Archive (334 life histories found)

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…

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. …

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…

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…

We didn't possess any balls for playing with but when the evenings got dusk and the electricity had arrived we would play around the lampposts and had great fun dancing on our shadows. One year there was a big fall of snow and there was a marvellous…

Dances were held in the village hall and the girls and boys would come from the countryside to attend and they would leave their bicycles in our yard for safety. Of course they would no sooner be gone to the dance than we would borrow the bicycles. …

Dromahair the place of my birth is a small village nestling between small hills and mountains in the County of Leitrim bordering the County of Sligo. It is a very historical area, as it boasts the ruins of a famous Abbey and three Castles. It was…