Falduff and Louisburgh

We were on the ancestor track again to today, heading west through Westport and out on the peninsula to Louisburgh. We stopped on the way in Ballagharderreen and picked up our laundry.

In Falduff/Louisburgh we had a specific piece of land to find which Larry’s great-grandfather Dominick had rented and worked before leaving Ireland for the US. We made our way down a road and we indeed found exactly the place Sean Quinn had marked for us on the land survey map, Pretty amazing. The perimeter is exactly as it was in 1842. There were lovely sheep grazing. Pictures were taken. We explored further on the lane and started taking to a couple who were out for a walk. They asked what we were doing and we told them. The young man said, “Howard. That’s an English name, isn’t it? But my name is Maxwell, which is Scottish, and we’ve been here for generations!” Then they both said, “You need to ask Tony. His farm is right here.” Right after that we heard some loud pounding and the young man yelled out, “Tony!” Then Tony came to where we were and parted the hedge and we started talking. He knew everything, including that there had been some Howards around. He also knew all about the Garvey family who had owned the land Dominick rented. There are very long memories in these parts!

Dominick Howard's Rental Land

Tony

 After we finished our in-the-hedge conversation with Tony, we went back along the land to the really old cemetery - again, an old priory, nuns this time. We walked through the rugged and middy old cemetery, but did not find Howards. We do expect that, if they are there, they are marked by the uncarved little rocks that are in ancient rows everywhere. When the rain came, we headed back to the car and into Louisburgh for a cup of tea. We ate at the Louisburgh 74, a great liittle café. Yummy seafood chowder and a prawn mayonnaise sandwich with salad. We got talking to another local who knew a few names and so on. All the history is hear in the conversation. This man also noted how difficult this all is in Ireland because of the long history of English land ownership. He thought they might be able to think about something else in about two more generations.

After lunch we went out to the end of the peninsula and went to the little town of Killeen where we think Dominick’s friend Patrick Curran was from. They share a grave marker in Watertown, New York - one side Dominick, the other Patrick. And Patrick’s says “Killeen, County Mayo” on it. We tried again for Curran graves with no luck. But it would indeed be great luck if we ever found any of these.

We headed back to Gurteen and guess what! We had dinner at the pub. We had met some Australians from Melbourne two nights before, and tonight we had a long conversation with one of them. Lots of fun.

This was our last night in Gurteen. We had considered staying one more, but we decided we wanted to go back to Westport to see that nice town and to finally hear a music session.