Grammy's Pictures (20) Desert Flora

This Painting was signed by Grammy on 7 Nov 1958.  It is in the home of Tim Madden framed it is 30 by 24, the painting itself is 27 by 21.  There are notes on the back detailing the plants.

Derrycoosh Revisited

In 1937 Patrick Walsh of Derrycoosh wrote about the district he lived in, part of the national schools project that is found on Duchas.ie.  He noted that there were thirty-five houses with a population of one hundred and sixty eight.

I've read many of the student essays on the website, this is perhaps the best description of an area that I've encountered.


Pictures of the Walsh family farm in Derrycoosh 2017.

Derrycoosh is in Islandeady Parish.  In 1841 there were 8463 (4323m, 4140f) residents in the parish.  In 1851 the number had shrunk to 4698 (2281m, 2417f).  The number of families shrank from 1532 to 901.



In 1841 68.6% lived in 4th class housing, In 1851 only 16.5% were still in 4th class housing.  Heads of households in agriculture went from 77.9% to 72.3%.  Literacy made little change 16.1% of males in 1841 only increased to 19.6%.  For females the numbers were 2.2% and 4.9%.

Islandeady was the parish of not only our Walsh family in Derrycoosh, but also the Geraghty family in Carrownaclea.  Both immediate families seem to have survived the great famine.  They emigrated with the famine of the 1880s.

Derrycoosh - Patrick Walsh 1937

Statistics from the Irish Famine Project led by Alan Fernihough of Queen's University Belfast

Grammy's Pictures (19) The Blue Vase

This small picture belongs to Jessica

Grammy's Pictures (18) Kylemore Abbey

A whole family trip to Kylemore Abbey through the hills with beauty to break the heart -- lambs, rivers, green rolling hills, rock out-croppings, waterfalls, still pools, red and blue bummed sheep strutting companionably along narrow roads, a Celtic music tape a haunting background to it all.  

 Jean English Madden, My Ireland Trip Journal 17 Jul 1999

Grammy's Pictures (17) The Catalina Mountains

While many of her paintings were copies of other artists work, the desert paintings were her own.

Gullane

East Gullane - 2017

Gullane is located in Kilconly Parish.
 In 1841 there were 2210 residents in the parish.  In 1851 there were 1521.  Of those 728 were male and 793 were female.  There were 247 families with 37 % in 4th class houses.  There had been 370 families in 1841 with 55.7% in 4th class houses. In 1841 85% of heads of household were in agriculture.





  By 1851 the number had dwindled to 66.7%.  In 1841 only 16.1% of the male population were literate and 5.2% of females.  Those numbers increased to 40.3% for males and 14.4% for females in 1851.



 

Edmund English didn't emigrate until 1880, but some of his extended family members left much earlier.  His uncle, Jeremiah Lawler was in Minnesota by 1850 and many of his family as well as many neighbors from Kilconly Parish soon joined him.  Among those Edmund would have found when he stopped in Rochester were the Scanlons, the O'Connors, the McElligots, the Mulvihills, as well as numerous Lawler and English cousins.



Statistics from the Irish Famine Project led by Alan Fernihough of Queen's University Belfast

Happy Easter

Over the years Mom made a lot of cute stuffed animals and dolls as well.  Maura sent off a picture of her bunnies sitting on the porch today.  Their litter mates have been sitting in my library window waving at the kids getting their exercise in this shelter in place world.

Denise added that Mariah also had one of the litter.

They probably predate the rest of the grandkids except Eric, and he perhaps was too old or too young or too male?