Showing posts with label Harriet Owen. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Harriet Owen. Show all posts

Monday, 2 September 2019

New Director at St. John's, Church Street girls, Owen Family of Ballyhorgan Cycling and the Crown Jewels



Wildflower meadow at Ballincollig Regional Park

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They're Changing the Guard at St. John's



Máire Logue is the new artistic director of St. John's Arts and Heritage Centre, Listowel. I photographed her in St. John's with Joe Murphy, the retiring director.

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Church Street Girls

Eileen Sheridan shared a photo memory


Clementine Crowley Ann McSweeney, Gertie Kennelly, Mary OSullivan, Eileen Scanlon, Ann Ryan
Mary Fitzmaurice Mary Walsh , Eileen McSweeney,  Alice Gleeson.

Sadly three of the girls have passed away.

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Owens of Ballyhorgan


Harriet Owen with Tom Fitzgerald and Jimmy Deenihan in The Listowel Arms on one of Harriet's frequent trips to Kerry to reconnect with her family home in Lixnaw.

Harriet sent me a short version of her family history which I published in Listowel Connection. John Stack of Kildare and formerly of Duagh was interested to see that an Owen had married into the Ellis family of Abbeyfeale. Ellis was a family John had encountered when researching his own family as these Ellises were his mother's people's landlords.

He sent us a newspaper cutting

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Resurgence of Cycling

In our cities nowadays you have to be struck by the numbers of people cycling to and from work. I took these photos on Cork's Grand Parade recently. There seems to be bicycles everywhere.





The bike scheme stand was almost empty.

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The Theft of The Irish Crown Jewels

A friend lent me this book. The story of the disappearance of the Irish Crown Jewels and its disastrous consequences for North Kerry is a fascinating one.


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In Dublin Yesterday




Kerry has survived to fight another day. I don't know if the supporters nerves will survive another one, though.

Tuesday, 20 August 2019

The Owens of Ballyhorgan, Bibiana Foran and A Wireless Museum

Victorian Post box





This victorian post box in beautiful condition is in the railway station in Thurles. Isn't it so much nicer than our modern rusting functional boxes?

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Harriet Owen ...A History


This is Harriet Owen who has family roots in Lixnaw with Paul Kennelly at a recent family reunion and celebration in Sheahan's Cottage in Finuge.


Here in a nutshell is Harriet's family connection to North Kerry

Harriet Owen

In 1750 William Owen (Miller) came from Wales to Rathdowney with his wife, Rebecca and three children. These were Rowland who married Isabella Scissons, They had no children, Robert married Sarah Hely and they had 8 children and Rebecca Owen.
The 7thchild of Robert and Sarah was John Hely Owen (1793-1870). He married Frances Smith in 1827. They had 6 children.

Henry Amyrald Smith Owe, son of John and Frances married Maria Frances gentleman in 1874. They lived in Ballyhorgan, Lixnaw. In 1860 Maria’s father  was instrumental in bringing the first bank to Listowel, The National Bank. Until then the nearest bank was in Limerick. Henry and Maria had 2 sons, John Hely Owen and Henry George Owen.

John Hely Owen (1877- 1952) married Lurline Ellis (known as Kitty) of Glenashone near Abbeyfeale. Her father, Richard Whateley Ellis was singer with  Carl Rosa Opera Company. The Ellis’ can trace their lineage back to Thomas Ellis of Co. Monaghan in the time of James the second. John Hely and Kitty lived at Ballyhorgan in the house known as The Cottage which had been built by old Goodman Gentleman as a dower house. They later moved to Glenashrone, formerly an Ellis house. When this house was burned during the civil war in 1922, the family moved back to Ballyhorgan. They had 5 children. The eldest, Henry Robert Owen sold the house and farm at Ballyhorgan in 1952.

Henry George Owen (1879-1955) married Olive Margaret Jane Eva Eager in 1910. When he married he moved to Aghatrohis, Bedford near Listowel. His wife Olive was the daughter of Major Oliver Stokes Eager, an army surgeon who served in the Ashanti War of 1873/74. The Eagwers were an old Kerry family The first Irish Eager , Robert was granted land in Queen’s County in the reign of Charles the First. His son, Alexander sold it and settled at Ballymalis, Co Kerry in 1667. The Stokes family had also lived in Kerry for many generations, being descended from The Knights of Kerry.

John Hely Owen and Frances Smith Owen’s granddaughter Frances Ayres married Sir Thomas Myles in 1888. He was a distinguished Dublin surgeon. As surgeon on duty, he attended Lord Cavendish and Mr. Burke in the Phoenix Park. He was an active supporter of Charles Steward Parnell’s Protestant Home Rule party. He owned a yacht, Cholah. In 1914 he was recruited along with Erskine Childers and Conor O’Brien to help in the importation of guns for the Irish Volunteers. Childers landed his part of the consignment from The Asgard at Howth on July 26 1914. A week later Myes’s cargo which consisted of 600 Mauser and 20,000 rounds of ammunition was landed by the Cholah in Kilcoole, Co. Wicklow. From 1900 to 1902 he was President of The Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland and was knighted on completion of his term of office. He was honorary surgeon in Ireland to King George V and during World War 1 he was consulting surgeon to HM Forces in Ireland. For this he was made a C.B.


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Who was this lady?


I'm only a little bit wiser as to who this lady was and I have found no-one yet to tell me what the os in her name is all about. Could it be Oide Scoile? Was she a teacher?
Bibiana was a member of the Board of Guardians. They were originally in charge of the workhouse but their roles expanded to include all issues relating to Health and Welfare and it is here that this lady came into her own.
Bibiana from Ballyahill was the wife of a local well -to -do merchant, Jeremiah Foran. She was a friend of Lady Aberdeen and she was very supportive of this lady's Health Train initiative. This was like a travelling clinic that went round the country advising on women's health.
Bibiana also initiated school meals and she backed the purchase of a field close to the town for the purpose of putting up a sanatorium.

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Listowel Vintage Wireless Museum

Eddie Moylan, collector, restorer, curator, owner and guide at Listowel Vintage Wireless Museum is a Corkman. He has made his home in Listowel and he fits right in with this town's great respect for artefacts from a bygone era. No town deserves Heritage Town status more than Listowel.

In his privately owned museum, Eddie has collected a mind blowing array of wireless, gramaphone and broadcasting memorabilia. Eddie is often visited by radio enthusiasts and people with a love for the old sounds and the old voices. He very kindly gave my visitors a tour recently and they were mightily impressed.




Breeda used to work in the post office and she remembered well the old radio licence.

Monday, 1 July 2019

Bee Facts, Dioscesan appointments and an Owen Reunion in Finuge

Kerry Robins in Summer

Photo: Chris Grayson

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Bee Facts from the internet


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Dioscesan Changes July 2019

Bishop Ray Browne wishes to announce the following changes to the appointments of clergy in the Diocese of Kerry:
Msgr. Dan O’Riordan P.P. Castleisland retiring
Very Rev. Luke Roche PP Castlemaine retiring
Very Rev. Tadhg Ó Dochartaigh P.P. Firies retiring
Appointments:
Fr. Maurice Brick PP Lixnaw to be PP Castleisland
Fr. Anthony O’Sullivan Rathmore (pro tem) to be PP Lixnaw
Fr. Michael Hussey PP Castlegregory to be PP Ballylongford
Fr. Eamon Mulvihill PP Kilcummin to be PP Castlegregory
Fr. Joe Begley PP Dingle to be PP Glengarriff/Bonane
Fr. Michael Moynihan PP Glengarriff/Bonane to be PP Dingle
Fr. Padraig Kennelly PP Ballylongford to be PP Firies
Two more parishes without a Resident Priest:
The parish of Castlemaine will be served by the priests of the Killorglin Pastoral Area with Fr. Kevin Sullivan to be Moderator
The parish of Kilcummin will be served by the priests of the Killarney Pastoral Area with Fr. Kieran O’Brien to be Moderator
Fr. Denis O’Mahony PP Abbeydorney to be VF of the Naomh Bhréanainn Pastoral Area
Fr. Brendan Walsh PP Causeway to be Moderator of Ballyheigue
Priests of all Pastoral Areas of the Diocese take up different responsibilities outside their own parishes and within the Pastoral Area. This will be decided and communicated locally.
These changes will become effective on Wednesday, July 17th 2019

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Owen Family return to their Roots

Harriet and her brother John Owen grew up in Leinster, far from the birthplace of their parents in Ballyhorgan. But when they returned to Finuge to celebrate mass and chat with their family and new found North Kerry friends, they felt that they had come home.

I count myself lucky to be counted among those North Kerry friends who have enjoyed watching this reconnection.


The thatched house was the venue for the mass which was celebrated by Fr John Owen, a Divine Word missionary who has spend many years in Argentina and is now ministering in Blanchardstown, Dublin.


Fr. John with Tom Fitzgerald, one of the local historians who was able to give the Owens first hand history of their home place. There is a still a field in Ballyhorgan called "Owenses' Field".


Owen family came from the U.K. and Ireland.


Paul Kennelly remembers Harriet's parents who sadly passed away when Harriet was quite young.


Paul also met up with his old friend, Jim Sheahan.

Some local ladies joined the family for the mass.


The Sweeney family were the choir.

Group photo at Finuge Cross


Harriet and John brought a family musician to help out with the entertainment in McCarthy's of Finuge.


Jim Sheahan sang us The Homes of Donegal. He has lost none of his musicianship since his show band days.



Nollaig McCarthy and Nora Sheahan

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Listowel Folk Group Summer Barbecue





I'm assured that the good folk of Listowel Folk Group had a great night with lots of good food, good music and lots of singing in McCarthy's Bar in Finuge.

Friday, 5 April 2019

Listowel Public Toilet (Part 2), Helping to Research North Kerry Ancestors and Tidy Towns Awareness Day


Ballybunion Sunset, March 2019



Photo: Bridget O'Connor

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The Hullabaloo about the Loo










We're at 1972. The saga continues next week.

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Harriet Owen in Listowel



Harriet Owen is pictured here with Tom Fitzgerald and Jimmy Deenihan. Harriet is a frequent visitor to Listowel. Her ancestors come from North Kerry and she is doing some genealogical research, helped by Tom and Jimmy.  She is very much at home here now. We will be seeing her again soon.

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Tidy Towns' Awareness Day

When I was in Super Valu on Friday March 29 2019 I ran into my friends from the Tidy Town Committee raising awareness of their work for the environment.