School: Cnoc an Éin Fhinn (Birdhill) (roll number 13991)

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1. Local Happenings (continued)

   

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   The chiefs burnings of note occured in the year 1932. Captain Twiss's mansion was burned to the ground and the signal cabin and goods store in Killaloe were also burned. There was a very big conflagration in Killaloe last June. which threw sixty hands out of employment. The house was belonging to Mr.McKeogh of Ballina, Killaloe, Co. Clare.
   The only plague that the very old people remember occured in the year 1850. It was particularly raging about Northern Ireland. Men and women died like flies. Some of them at their homes and more of them died on the roadways. Immediately after death they used to turn black. They were taken away and buried immediately. There was one case of the plague in O'Briens bridge which is worth relating. A man named John Kelly died in O'Briens Bridge. He was taken to the Lisheen Island to be burried. When they people had the coffin lowered they heard the man rapping at the lid of the coffin. The people took fright and ran away. Some of them jumped into the Shannon and more of them ran away home. The people who stayed at the burrying ground took off the lid of the coffin and the corps sat up and began to speak. The man went to America afterwards and got to be a very rich man. The people said afterwards that it was only in a trance he was. My father's mother was at that funeral and often traced it to my father who told us about it. After that incident the custom was to wake the corpse two nights.

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   Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.

   History Edit

   Topics

   1. events
      1. hardship (~1,565)

   Language

   English

   Collector

   Thomas Teefey

   Gender

   Male

   Address

   Coosane, Co. Tipperary

   Informant

   Michael Teefey

   Relation

   Parent

   Gender

   Male

   Age

   54

   Address

   Coosane, Co. Tipperary