In every family there is at least one who realises the value of the family tree and he takes it on himself to write the story in order to preserve it for the next generation.
When people contact me looking for help with their tree, I usually refer them to NKRO but when John Duggan wrote I knew I could help him myself, since I knew just the relative he was looking for.
I demanded payment for my services, in the form of a story for this blog.
Here it is;
It’s
probably appropriate, with Listowel Writers Week looming large on the local
calendar, that I begin my story with US comedy series “Guys Book Club”. The
programme follows the misadventures of six disenchanted married men who try to
recapture their manhood by using a fictional book club to escape the clutches
of their nagging wives. It’s something that probably wouldn’t have crossed my
radar but for my ongoing research into our family tree which, as of last
weekend, now includes Chicago-born series writer and producer George
Zwierszynski, a great-grandson of Ballybunion. He became the latest in a
lengthening line of discoveries during painstaking hours, weeks and months of
trawling through archives, both online and in person.
What began over Christmas
as a flippant comment about how interesting it might be to know a bit more
about our ancestors has now become what, to the casual observer, might appear
to be something more akin to an all-consuming obsession. And it was this
newfound devotion that led me back to Kerry over the past Easter weekend – a
location that had been a second home throughout my childhood years due to our
annual Summer holidays spent at the beach in Ballybunion, but a county that had
eluded me for over twenty years, with the exception of one wedding, possibly
due to my greater independence and spending power that prompted the exploration
of other worldly locales.
Conveniently,
the majority of my mother’s family history was centred between Ballylongford
and Ballybunion so they were the main focus of my attention as I embarked on my
journey to the past. Cognoscent of it being one of the two busiest times of the
year for the church I had contacted Fr. Kennelly in Ballylongford in advance of
my visit to assess the possibility of inspecting the parish records during the Easter
weekend. Fortunately, he welcomed my intrusion with more generosity than I
could ever have hoped for. He graciously granted me as much time as I wished
with the craggy, hard-covered ledgers that held the elusive information I
needed to solve my genealogical puzzle, and at one stage he even gave me an
impromptu linguistic lesson so that I could decipher the Latin names in the
older pre-Vatican Two records. The thick heavy pages of the book and their
elegant calligraphy transported me back in time to another world as I scanned
the pages for Bunyans and Wallaces. The circle of life would in some cases be
completed before my eyes as a name that would initially appear in the baptism
book might later be found on the marriage register and then soon afterwards in
the death records – a sobering experience.
With
my mother in tow I also visited numerous relatives and acquaintances in the
area who were mostly intrigued, but sometimes bemused, by my endeavours. All
were unfailingly helpful though, with boxes of photographs being thrust onto
tables in front of me and permission being given to record as many of them as I
wanted. Inevitably once the albums were opened the trips down Memory Lane
ensued and the stories started to flow, time passing in decades before our eyes
and in hours on our watches. It was great to meet in person the people who
constituted such a significant portion of the family tree and it gave the
project a life and a personality that had been somewhat lacking in what had
been largely an academic exercise up to that point. I presented my findings
that included records of immigrations to America and also evidence of how
long-accepted “distant” relationships had come into being, something that
always drew expressions of wonderment. The information exchange flowed both
ways though and in the course of discussions I unearthed a couple of genuine
nuggets of information that would never have registered with me if I had been
merely scanning through a record book somewhere, such was its obscure nature.
We
also dedicated nearly a full day to the more sombre duty of visiting the local
graveyards where our ancestors lay, from Aghavallen and Lislaughtin to Kilconly
and Killahenny. This was not an activity that I had much appreciation for
during my formative years but after the previous months of investigations I now
had a greater understanding of the people we were paying our respects to. After
four full days of being a general nuisance to the people of the locality it was
time to leave the Kingdom and return home for work the following Tuesday
morning. I left the area satisfied with all of the information that I had
gathered but more importantly aware that the family tree was a living thing and
not a very large piece of paper with a lot of lines and pictures in it.
After
updating my records upon my return home I noticed that there was still one
branch of the tree that had bore very few leaves. Repeated enquiries about the
Carmodys of Listowel had yielded very little except for the odd puzzled look or
the uncertain proffering of a few names hastily followed by a dismissive “sure
they’re all gone now”. Perhaps spoiled by the great success that I had enjoyed
with all of the other families I refused to believe that the Carmodys could not
be found. I bombarded Google with every combination of keywords I could think
of. I interrogated the genealogy websites relentlessly. I harangued my mother
in the forlorn hope that some long forgotten recollection would miraculously
return to her, but it was all in vain. So, in desperation, during my latest
assault on Google I happened upon a blog that branded itself as being for the
sons and daughters of Listowel who found themselves far from home. I browsed
its pages and saw photographs from the archives along with other content that
harked back to a bygone era. I decided that this might be my last hope at
tracking down the elusive Carmodys and immediately set about typing an email to
the address given on the website. Amazingly, within four hours I received a
reply from Mary Cogan acknowledging my correspondence and promising to
investigate the matter further later in the week. A couple of days later Mary sent another mail concerning a
photograph of Carmodys Bakery that had featured in a recently published local
book. Finally, a breakthrough! I was heartened by this development and eagerly
awaited the next correspondence. That Saturday my search was over.
Despite the
presence of a TG4 camera crew for a couple of days during the week and all its
associated upheavals Mary never forgot
about my enquiry and I was overjoyed when I read the contents of the email. It triumphantly
proclaimed that the prodigal Carmodys had been found and, what’s more, they
were living in Listowel! She also provided me with contact information for them and within a
couple of hours I was chatting on the phone to a real live Carmody, swapping
stories and filling in the blanks that had blighted my tree for so long. I had
barely hung up the phone when my mother was asking me all manner of questions
about the family and she too was delighted to hear all about them. It brought
to a close a long search and at least future generations won’t have to wonder
what became of the Carmody clan. Ironically, it’s fair to say that while we
share some ancestors we also differ in some things, because it transpires that
she is heavily involved in the upcoming Writers Week but the extent of my
literary prowess would barely qualify me for a role as an extra on the aforementioned
“Guys Book Club” show.
Thank you, John. What a great story and what a lovely collage.
BTW his Carmodys are the Carmodys of Wonder Bakery fame.
I think you will agree that John is not too bad at the writing. We might see him yet at Writers Week.
A picture of some Wonder Bakery bread vans from Vincent Carmody’s book
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This photo was captioned Kerry Travellers
This yesterday’s picture. Apologies to all Gardaí. The man interviewing the Travellers is not a Garda
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This photo of Ballygologue children in 1975 was first published in The Advertiser. If you recognise yourself, do write and tell me where you are now.
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Congregational singing in the church in Knockanure recently
