FAMILY HISTORY HOLIDAY APRIL 18 - 26 2002

We are back from Ireland now and our 8 days were far too short but we managed to do quite a lot while there.

We spent the first few hours finding the National Library and talking to the people who help there with genealogy.  Very useful.  We then went off to the GRO first thing next morning and met a wonderful American lady in the queue outside who took us up to the research room.  We had only one day in Dublin so our first task was to get David's grandfather's marriage certificate to find out his father's name.  While in Dublin we came across the statue of William Dargan who founded the national railway.

After that it was back to the library to find his siblings and parents' marriage on the parish microfiche.  We found some of the children but not the parents marriage (Maurice and Biddy (Bridget) and went down to Mallow the next day as arranged to make our way to Glanworth where we thought David was buried "under the three trees".  Although the 3 trees had increased in number it seemed obvious where they would have been even though there was no gravestone and a search in the Fermoy library later brought up a map of the graveyard with the 3 trees clearly marked.

We met some lovely people on our way.  We stayed at Castlehyde Hotel for a couple of nights as David was said to be gardener there for a Colonel RICE.  David was batman to Colonel RICE during his years of service.  We have yet to establish the regiment.  Helen at Castlehyde was very, very helpful and gave us a photocopy of a walkers' map which showed Ballydorgan. 

A short visit to the book shop in Fermoy gave contact with local historian Christy ROCHE who met us at Castlehyde graveyard with a plan where some RICE's were buried but we were unable to establish whether any of them were 'Colonel' RICE.  Christy has written a book about Grange School and there were a couple of Dorgans listed therein but not as yet recognisable to us.  Before we left Castle Hyde we visited the house itself and the site managers who were able to tell us a little of the history of the house and reminisce about our relatives in the area, one of whom was working on the roof.

We saw the house (1 Devlin Street Fermoy) where my David's mother was born - Mary Kate BARRY - and the present owner spotted us taking a photograph and invited us in.  Mary's brother John lived in the house behind in Clancy Street when she was young and David DORGAN (II), whom she married, lived opposite that - 9 Clancy Street.  A David DORGAN still lives there (a cousin) but he was working and we didn't meet him.

The next day we visited Kilcrumper graveyard to look for Alice's grave (my David's grandmother).  As soon as we stepped through the gate the heavens opened but we persisted, got thoroughly soaked in the long grass and found Alice with her son, Jackie and his wife Ellen (KINSELLA).  It was quite ironic really as we are told Alice was buried in December 1945 and the weather was exactly the same, so much so that uncle Charlie KINSELLA unfortunately slipped as he was helping the other men shovel earth on to Alice's coffin.  He slid straight down on top of the coffin.  His black overcoat was so heavy with the rain and mud they apparently had great difficulty in retrieving him!

The weather was a little better after that.  We decided to go to the Mallow Heritage Centre to see what we could find out as we had so little time and the results were awaiting us on our return home.  This decision was not made lightly as I'm sure every researcher will agree there is nothing like seeing the original records albeit on microfilm and this is an option not available at Mallow Heritage Centre.

Before we left Fermoy we went looking for Ballydorgan with our walkers' map, but in the hire car.  We stopped by a small house as I thought we may have gone too far.  The River Blackwater is shown meandering fairly close to Ballydorgan on the map and it was beginning to turn away when we stopped.  David went to the gate and seeing the sign "Beware of the Dog" waited for a moment to see whether the dog would appear.  A very ancient long haired Corgi appeared, with hardly the strength to get to the gate, let alone bark, and his mistress came to the door with help from a frame.  On asking where Ballydorgan was she said "You're here!  It's all around you".  I wish we'd had more time to take a walk to the top of the hill.  It's the right shape to perhaps have had a hill fort at the top although from the map the top is flat as far as the road the other side and beyond.  I hope we'll be lucky enough to go back one day.  The view of the river blackwater in the valley below was impressive with the mountains behind (with a small 'm' ).

Our next drive was to Cork to see cousins and perhaps find some more information at the library etc. there.  We had a wonderful meal with our cousins at 'Man Friday' in Kinsale.  A brief look at the 1901 census the next day gave a small amount of information, but we'd got there too near to lunchtime and they closed for lunch.  The offer of a visit to Bantry House with our cousins was sadly declined that day in favour of research.   The library microfiche had almost brought on motion sickness and the concentration had tired us both so much we went back to our recommended hotel at Monkstown, The Bosun, with a lovely view of the harbours.  We took the train back to Dublin the next day, had a wonderful meal at the Rubican and left for home early next morning, reluctant to leave.  Ah, but we'll miss that soft Irish rain.