Monthly Archives: April 2015

The Gathering 2013

Mary J Murphy and Maria Gillen at the Tomb of Eva O'Flaherty.

Mary J Murphy and Maria Gillen at the Tomb of Eva O’Flaherty.

Mary J Murphy outside Lisdonagh House

Mary J Murphy outside Lisdonagh House

Mary, Maria, Mary, family & friends at O'Flaherty Tomb

Mary, Maria, Mary, family & friends at O’Flaherty Tomb

Mary & Maria on the steps of Lisdonagh House, the ancestral home of Eva O'Flaherty

Mary & Maria on the steps of Lisdonagh House, the ancestral home of Eva O’Flaherty

Mary J Murphy is the biographer of ‘Achill’s Eva O’Flaherty: Forgotten Island Heroine’. Eva O’Flaherty was a lifelong friend of Emily Weddall.

 

 

The Burkes: John Burke (Grandfather) Part 2

 

Kinvara

Kinvara

John Burke was a great support to Catholic community in Kinvarra. In 1822 there is a record of a J Burke making a donation of two tones of slates for the the roof of St. Coleman’s Church. He was a witness to a lease agreement between the local landowners and the church two years earlier.  At the same time his son William John was attending St. Jarlath’s College, Tuam, which educated boys to enter the seminary.

Sources
St. Colman’s Church; its place in the History of the Parish of Kinvara. JW O’Connell, Clodoiri Lurgan Teo,. Indreabhan, Co. na Gallimhe. p 34
http://www.jarlaths.ie/history/jarlaths-history/

 

 

Oscar Wilde Festival September 2014

“My Cousin Oscar”

Mary J Murphy Journalist, author and broadcaster with Vivian Nesbitt, actress from hit US TV show Breaking Bad, at Oscar Wilde Festival, Galway 2014.

Mary J Murphy, author of Achill’s Eva O’Flaherty – Forgotten Island Heroine giving a presentation on the connection between Eva O’Flaherty and Oscar Wilde, 5th September 2014

Mary J Murphy & Vivian Nesbitt

Mary J Murphy & Vivian Nesbitt

The Burkes: John Burke (Grandfather)

Kinvara, the hometown of John Burke

Kinvara, the hometown of John Burke

John Burke Emily’s paternal grandfather was born about 1776, possibly in the Kinvara area of Co. Galway. When his son William John was born in 1805, he held land there, which extended to the surrounding areas and employed farm labourers.

John Burke and his wife had at least three children, Patrick, William John and a daughter. From the scant records left from the time, the Burkes seemed to be well respected pillars of the community. In 1820 John Burke was a witness to a lease agreement between landowners and the Catholic Church in Kinvara. He would later contribute to towards the building of St, Colman’s Church, where unknown to him at the time, his son William John would become the administrator of the same church many years later.

Sources
St. Colman’s Church; its place in the History of the Parish of Kinvara. JW O’Connell, Clodoiri Lurgan Teo,. Indreabhan, Co. na Gallimhe. Pages 27 & 28