Correspondence with Tom Devanny [Gen-014]

Extracts from correspondence with Thomas Devanny, Cloonyquin.

Letters addressed to Liam ó  Tuathaláin.

10th March, 1952.

Your great grandmother's name was Bridget Crohan, Carrowgarrow, Tulsk parish.

[...]

Great-grandfather had two brothers, Peter and Thomas. They resided in Cloonyquin. In those times Cloonyquin was in Elphin Parish. My mother's name was Bridget and Mrs. Feeney's name was Catherine.

18th March, 1952

Peter Toolan, brother to William and Tom, was married to a Celia Kelly of Flaskagh. His family were John, William, Mary, Margaret and Winnie. The man who registered his death was his son, John; he could read and write.

[...]

Thomas Toolan, the other brother, was a lame man and a noted fiddler. He made his living by giving music lessons, especially to the local gentry. Thomas Toolan who registered his death probably was the Bishop's father.

[...]

I have a slight remembrance of hearing that James Toolan was father to William, Tom and John (should this read 'Peter'? - LóT, 1984). and that his wife's name was Winniefred Carney from Curenreigh or Cloonmahane, both these townlands adjoin Cloonyquinn.

[...]

The Toolans and Farrells were the oldest residents in Cloonyquinn. In olden times the townland of Cloonyquinn was owned by a men named Quinn who had a castle there, hence the name Quinn's Meadow*. Later on it was owned by the Farrells and Frenches, twelve Farrells and twelve Frenches having the one mother. The Farrells and the Frenches fought for the property and the Frenches defeated the Farrells and owned the estate. The remains of their castle is to be seen yet. Now in those times there were only two roads in Co. Roscommon, one leading from Dublin to Sligo, the other from east to west. The Dublin - Sligo road passed here beside my place. The people had all the land tilled and lived on oatmeal they made themselves, until the introduction of the potato. They manufactured their own clothes. There was no flour, no tea or sugar and no roads: they carried all on their backs.

[...]

I never heard Uncle John say that the other Toolans mentioned in your letter (Toolans in the Strokestown area - LóT, 1984) were relations. Of course, I knew them all and some of them yet.

[...]

Those Toolans, Tom and John, who own Land Commission lands mentioned in your letter are sons of John's and grandsons of Peter's.

[...]

Uncle John could not read or write. There were no schools in those times only what was called the hedge schoolmaster. All the same Uncle John was a very intelligent man, but worked hard in early life as he was the eldest of the family.

[...]

I am in my 78th year.

* Cloonyquinn: "Cluain" means a meadow, pasture land; a plain between two woods; a watershed. "Uí Chuinn means "of Conn", but "Quinn" is nearer to the sound of the Irish name.

14th April, 1952

I think I left out the name of Mary in my letter. She went to America, I always heard, when only 17 years. In Peter Toolan's family I left out the name of Bridget. She was a nun. There was Bridget, Mary, Margaret, Winnie, John and William.

[...]

The names of my mother's family were Michael, Thomas, Kate and Willie. Michael would be in his 80th year; I am in my 78th and not 72nd as stated by you.

[...]

Well now, the Feeneys: there was Willie, Michael, Mary, Winnie, Pat, Thomas, Bridget, Bernard, James and Kate. l always heard their mother was married at 17. If the eldest of them were alive now, his age would be about 94 or 95 or perhaps more. I am not so sure.

[...]

Well, Killina graveyard was ever the Toolans' burial ground., You know it is one of the oldest in the county. There is the remains of an old church standing there yet.

[...]

I don't think you would have much business touching Peter Toolan's grandsons as they would not be very interested in that sort of genealogy. I think Maysie might be able to give a fair guess as to the ages of the Feeneys as she was very much acquainted with them.

[...]

The mother of William, Peter and Tom Toolan was Carney from either Cloonmahon or Curereigh. I think her Christian name was Jane.

Editor's addition, 2025
The following copies of this correspondence are scanned from the 1984 manuscript and are of low quality. Unfortunately the originals cannot be found.
It is interesting to note that either the writer or the recipient had the foresight to prefix 19 to the year in the date, as if aware of the fact that we would be reading these letters in a different century!