Clinton News-Record, 1985-07-10, Page 119if.
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411
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By enterjng the first room, the VeStr1r, yea
go through a door, up some steps to the
baron's pew. Fromm the church it looks like
a box seat up in the wall. The baron's family
would go to church andtipme again by,going
out the vestry,. around the back of the
church, through a door in a high wall that
separated the mansion from the ,church
grounds. By using this excluded exit, they
didn't have to speak to anyone.
mute visiting'cousins in Co. Kiidareword
came that a cousin had died. We arrived the
next day for the funeral and the first thing I
noticed was a line of rubber boots outside,
The bells tolled mournfully and the'
pallbearers carried the simple coffin,
shoulder high, on the flat of their hands. The
coffin was carried to the front of the church
and a few flowers were laid on top of it.
After the service, the pallbearers carried
the coffin to the churchyard for the com-
rnital service. Afterwards, the family filled
in the grave. This explained the mystery of
the rubber boots.
The old tombstones at the abbey on the
Ponsonby Estate were worthwhile seeing.
The stones were mostly of the Butlers and
the Cantwells, lords in the area before the
British took over. These stones were in the
floor, but now have been lifted and are being
placed in the wall.
The name Kilcooley has an interestng
origin. The wall that separates the mansion
from the Parish Church is on the far side of
the driveway to the abbey. It takes a right-
angle turn, separating the mansion from the
old church and the churchyard. It was a
very small church. "Kil" in Gaelic means
small church or chapel, while "cooley"
means around the corner. Kilcooley was the
little church around the corner.
Aa4bift:•clatreMara_Li4 very old, IOW of
that9tabstonesara•liatieatt9040-,,.U.wea
aathistross W'altintlieestateithereOre five
miles Of wall 10feet high that, surround the(
baron's property- Built in starVationtfteS,
the wages were a penny a day Ad ra bowi of
porridge. . Wm. ,Balter, then the baron, \
was short of money as rents weren't being
paid, He sold the family jewels to Tay the
wages. Likely some who. came to Goderich
Township helped build those walls,
. •=0,
The Barony ,Slieveradagh covers •
several parish& In 1823 in the Parish of
Kilcooley, there were 7,739 acres: Around
1870 the land was given back to the people. A
handmade book shows drawings of the pat-
ches of land leased by 0,person, on the right
hand page, and the acreage on the left. It
was explained that it shared the good land
and the poor. I spent hours tracing the draw-
ings on parchment paper. When the paper
ran out, I used good firm Irish toilet paper.
One trip to Ireland took me to the Belfast
and Dublin Public Records officers. I sear-
ched the Co. Fermanagh records. In one
Derryvullon Parish there were these
names: Acheson, Fagan, Gibson, Ginn,
Crooks, Ball, • Aitkens, Hackett, Palmer,
Porter, Potter, Richerson, Sturdy, Thomp-
son, Torrens and Whitely. In a nearby
parish, Gilbert and Elliotts were mentioned.
John Ovens Elliott, who married my great-
grandmother's sister Rachel Cooke came
from Derrygonnelly Parish, not far from
Enniskillen.
I visited in north Ireland, then travelled
back to the southern part. On the way we
stopped at Don and Geraldine Cantwell's for
supper. Here I found the missing link in the
family.
Grandfather's sister Catherine Webster
had married John Ruckle Jr, Their
daughter Elizabeth married Thos. Cantwell,
their son John married Ruth Switzer and
Poweantw011iiatt*Wie"1.:ii:-
.Tbis-cant*Oratkdy livem PaiatiaP!wt;,
toga. on Palatine Street, just .north of the •
•Cabirnons where my grandfather lived. To
bring water and electricity is a major pro-
blem, and the rooms in the cottage are 'spoil
and the partitions treek. Don is exercising
his carpentry skill here.
Just down the road from Palatine Cottage
lived the Switsers.. Rowland had married
Betty Cantwell. On one trip I learned a great
deal about the German Protestants who had
fled from the Bavarian -Palatinate in 1709.
They were joined by other families such as
the Switters. from Assenheim, Switzerland
and.the Huguenots from France and fled up
the Rhine River to Holland. Queen Anne of
England sent ships to bring them over and
some 10,000 camped south of London. The
British had plenty of their own starving and
the cry "charity begins at home" was
heard. Some 800 families were sent to
Ireland, many to Co. Limerick.
Sir Wm. Barker realized that these people
were good farmers and brought some to the
Slieveradagh Estate. Derek Switzershowed
me the original document made between Sir
Barker and a group of five families in 1772.
The heads of the households were Paul
Smeltzer, Adam Baker, Daniel Ruckle,
John Switzer and Sebastian Lawrence.
. Descendents of the Smeltzer, Baker and
Switzer families came to Goderich
Township. The Lawrences went to McKillop
Township.
.Later more Germans from Co. Limerick
moved to Tipperary. As John ' Wesley had
preached to them in Limerick, a Wesleyian
Methodist Church was built as Bawnlea on
Palatine Street. This is the church the Tip-
perary folk in Goderich Township referred
to when wanting a preacher like they had at
home:
I was told that my Webster ancestry was
German as they Ihrgcl in the cgigt*
•
Germans on aStreet,
One afternoon ;i was entertained at the
home am v04,11_110, the Alexanders,'TheY •
brought George Webster of Classdliff, near
Coalbrooh to meet fie explained how the
Websters were brought from Wigan, Lan-
cashire, a coal mining area in England, to
help construct coal mines: The Websters
came to the area about 1670, not long after
Cromwell's destruction of castles and
homes.
It was at Baliingarry Pariah Church that
my grandparents were married as 'father
returned to Ireland in 1865. The Alexanders
were in charge of the church property When
the church closed years ago. They stored the
church property in a nearby bonding, but
around 1940 soldiers took up quarters here
and used what they could for fuel. For-
tunately the big church Bible was saved.
My research allowed me the opportunity
to meet Mrs. Jack (Lizzie) Ireland. When I
inquired if they knew any Holmes' near
Three Castles, Lizzie assured me they did.
In fact one of the Holmes lads from
Keatinstown Farm courted one of her girls.
So here I was at the very farm where great-
grandmother Lobb (Mary Holmes) grewnp.
Lizzie also directed up to the old Deeves
home. Many's a cup of "tay" Lizzie and
Mrs. Deeves enjoyed together. I was glad to
visit while the old house that had served so
many generations was still standing. The
new Deeves home was also taking shape.
In Rev. W.G. Nelly's book, "Kilcooley;
Land and People in Tipperary" states, "Th
Williamite settlement brought a few ne
families to the area. As a reward for
military service, 1690, Peter de Cantillon, a
Huguenot refugee was given land at
Kilcooley. Perhaps the Deeves, another
Huguenot family came at the same time."
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