Galway City

One of the western ports in Ireland is at Galway City and is quite an old one. The French and the Spanish trade came mostly through Galway due to its location and the fact that the temperatures are rarely extreme. The wind can be quite strong although the city is sheltered as it is located near the eastern end of Galway Bay on the north side of the bay.

When visiting Galway, a walking tour can be arranged. You should let the company or the tour guide know the major interests of the group as they can adjust the route accordingly. Once our tour guide realized that he had mostly family historians in the group, he took us to see a couple of spots that we would otherwise not have seen.

I found that Galway was a colourful city, with bright colours for shops and, where there was stone, doors. Several times throughout our tour of Ireland, we saw houses and buildings all with different colours. We didn’t really question it, but the tour guides gave us the explanation anyway. In the past, when men went to the local pub and imbibed too much alcohol, they could stumble home by themselves as they knew the colour of their door and the approximation of the location of their homes. When Queen Victoria made it law that all the doors had to be black in mourning for Prince Albert, many men stumbled into the wrong house. It didn’t take long for the coloured doors to come back.

I mentioned earlier that the Spanish came to Ireland for trade. During this time period, Galway was a walled city as were many cities in Great Britain and Europe. And, as time goes on, if walls are not necessary, they don’t usually get any upkeep done on them. When this happens, the walls usually grow weak and disintegrate. This happened with the London Wall in the area where some of my ancestors live (yes, I did have an ancestor who lived in the Wall of London). It also happened in Galway. However, there are remnants of the wall still standing. The remaining parts of the wall are the most famous remembrance of the time when the Spanish sailed to Ireland and is now called the Spanish Arch and was built in 1519 to 1520.

Galway was also one of the western ports that emigrants came through to travel to Canada and the United States during colonial times and since. I believe that some of my ancestors came through here. They were a family and could have been travelling with other family members or friends. They left Ireland and was in Quebec City in 1830 according to a notice in a newspaper posted by William Sanderson, the brother of John Robert Sanderson. William was looking for his brother in the 1840s because he had heard nothing from him since 1830. The wealthy merchants of Galway suffered a severe loss during the Great Famine. Many people made the decision to leave Ireland to build a new life elsewhere. Otherwise, these people were facing death by starvation. The economic loss was so great that it was felt by the city, and, I believe, the country, until the economic bubble at the end of the twentieth century.

As you can see with the photographs, the majority of the streets are narrow. There is also an archaeological excavation in process. We were there at a time that the workers were taking a break.

I enjoyed our time in Galway. As with other places, I could have spent more time there for both research and for wandering, getting to know the place better. A tour is a good idea for the first trip to a new area, but you need to go back so that you can learn more about the community and the environment that your ancestors lived in.

Eddies Bar

When the bookings were done for our tour, the tour company did one of our hotel bookings in the wrong location in error. When they tried to correct the mistake, they were unable to because of the hotel being full because of a concert in the area. To make up for this error, they offered to pay for one of our lunches. Because our bus driver knew the route and the businesses along it, the company agreed to let him choose the restaurant. He chose Eddies Bar.

Eddies Bar is in Clonbur, Galway, which is in the middle of Joyce country. Clonbur is a village that is surrounded by mountains and lakes. Lough Corrib and Lough Mask are on either side of Clonbur and are famous for their fishing. Mount Gable is only three kilometers away from the village.

The village does have a history that goes back to the 13^th century, but, unfortunately, I was not able to do some quick research on it. It will entail more time than what I currently have to dig it all out.

I found it interesting that it is in the middle of Joyce country. When I found this out, it made me think of an acquaintance of mine from the mid 1970s. It reminded me that he was of Irish descent. I only had contact with him for about one and a half years.

Eddies Bar is located in the Fairhill House Hotel. It seems to be one of the local gathering areas and is appreciated by those in the transportation sector who have need of travelling through Clonbur.

When we arrived, they had actually put together two areas for us as they don’t usually get such a large group as what we were. Our driver had actually contacted them and had them suggest two or three choices on the menu. He then passed a sheet around and had us choose from these choices. He had highly recommended the fish and chips.

My choice was the fish and chips. I enjoyed the meal immensely. I think that everyone appreciated their choices and the atmosphere that surrounded us while we were there.

Would I go back to Eddies Bar? By all means, yes, I would. I would have like to stay longer to get to know some of the people, but, when you are on a tour, there is a schedule that must be kept.

If you are in the neighbourhood of Clonbur, you should try Eddies Bar at least once. I bet that you will go back a second time if you have the chance.

This final picture is the bridge that leads to the accommodations that were used for the cast and crew of "The Quiet Man". There are stories about John Wayne and others that I will leave you to remember and discover.

The Quiet Man Tour

In 1952, John Ford directed a movie called “The Quiet Man”. The stars were John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara. Most of the indoor scenes were filmed in the United States, but all of the outdoor scenes were filmed in Ireland. There were a number of places used for filming in County Galway and County Mayo. However, the outdoor scenes of the village were filmed in the Village of Cong in County Mayo.

The village thrives on the income from the tourists who go to visit where the legendary John Wayne starred in a movie that won two Oscars. There is a building that has a museum dedicated to the movie with a number of artefacts that were left behind when the movie cast and crew moved out. They even have a bronze statue of John Wayne carrying Maureen O’Hara in a prominent spot in the village.

Some of the villagers earns their incomes from conducting walking tours of the village. This tour was different from other walking tours that we had while in Ireland. Every stop was the place of one of the scenes of the movie. The guide would choose one of the members of our tour to play a part in the “movie” or story.

At the end of the tour, we were gathered into the museum where the final scene of the movie was re-enacted. The tour members previously chosen for parts continued in their part in this scene along with additional members. My brother was chosen for one of the parts, originally as the husband of a couple. This was hilarious as he is not married. When the guide was told that he was not married, the guide looked at him, then looked at me several times. Each time the guide looked at me, my comment was, “He’s my brother.” So my brother then became the Catholic priest and another couple were chosen. There was also a part for a Church of Ireland minister which was given to the bus driver. I found it quite amusing as my brother is Anglican and the bus driver is Catholic.

The final scene was played out and time was then devoted to purchasing souvenirs. This was followed by a walk up the street to the bus and a trip back to the hotel in Westport for the night.

When I heard that we would be visiting Cong because of its relationship to the movie, I wondered why and I didn’t think that I would enjoy the stop. Because it was done differently from other walking tours, it became more interesting to me and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

You can get a lot out of a walking tour if you are interested in the area and subject matter. You can also learn a lot about an area if the tour is done in such a way that everyone has fun while doing it. I personally am interested in history and visiting a site just because a movie was made there doesn’t make sense to me. The way the presentation was done made it more interesting to me. Yes, I am a fan of John Wayne, but, no, I am not interested in visiting places just because he was there. Now, if you were to invite me to a place where the next Star Wars movie is being filmed while they are there, then yes, I am interested in going because I want to learn how they make things work.

I can fully commend that you should visit the Village of Cong in County Mayo and enjoy “The Quiet Man” walking tour.

Connemara Lady

Did you know that there is a fjord in Ireland? It is called the Killary Fjord and is nine miles long. It forms part of the border between County Mayo and County Galway. There is an attraction there that can be quite relaxing in the right temperatures and the right weather.

There is a company in Killary Harbour that runs tours on a catamaran. What, you don’t know what a catamaran is? Well, a catamaran is a multi-hulled boat or ship. They can be as small as a sailboat or a rowboat or as large as a naval ship or car ferry. They gain their stability in water from the width of the vessel. These vessels were first developed by Polynesian people as early as 1500 BCE when they strapped together two canoes together with a wooden frame. Some of them used sails and they did not have ballasted hulls.

The company in Killary Harbour has a catamaran by the name of Connemara Lady. It will hold up to 150 people for a tour of the fjord which takes approximately an hour and a half to do. There is a bar and a meal menu which is not included in the price of the tour. Their brownies are good. I had one of them and was almost tempted to get a second one. Because we were there in late April, the weather was kind of rain mixed with sun and windy. Just remember. This is Ireland. They have a fair amount of rain and wind. They are on the Atlantic side of England, Wales, and Scotland. I personally found it too cold to do the trip out in the fresh air, so I stayed in the cabin. I was still able to get some good pictures.

The scenery is fabulous. The hills seem to rise out of the water on both sides of the fjord and you can see the sheep on the hills. There are a couple of roads that can be seen, but they also seem to disappear the closer that you get to the Atlantic Ocean. The scenery that we saw had a lot of brown in it, but I am sure that had we been there a month later, we would have seen a great deal more green.

I would have enjoyed the trip more if it had been warmer, but on the other hand, because we were so early in the season, we were able to have our tour without any other passengers. We had plenty of room to move around. Yes, I would go on the trip again in warmer weather. Yes, I think that you should include this tour in at least one trip to Ireland.

The National Archives of Ireland

A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity of visiting The National Archives of Ireland in Dublin. As I didn’t know my way around Dublin, Shirley, one of the members of the tour group that I was with, came with me. She also had planned to do some research there and wanted to consult with the professional genealogist.

The professional genealogist that we met was a very helpful lady. Shirley had met with her on another trip and had consequently recognized her when she saw her on an episode of “Who Do You Think You Are?” I can’t remember what her name was but she was a soft spoken professional who knew her stuff.

This kind lady was friendly and was able to give me direction on two different matters within half an hour. The first was for a friend in Pembroke who wanted to know where to look for a marriage. The second was for me in locating exactly where my third great-grandfather came from in Wexford County. She suggested that I use the Tithe Applotment Books and Griffiths Evaluation to determine the parishes most likely to be his home parish before he sailed to Canada in 1820. I am able to do this as I know what his mother’s name was along with her maiden name and also his father’s name.

After determining which parishes would be the most likely, I met with this lady again and asked about my third great-grandparents who settled in Huron County in Ontario. There is a connection with Galway, but after meeting with her, I believe that this connection may just be the port that they sailed from in 1831 or 1832. This lady suggested that I do the same thing for this couple as I did for my other third great-grandfather, only, if I did not find anything in County Galway, I should expand the search to County Cavan as my third great-grandmother’s headstone says that she was from County Cavan.

Before going to Ireland, I thought that maybe she was from County Cavan and her family had moved to County Galway and that she had married there. I could find no record of there marriage there and very few records of either of the family names.

I then started to look at Griffith’s Evaluation and the Tithe Applotment Books for County Cavan. I found a number of parishes that the family names appear in, both together and by themselves. I think that I may have found where my third great-grandparents came from.

I now need to follow through with this work and take it to its conclusion.

I am so thankful that I decided to spend time at the National Archives of Ireland and consult with their genealogist. I know that I will gain more information about my family from this experience. I thank my Father in Heaven for sending the guidance to me so that I will find the correct information.

Day Thirteen – Field Trip, April 2016

We had a very busy day today continued our way around Ireland. We had to have our suitcases ready to be loaded on the bus by 7:00 am and ourselves in seats on the bus at 8:00 am.

Our first stop was at Ballintubber Abbey which was only about an hour from the hotel that we were housed in Westport. Ballintubber Abbey is reputed to have been in continuous use for worship since 1216. In 1653, Cromwell burned it down, but the people continued worshipping on the grounds with lookouts posted. It has since been rebuilt except for some sections in the back of the Abbey.

While mass was being administered in the building, our guide took us on a tour of the exterior grounds which have been set up in three courses, the Stations of the Cross, the Way of the Rosette, and the Way of Patrick. We then explored the interior of the building, however, I wish that I could have had more time to explore.

Our next stop was in Galway City. This is a port city on Galway Bay and I believe that my 3^rd great-grandparents, John Robert and Margaret, left through this port to travel to Canada in 1832. Our guide had a certain route planned until he learned that we were mostly family historians. Then, he changed his route and gave us information that could help us fill in the gaps in our search for records.

After the tour, we were invited to have our lunch at various pubs near the end place of the tour. My brother and I chose to eat at GBC and had an enjoyable lunch. The wait staff was very quick taking our orders and delivering our meals. We were on a schedule and were able to meet our deadline for continuing our journey.

From there, we travelled around the shores of Galway Bay and up the Corkscrew to the Cliffs of Moher. The cliffs are 700 feet above the Atlantic Ocean. I didn’t go right to the very top as I was starting to get tired and I realized that I was starting to get short on time. I did manage to take some pictures which I will post when I go into further depth on each of our stops after I return home.

We are now in our hotel, having a rest and doing small activities until we go for a medieval-style banquet later this evening. I will try to cover the highlights tomorrow. We will be leaving our hotel for the next day early and spend tomorrow evening in a different hotel.

Day Twelve – Field Trip, April 2016

Yesterday was a busy day. Today was almost as busy. The only difference was that we did not change hotels. Before coming on the trip, I was doing some shopping and found some Tide, enough for three separate washings ideal for washing a couple of things in the bathroom sink when you are stopped long enough to do so. Just make sure that you can spread out the clothes as you are only wringing them out by hand and that doesn’t take out the water like a machine can.

This morning, we travelled to Leenane to go out to the mouth of Killary Harbour on a catamaran. It was cold. It was wet (some light rain). But the surroundings were beautiful and well worth the cold and wet. I was out in the fresh air for about ten minutes, but went inside to deck and had some hot chocolate and a brownie to warm up, then to stay warm.

On the way to Leenane, we did have a stop for an opportunity to photograph the surroundings. I believe that John Wayne spent some time there when “The Quiet Man” was being filmed.

After our cruise we continued to Clonbur and had lunch at Eddie’s Bar. We had a choice between fish and chips and Irish lamb stew. I chose the fish and chips while my brother had the stew. It was a big meal and it was thoroughly enjoyed.

Our day continued with a walking tour of the village of Cong. This village was the set for the outdoor scenes of the movie “The Quiet Man” starring John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara. The movie was filmed in 1951, released in 1952, and won Oscars for Best Director for John Ford and Best Cinematography. We visited the buildings and places that were shown in the outdoor scenes except for four places because they were a distance away from the village. We had a good guide and had a lot of fun with this activity. Even our bus driver was pulled into the fun.

Once the walking tour was over, we were given some time to visit the museum and gift shop. I was expecting the trip back to our hotel to take about two hours but it took about an hour and a half.

This evening, we have free time to go anywhere we want for dinner and visit the local area. 

Day Seven – Field Trip, April 2016

There has been four days allocated for actual research for this trip to the Emerald Isle. Three of those days have been used. Tomorrow is the fourth day for research. After that, the trip will involve visiting parts of Ireland that allow us to get a bit of experiencing life in Ireland both present and past.

Today, I finally had the opportunity of visiting PRONI, (Public Records Office for Northern Ireland). We had an orientation session with one of the staff who describes himself as an historian. He is a great speaker, but he spent almost two and a half hours telling us what kind of records we can find at PRONI and how to access them. He also showed us some maps from the early 17^th century. They don’t seem to have lost any of their colour over the past 400 years.

When we were finally finished the orientation, most of the group went to visit the Presbyterian archives. I was originally going to go, but I decided to stay at PRONI to try to figure out their system. I’m glad that I did as the group came back to start some research about 4:30 pm. I was ready to go back to the hotel.

Shortly after I arrived back, my brother and I decided to go to dinner. We decided to go to a local bar or restaurant, knowing that it would be less expensive than some of the other places and it would have the menu that we both wanted, local food choices. We asked at the front desk about a place to go and we were directed to the Crown Fine Dining. 

Robinson’s is at the top of the building, the Crown on the second floor, and Fibber McGee’s is on the main floor. It took a while for our meals to come, but it was well worth the wait. My brother had the lamb stew, while I had gammon and champ. I had learned yesterday that champ is mashed potatoes. The potatoes are compressed into an oblong egg-like shape. Tonight, I asked what gammon was. It’s a thick ham steak and I enjoyed every bite of the gammon and champ. My brother also enjoyed his meal. The restaurant was about eight blocks from our hotel and so we had our exercise both before and after dinner.

While at the archives, I knew that I needed to find my great-great-great-grandparents marriage. I understand that it was approximately 1822 that they were married. I just had a thought now that it might be as late as 1828. I do know that they were married before immigrating to Canada in 1832. They also had at least one child before leaving Ireland. I also know that they were Methodists and that they maintained their religion for the rest of their lives. I was trying to find the Methodist church records so that I could look for their marriage and any other information that I could find there. One of the finding aids that we were taught about was The PRONI Guide to Church Records. 

While in Dublin, I was able to determine that they were not married in Galway. However, I may want to revisit that. Time will tell. Margaret’s headstone in Ontario gave information that she was originally from County Cavan. It would have been nice to know where in Cavan. I had also learned that the husband generally travelled to the wife’s home to be married. Some of the husbands even moved there permanently. 

There are a number of parishes in Cavan and I would have to look through each of them. I also did not know what the names of the parishes were and what records were available in each parish. I was beginning to think that I would have to go through the guide and hand-write every piece of information about the parishes. After the first four sets of information, I said to myself, “Self, there has to be a better and faster way of doing this. This is going to take longer than the time that I have available.” I had the idea that I could purchase a copy of the guide and then I would not have to write out the information. 

I should also mention that we had been told that there is a book that we should purchase. It has a map of every county with every parish indicated. When I approached one of the staff, she grabbed this book and came over to show how to use the two together. This is when I sat down to write the information and was inspired that I was being inefficient. I talked with another staff member and he told me that there is an online copy of the guide on their website. I thought that it was something that was a living document but it is in PDF format so it can be downloaded free of charge. I like those words (free of charge) and I also like the idea that it is in electronic format. Less space on the shelf. 

I was also shown how to determine how many people of a given surname would be in the county that you are researching in. The staff member used Griffiths Evaluation, which dates from the mid 1840s to 1880s. I saw that the Tithe Applotment books might be a better choice as they date from the 1820s which is the time period that I am looking at. When I decided to do this, the website suggested to use FamilySearch.org. So I did. I went through and found which parishes had people of their surnames and now, I just need to find which parishes have both of the surnames and get the records for those parishes.

I see that I have forgotten to mention that I read some of the beginning of the guide to the church records and found that in the beginning, the Wesleyan Methodists hierarchy strongly suggested that people should have their children baptised in the parish church or, in other words, the Church of Ireland (Anglican Church). Because there are very few marriage records before 1860, I am of the understanding that the same situation stands for marriage records. I now have some of the tools to find the marriage and christenings that I am looking for.

Tomorrow, we go to the Ulster Historical Center in the morning and to the Northern Ireland Family History Society Library in the afternoon.

And so the adventure continues.