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Hi Donie,
I want to ask you some questions about your articles on Kilshannig church and Dromaneen Castle as they appeared in the Kilshannig Heritage Society website.
I’m preparing a booklet entitled A Visit to O’Callaghan’s Country, a sort of travel guide, which I hope to have published in Ireland sometime in the following year. I would like your permission to include your photographs of Kilshannig church and of the ornate sculptured doorway at Dromaneen Castle. When my wife and I first visited the castle, she took a picture of me in that doorway, but I seem to have misplaced it. I have a lot of other pictures of the castle. I also noted that you mentioned that the chieftain Conoghor O’Callaghan in 1592 mortgaged Gortmolire to the Lombards. As the family was unable to pay off the mortgage, that townland passed into Lombard hands around 1620 and came to be known as Lombardstown. I’d like to include your photograph of that deed with Conoghor’s signature and seal. I believe that that is the earliest signature of an O’Callaghan and it’s the first family seal that I’ve ever seen. I can’t quite make out what’s on that seal. In your essay on Lombardstown you mention that that deed is on exhibit in the National Library of Ireland. Can you tell me how to get a copy of that? I’d like to write an article about that deed. Looking at the photograph it seems that the deed was written in Latin. I’ve enjoyed your articles and will reference them in my booklet. If you can send me color photographs of the church, the doorway, and the deed, I will certainly state that I’m using them with your permission. By now you may be wondering who I am so let me tell you. My father William O’Callaghan came from Dromcummer more and Bweeng, but as a younger son he emigrated to Philadelphia. My maternal grandfather Michael O’Sullivan was a native of Ardnagashel near Bantry Bay and eventually settled in Minnesota. So from childhood I have been interested in the history of the O’Callaghan family of County Cork. After many years of research, I finally published The O Callaghan Family of County Cork: A History (Dublin: Irish Family Names 2005). I’ve published a revised edition entitled Clan Callaghan: The O Callaghan Family of County Cork (Baltimore: The Clearfield Company/ Genealogical Publishing Company 2020). I’ve also published some articles on the family in the Journal of the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society and The Irish Genealogist. I should also tell you that I am a professor emeritus of Medieval History at Fordham University in New York. I’ve been retired from there for the last 30 years. I’m now 94 and approaching my 95th birthday on Thanksgiving Day. I’m not as agile as I used to be, but my brain, thank God, is still working. And I’m still interested in family history. I first became aware of you when I saw you on CNN and I thought ‘Wow there’s an Irishman! I have come to admire your work as a journalist. I also appreciate the articles you’ve written on Kilshannig and Dromaneen.
If you can help me with these matters, I will be most grateful. With all good wishes, Joe
An excellent story, very well told.
Well researched giving vivid information. There are good eggs in most baskets.
It is only fitting that the account of the death of Liam O Connell and his family’s contribution is brought to the wider public. In my early days in Dublin I often passed the Sean Treacy memorial in Talbot St. Credit to the Cabra Historical Society for their memorial to Liam O Connell on Phibsboro Rd just down from Doyles Corner.
St Abbeys feastday the 11 th Feb has always been a very special day in my memory. People visit throughout that day to pray and ask for healing drink water from the Holy Well and visit the graves .
St Gobinet’s feast day is a wounderful tradition to celebrate on 11 th February
Great history in our parish. Well done to all who compiled this information. Looking forward to reading more…
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