20 from Donegal as well as 20 families from Co. Meath who had been working on the farm.
The holdings provided to the migrants contained an average of 24 acres of land and were equipped with new dwelling house and out offices. A turbary plot in a nearby bog was allotted with each holding. Special assistance was afforded according to individual requirements. The maximum amount of stock and equipment this supplied to migrants were;
3 cows, 2 heifers, 12 sheep, 1 sow, 2 bonhams, 21 fowl, Horse and cart, Donkey and cart,
Harness, plough and 2 harrows, scuffler roller, ploughing tackle, Wheel barrow, turf barrow,
dairy utensils and shares in a mowing machine and potato sprayer.
A portion of each holding was ploughed for the incoming migrant, seeds were provided, and in the case where migration was carried out late in the season, the seeds were sown for the migrant. Provisions for one week and a year’s supply of turf were also made available. To enable the migrants to derive an income until such time as their new farms became productive, grants of up to a maximum of £78 each were payable to them according as they carried out specified improvement to their holdings, such as internal fencing.
Where necessary, instructional agricultural methods and domestic economy were made available. A primary and vocational school were provided and a site for a church was also made available for the benefit of the migrants. Even their recreational needs were not overlooked, sports fields being provided.
In order to acquire a farm in Co. Meath the migrating farmer had to hand over his own farm to the Irish Land Commission. His farm was then divided among neighbouring farmers, with a view to making their holdings more viable. It must be remembered that while the above mentioned 122 families received almost 3000 acres between them in Co. Meath, they themselves had surrendered 2,280 acres along the western seaboard, which were then divided up among neighbouring farmers.
In all from 1938 to 1960, 13 farm families from the Ballinskelligs area migrated to Co. Meath under the Irish Land Commission Scheme. A brief outline of these families is given below. The first 4 families listed below went to Co. Meath under the Gaeltacht Colony Scheme of the Irish Land Commission.
Dan Sugrue and his family lived in Canuig, Ballinskelligs. The house they left is still visible – beside John Goggin’s, Canuig. The family were known as the “Pats Phádraigs” and were the ancestors of James O’Sullivan, Boolakeel.
Dan’s sister, Bridie was married to Paid O’Sullivan, Boolakeel. Another sister, Nancy went to Meath with the family and was a Primary Teacher in a local school there. Dan’s brother, John Sugrue was a Republican Volunteer and was blown up in the Bahaghs ambush of 1923. There is a detailed account of John Sugrue’s life and death in Tim Horgan’s book “Dying For The Cause”.
The Sugrues were one of the first four families to migrate from Ballinskelligs to Co. Meath under the Irish Land Commission’s Gaeltacht Colony Scheme.
In 1938 Dan and his family moved to Clongill Rd, Gibbstown, Co. Meath along with three other families from Ballinskelligs. His neighbours were the O’Shea family from Ballyferriter, the Lees from Bolus, the White family and Mikeen Sugrue ( Mikeen Sheáinín) from Boolakeel.
Dan married a lady from Co. Meath. He and his family farmed the land down through the years. After Dan’s death the farm was sold.
THE LEE FAMILY FROM BOLUS (BU2)
The Lee family from Bolus, Ballinskelligs were another family to be accommodated in Co. Meath under the Gaeltacht Colony Scheme. They were also located on the Clongill Rd, Gibbstown, Co. Meath.
Jackie Lee was a postman in the Ballinskelligs area. He died in 1932 aged 58 years before the family moved to Meath.
In 1938, Mrs Lee along with John, her eldest son who was only 17yrs old and her other son, Paddy and three daughters, Síle, Eileen and Bridget migrated to Meath. John took over the running of the farm and when John died his brother, Paddy, took over the farm. When I visited the Lees a number of years ago, Paddy had only childhood memories of Bolus as he was quite young when he left. Paddy died on 3rd January 2010.
Paddy and his wife, Mary built a new house on the farm. Their sons Patrick and John acquired more land and they now run a big dairy and tillage farm.
Over the years Mary, Paddy’s wife, kept great contact with the older generation in the Ballinskelligs area. Mary is still hail and hearty and when I met her in October 2015, she was heading off to Kells, for her shopping.
Pud White was married to my grandaunt, NeansNíChonaill from Cill Rialaig. They lived in Boolikeel just on the border with Cill Rialaig – The Draper family lived in the house in recent years.
When they moved to Meath, Pud’s wife, Neans did not go with them as she had pneumonia. She died in the Old Hospital in Cahersiveen and is buried in The Abbey, Ballinskelligs.
Pud subsequently died tragically in Co. Meath. Andy, Pud’s son, took over the farm but found it difficult to make a living on 24acres. Andy and his family moved to England and let the farm. They eventually returned to Meath and continued to farm the land.
Andy’s son, Paddy White, who was only 16 years at the time they moved to England, stayed on in England and made a very successful career in the construction industry. On Paddy’s return to Ireland he was involved in development of the Tara Mines and was involved in many other developments in that part of the country.
Paddy has one interesting memory of a visit to Cill Rialaig in the mid 1960’s, while on a visit home from England. The cows were milked in the morning and he and his father headed off for Kerry in a mini car. They got to Cill Rialaig and went to his grand-uncle’s house – Seán Ó Conaill’s (Seáinín Mhicí Shíle), the door was open but there was no-one home. They went in and ate their sandwiches and headed back to Co. Meath without meeting their cousins. They were back in time to milk the cows again in the evening!
The farm is still in the White’s ownership but is no longer farmed by them. Interestingly, Paddy White is a member of the Board of Directors of the Cill Rialaig Project and has visited Ballinskelligs quite regularly.
MIKEEN (Sheáinín) SUGRUE (BS91)
The fourth family to move to Co. Meath under the Irish Land Commission Gaeltacht Scheme was the family of Michael Sugrue, Boolikeel (Mikeen Sheáinín).
Mikeen was married to Katie Kelly. Mikeen lived in Boolikeel and handed up his farm to be divided among his neighbours.
After four years, Mikeen had a change of mind and decided to return to Ballinskelligs. He sold his farm in Co. Meath and came to live with his wife’s people in Ballinskelligs –on the road to Canuig– the house on the left next to Larry McMahon.
The McCaul family from Cavan bought Mikeen’s farm and still farm there.
JIM (Phaidí Dhonaill) O CONNELL (KR9)
Jim OConnell, ( Jim Phaddí Dhonaill ) was born in the end house ( Bolus end ) of Cill Rialaig village, Ballinskelligs. Jim Phaddí Dhonaill was married to a sister of Danus Kelly. In the early 1930s Jim and his family moved out of Cill Rialaig village and built a two storey Gaeltacht house about a quarter of a mile from the village.
In 1940, under the Irish Land Commission Scheme they moved to New Haggard, Trim, Co. Meath. When they moved to Meath they gave their house to Jim’s brother-in-law, Danus Kelly.
Jim’s son, Dan, who was in England at the time, returned to that house in the late 1950's. Dan sold the house in the 1960's and returned to England. He and his wife returned to Meath in the 1970's and retired in Athboy, Co. Meath.
When Jim Phaddí Dhonaill and his wife left for Meath in 1940, their youngest son, Jimmy, and daughters, Josie and Mary, accompanied them. Their two sons, John and Dan, had already gone to England. Mary subsequently married Johnny Kelly from Cools, another Ballinskelligs man who migrated to Meath under the Irish Land Commission Scheme.
Jim Phaddí Dhonaill’s farm fronted onto the New Haggard Rd. The New Haggard Road was divided by a small bridge. On one side of the bridge there were five families from Co. Mayo and on the other side of the bridge five families from Kerry were settled. Of the five Kerry families, two were from Ballinskelligs – Jim Phaddí Dhonaill and my uncle Patie Lyne. Willie Murphy from Renard was also one of the five Kerry families. The Keanes, Tom, and Mary’s parents, subsequently bought Willie Murphy’s house in Renard.
Jim and his family farmed their 24 acres in Co. Meath. Then in 1950 Jim’s son, John returned from England to New Haggard with his wife and took over the running of the farm.
In 1959 John sold the home farm and bought New Haggard House and the land that went with it. This was a much bigger farm, and had the distinction of including the site of Odlum’s first mill in Ireland. The ruins of the mill are now a preserved building.
John often bought cattle at the fair in Cahersiveen and transported them by railway to Co. Meath. John had one daughter, Angela, and three sons, Seán, Dónal and Timmy. Seán and Timmy then farmed the home farm and an outlying farm which they had bought. Timmy is still farming the home place and Seán bought another farm. They also had a ‘Lairage’. This is where cattle were housed, fed and tested before being exported.
Like his father before him, Seán often bought cattle at the Mart in Cahersiveen, but this time the cattle were transported by lorry. Timmy had his own multi-decked transport lorry and often transported sheep from Milltown and Castleisland Marts to the chill factory in Kildare.
Jim Phaddí Dhonaill’s daughter, Josie, married Patrick Corcoran, another migrant from Co. Mayo. I visited their son, John Joe Corcoran, in October 2015. John Joe very kindly showed me around the New Haggard area and also showed me where Patie Lyne’s (my uncle’s) cottage and farm was situated.
Seeing that John Joe’s mother was a Kerry woman and his father a Mayo man, I asked him whether he considered himself a Kerry or Mayo man? His answer was, “Neither - I am a Meath man.”
For me that answer typified how the Land Commission Scheme has now been assimilated into the present day Meath landscape. The old divisions and loyalties that once existed are fast fading. The present generation are Meath men and women of the 21st century with ancestors from a variety of counties in the west of Ireland.
Patie Lyne was my uncle. He was born in 1899 in Meeliguleen. He went to America and lived in Boston. Patie married Hannah Murphy from Bolus, a sister of Mike Murphy. They had one daughter, Mary. They returned to Ireland in the early 1930s. Patie then bought a farm in Ballinskelligs, near the Lee’s and Gearóid Sugrue’s parents.
In 1942 Patie availed of the Irish Land Commission Scheme and got a farm in New Haggard, Trim. Co.Meath. The New Haggard Road, where he was located, was divided by a bridge. On one side of the bridge five Kerry families were located and on the other side of the bridge there were five families from Co. Mayo.
Patie’s next door neighbour was Jim O Connell ( Jim Phaddí Dhonaill ) from Cill Rialaig. Another South Kerry man, Willie Murphy from Renard, was two doors away. The Keanes, Tom and Mary’s parents subsequently bought Willie Murphy’s house in Renard. Patie often spoke warmly about another neighbour – the Kennedy family from Castlegregory.
When Patie went to Co. Meath, the farm of 20 odd acres, was just one big field. His brothers, Denny and Jerry went to help him divide up the farm into fields. Patie continued to farm in the traditional way, with horse and plough and continued to make his reeks of hay until he sold the farm.
Mary, their only daughter, married Jimmy Keane, the son of a migrant family from Connemara. Mary and Jimmy went to live in England initially, and then on to Chicago. Jimmy worked as a steel erector and was killed off a sky-scraper in the end of the 1990s. Jimmy was a great sean-nós singer and his son, James Keane, is a well-known traditional accordion player in both Ireland and the United States.
Patie and Hannah were now on their own, and sold the farm in Meath in 1967, returning to live in Ballinskelligs in the August of that year. They lived in The Rock Connell’s bungalow near Ballinskelligs Old School. Unfortunately, Patie died the following May (1968) aged 68 years. Hannah went to live with Katie and Denny Lyne, and died in1974.
In October 2015 I went to visit where Patie lived in Meath. A retired couple, Mr and Mrs Finn now live in the house.
Willie Murphy was the twin brother of Johnny Murphy, Gortreagh, Portmagee. Willie went to America and when he returned he bought Cable O’Leary’s house and farm in Ballinskelligs. He then built the cottage beside Ballinskelligs Old School. (Rock Connell’s cottage)
He married Katie O’Sullivan, Killurley – a sister of Denny Sullivan, Killurley. In 1940 under the Irish Land Commission Scheme he moved to The Mullagh, Kilmore, and Kilcock. The postal address was Co. Meath even though Kilcock is in Kildare. Willie and Katie had two boys, Seán and David and four girls. The youngest girl, Phil, was born in Co. Meath.
In Meath they received 29 acres of land which was in a block of its own. They got a two storey house – 2 up and 2 down. When the Murphy family went to Meath the children went to Moynalvey National School.
Their son Seán took over the home place but after some time he moved to Ballygortha. Their other son, David, now lives in the home place and the farm is rented.
One of Willie’s daughters, Kathleen, married Michael Diviney. I visited Kathleen in October 2015. Kathleen was 4yrs of age when her parents moved to Meath in 1940. She remembers the journey very well. A bus was arranged to take all the families that were moving from Ballinskelligs at that time. As the bus was full she had to sit on Mike McCarthy’s lap all the way to Meath. Mike McCarthy was another Irish Land Commission migrant from Cill Rialaig. The animals and farming equipment had already been transported by rail.
Kathleen has happy memories of her time in Co. Meath. Her son, Patrick, farms a large dairy herd nearby. The day I visited they were constructing a tunnel under the public road so that the cows could pass from one part of the farm to the other in safety.
Kathleen relayed to me another interesting link to South Kerry. As outlined above her father, Willie Murphy, bought Cable O’Leary’s house and farm in Ballinskelligs. It is part of the lore in Ballinskelligs how Cable O’Leary got his name.
In 1874, a British based company opened a Cable Station in Ballinskelligs, linking Ballinskelligs to Nova Scotia. When the telegraphic cable was being brought ashore, the end of the cable fell off the flat bottomed boat that was bringing it ashore. The Captain offered a half crown to the man or men who could retrieve the end of the cable. Donncha O’Leary dived in and retrieved the cable. The Captain said that he would christen the cable, - “The O’Leary Cable” but the nickname stuck to the man instead and Donncha was henceforth known as “ Cable O’Leary ”.
Interestingly, Willie Murphy’s grandson Mícheál Diviney was involved in bringing the story of the Trans-Atlantic cable to an end. Mícheál owns a transporting business – ‘Trim Transport’. The Trans-Atlantic Cable was taken up from the sea bed, by Joe C Keating , some years ago. Mícheál Diviney’s transporting company was engaged to transport some of this cable from Cahersiveen to Dublin Port from where it was exported to England.
Willie Murphy’s twin brother, Johnny, was married to Minnie O Brien, a sister of Tom and Nora O Brien’s and the grand-parents of Mary Grandfield Portmagee. Johnny and his family were the last family to migrate from South Kerry under the Irish Land Commission Scheme. In month of April 1961 the moved from Gortreagh, Portmagee to High Down Hill, Newcastle, Co.Dublin. Their farm can be seen from the Naas Road – after the sign for Athgoe. Since then 4 generations of Murphys have been involved in farming this land.
Neddy Goggin lived in Libes, Ballinskelligs. He married Nora O’Connell from Cill Rialaig, Ballinskelligs. Nora was a sister of Jim Phaddí Dhonaill who also migrated to Co. Meath.
In 1940 Neddy migrated to Meath under the Irish Land Commission Scheme and got a farm in Plebstown, Kilcock, with the postal address of Co. Meath.
Neddy and Nora had five children, three boys and two girls. By 1940 their sons, Mike and John were already working in coalmines in England. Rita had gone to America. Mary and Patsy accompanied their parents to Co. Meath. Patsy also went to England where he died. His ashes are buried in the Abbey in Ballinskelligs.
Neddy died in 1959 and his wife in 1961. After some years, Neddy’s son, John, came home from England and took over the farm. John married Bridie Hopkins from Mayo. John and Bridie had one daughter, Mary Josephine.
When John died in 1969, Mary Josephine and her mother took over the running of the farm. Mary married a neighbouring farmer, Tony Hoban and they acquired extra land.
Next door to Neddy Goggin was the Sugrue family from Lehid, The Glen, Ballinskelligs. Mary and Tony Hoban bought this farm and their son, John now lives in the Sugrue’s house.
Martin Brennan from Killabounia, The Glen and his wife and family live close by. Martin, who is Mikie Martin’s son worked in England and returned to farm in Co. Meath.
Mary and Tony Hoban visit Ballinskelligs quite regularly and they keep in close contact with Mícheál Brennan, The Glen, to whom she is related. Mícheál keeps her up-dated on the well-being of friends, relations and neighbours.
Mike O’Shea was from Curragh, Ballinskelligs. The ruins of his house are still visible near the small bridge (Curragh Bridge) across from James O’Connell’s house. He was was Seán Cormaic O’Shea’s son, and known as "Behan". Seán Cormaic was a great storyteller. Séamus Delargy collected many stories from him.
Michael O’Shea was married to Minnie Lyne, Reen, Ballinskelligs, a sister of Mikie Lyne’s. They had two children, a son and a daughter, Seán and Maura. Neither of them married.
They eventually sold the farm and went to live in Kells, Co. Meath. Unfortunately, Seán was killed in a car accident and Maura passed away a few years ago.
Patie Goggin resided on the Old Road, Ballinskelligs – in the long house beside where Martin O’Sullivan lives today. Patie’s father was John Goggin and his mother was O’Shea from Portmagee. Patie’s brother, Willie Goggin, was well known in the South Kerry area as he owned a shop in New St, Cahersiveen – straight opposite St Mary’s football field. Willie inherited this shop from his uncle William Goggin who had been in America.
In 1940 John Goggin, with his two sons, Patie and Willie, got an Irish Land Commission farm in the parish of Kilcloon, near Maynooth, Co. Kildare but with a postal address of Co. Meath. The McCarthys from Cill Rialaig also got a farm nearby.
The night before the Goggin family left for Co. Meath they stayed with their cousin Patie Goggin, Clahananoe, Ballinskelligs. This was necessary as all household equipment had been transported to Meath.
After a few years Willie returned to South Kerry to take over his uncle’s shop. Willie was a keen footballer and played at wing back with the St Michael’s team of 1948.
Patie took over the farm in Co. Meath and married Mary Curran from Cools, Ballinskelligs – a sister of Paddy Curran from Cools.
Willie married Maureen Curran from Cahersiveen, a sister of Paddy Curran’s, The Lane, Cahersiveen. Willie and Maureen had one daughter, Mary Margaret, who is a regular visitor to Ballinskelligs and stays with her first cousin, Michael Quirke.
Patie and Mary Goggin had two sons, - John and Séamus. As well as farming both worked with a milking machine company.
Séamus, who has two daughters, took over the family farm and is still involved with the milking machine business. John has emigrated to Australia.
JOHNNY KELLY - COOLS (&&) note to editor - link required
Johnny Kelly lived in Cools, Ballinskelligs. His house was on the left hand side of the Glen Road as you drove towards Cahersiveen.
In 1940 Johnny and his mother availed of The Irish Land Commission Scheme and were offered a farm in The Mullagh, Co. Meath.
As outlined above, Neddy Goggin had moved to Meath and got a farm was in Plebstown, Kilcock. Neddy was married to Nora O’Connell, a sister of Jim Phaddí Dhonail. Jim had got an Irish Land Commission farm in New Haggard near Trim and his sister Mary O Connell lived with him. Mary would visit her sister Nora in Plebstown. It was through these visits that Johnny Kelly met and married Mary O’Connell.
Johnny and Mary’s son, Pat Kelly, married a lady from the Dingle peninsula. Pat now runs the home farm as well as working for the Department of Agriculture.
Mikie Lyne was born in 1912 and lived in Reen, Ballinskelligs. Dermot Gleeson now has a summer house on the site which now incorporates Mikie’s house.
Mikie was the last migrant to leave Ballinskelligs in the Irish Land Commission Scheme. He was married to Kathleen Dillon, Kinnard West, a sister of John Dillon. Mikie and Kathleen had seven daughters and one son.
On 22nd April 1960 Mikie and his family left Ballinskelligs and took up his Irish Land Commission farm in Tandragee , Longwood. Co. Meath.
As well as being a farmer, Mikie was a fisherman and rowed in Regattas. He rowed in the “Sí Gaoithe” when they won the All Ireland Seine Boat race of 1955. He was on the same oar as his neighbour, Jack Fitzgerald. Mikie was always very proud of this medal and two photographs of the “Sí Gaoithe ” decorated his kitchen in Co. Meath all his life.
Mikie’s wife, Kathleen, died and some years afterwards Mikie married Liz Scanlon from Co. Meath. Mikie and Liz continued to farm the holding for a number of years. Mikie died in 2003.
I visited Mikie a number of times over the years. He loved singing and had a large repertoire of Irish and English songs. The memory of my first visit to Mikie at his home in Co. Meath, on a Sunday afternoon stays with me - Mikie stretched on the rack ( settle ) singing “ Around You Sweet Tralee “. I often wondered if the sentiments of the song reflected Mikie’s feelings for Ballinskelligs ? On one occasion I asked Mikie if he missed Ballinskelligs ? His answer was poignant, “I never went to sleep at night that my mind didn’t go back out to sea ”.
Whenever I visited Mikie in Co. Meath, he would always enquire about his former neighbours and relations. On one occasion he enquired about a well-known fisherman, Jim Moriarty from Meeliguleen, Ballinskelligs. I told him that Jim had passed away. Mikie bowed his head and said, “ Fáisc im choinnibh, a mhaoinigh. ”. What struck me about this phrase was that it had no meaning or relevance in the surroundings in which Mikie now lived: whereas that phrase was part of the fishing lore of the Ballinskelligs Gaeltacht that Mikie had left.
Jim Moriarty’s father Mícheál Dhiarmada, was a famous oarsman and when his two sons were growing up he would have the two boys rowing two oars against his one oar. More often than not he would out-row the boys and turn the boat against their best efforts. It was then he would say with pride , “ Fáisc im choinnibh, a mhaoinigh .” - “Come on, my boys, keep the pressure against me” ("a mhaoinigh" being a term of endearment). The example illustrated for me the cultural change that the first generation of migrants had to experience. They had to carve out a new identity in a very different cultural milieu.
But Mikie adjusted well to life in Co. Meath with many of his daughters settled around him. His daughter, Noreen, married Peter Murphy from Wexford. Noreen and Peter’s son, Brendan Murphy, played for a number of years in goal for the Meath Senior football team in the 2000's.
This is another example of how the descendants of the Irish Land Commission migrants have comfortably integrated into the life and culture of their ancestors adopted land.
Ba mhaith liom mo bhuíochas a chur in iúl dos na daoine seo a chabhaigh liom an píosa seo a chur le chéile:
Mícheál Ó Braonáin, Kathleen Diviney, Uinsionn Ó Gairbhí, Brian Flaherty, Liam Gúgán, Paddy White, John Joe Corcoran, Mary and Tony Hoban and Seán McCarthy.
The McCarthy Family - Over 100 Years in Kildreelig (KR14)
The McCarthy’s came to Kildreelig about 1840.
Michael McCarthy or Micheál na Leamhna, came as a cliamhain isteach to marry Eibhlís O’Donoghue who was a widow. The walls of the house are still there.
They had 2 children, Bríghde & Seán.
Bríghde married Seamus O’Lawlor, which is the connection to John Goggin & Micheál Brennan in the Glen.
Seán married in the home place to Nora Seamus O’Connell and they had 9 children (4 boys & 5 girls).
All of the girls married locally. Síghle, the youngest girl, went to America for a while, but returned home & married Diarmuid Casey and lived above the school in Kildreelig. Their daughter Mary married Seán Kelly, whose family now farm the land in Kildreelig.
The Sons
- Pádraig (Pat) the eldest boy, emigrated to Hartford, Connecticut, where there was a large contingent of people from the area and Irish was freely spoken in parts of the city.
- Seán (John) followed his elder brother to Hartford. However when Pádraig took sick from a work accident, he took Pádraig home by ship. Pádraig died not long after.
- Micheál, (Mick) the 2nd youngest boy, married in the home place and lived there all his life. He had 2 sons, one died young and the other went to England.
- Dónal (Dan) joined the Free State army and emigrated to New York in the mid 1920’s.
The holding next to the McCarthy’s home place was O’Connells and was divided in the late 1890’s with the new house and division, on the school side, for Muiris O’Connell when he married Mary O’Sullivan (O’Sullivan Greiseach from the cross). Muiris died and Mary’s sister Ellen came to help in the house. Mary married a 2nd time, but died in childbirth. Mary’s 2nd husband left and Mary’s father arranged a match with Ellen & Seán McCarthy to move into this holding. This new holding held the combined title with the old division as a single holding.
John & Ellen had 11 children, 5 girls & 6 boys. Of the 11, to date 4 have lived to over 90.
The Girls
The eldest two emigrated to America and worked in the ‘big houses’ in New York City. Mary married and settled in the Bronx. Bridget (emigrated at 15 after working at the priests house in Dungeagan) married and settled in New Jersey.
Joan went to England during the war years and worked as bus conductor. She came back to Ireland after the war and emigrated to America in the late 40’s, married and settled in New Britain, Connecticut. Her married name was Saluk and her youngest son, Barry, married Marie Maine in 1986. They ran Maine’s Hotel for a few years, returning each summer, prior to selling it. They have a holiday house in Kinard, which is across the road from the former O’Sullivan farmhouse, where Barry’s grand aunt, Bríd, married into, and where Barry’s grandfather, John, was sent to work the farm before he went to America to join his brother Pádraig.
Eileen was in New York for many years, returning to Ireland in the late 1950’s, and lived with her mother in Dublin.
Nora, the youngest (1926) and the only one remaining, went to secondary school in Dublin from Co. Meath. She joined the Dept of External Affairs the late 1940’s and was posted to the Irish Consulate in New York. From there she joined the Maryknoll Sisters, went to Tanzania in the 1950’s and still ministers there.
The Boys
Michael (Mike, 1909) the eldest worked on the farm most of his time in Kerry. He helped his father on the road contract, where he learned the trade of road maintenance, grading, and breaking stones. When his father emigrated to America, he assumed the role of a father figure for his youngest siblings and took over farming the land. He cleared the fields of stones (the piles are still there), fished on the seine boats, and spoke often of his time on the boats, meeting the men from the islands and Bearhaven, and telling the art of using oars on the seine boat. He helped with the building of the new Church in Dungeagan in 1928.
Paddy (Patsy) joined the Free State army. He was based at Renmore in Galway with the Irish Battalion and married a Galway girl. He left the army in the mid 1950’s and moved to Birmingham, where most of the family still live.
John emigrated to New York, served with the American navy in the Pacific during the war. Later he had a small shop in an apartment complex with his wife in the Bronx.
Dan, Jim & Dinnis came to Meath in 1940. Dan and Jim both played football with local cubs and worked with Guinness at St. James Gate in Dublin, but when Dan died suddenly in 1947, Jim left the brewery. He married a Meath girl and in the in the late 50’s moved to Birmingham, where most of his family still live. Dinnis lived with his mother and then with his sister Eileen.
Both John & Ellen were of strong character, looked to the future for their family and for their education. John got the contract for a few years to maintain the road from Kildreelig to Ballinskelligs. From the late 1910,s, he went to America during the winters, where he worked as a stoker in the boiler room of a hospital in New York, returning home most summers, and from the mid 1920’s spent most of his time in the US. He stayed with his daughter Mary in the Bronx for most of this time. This left Ellen on her own to rear the family.
Ellen moved her youngest children to the school in Ballinskelligs and with scholarships and help coming back from John in America, sent some of them to secondary school in Tralee & Killarney.
She spent her Sundays visiting and talking with friends and relations after Mass.
She pursued the opportunity of a move to County Meath with the Land Commission. Her many applications, requests and appeals were turned down as (despite the congested area and location) the size of the holding did not meet the requirements -- the title of the holding in John’s and her name was the entire, original, O’Connell holding, shared by two families, but having been split in the late 1890’s. She wrote to those who had moved to Co. Meath, who helped her through this dilemma, and from these discussions the possibility emerged that if she relinquished her title to the O’Connell part of the holding, this would give her entitlement, as her own holding size then met met the 'size criterion' for entitlement to move. It worked.
On the 17th March 1940, Palm Sunday, she moved with her remaining family in Ireland to Killeaney in the parish of Kilcloon in south Meath which is close to Maynooth in Kildare. The livestock and furnishings came by train to Halzehatch near Celbridge and they walked the cattle the 8 miles to Killeaney. Some of the furniture they brought was a dresser, the rack and some wooden straight chairs. The rack was used well into the 60’s and the dresser remains until recently.
The holding in Meath was typical of the Land Commission at that time, having acreage in the mid-twenties, with a dwelling house and shed. It also included a section of bog in Timahoe in Kildare. Over a 10-year period, along a 2.5 mile section (including 3 lanes) between two crossroads in Kilcloon, 25 Land Commission holdings were created of which 13 were from Kerry -- this having previously accommodated just 4 families.
Ellen linked well with and helped her new neighbours. She knew the system and became a support and help to the other families who had moved to the area, using her experience with the Land Commission over many years in trying to move to Meath and having many of her family in the States.
She went to America several times from the early 1940’s. She worked with patients newly discharged from a New York hospital, helping them recover in their homes and administering their medications. Both she and John returned in 1959 by boat to Cobh. John died in 1963.
Ellen bought a house at number 12 North Richmond Street in Dublin in the mid-40’s. Number 12 became a meeting point for Ballinskelligs people coming to Dublin. News was shared and stories were told and retold in the spirit of oral tradition that was their custom. She supported those wishing to emigrate to the States with help on paperwork and in coaching them on what to say and what not to say to officials at the embassy and on landing in New York. In the mid-sixties she moved to Ballymun. She died in October 1987, just short of her 100 birthday.
Michael farmed the land in Killeaney. He first laid out the fields and the haggard and planted apple trees. As part of the war effort, he were required to till one third of the land. He joined the LDF. For additional income, he cleaned ditches with little else but a shovel and built banks and laid out fields for new Land Commission Holdings in the area. He sold hay to the market at Smithfield in Dublin, taking the horse and cart into Dublin on back roads during the night. During the late 1940’s he started into milk production.
He married Mary Hopkins from Mayo in 1948. Mary’s sister Bridie, was married to John Goggin whose family had moved from Libes to the neighbouring parish of Moynalvey, where several families where relocated from Mayo to Meath. Michael & John were also related. In 1951 they bought a grey Ferguson tractor between them, followed by a disc harrow. By the early 1960’s they each had their own tractor, plough and mower.
By the mid 1950’s Michael had moved to producing milk 12 months of the year and in the early 1960’s got a bucket milking machine. Land was taken for hay and he moved to silage in the early 1970’s.
Michael and Mary had 4 children – 1 girl and 3 boys. They are the only grandchildren of John & Ellen in Ireland. All 4 live in Kilcloon, with 3 living in houses built on the family farm. The 2nd boy, Micheál has the farm today and all his 3 children have houses built on the family land, as well as 2 of his nephews.
Michael & Mary instilled a sense and love of history, of place and language in their children & grandchildren. One of grandsons proposed to his then girlfriend on Boolakeel strand from where his grandfather fished and one of his granddaughters was nominated for Irish radio broadcaster of the year for her work with Irish language stations.
Micheal died in 2000 aged 91 and Mary in 2012, just short of her 103rd birthday.
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse