Below are births registered in the Annaghdown townlands of Turloughmore Registration District in 1871.
Turloughmore Births, 1871
Major P. Kirwan’s Property, County of Galway
Major P. Kirwan’s Property, County of Galway TO THE EDITOR OF THE FREEMAN. SIR — Some time since I read in the Freeman’s Journal certain speeches and reports, which were well calculated to prejudice the public mind against my father,
Visit to Old Irish Home: Kavanaghs of Gortroe, 1908
Omaha Daily Bee, August 1908: More than fifty-eight years after they left their old home in Ireland, Mr. and Mrs. Patrick Cavanagh, 5056 North Twenty-fourth street, will visit it again. They will leave about August 31 on the long journey to the scenes of their childhood. “I don’t expect we’ll see a soul we know,” said Mr. Cavanagh. “All of them are gone by this time, though it’s quite possible I’ll run across some of the boys I used to play with about the quay and wharfs of old Galway, for the people over there are not great to leave their homes and where they are born they generally stay like a tree rooted in the ground. “Of course, the city will be changed. There’ll be tram cars and electric lights and all kinds of modern improvements that we knew naught about when my wife and I left there in the ’50s. And there’ll be steam cars runnning all over the dear old isle and steamships spouting smoke in the harbor where I knew naught but sailing vessels.
Land Agitation in Galway 1920-23
In the early 1920s, with the battle for an independent Irish Republic at full pace, when IRA Volunteers were taking the fight to the Black and Tans and Auxiliaries, the land question was still a major issue in County Galway. Despite various Land Acts, particularly 1903 and 1909, in which loans were provided to tenants to purchase land, there were still many families who remained landless. Although the Acts allowed for land purchase, they did not allow for the distribution of land. Poverty-stricken families looked longingly at large ranches in Galway which supported only livestock and dreamed of having their own plot of land.
The “land question” as it had been labelled for many decades, was still not solved for a number of reasons. First and foremost, the poorer families remained unable to purchase, so the situation arose where more prominent individuals bought up land that came on the market. The result of this meant that there were still many disgruntled landless farmers who felt they had no option but to resort to the tried and trusted methods of land agitation to highlight their plight. Additionally, there was now a national rebellion underway, with Irish freedom within touching distance and people dreamt of a bright future in an Ireland free from English tyranny.
The Coen Family
July 2018 marked the coming together of the Coen family of Anbally for the first time in many years, when the descendants of John Coen and Sarah Spelman gathered at Cloonacauneen Castle. John Coen was born in Anbally in March 1838 to Edward Coen and Mary Glynn. In 1876, he married Sarah Spelman of Cahernahoon, who was born in 1850 to John Spelman and Catherine Fahy (Twomileditch). Their family were as follows.
The 1918-19 Flu Epidemic in Annaghdown
It is just over one hundred years since the influenza pandemic, commonly known as the Spanish Flu, swept through Ireland and infected one fifth of the population. The death registers for Turloughmore and Headford registration districts indicate that there were at least 25 deaths due to influenza in the Annaghdown area, between September 1918 and May 1919. The first victim recorded is Martin Nally (57) of Tonamace, who died on 22 September 1918. The disease is known to have affected younger individuals more severely, and this is to be seen in the fatalities in Annaghdown, with 17 of those who died aged under 40 years.
Newsletter 4, Summer 2019
Our Summer 2019 newsletter was printed in June 2018 and distributed at the Corrandulla Show on 23 June, and thereafter at local shops and Corrandulla Post Office. We welcome articles, items of interest, other material and suggestions for future editions. Articles in this edition: The 1918-19 Flu Epidemic in Annaghdown; The Coen Family, by Mary Margaret Burke; Land Agitation in Galway, 1920-23, by Johnny Burke; and from the archives: Visit to Old Irish Home – Mr. and Mrs. Patrick Cavanagh Will Go Back to Galway, from The Omaha Daily Bee, August 4, 1908.
Cahermorris/Glenrevagh Group Water Scheme
I was born on 4th July 1923 and was second in a family of 6. My parents, Patrick and Mary Greaney lived at Cahermorris Cross where our house was used as the local dispensary and subsequently became known as Cahermorris Dispensary. When I was a child, Doctor Golding of Headford was the local district doctor and attended each Thursday from 11a.m. till 1p.m. until his retirement. He was replaced by Dr. Maguire who was the last doctor to attend there prior to the dispensary’s closure. At the time most houses would have had to get their water from local streams or would have had collection tanks. The nearest local well at the time was in Kilcoona. It was practice at the time to have a clean water source in close proximity to a dispensary for patients who were attending.
Water
Water. Let us pause for a moment and dwell upon this element which is essential to all life. Our bodies are believed to be made up of 60% water and this same substance covers 70% of the earth’s surface in oceans, rivers and lakes. It’s also contained in vast quantities as ice in the Polar Regions which contain three quarters of the earth’s fresh water.Water is present naturally in three states – solid as ice, liquid as oceans, lakes and rivers and in a gaseous form as vapour. This element has been an integral part of our existence since the beginning of humanity and provides us with life and leisure but yet can be a source of fear and danger.
Reflections on the Past
At the turn of the twentieth century and probably before that, St. Brendan’s Church, Corrandulla had two side altars. One was adorned with a picture of Our Lady of Good Counsel where Mrs. Frances Butler, Winterfield House, Tonagurrane prayed. This altar was situated near where the commemorative window to the late Fr. P.V. O’Brien is today. In later times that same picture was hanging in the then childrens’ corner until the 1970s. Across the aisle, where the window dedicated to St. Francis is now, Mrs. Helen Blake, Cregg Castle had a picture of Our Lady of Perpetual Help on her altar. That picture has lingered on and can be seen today hanging on your left as you enter the church by the side door. Those two altars were beautifully adorned with golden-laced cloths, shining candle holders with lighted candles and of course flowers of the fairest. During Mass those two ladies would be praying with their backs to each other and side on to the rest of the congregation. Meanwhile the Reverend celebrant would be on the altar with his back to everyone.