Bagenalstown
The pub of the Fitzpatrick Grand Central Hotel in New York City is
decorated with memorabilia of the Ireland Railroad system. Even the
ceiling is hand-painted with a map of the railroad routes over the map
of the entire country. There are several old signs from various railroad
stations, which I believe are genuine. So, it was exciting and fun to
see the sign from Bagenalstown station hanging on one of the walls in
the pub. This photo was taken on April 1, 2007 when I met some Irish
Cummins cousins originally from Castledermot, Kildare now living in
Bristol, England, who were in New York City for their 50th anniversary
holiday.
Supplied by Sue Clement c2007
A Meeting
A number of years ago I was meeting some of elderly cousins for the
first time. The local heritage society leader and a local historian
volunteered to go with me for two reasons. First of all these three
cousins (2 sisters and a brother) lived well up the slope of Mt Leinster
on Raheendarragh and one had to traverse a couple of gates and pastures
to reach their nice two story home. Secondly, I was told that their
English was heavily accented and the meeting might be smoother with some
familiar faces to translate for me.
They turned out to be wonderful people and were very hospitable. We
talked a bit about the family after some refreshments and I left my tape
recorder running. After an hour or so I decided to go to my vehicle to
retrieve my camera. After returning we socialized for another hour or so
and then regretfully took leave. It wasn't till much later when I
returned to the U.S. that I reviewed the tape. At the point that I left
the room to get my camera there was silence finally broken by one of my
cousins who said, " He's nice enough but he certainly speaks funny." I
broke out laughing at that and realized that the helpers were along to
help translate my somewhat flat midwestern U.S. speech patterns as well
as my cousin's to me. We saw another several times and corresponded
until the last of them passed away a few years ago. I felt that I had a
window on the life style and values of long ago. I couldn't have more
fortunate to have found people as kind and genuine as they were.
I do have a lot of Kavanagh (mostly South Carlow) material which I
will make available to the website after I finish some more research and
some papers I'm doing (although this is taking much longer than I
planned on since I started in the mid. 80's). I really admire what you
are doing, keep up the good work.
- Gary Cavanaugh M.D.
- Stockton
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