ginbudjim Loc: Marco Island

These photos are of the remains of my great grandfather's birth place cottage in Kilmacteigh Parish, County Sligo, Ireland. It is still owned by a descendent of the family. He now uses it as shelter for his cows. It is surrounded by a grove of magnificent giant beech trees which were planted by one of our ancestors. Both of his parents died in the great potato famine so great grandfather and three siblings left Ireland in 1850 and emigrated to the U.S., eventually settling in Wheeling, WV. to work in the steel mills.
Beginning in 1845 and lasting for six years, the Irish potato famine killed over a million men, women and children in Ireland and caused another million to flee the country. Ireland in the mid-1800s was an agricultural nation, populated by eight million persons who were among the poorest people in the Western World. Only about a quarter of the population could read and write. Life expectancy was short, just 40 years for men. The Irish married quite young, girls at 16, boys at 17 or 18, and tended to have large families, although infant mortality was also quite high.
A British survey in 1835 found half of the rural families in Ireland living in single-room, windowless mud cabins that didn't have chimneys. The people lived in small communal clusters, known as clachans, spread out among the beautiful countryside. Up to a dozen persons lived inside a cabin, sleeping in straw on the bare ground, sharing the place with the family's pig and chickens. In some cases, mud cabin occupants were actually the dispossed descendants of Irish estate owners. It was not uncommon for a beggar in Ireland to mention that he was in fact the descendant of an ancient Irish King. So fellow hedgehoggers please address me as Prince Jim from now on! Thanks for looking.

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tejaswrangler Loc: South Texas

ginbudjim, these are nice pictures, and I enjoyed reading the family historical story. Thanks for sharing. :thumbup: Tejaswrangler :)

berchman Loc: South Central PA

The hatred of the Irish for the English comes as no surprise.
http://www.historyplace.com/worldhistory/famine/begins.htm

Cape Codder Loc: Cape Cod

A sad story, indeed! Even more disgraceful was that Ireland was producing enough to feed people, but it was being shipped out of the country! The grain and other foodstuffs were all taken by the landlords for rent and this left the Irish dependent on the potato.

Thanks for sharing your story and pictures, Prince Jim!

bobmcculloch Loc: NYC, NY

Read an interesting book quite a few years back, history section of the library, Paddy's Lament, author started out to defend the Brits, ended up condemning them and he had been a Boston Anglophile.
Oh and my name may be Scot but my one grandmother was Irish.

ginbudjim Loc: Marco Island

Thank you Tejas. I'm been enjoying your shots of rusty old stuff. :thumbup:

ginbudjim Loc: Marco Island

All true. Thanks for looking.

Gram27 Loc: Georgia

Great photos and enjoyed your story -- wouldn't it be wonderful if one of the relatives could bring it back to life. Such a lovely setting -- I'm sure someone would enjoy living there.

ginbudjim Loc: Marco Island

Thanks for your comments Gram27. I could never afford to do it but some of the family descendants should. One was a U.S. cabinet member, one was a state governor, one was a well known international correspondent for the BBC. I'm just the beggar prince with holes in my shoes!

Madman Loc: Gulf Coast, Florida USA

What a thrill it must have been to see the family home. I enjoyed seeing your photos and reading the history.

Thanks for sharing.

ginbudjim Loc: Marco Island

Thanks for your comments Madman. Yes, it was a thrill indeed. I had researched it for about 10 years then put it aside. By 2005 as the internet developed I made a post on a forum for Irish genealogy and an individual contacted me from that County and Parish in Ireland. We started comparing notes and discovered we were related. Turns out he is the last one who inherited the property down through the generations. My family and I made two visits to Ireland and met a number of other relatives plus found another family plot of land and the family parish churches and cemeteries. All within a three mile radius. It has been a fascinating and educational experience that continues with something new turning up every few months it seems.

Madman Loc: Gulf Coast, Florida USA

:thumbup: :lol: :thumbup:

Chet Loc: Louisville, KY

Prince Jim, really enjoyed your story and photos. :thumbup: :thumbup:

RobertW Loc: Breezy Point, New York

Should actually be "Lord Jim"---
My Mother's house on College Road in Cork City still stands proudly and we have been there many times.
Father, from Clonlara, Clare by way of Inverness Scotland, worked for the West Clare Railroad, and when we arrived here where the streets were supposed to be paved with gold, we made a new life without the gold---The West of Ireland, where all those old cottages were, is being paved over---not with gold but with the proceeds of the largest collection of pharmaceutical and chemical enclaves anywhere
You're lucky indeed that you have been able to learn so much about your forebears---Not many of those who had to leave because of the British generated famine were ever able to go back or find out what happened to those that couldn't leave!! I join you in being fortunate enough to have been able to go back MANY times, even operating an Engineering Consulting Company in Dublin for a number of years.
Even so---When all is said and done----God Bless America----We made our way here in this land of immigrants!!

photophile Loc: Lakewood, Ohio, USA

These are interesting photos and history, no wonder they sought a better life in the U.S.