'By then the compulsory tillage scheme had ended and he now had less tillage and more cattle '

'By then the compulsory tillage scheme had ended and he now had less tillage and more cattle '

Frank remembers life on the farm.

Frank Gaynor

Trinity College Dublin

1934

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Frank Gaynor

Childhood and Early Life

Life Story

Clondaliever, Westmeath

1930's

My father, Matt Gaynor, was born in Clondaliever in 1886. He started life as a landless herdsman, watching over herds of cattle on Murray's (pronounced Mur_�_ray's) farm in Clondaliever. In the early 1900s he joined some of his peers in driving cattle off big farms during the night and leaving them in front of the 'big house', as part of a campaign for land reform. His reward for these strange moves was a field in Battstown about three miles from Clondaliever. This was his first time to own land. He later bought two small farms and was given a small field near home by the Land Commission, when Mur - ray's farm was divided up in the 1930s. This made him the proud owner of about 100 acres. At the age of 49 he married Lena Farrell from Kilbeggan, who was then aged 24. We always referred to them as Daddy and Mammy.My father was an only son, and the youngest of four children. His three sisters were called Kate, Bridget and Mary. Mary died when she was 21 years old, possibly as a result of tuberculosis (TB). For a number of years before he got married my father lived with Bridget and Kate. By all accounts they did not make a very happy threesome and it surprised no one that my father was keen to move out. What surprised many was how long it took him to make the move. In 1934, with the help of two local men, he built a house a short distance away from where he was living with his two sisters. At this time Lena Farrell was friendly with a man in Coralstown, but refused to marry him because he was living with two of his sisters. Matt Gaynor was introduced to her as a man with his own farm, living alone in a new house. A month later they were married. Bridget and Kate always felt that Lena Farrell had taken away their darling brother; they never fully forgave her for that unkindness. Over the following months and years Lena's main regret was that she had not taken him much farther away from his sisters. When I was born my father was 55 and my mother was 30. I was the fourth of seven children, two boys and five girls. Paddy was three years older than me. Between us, for two short a time, was Mary - she died of pneumonia at the age of three. I do not remember ever seeing Mary. My mother carried some guilt about her death for the rest of her life. Considering the cold and damp that we experienced during the winters of our early years, the surprise is not so much that one child died but that the other six survived. Nancy was the eldest and was left a bit on her own as myself and Paddy gradually did more things together. Helen and Kathleen came next and were just one year apart. Breeda was the last to arrive. By the time I was able to help with the farm - work my father was in his mid - 60s and beginning to slow down. By then the compulsory tillage scheme had ended and he now had less tillage and more cattle. His focus now was on having young cows rearing their own calves. When they calved the calves were left with their mothers in the field. This required close monitoring but overall it worked well. When the young cattle reached the age of roughly two years and my father decided it was time to sell, myself and Paddy would be asked to drive them to the street fair in Delvin or Mullingar. Sometimes the cattle for sale had never left the field where they were born and had seldom been touched by hand. Our task was to separate these, almost wild animals, from the rest of the herd, somehow steer them on to the road and drive them to the village of Delvin or the town of Mullingar. Mullingar fair started at about 6am to give the buyers a chance of getting the cattle they bought at the fair on to the cattle - train which left Mullingar at 8am. The cattle went by train to Dublin and by boat to Birkenhead, near Liverpool. For all this to go according to plan we had to be out of bed by 3am. It was mostly wintertime, frequently cold and always dark when we were trying to communicate directions to these mesmerised animals. There was much shouting and running backwards and forwards before we finally linked up with other farmers in similar situations on the main street of Delvin or the fair green of Mullingar. My father was difficult to please at a fair and reluctant to part with his precious animals. It was not unusual for us to be driving the cattle home again on the evening of a fair.

Irish Research Council for Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences (IRCHSS)

Dr Kathleen McTiernan (Trinity College Dublin)

Dr Deirdre O'Donnell (Trinity College Dublin)