1910. A Beautiful Old Gaelic Custom.

The candle is still lit all over Ireland at Christmas. In former time it was common for local shops to give a candle as a token for the family custom over the year.

Comment:

My family continues this tradition. It is always the youngest in the house who lights the candle.

1909 Carbery Agricultural Show, Skibbereen

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Dri7_U_cn3JCzy3PhSeG5YjiZCJum7iF1euGguAE50k/edit

1843-1954 West Cork Agricultural Societies and Shows

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yoNjmDNQKT_pk3nvlCsT72YWYoDENcs–uaJxh2ber8/edit

O’Donovan Ancestry of West Cork Landlords Becher/Wrixons.

The RCB Library houses the Welply Genealogical Collection which if I aha it right is 40 boxes

Some Cork Wills (1528-1859), destroyed in 1922 copied by William Henry Welply of Balineen, West Cork.

https://wordpress.com/post/durrushistory.com/20387

With the bulk of Irish probate records lodged in the Public Record Office at the Four Courts in Dublin having been destroyed in 1922 any copies of abstracts created before that date are invaluable to genealogists. Noted Cork genealogist W H Welply was, along with other members of the Society of Genealogists like Captain G S Carey, the Rev. Wallace Clare and J R Hutchinson, part of that movement started in the 1930s and 40s to recreate and provide substitutes for Irish records destroyed in 1922. 

The abstracts of Irish wills and genealogical information from the Plea Rolls were presented to the Society’s document collection (then known as D.Ms) by William Henry Welply in 1921 and 1922. Subsequently these pencil notes were typed up for the Society by the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, accessioned into the Society’s book collection and placed on the Irish shelves (IR/G 96-113 & 116-7) in 1933. While largely containing abstracts of wills from various testamentary Courts in Ireland and England, the abstracts to have references from court cases in the Chancery and other Equity Courts in both countries.

An index to these and other surrogate abstracts of Irish wills in the Genealogical Office was compiled and published in 1949 by Miss P Beryl Eustace in the journal Analecta Hibernica (including the reports of the Irish Manuscript Commission) vol. 17 p 147 and this work is frequently cited and reported on line.

Copies of Welply’s work can be found in various record offices including PRONI and his genealogical notes and papers were finally bequeathed to the Representative Church Body Library in Dublin after his death in 1960. The will abstracts from these papers are indexed in Volume 6 of the journal the Irish genealogist and abstracts of Irish Chancery Bills and other genealogical notes or “gleanings” at the RCBL are indexed in volume 7 of the Irish Genealogist. 

Welply’s abstracts stand with other similar collections at the Society notably Lorna Rossbottom’s Collection of 4000 abstracted Irish wills also digitised and made available for members on SoG Data Online 

Although of Dublin, Welply is known as a Cork genealogist. Many of his abstracts relate to the Province of Munster and by far the greater part are from Cork, however there are references to wills from most dioceses in Ireland and many for Dublin.

According to the FamilySeach wiki the abstracts from Welply’s collection relating only to families living in the Cork area were printed and published in the Albert E. Casey Collection (usually entitled “O’Kief, Coshe Mang, Slieve Lougher and Upper Blackwater in Ireland”). Volume fourteen of this fifteen volume set contains the will abstracts for counties Cork and Kerry and covers the entire time period the Prerogative Court of Armagh was in existence (1536 -1857). The wills are indexed by every name mentioned in the abstract at the end of volume fourteen. However, the index is defective and some entries are missing. Casey’s collection was microfilmed by the Family History Library and volume 14 is on Family History Library microfilm 823809 item 2. Again, this material was printed only for the Cork area families, the remaining extracts were not published in this work. 

In Volume 19 held at the RCB Library is a small note book in handwriting. The Genealogy of the Beechers/Becher is recited. Also in great detail is the genealogy of John Philpot Curran:

] (https://www.libraryireland.com/biography/JohnPhilpotCurran.php)

Of interest

John Becher born 6th April 1700

He married 19th August 1737 Mary daughter of Rev. Philip Townsend (this family have Galwey ancestry, on marriage she appears in the Convert Rolls)

Their son John married Mary O’Donovan daughter of the Rev. Morgan O’Donovan.

Their daughter Mary married William Wrixon of Ballygiblin, Mallow he took on the Beecher name and inherited the West Cork Estates being made a Baronet 30th September 1819 he died 1819.

1819. At Bawnlahan, (Bán Leathan/Broad Lea), Skibbereen, West Cork, House of ‘The O’Donovan’, Lieutenant General Richard O’Donovan (1768-1829), Potatoes, Using Grufán 4th February, Planting Earlies ‘American’ 19th February, Main Crop after St. Patrick’s Day, Kidney Potatoes, Brown Fancy, Beldrums, White Eyed Potatoes, 1823′ Apple Potatoes’. Using Sea Sand as Fertilizer.

https://wordpress.com/post/durrushistory.com/34710

General O’Donovan’s mother was Jane Beecher only about 16 when she married widower The O’Donovan he well into his 60s

The Morgan O’Donovan branch on the death of General O’Donovan in 1829 without issue the title ‘The O’Donovan’ as Chieftains of the family passed to the Morgan O’Donovan ancestor of the present The O’Donovan.

In the papers of Dr. John O’Donovan the great scholar the legitimacy of this is questioned. The papers asr in the Graves Collection, Royal Irish Academy.

874. 878  24 Sept. 1814Renewal of a Lease made between Richard, Lord Viscount Bantry, Bantry, and Thomas Godson (Writing Clerk), City of Cork, subject to a surrender of a former lease, for the lands of Breenybeg containing 4 gneeves, in the Barony of Bantry. It is for three lives renewable, from the [24th] September last, at a878 contd..

208

BL/EP/B/

yearly rent of £14. 14. 0, payable half yearly on the 29th September and the 25th March. Godson agrees to sow furze seeds and to erect 12 perches of lawful double ditches, failure to do so will incur an additional 12 shillings on the rent. The former lease was held by John Godson (grandfather of Thomas Godson).

From Bantry House Rental Records, Boole Library, UCC.

https://libguides.ucc.ie/ld.php?content_id=31762597

Nearby on the Bantry part of the Kenmare East from the early 18th century larger tenants were obliged to plant trees, lime and develop land:

The Kenmare Manuscripts

The Kenmare Manuscripts

The Kenmare Manuscripts

1843-1954 West Cork Agricultural Societies and Shows:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yoNjmDNQKT_pk3nvlCsT72YWYoDENcs–uaJxh2ber8/edit

1914, Bandon and Clonakilty Agricultural Shows.  Bandon Disappointed as Lord Carbery Unable to Perform Air Display.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QU8_p7quLIxasRN5YytpQJo7WLb_x_bks8XrnFQatGE/edit

1914, Bandon and Clonakilty Agricultural Shows.  Bandon Disappointed as Lord Carbery Unable to Perform Air Display.

..

Lord Carbery:

Courtesy Bill Holohan:

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/106-years-ago-today-9-july-1914-maverick-10th-lord-carbery-holohan/

Flour Bags

The latest fashion recycling brings back memories of how resourceful our ancestors were.  

Everything was used 

Flour bags  were made from white cotton, a durable material which generally had the millers  logo front and back.

They were universally  used for bedding and clothing for women.

The procedure to try and eliminate the logs was repeated washing and bleaching outdoors

The bags were dyed using materials such as old tree leaves of beetroot juice.  In particular this made colourful dresses for girls.

People became somewhat better off and the practice was abandoned and replaced with bed clothes  bought from shops.

The story was told probably in the late 1920s an elderly lady west Of Kilcrohane was attended by Dr. Michael McCarthy was  a bit of a character with a ready wit.

She was in bed wearing a shift made with flour bags but the emblem was not washed out. In this case it Read Chastity Mills’  He was asked how she was doing, ‘Well’ he said ‘she had chastity on her back and belly…’

Dr. McCarthy:

1876-1937 Dr. Michael John McCarthy, LRCP,  Edinburgh, 1903 Doctor Durrus Dispensary, previously 1906 Co.Offaly “Dr. Michael McCarthy was appointed in 1918 and died in 1937 after 20 years service.    He was from Bredagh, Drimoleague, his father a builder mother Anne Crowley, assistant teacher, Drimoleague, 1901 he and  his family have Irish. Married Cork 1906 his wife Margaret Dineen from Cllonakilty.   The salary for his replacement was advertised at £250-350, with £40 for additional health duties. The position of midwife was advertised for Durrus/Kilcrohane in 1938 at a salary of 340-2-£60 per annum. He was active in Fianna Fail and chairman of the old IRA branch.

1935 funeral of Dr. Edward Shipsey, Schull. He also speaks of Dr. McCarthy the Dispensary Doctor of Durrus. He had been a doctor with the British Army but was then the medical advisor to the local IRA and an intelligence officer. It is believed that in the IRA raid of Durrus RIC barracks he managed the explosives. Dr McCarthy of Durrus was prominently involved with Fianna Fail over these elections in 1932 the election speeches referred to the annuities and the general depression.The Durrus Fianna Fail cumann in 1935 comprised Dr.McCarthy Chairman J. A. Moynihan, Vice Chairman, T. Ross, Treasurer, J. McCarthy, Secretary. The Cumann were in 1935 calling for the commencement of the Ballycommane Forestry Scheme.

.

The late Joe O’Boyle was  a ship broker based in Dingle and was often in Vigo in Spain. Some years ago he was with Juan Ferra the founder of a major international machinery company.  In his young days (he is now in his 90s) he was a deckhand and later skipper of one of the trawlers which used to call to Bantry.  The fishermen bartered ling for flour which given the poverty of Spain at the time was prized.  Of more interest were the flour bags which were used as bedding and dyed and made into trousers.  See also Michael Carroll’s book ‘the Second Armada’

From Irish America:

I remember sheets being made of flour bags, but not clothes. ..

I had dresses made from flour sacks.

I am the little dark haired little girl in my dress my grandma made for me.

.

..

During the great depression in America the flour bags were printed with cheerful patterns great for kid clothes and colourful quilts.

I had no idea of any of this! How very interesting! So, is this also what was used for quilting blankets?..Quilts made of flours bags. Love to find sheets.. Quilts made of flours bags. Love to find sheets.

..

From West Cork:

My Granny used also use the flour bags as tea towels , I never remember any other sort of tea towel being used other than those, also she used the flour bags to strain the warm fresh milk from the bucket to the churn.

Sheets were made in our house , and they used to be cut in squares for straining milk straight from the cow.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dM5rsbc3AyTde6dJK7aWogFA2A85emvdb1g0M-4IRCs/edit

Early Draft

East Schull 1825,  p. 6

Rosnacaheragh (Akakista) 1826, p. 30

Durrus 1899, p. 50

Chapels, Churches and Meeting House 

Catholic 

Durrus is mentioned in a Papal Decretal of Pope Innocent 111 in 1199.  The monastery of Gill Abbey in Cork had a claim for Durrus in the 13^th and 14^th centuries but it was attached to St. Catherine’s of Waterford.  In mediaeval times the parish of Durrus was part of the deanery of Foneragh (Fionn Iarthach, the western lands) and also included the parishes of Kilmoe, Schull, Kilcrohane, Kilmocomge and Caheragh. 

Report on Popery, 1731 setting out Masshouses and Popish Schools in Co. Cork, Drinagh, Inchigeela 7 sheds, Killaconenagh (Castletownbere) swarms of Priests are constantly going to and from France, 600 families in Parish of whom 12 are of Reformed Church, Kilmoe (Ballydehob), Friars frequently landing from France and dispersing throughout the country, copied from documents in Bermingham Tower, Dublin Castle probably destroyed in 1922.

Further Report Conveyed to His Grace Lord Primate of the Church of Ireland in Dublin 17th December 1731 on the State of Popery including, Aughadown, Ballinadee, Caheragh, a small shed and cabin, Drimoleague, an altar moved from place to place, Fanlobbus (Dunmanway), three small huts open at one end, Drinagh one small hut open at one end, Kilbrittain, Kinsale, Desertserges, Innishannon, Ross, in a field under a hedge, Rathclarin, Schull and Kilmoe three Mass houses three thatched cabins Priests mostly Friars daily moving to and from France and other Popish Countries from Crookhaven, in the Parish of Kilmoe

It is believed that there was a thatched church on the site of the Old Mill, now the housing development Cois Abhann, built around 1750. After the 1798 Rebellion and the arrival of the French Armada in Bantry the church was forced to close.  There were also Mass Rocks, one in Coomkeen in the lands of the late Timmy Wholihan and one at Kealties.  There are the ruins of a church at Kealties; this was a thatched church erected c.1780. There was a belief among the older people that there was a church or house of refuge at Rossmore (on the northern side of the road in George Hegarty’s farmyard) on the site indicated as a burial ground on the Ordnance Survey map. There may have been another church at the boundary between Clonee and Crottees, there is an area there known as ‘The Chapel Brake

The old Church at Durrus East, Moulivard was probably built around the 14^th or early 15^th century, contemporaneous with the ruined church in Kilcrohane graveyard. Inside the church is an incised cross dating from the early Christian period.  This was found by Jeremiah Hurley, d. 1933, grandfather of Vincent Hurley while ploughing their farm near the creamery and then placed in the Church grounds.  Another cross of this type is in Cape Clear and may denote an old monastic settlement.  There had been a monastic settlement at Scartbawn under the patronage of the MacCarthy (Teig Rua sept) who had a castle in the area.  This moved to Moulivard to take advantage of the water power of Four Mile Water and the mill race is still visible in Ballinvillen (townland of the mill).  Moulivard Church was in good repair in 1639 and in use mid-17th century but according to Brady was in ruins by 1699.  It is said that the white friars are associated with the site but there is no corroboration of this. There is a local tradition that the church was used in Penal times, when Mass was celebrated from time to time by itinerant friars.  On St John’s Eve an open air mass is celebrated each year.  The stone table used otherwise for coffins is used and in the course of the mass parishioners call out the names of family members buried in the graveyard for prayers In the 1730s the Franciscans had a limited presence in West Cork site of their former monasteries. There is also a local tradition that a priest was hung from a tree on the back road near Durrus Court, there were episodes of ‘priest-catchers’ in 1707, 1712 and 1717.  On the coast near Kilcrohane is an area Coosataggart (Cuas an tSagairt) where priests reputedly used to hide in a cave in Penal times. According to tradition there was a church at Coolculachta. 

An early church stood on the site of the old Mill erected c 1750.  It may have been built by Father Timothy O’Crowley and was probably thatched.
The former church at Chapel Rock (on the site of the present National School) was built by Fr. Quin in 1820 and was a slated structure.  Fr. Richard Quin was from Onoyne, in Co. Tipperary and came to the parish in 1818.  He was one of four from Co. Tipperary who came to West Cork, Father Doheny in Dunmanway, Father Dore in Caheragh and Father Ryan in Drimoleague. All were active in church and school building and politically active in O’Connelite politics  and anti tithe agitation.  In 1820 he started the parish register of births, marriages and deaths.  In 1835 his house was described as ‘a whitewashed cottage embosomed in its snug and thriving orchard, standing further inland among verdant meadows’.  The Ordnance Survey letters describe it and that of the Rector of the only two slated houses in Clashadoo.  A Parliamentary enquiry in 1835……,

https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipOpb8-YbzUJOXi6olEHFkTiiMku2pygZvULLv_I7OF55Z9pTyQn9enKCjwYPCQ0dg?key=a29IVEFQVWgwaUd6T05IQjg0LUZ0eEVwQW03UC13

1895.  Church of Ireland Diocesan Board of Education Examination Results, West Cork.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1evuylzr3_1f0GFHgDXCvEZvskuSE20XSYp3Ie1uoiwk/edit

1913, Skibbereen Eagle published the Diocesan Board of Education (Church of Ireland ) exam results.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YW71BDz3_E7h_amBKnMrj4rmKtTxn2Bfy9nAwOcqEKw/edit

1914, Diocesan Board of Education, Church of Ireland, Annual Examination Results, West Cork

https://docs.google.com/document/d/11kQksgrVhoXQOCABSmbeKM2CtJhr5jpxXb2QUvBgb28/edit

https://www.radiokerry.ie/news/kerry-households-urged-to-fill-in-census-form-in-irish-275075?utm_campaign=web&utm_source=email&utm_medium=web

The 10 Oldest Languages Still Spoken in the World Today. Irish has the oldest vernacular literature of any language in Western Europe. While the rest of Europe was speaking their own languages and writing in Latin, the Irish decided that they wanted to write in their own language instead.

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https://wordpress.com/post/durrushistory.com/37870

1814, Clonakilty, 1804, Lower Class of Protestant Speak English and Irish. 1830, Cotters, Inchileegahg and Irish, Very Ashamed of this Old-fashioned Practice.’

https://wordpress.com/post/durrushistory.com/36360

Canon Shinkwin was talking to the older people in Borlin (Bantry, West Cork), in Irish around 1903 and asking them to speak Irish to the small children at night with a view towards arresting the decline of the language. There were 4 million Irish speakers pre famine in 1840 and in 1900 probably at least 10 million worldwide whose parents had been Irish speakers, Borlin Bull Irish Civil War.

https://wordpress.com/post/durrushistory.com/25795

Decline of the Irish language Muintervara 19th century.

https://wordpress.com/post/durrushistory.com/51