Archive (1372 life histories found)
'He said he had seen her and she was wearing something light. They all had a good laugh over that'
Daddy loved books and music and hearing of faraway places. I think at one stage when he was young there was a band in Dromahair because he was learning the flute. He knew all the notes and he was forever saying it was the most wonderful instrument. …
'TB in that period was rampant and everyone was terrified of it'
There was a great sense of neighbourliness in the village. Patrick Oates who used to run a hackney service got a stroke and was sick for quite a while. Mammy used to take turns with other women to sit up all night with him. She would arrive in…
Tags: community life, neighbourliness, radios, sickness, TB
'Somehow, without them seeing, she got a hold of the big scissors and started to chop'
We had cousins living in Sligo an Aunt in Bridge Street Auntie Maggie (a dressmaker) and Aunt May Teeling St. I visited the house in Teeling St. once that I can remember. I can visualize the long hall and then the living room and my Aunt May. I…
Tags: Aunt, Cousin, curls, death after childbirth, holidays
'I was sleeping in the little room off the kitchen and I could hear all the muffled sounds of the men carrying the coffin in through the kitchen'
There was always something happening in the village. The turf man came with a cartload of turf which we would buy but then we children had the awful job of bringing it into the shed as he would just empty it in the lane. How I loathed that job. …
'Preparations would be going on for days as the house had to be cleaned and major cooking had to be done to make sure all the helpers were fed'
The day of the Threshing was a great day as from early morning in Granda's house the place became alive with people coming and going. Preparations would be going on for days as the house had to be cleaned and major cooking had to be done to make…
'I have a picture of myself looking into the flames, my grandfather singing and the sound of the plink plonk of the milk falling into the bucket as my mother milked the cows'
As my grandfather lived outside the village and they had no woman in the house when her sister Lizzie left for work in Dublin my mother would go out to his house every night and do another day's work. When the porridge was cooked on the range and…
Tags: baked brad, cows, fresh milk, grandfather
'We loved the excitement of it all and when my father would be cutting the meat we would get lovely end slices'
My mother ran an Eating House which today would be called a cafe. People from all around the area had to come to the village to do their bit of business .They either cycled or had a donkey or cart or maybe a trap so when they had finished their…
Tags: bargaining, eating house, farmers, Horse Show Day, jam, roast
'To this day I remember those coats one was a pale blue which she got married in and the other a mustard colour which she went away in. I don't think she was cut out to be a farmer's wife'
Our next door neighbours were the Kelly's and they had a big shop which sold clothes and footwear. I still remember the oil heater which stood in the centre of the shop and Mona the last one of the family would stand around it trying to keep warm. …
Tags: clothes, farmer's wife, neighbours, Trouseau
'Who could believe that someone could be so generous. I think it was like winning the lottery the excitement of it all'
I can't say what year we bought the house. Seemingly a great friend of my father's went to America years before and hadn't enough for his full fare so my father made up the balance. He did very well in the states and years later out of the blue…
'My father was the only one who didn't emigrate. The rest went to America and never returned'
I was the third of six children one died at a few months. We were always told we had a brother an angel. Daddy was a tailor and employed another man Jim Dolan (a lovely man) who lived down at the lake. He would bring us a big bag of apples when…
Tags: America, Emigration, grandmother, Nursing, tailor