A Visit to Donegal -1930

 Continuing with our ‘Irish’ theme, this interesting story was published in the Society Newsletter of December 1989 when our Society was called the Gympie Ancestral Research Society.  The person who submitted the article was Colleen Hillman and it features an excerpt from the Diary of Thomas Mulhearne which was written during a visit with his Mother to Ireland in 1930.  Although I could not find a direct connection to Gympie for Thomas Mulhearne, the entries provide an account of a journey of reconnection with family which is at times amusing and at times quite sad.   It also provides a glimpse into life in Ireland at that time and some insight into why so many people emigrated in more recent times than the Potato famine of the late 1800s.  

VISIT TO COUNTY DONEGAL, JUNE l930

Excerpts from Thomas Mulhearne’s diary
Sunday… June 1st 1930

Had breakfast 7.30 AM and as all hands in the house were hurrying to go to Mass we also went along to Mass at Castlebar. Castlebar is a small county town County Roscommon. As we went along the street towards the church there were hundreds of people also on the way, on bikes, walking, in carts and one other car. Black shawls were discarded on Sunday. All the women wore black bonnets and silk dresses. The girls and boys dressed as usual boy and girl of any country towns. When service started the church was packed but everyone seemed to have a cough. You could hear nothing but a continued coughing, dozens coughing together which led one to think that throat and lung troubles had a grip of the people; in fact, in my opinion, Ireland is chock full of T.B. As from what 1 have seen and the few I have mixed in and from what I have heard of the way the people die, they are full of T.B. The church was just one continual chorus of coughing.

There must have been five or six hundred people in the church and 75% of them went to communion. When going into church everyone paid. Ma and I, as usual, walked in without paying at the door but the man who was collecting ran in and pulled me back and advised me I was to pay 3d. each to attend Mass so I paid l/- and was passsed in. It is the first occasion I have been charged to enter a church for the purpose of praying and I thought it rather a hard practice to pay to go to church but I suppose it is the Irish custom so when you go to Ireland you must do as the Irish do. We came out of church at a quarter to nine and started on the road again for our destination Gortahawk. The first place of call was Ballina, then Sligo. From Castlebar to Sligo is 65 miles. The first portion is through agricultural and bog country. Some of the country is very poor. From Ballina to Dromore West is fair country and good country on to Sligo.

What appealed to me most was that all along the road were droves of people going and coming to and from Mass. They were going in all directions, the young people on bicycles, the older people and the very young either in carts or walking. It was surprising the number of people who walked to Mass and the remarkable thing was that there was not a sign of a black shawl on Sunday. All the ladies who wore shawls on week days discarded the shawl on Sunday and dressed up in their black silk dresses, fine black silk coat and hat or bonnet. We did not see one black shawl on Sunday or even a donkey cart but as churches were plentiful – I should say a church was every five miles – the people thought nothing of the walk to church. I think every soul in Ireland turns out to church on Sunday and so we passed a continual stream of people going or coming as the case may be as to the time Mass was held. From Sligo to Donegal, 40 miles, is much the same country but near Donegal the country is much poorer. We passed miles of country pure rock and yet there was settlement in some places. I think they must have carried the soil.

We had lunch at Ballyshannon, a nice seaside resort. At Ballyshannon we could hardly get through the streets. The railway runs in here and it is popular as a tourist resort. The people were just coming out from the last Mass and from the crowds that were turning out of the church it looked like the crowd coming away from a football match. From Ballyshannon to Donegal the country was very fair and looked prosperous. After leaving Donegal towards Dungloe, a distance of 47 miles, the country got much poorer and around Glenties was very poor and got worse towards Dungloe. It was a mass of rock yet where a patch of soil could be found someone was cultivating It. Around Dungloe was the poorest country I ever saw, in fact miles of it was a pure mass of stone – not even enough grass to feed a sheep. Just sheer stone from Dungloe to Gweedore, eleven miles and on to W. Gortahawk another six. The country improved from Dungloe but around Gweedore it was very poor with patches of cultivation.

We did not stop at Gweedore but went on to Gortahawk and pulled up at McFadden Hotel. We passed Baltony on the way. Baltony looked the pick of the country around these parts but even Baltony was not wonderful. When we pulled up at Gotahawk Mrs.McFadden was away and no one could give us any information about our friends and we were advised to go to Falcaragh a few miles further on and, after going to Falcaragh, we found from an old person where to find Mrs. Breslin, also Mrs Kelly and McCole. They were all in the district so we went back to the hotel and arranged for something to eat, while having tea, Mrs. McFadden came in and told us full particulars of all our relations. She said Mrs. Breslin and Mrs. Gallagher were at the opening of a new convent at Barryconnell, just beyond Falcaragh. She was very nice to us and found a Mrs. Curran to take us along to where Mrs.Breslin was so we took Mrs. Curran and were soon at the new convent at Barryconnell and Mrs. Breslin and Mrs.Gallagher found for us.

The Mother Superior and several of the Sisters were introduced to us and we were taken into tea and shown over the convent. We were introduced to the Parish Priest at Gortahawk who started to tell us of some Australians he went to College in Rome with and, among them, were Fathers Beglnald and St.Clair Bridge, Ma’s two first cousins. Ma told him she was first cousin to them so Ma and Father McCreah had a great talk. The new convent opening seemed to give a lot of satisfaction to the people as the house and grounds had previously been the home for years of their landlords. It was the home of Sir John Alford, the last of the family to occupy it. He was the last of a long line of hard landlord ancestors to occupy the home and while the people had a kindly word for Sir John who was a good man and was not harsh with his tenants, the father of Sir John, who was well known to our forefathers, was a vey hard man who took pleasure in ejecting any of his tenants who got behind with his rents so the bitterness of old times was wiped out with the old home of the Alfords being taken over by the Loreto Sisters and made into a convent.

The Sisters enlarged the place so much that the original home of the Alfords looked a small portion of the new buildings. We were taken over the grounds as distinguished visitors from Australia by one of the head Sisters. Sir John Alford’s grave is in the grounds. He had a beautiful flower garden and his dying wish was to be buried among his flowers and they buried him among his flowers and the Sisters are keeping his memory sacred by allowing the grave to remain and keeping the flowers growing on it. They have beautiful grounds, a fine park that would run many cows, a big vegetable garden and a magnificent flower garden, also a very large glasshouse. In the glasshouse they have peaches, grapes and fruit that cannot be grown in the open. We had a fine time and everyone seemed to be happy. We were out at the convent till 9.30 pm but as the sun was still shining it did not appear so late.

Aunt Sweeney will know Barryconnell. Old harsh man Alford was her father and grandfather’s landlord. He was so harsh he would not permit any of the tenants or local people to even look in his gate. He kept a man to see none of the local people came near his fences and now all and sundry can walk over the grounds and see the gardens which fact seems to give them a great pleasure. Mrs. Breslin insisted on our going out with her to her home which we did. Here at Baltony we found the Mulhearn family still installed but could find only two of the name. There were a few Bresllns and a few Gallaghers, the old home where Father and Aunt Kate were born still stands. It is now in other hands in a re-shuffle of land. The Mulhearn family got a different block and built their home on the new block.

The old Mulhearn home fell into other hands and is now well on the way to decay but is still in use for storage and cattle house. It was the usual house of that period – a four roomed stone house with thatched roof and chimney each end, slate floor. It is only one hundred yards from the homes of the Breslins, Mulhearns and Gallaghers. All the relations I found belong to the branch of Julia Ferry’s mother. Mrs. Breslin is Julia’s mother’s sister and Mrs. Gallagher is another sister and the late Tom Mulhearn was another brother. Tom Mulhearn was the last of the old Mulhearn family, he died within the last twelve months. His family of the name have scattered. He has one son here, Hugh Mulhearn, and several sisters. Hugh has only one hand. He lost the other in the last big war in Europe. He is drawing a pension of two pounds ten shillings per week so financially he is allright as two pounds ten shillings is a fair Income in the backblocks of Ireland and he can still work. He has a hook he puts on the arm to replace the hand.

Mrs.Breslin’s family have all gone but one son, also Hugh. He is a very fine man and only for his mother would also be away from Ireland. The Gallaghers have also all gone. There is one daughter of Mrs. Gallagher in the convent at Barryconnell and she has one son with her working the farm. They all had big families but they had sense enough to get out of Ireland as Ireland is too small and too poor all the people on the land. Mrs. Breslin had 13 children and only one left and Mrs Gallagher had ten and only two left. Tom Mulhearn had about eight and has four or five still about. One of Tom Mulhearn’s daughters is a widow with three children. Her husband went to America and got killed building a bridge about six months ago. She just got word she has been awarded two thousand pounds for Workers’ Compensation and is starting a small store under Mount Erigal called Dunlewee. Baltony is looking very well but instead of about 60 families trying to get a living off Baltony there should be only six and that would be too many! Baltony is like the biggest part of Ireland – the agricultural lands are overpopulated and the farms are cut into such small blocks there is not a living for the people on the blocks they have. The people here live by going abroard every year to make some spare money and the farms only grow sufficient to keep the house going. Hugh Breslin and Hugh Mulhearn told me they never sell anything off the land. They eat all they grow and what they do not eat the horse, cows, pigs and fowls eat and as the cows supply only milk and butter and they eat the pigs, fowls and eggs, they really do not sell anything. If they did not get money outside they could not live.

Hugh Breslin has a job for the local co-operative store. He uses his horse and cart two days every week and that manages to keep them going. Mrs. Breslin and Mrs. Gallagher are two very fine types of the old Irish school. Mrs. Breslin is a particularly fine type of women. Mr. Breslin was the local school teacher until he retired with a pension at the old age limit. Hugh Breslin and Hugh Mulhearn are two very fine types of men, on the small side but mentally well balanced. We sat up till midnight talking on Sunday and retired to a comfortable bed and slept well and rose at 7.00 am next morning.

Monday, June 2nd, 1930.
On arising we had a good Irish breakfast; in fact we had sufficient placed on the table for Mrs. Breslin, Ma and self to feed 20 people. I think there were 12 fried eggs, a huge plate of fried bacon, 6 rounds of toast, two huge plates of carraway seed cakes and one plate of pancakes which, of course, we hardly made any impression on. Ma was very amused at the huge plates of,food that we were expected to eat. After breakfast out we went across to Aunt Margaret (Mrs. Gallagher) and she wanted to give us another breakfast. We had a look around the farms and house and then went to the old house of the Mulhearn family and picked a few pieces of stone out of the wall for a keepsake. We then had an early
dinner (another huge meal was placed before us) as we were taking Aunt Margaret and Aunt Julia to look up the rest of our relations. I was a bit at sea on account of Mother’s peoples’ name. I had it down as McCool but Aunt Margaret said I was wrong – they were McCole. They lived six miles away from Baltony so the people did not know each other but Aunt Margaret knew they were the right people as she remembered Hugh McCole, a tailor, when she was young and she knew Hugh McCole was a brother of Mother. So we went to Gweedore to find the McCole branch of the family.

We found the home alright, a nice clean home with a young woman with three very nice young children in the home. Aunt Margaret had a long talk to Mrs. McCole in Irish language and eventually introduced me. Mrs. McCole said she could not understand as she had no idea they had relations in Australia but, as the men were out carting turf, they would be back in half an hour so we ran past Gweedore to see a friend of Aunt Margaret and Aunt Julia and when we returned Uncle Mick McCole and cousin Hugh McCole were waiting. Uncle Mick knew all about us. He is Mother’s half-brother and the last of the old family living. He said he could remember very well the day his sister Mary left home. He was only about five years of age but it was one of the things he could never forget. He said Mary was kissing him and crying and saying he was too young for her to go and leave him. She kept saying I should not go, I should stay and look after you little ones but he said she eventually went and it was one of the early memories of his childhood that forever remained fresh on his mind.

He is of course getting on in years being about ten years younger than Mother but is still strong and hardy and can still go out to the bog to cut turf. He is not a big man. He is about 5ft 91nches but on the light side and I suppose ten stone in weight would pull him up. He had his only remaining son with him. He had eight in the family and all have gone to America but Hugh. Hugh and his father still work the old farm as they did 60 years ago – there is no change. They have the sheep running on the hills and work a small patch of poor land to keep the pot boiling. Hugh goes away every year to Scotland to earn a cheque to provide the things they want that they do not grow. I found the McColes very fine and they were pleased to see me and wanted us to stay with them for a time which, of course, we could not do. Mrs Hugh McCole is a very fine type of young woman and she has three beautiful, fine, healthy looking children and the house and children were spotlessly clean. I was rather pleased to see the last link of Mother’s family looking well and happy. As we had to make some other calls we could not stay long and promised to write them when we returned to Australia.

We then went to see Mrs. Mulhearn’s married daughter, the one who had Just lost her husband in America. She was right under Erlgal. She has three very nice children and is keeping a little store. We then went to a place called Dunlewee. It is the home of another landlord. The grounds were beautiful and the woods were well kept. The house overlooks one of the lakes under Erigal Mountain. Here the flowers were very fine; the rhodendrons in particular were magnificent and they had other flowers that 1 could not find the name of, like a huge red dahlia but grew on bushes like the rhodendron but so high. There is no question the Irish lords and landlords keep up a fine home or rather the grounds and flowers and woods are wonderfully fine. We went right up under Erigal and had a very fine view. Erigal is a bare mountain of rock that runs up in a peak all on its own; It is pure stone and after you go up a little there is not a vestige of vegetation growing; it slopes away at one side and tourists climb to the top to get a view of the country around. Ve did not want to go to the top though Hugh Breslln offered to take me if I would like the trip but as I was not keen on climbing I declined.

We returned to Baltony at 10.00pm and after another feast of poultry and other things we retired. I forgot to mention on small incident of the Irish hospitality. When Ma was at Breslln’s she said she would enjoy very much a good meal of Irish potatoes as she had not had a decent feed of potatoes since she left Australia; so she got her feed of potatoes alright. Hugh Breslln’s wife got a huge pot, one of the old type that has a loose handle you take off and a round bottom with three short legs on the bottom to stand on. This pot must have held 20lbs of potatoes so Nellie filled the pot to the top and when dinner was served we had three of the largest dinner plates of potatoes, boiled in their jackets and served up to us. As I was rather amused and interested I counted the potatoes. There were thirty-two potatoes nearly as large as a cup. Poor Ma was amazed at the feed of potatoes placed before her and managed , with difficulty, to struggle through three fine large potatoes so she had her wish with a vengeance. She still thinks of her feed.
Colleen HILLMAM.

 This story was compiled by Kathy Punter.

Sources:  Gympie Family History Society Collection – Newsletter December 1989; Wikipedia;