S o u t h i l l r e m e m b e r S

Looking BackS o u t h i l l r e m e m b e r S

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Forward

Mabel Mescall, Mar Purcell, Patricia Sheehan, Patrick Prior, Breda McNamara, Glasnevin Guide, Christy McNamara, Alona Troy, Ger Kelly, Tom McNamara, Geraldine Minogue and Adrian Hogan. Missing Breda Butterfield.

Being long standing groups, both the Southside Women’s Group and the Southill Men’s Shed are often looking for something new and interesting to undertake. The genealogy project we embarked on with the staff and friends of the Hunt Museum was not only informative but wonderfully interactive.

We got to trace our family trees and go on field trips to Mount Saint Lawrence Cemetery in Limerick, the ‘From Limerick with Love’ Exhibition in Shannon Airport, Glasnevin Cemetery and the Little Museum of Dublin. The project afforded us an insight into our family background and indeed the history of Southill, Limerick and Ireland. We are most thankful to the Hunt Museum for including us in this project and look forward to collaborating with them on future projects.

Alona Troy, Development Worker, Southill Family Resource Centre

Looking Back

Looking Back was created by members of the Southside Women’s Group and the Southill Men’s Shed, in collaboration with The Hunt Museum’s Communities of Culture Programme. Over the course of a number of months the group came together to share their stories and family history research.

Looking back on your family can mean different things to people. For some it can be a way of keeping the past alive for future generations, for others it can help to understand what shaped the lives of previous generations.

Families are our first communities. They are the groups, individuals and relationships who shape the earliest years of our lives and populate our oldest memories. A journey into family history is a journey into the past. The deeper we dig and the further back we reach, the lives, fashions, technologies and even languages we encounter are increasingly foreign to us.

Yet the stories maintain their resonance.

We are delighted to present this collection of family photographs chosen by the group as a sample of the rich history of the people of Southill.

Dr Dominique Bouchard, Curator of Education, The Hunt Museum and Sorcha O’Brien, Access Officer, Communities of Culture.

Edited by Sorcha O’Brien, 2014

George Francis Dunne, (Adrian’s grand-uncle)

Thomas Dunne Sr., Thomas Dunne Jr., Margaret, Mary, Vincent, George and Joe

James Dunne and friend - Royal Air Force

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“The photo of my uncle James and his friend was taken just before they went on a raid to Cherbourg. His plane was shot down in the British Channel. The pilot’s body was recovered but the

other crew were not. He was the oldest in the plane, a sergeant, only 25 when he died”

Laurence Dunne (Adrian’s great-grandfather) outside his pub in Claremorris, Co. Mayo

Left - RightMay Escott, Winifred and John. Laurence, Mary Ellen Dunne and Mary Dunne née Gilligan

Back Left - Right

adrian hogan

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Breda McnaMara née haLvey

Breda 1967 (18 years old) at a dinner dance in Limerick

Breda and Thomas McNamara’s wedding. They celebrated their 45th wedding aniversary in September 2014

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James Dunne and sister Josie Left - RightJames Hogan and Catherine Hogan née Coleman, Bab’s and Bridy Hagan (Adrian’s mother)

Breda’s Family celebrating her brother Tony’s birthday

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Patrick and Maureen McNamara (Tom McNamara’s parents)

Bridget and Edward Halvey (Breda’s parents)

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Breda ButterFieLd née hogan

Funeral of Eugene Shanahan (family friend) with Gerard Hogan (Breda Butterfield’s brother)

“Eugene would have grown up with us and he always had horses. It was his wish

that when he died, my brother would drive his coffin

in a horse drawn carriage the last mile to the grave.It was a huge funeral, they stopped traffic that day.”

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Edward Halvey and Margaret Halvey née O’Riordan

“This is my grandfather Edward Halvey and his wife Margaret O’Riordan from Massachusetts. She was going with her boyfriend over there when they met in

the 1900s and they fell in love. He came home after a couple of years and she

followed him. They got married in Ireland and had 10 children. A lot of

them went to America eventually except my father and one brother.”

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Breda and Noel Butterfield Ger Mason, Gerard, Bridget (mother)and Richard Hogan

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Breda Butterfield’s family. Left - Right: Carol Roche, Jason, Noel Butterfield (husband), Breda Butterfield, Ciaran, Wesley and Patrick

Leonie (granddaughter), Katie and Tadgh and Timmy Carrol

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Baby Jamie Butterfield (grandson), two days old

Kitty Murphy (Breda’s aunt), lived to 102 years old

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Bridget and Patrick Hogan, Breda Butterfields parents

Harry and Kathleen Butterfield, Breda’s husband Noel’s parents

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ger keLLy

Gravestone of Denis and Catherine Sweeney, Ger’s grandparents in Mount St. Lawrence Cemetery

“I didn’t like going to graveyards, I never liked looking into the past, but

after that first visit to Mount St. Lawrence cemetery

I changed my mind completely. I found out

that my father’s family are buried on the other side

in the middle of Mount St. Lawrence, so theIr my

next project”

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Mary Ann Barry

“My grandmother was Mary Ann Barry and we all

called her ‘mother’, anyone in Prospect would have

known her as mother Barry. She was a mother to all of us. My own mother worked in the prison service so we would be dropped off to

my grandmother before we started school. We all had to make sure that we got the

youngest to my grandmothers before we started school, she

looked after us all”

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Mary and Anthony McNamara and Mary and Antoinette Liebherr at 1 Astor Court

Neighbour Elizabeth Clark from 31 Aston Court, Geraldine Minogue, Debra Clark, Mary Liebherr, Joe Clark, Christina and Louis Liebherr

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geraLdine Minogue née LieBherr

Geraldine Minogue on a swing in her back garden

Left - RightMartha Liebherr, Dawn Clark, Christina, Louis and Geraldine Minogue. David Clark and Mary Liebherr née Hayes (mother) at 29 Astor Court, Keyes Park

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Grandmother Bridget Hayes née Kenny with Geraldine

Left - RightGeraldine, Mary, Louis and Christina Liebherr

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Geraldine as a child Christina, Geraldine, Louis and Harry Liebherr

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Great great grandfather Dennis Hayes

Great great grandmother Christina Hyde (her sister was the first post mistress in Cork)

“These photos were taken on the day they got married. She married a constable which was deemed beneath her so her family disowned her. Her husband died young, he was only 47.

The only way she had to make a living was through making lace for the alter cloths”

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Harry Liebherr, Geraldine Minogue’s father a’s mother (Briget Hogan) – mother of two

Left - RightHayden Parker, Louis (grandfather), Martha and Harry Liebherr s mother (Briget Hogan) – mother of two brothers (Richard Hogan)

“‘My grandfather was an electrical engineer, driver in Ardnacrusha and I recently found out that his father did much the same thing in Germany. It was nice to know he was

involved in the building of Ardnacrusha”

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Mabel on her wedding day with husband Noel in St. Joseph’s Church

Mabel and James O’Mahony with children Noel and Mabel, taken in St. Mary’s Park

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Mabel Mescall in St. Stephens Green circa 2010

Rhoda and Annie Wiseman in St. Stephens Green (Mabels aunt and grandmother)

MaBeL MescaLL née o'Mahony ,

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Henry Wiseman (Mabel’s uncle)

Rhoda Morton and adopted daughter Sheila, pet name Pearl

Anne Wiseman with her children Alex and Olive

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Mabel O’Mahony (mother)

Alice Wiseman (Mabels aunt) and two sons. Alice married a Scottish man names Toshach

Margaret and John O’Mahony, with son Danny (Mabel’s uncle). Youngest child unknown

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Brother Mark O’Mahony, second cousin to her father

Brother Mark O’Mahony second from right at the back. His mother is in the front row in the middle, father is third from left on back row

“This was my father’s second cousin. He was a brother in the Redemotirist and for as long as he was up there and we were living in Henry Street, we never knew or met him.

We only got the photo after he died”

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Michael (Micky) O’Mahony (uncle) James O’Mahony (father) at Sarsfield Barracks(Mabel’s dad)

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Geraldine Power née Keating

Mary (Mar) Purcell née Keating

“Southill is my home. It’s where I reared my family and had fun and tears over the years”

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Back Row, Left - Right Mar and Junior Purcell Front Row, Left - RightMary, Dervilla, Santa, Frank, Brian and Noel Purcell

Left - Right Majella Keating (sister), Mar, Dervilla, Noel, Frank, Mary, Brian and Junior Purcell

Mar PurceLL née keating

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Patricia Sheehan and Helen O’Connor (sister) taken outside Bishops Street

Helen Spencer née O’Connor and Patricia Sheehan née O’Connor

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Patricia sheehan née o'connor

Angela and Patrick O’Connor with some of their grandchildren, circa 1972

Back Row, Second LeftJoseph Sheehan Southill Scouts winners of the Melvin Cup, circa 1980.

,

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Photo taken in the Creagh Lane School. Michael O’Farrell (uncle) in the front row 32

Back Row, Left - Right Carmel Byrnes, Bernie Mc Carthy, Lindsey Bingum, Doley Byrnes and Marie O’Connor Front Row, Left - Right Patricia O’Connor, Angela O’Connell and Helen O’Connor

Patricia Sheehan on her Communion Day

“In this photo we were having a play when we were really young. You can see all the big bow rings on the top of our

heads. That was part and parcel of getting dressed up then”

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Pat Prior

Left - RightEugene, John and Patrick Prior. At home in Belturbet, Co. Cavan

“My Dad was an intellectual and he left us as children

with a lot and a lot of good memories. Looking at these

photos might not mean a lot to other people but it means

the world to me”

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“This letter was typed in 1911. It’s some relation of mine and my mother had it in her handbag when she died. If you look in the light you can see a watermark of

Philadelphia Electric and it’s just amazing that it has survived”

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Some photographs from the Communities of Culture genealogy project. 36

Prior family crest Left - RightEugene, John (father), Patrick, Noreen and Mary Prior (mother)

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ISBN 978-0-9928934-2-2

9 780992 893422 Design: George Fitzgerald /Mobiusdesign.ie

sPeciaL thanks

Southill Family Resource CentreAlona Troy Jimmy PriorHunt Scholar Marie TaylorMeghan O’NeilDr Ursula CallaghanGrainne KeaysSouthill Area CentreKeith Wisemanand all who helped with this project

Looking Back

S o u t h i l l r e m e m b e r S