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 St. Mary's Famine Museum, Thurles. Tipperary. Thurles Famine Museum, housed in St Mary’s Church, Thurles, Co. Tipperary, has re-opened.
The one year closure followed, when over €70,000 worth of malicious damage was inflicted on valuable stained glass windows by local vandals in November 2009. This led to some of Ireland’s most historic artifacts, relating to Ireland’s “Great Famine 1845-1849,” which were on show to the public and stored in the building, having to be removed in the interest of their preservation.
The closure of the museum is calculated to have cost Thurles businesses, particularly the food and accommodation sectors, an estimated .5 million euros in lost revenues, last year.
The Museum, which has never received one cent of financial support from government since opening some 10 years ago, is now about to receive a major face lift, having installed 24 hour state of the art concealed video surveillance equipment to protect the graveyard, the museum and it’s contents.
St Mary’s Church, Thurles, which houses the Museum, and the graveyard attached has huge historical importance not just for Thurles Town, but for the island of Ireland. The graveyard was used extensively for burials during the Great Famine 1845-1849 and was closed as a place of burial in 1942 at the request of Dr J.D. Hourihane, then Local Government Inspector, (With some licenced exceptions,) because of gross over crowding.
Although burials were taking place here in the early 13th century, the first recorded grave in the cemetery is 1520, the Norman ‘Archer Tomb,’ possibly better known for it’s supposed healing properties. A Church has existed on this site since early Norman times in 1179.
Other notable persons buried here include:-
Lady Elizabeth Butler, Viscountess of Thurles and mother of James Butler, Duke of Ormond, ancestress direct of Queen Elizabeth II, Charles, Prince of Wales and the late Diana Spencer, who was interred in the little Chapel of St Mary, Thurles, in 1673.
William Bradshaw, a doctor in charge of the Fever Hospital in Thurles, and who also ran a paupers clinic in The Quarry, Thurles, during the famine years. “The grave of Dr William Bradshaw (Victoria Cross) late Assistant Surgeon 32nd Light Infantry who departed his life 9th March 1861.”
Maurice Leyne, one of the founders of the Young Irelander Movement and joint proprietor / editor of the “Nation” and “Tipperary Leader” newspapers during the famine years. He took part in the Ballingarry uprising of 1848 (Battle of the widow McCormack’s cabbage patch,) and was a grand nephew of Daniel O’Connell (Catholic Emancipation). Leyne died of typhus in 1854. “In this grave are deposited the remains of Maurice Richard Leyne Esq. who died 29th June 1854.”
Continue reading Thurles Famine Museum In Tipperary Re-Opens
 Fr Theobald Mathew (1790-1856) When Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II is being whisked down O’Connell Street, Dublin, this week, she should keep an eye out for one of her relations from Co.Tipperary, who has been standing there, waiting for her visit since 1893, and is now unlikely to be there if she ever visits again.
Her Majesty, according to today’s Independent newspaper will be attending The British Embassy’s ‘little bash’ in the €380m National Conference Centre on Dublin’s Spencer Dock. She will be meeting leading Irish peace campaigners, like Amanda Brunker, former presenter of “The Podge and Rodge Show,” and chef Rachel Allen, who appears to be getting the day off from O’Briens Sandwich Bars, where she autographs the plastic wrappers on sandwiches for customers.
But enough about that, lets discuss Her Majesty’s Tipperary relation waiting patiently in Sackville Place, Fr. Theobald Mathew, (1790 -1856) Capuchin Friar and Apostle of Temperance, whose life sized limestone monument is shortly to be dumped, according to the same newspaper, from Dublin’s O’Connell Street, to make way for the latest plans by Dublin’s Luas Light Rail System, to flutter away more of taxpayers money in the Pale.
The statue of Fr. Theobald was erected there in 1893, three years after it’s foundation stone was laid on 18th October 1890, latter the centenary of Fr. Mathew’s birthday and 36 years after John Henry Foley’s sculpture in Cork was unveiled.
The statue of the friar in O’Connell Street, Dublin, his back turned on the adulterous Charles Stewart Parnell, (The separated Mrs Katharine O’Shea Affair) is wearing the costume of a late nineteenth-century priest, attired in a ‘Surtout ‘ or man’s frock coat, belted with a rope and hung with rosary beads, his arms raised in a blessing.
Fr. Theobald’s anti-drink campaign is considered to have been a great social revolution, that saw the establishment of Temperance Societies in just about every parish in the country. At its very peak, his campaign, between 1838-1845, it was estimated that there were almost 4 million people abstaining from drink here in Ireland. His success was aided by the fact that Fr. Mathew appealed to every class, creed and rank in Irish society. In 1843, Fr. Mathew went to England and Scotland, where he had even further success, and later spent over two years in the US, where he handed out the Pledge in over 300 towns.
Today, intoxicated Dubliners can often be seen loitering, under the Tipperary man’s statue, ignoring his past warnings regarding the evils of drink, and I regret to report that as religion continues to decline, he commands less and less respect from those that pass underneath his outstretched arms.
Continue reading Queen Elizabeth’s Relative To Be Dumped By DCC
 Queen Elizabeth - Welcome To Your Home County Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II is due to visit Cashel and Fethard in Co.Tipperary on Friday morning next, with a large force of Gardaí and security personnel to be drafted in.
In Cashel, where the Queen will visit the historical “Rock,” (In Irish: Carraig Phádraig) traffic flow restrictions on the M8 are being put in place, beginning from next Monday until next Friday inc, with both carriageways reduced to just one lane. Vehicles will be required, in specified areas, to reduce their speed below 100kmph. Some restrictions in Cashel town will also commence in advance of this visits, fully agreed following local consultation with business and residents in key areas.
With effect from next Thursday evening, access to Cashel will be from Junction 9 of the M8 only, with all other exits effectively closed. Vehicle Information Signs will be put in place on the northbound lane at Junction 10, (Cahir south of Cashel) and at the 2km Junction for Cashel, with motorists warned to make careful note.
A cordon will be placed around Cashel, sealing off the town, between 6.00pm next Thursday and 12.00noon the following day, and only those with valid passes, e.g. local residents and business owners, allowed through a 7km outer cordon around the town.
Police cordons will also be placed around Fethard and Killenaule, as and from Thursday evening, continuing until noon on Friday, although gardai state that business will be permitted to continue as normal, for the most part.
Gardaí have warned the public to allow ample extra time for necessary journeys and to use public transport if at all possible, but point out that some bus timetables may be subject to disruption for short periods of time.
On Friday afternoon the Queen will continue on her visit to Co.Cork, and will not be visiting Thurles, her Ancestral Home, mainly due to the inability of Bord Failte, Politicians, County and Local Councillors and other marketing groups, charged with the Development of Thurles as a Tourist attraction, and who failed to forward an invitation within a proper and appropriate time frame.
Over the coming days we here in Thurles will be showing you, what the Queen missed by not including Thurles in her itinerary.
Meanwhile Your Majesty, “Fáilte roimh do chontae dúchais do Co.Thiobraid Árann.” (Translated “Welcome to your home county, Co.Tipperary.”)
The “Ryan’s Daughter” restaurant, managed by Garry and Geraldine Roche, is a well known and popular haunt of Cashel and Tipperary locals. The restaurant is also particularly well known to long distance travellers, who take a well deserved break, away from the busy, fast M8 motorway, on their journeys between Dublin and Cork.
Situated under the shadow of the Rock of Cashel, on the entrance to the historic Town of Cashel, (Well, that is if you are travelling from the Thurles side.) the chatter from patrons at this delightful little oasis today, was totally focused on the visit by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, on Friday week.
 N.Dennehy (Camera), G.Roche (Ryan's Daughter) and H.McInerney (Producer 'Nationwide.') This morning, as I sat amongst the patrons at “Ryan’s Daughter,” enjoying a coffee and a hot scone, the excited chatter was pleasantly interrupted by an unexpected visit from RTÉ Television. Well known producer and reporter Helen McInerney and camera man Neilus Dennehy, were first to appear, much to the obvious delight of those present. They were soon joined by other much loved RTÉ personnel, who arrived in the forms of Mary Kennedy and Michael Ryan, all filming for RTÉ’s popular ‘Nationwide‘ programme.
Locals and visiting tourists, regardless, were pictured or interviewed, between mouthfuls of bacon and cabbage, salad sandwiches and tempting cream cakes.
Note, those wishing to view captured footage of this mornings visit to Cashel by RTÉ, should tune into the “Nationwide” programme, which will go out on air on Monday next at 7.00pm.
Meanwhile, in Cashel town, blossoming flowerbeds are already in place, road repairs are nearing completion and traffic signpost maintenance is fully complete. Everywhere men in yellow reflective jackets are to be observed with yard brushes, rakes and shovels, all totally focused on insuring that all things in the “Cashel of the Kings” will be “Ship Shape and Bristol Fashion,” well ahead of the eagerly awaited ‘Royal Visit.’
For those representing left wing republican politics, and who plan to protest at Her Majesty’s visit to Cashel, be warned, your presence will not be observed with any welcome by Cashel locals and will be damaging to the cause, well that’s if the conversations I overheard this morning are anything to go by.
The ears of Ireland’s Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) leaders must have burned. Praise was being heaped on them, for recognising that the queen’s visit to Croke Park, in Dublin, is intended as a moment of reconciliation with the GAA over Bloody Sunday, which saw 13 spectators and one player, latter Tipperary footballer Michael Hogan, shot dead. Praise was also being heaped on the GAA, for spearheading the building of a bridge between the British establishment and an organisation that was founded to roll back English influence in Ireland. Some remarked that the queen’s visit will be as significant as the GAA’s 2001 decision to remove the ban on members of the British military and the Northern Ireland security forces from playing Gaelic games.
Locals I spoke to on the streets, later in the day, were 100% unanimous, Queen Elizabeth is welcome to visit Cashel or any other part of Co Tipperary, at anytime. As one commentator put it, “What’s all the fuss, sure Queen Elizabeth is a native of Thurles, Co Tipperary anyway, if anyone cared to check.”
Tipperary is often referred to as the“Premier County,” a description once attributed by Young Irelander Thomas Davis, editor of The Nation newspaper in the 1840’s, and it was he who also stated that “Where Tipperary leads, Ireland follows.”
When US President Barack Hussein Obama visits Moneygall, on the Tipperary / Offaly border, towards the end of May next, there is no doubt that he will receive the warmest and friendliest of Irish welcomes, for which this country is renowned for bestowing on it’s visitors.
Towns all over Ireland are feeling the ‘teeth ‘ of our mainly self inflicted financial recession. During a recent visit to Monegall, we noticed, what appeared to be just one of Irelands many ‘ghost estates’ or half finished housing estate projects, blighting the village landscape. However, thanks to this strong minded local community, through research, enterprise and drive, the leader of the most powerful country in the world is coming to visit their tiny village.
This village and surrounding areas must now surely prosper, working together as they have, displaying kinship and teamwork, this community have assured themselves a proper place in Irish American lore, and highlighted a destination to which many Americans and Irish Americans will wish to visit in the coming years.
Documents show that Barack Obama’s ancestors, like John Fitzgerald “Jack” Kennedy‘s great grandfather Patrick Kennedy, from Dunganstown, Co Wexford and Ronald Wilson Reagan‘s great grandfather, Michael O’Reagan, from Ballyporeen, CoTipperary, sailed from Ireland to America in search of a dream, leaving behind them a then ‘God Forsaken ‘ island called Ireland. All left Ireland around the time of the ‘Great Famine,’ 1845-1849, as did of course later (1873) John P. Holland, inventor of the modern submarine, the ‘Fenian Ram’, in 1881 and “Father of the U.S. Submarine Service,” and earlier (1760’s) Commodore John Barry, credited as “The Father of the American Navy,” by his contemporaries.
America has been a friend to the Irish and Irish immigrantion has greatly benefited America’s progress as a nation. History will continues to identify and catalogues the lineage of great and influencial world leaders, such as US President Barack Obama, brought about through often forced Irish immigration.
Barack Obama Ancestry
President Barack Obama’s lineage is easily catalogued:-
Joseph Kearney (c.1794-1861) and Phoebe Donovan (c.1800-1876), – Falmouth Kearney (c.1830-1878) and Charlotte Holloway (c.1834-1877), – Jacob William Dunham (1863-1936) and Mary Ann Kearney (1869-1936), – Ralph Waldo Emerson Dunham Sr. (1894-1970) and Ruth Lucille Armour (1900-1926), – Stanley Armour Dunham (1918-1992) and Madelyn Lee Payne (1922-2008),- Barack Hussein Obama Sr. (1936-1982) and Stanley Ann Dunham (1942-1995)- US President Barack Obama.
Leaving his spouse and off springs here in Ireland, Joseph Kearney travelled to America to claim land. It is not documented how he got to England, however, one means of cheap travel at this time was by consenting to travel, as ballast, on an empty British coal boat. Human ballast at this time saved those transporting coal into Ireland by open sea barge, the cost of paying men to shovel sand into these empty barges, to stop them riding high in the water on their return trips to England.
History does record that he reached the port of Liverpool where he boarded the ‘Caroline Read,’ and eventually arrived in New York City on 25th of April 1849. His eldest son Falmouth Carney (Kearney) was soon to followed this 3,000-mile Atlantic voyage. The passenger list for the ship 903 ton ‘Marmion,’ which entered the port of New York on March 20th in 1850, includes a 19-year-old labourer named Falmouth Carney whose destination was Ohio.
………..ID……………NAME ………………. AGE…GENDER …FROM……..PORT……….. TO DEST……. SHIP………ARRIVED……
…….304353……Falmouth Carney……….19………M……..Ireland….Liverpool…………OHIO…….Marmion……03-20-1850…..
Later records reveal this ship ‘Marmion,’ Captained by F. W. Jordan, with 1,300 tons of coal on board, under a strong south easterly wind and in heavy seas, foundered off Cape Flattery, on November 8th. 1879. The ship was abandoned, and the crew boarded the ‘Tam O’Shanter,’ which had been standing by, and all were taken to San Francisco.
Falmouth was followed by Phoebe Kearney and her children, William and Mary, some 17 months later, entering New York again on the ‘Clarissa Courier,’ on August 28th 1851.
Two years after his arrived in America, Falmouth Kearney married Charlotte Holloway, with possibly his uncle, one William Kearney, serving as Justice of the Peace. American Census records in 1860 show that Falmouth, a farmhand, his wife Charlotte and several children are living in Deerfield, Ohio. Later, according to the census of 1870 show this same family are listed as a farmers with an address in Tipton County, Indiana.
As already shown, both Falmouth and Charlotte both died, one year apart and were survived by their five daughters and possibly three sons.
US President Barack Obama is the great-great grandson of Falmouth Kearney’s youngest daughter, Mary Ann.
Irish Americans everywhere examine your achievements and raise your heads with pride, follow the call “Yes We Can.”
Our thanks to Ollie Hayes and his bar staff, who assisted us greatly on our recent visit.
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