Sunday, 11 August 2019

John James Kirk (1903-1955)

John James was the youngest child of Hugh & Isabella Kirk – brother of Mary Agnes and Patrick.
He inherited the shop in Main Street from his aunt, Lizzie McGlinchey in 1928. John James never married, none of the three siblings did.
I’m assuming from his Driving License that, by 1929, John James had moved out of the family home in Dublin Street, all the way to Main Street. There was a flat above the shop. Both John James and Mary could drive (not sure about Paddy). Neither will have gone through a driving test – these didn’t start until 1935
John James died on March 1st 1955

The death notice has a couple of minor mistakes – it’s Dublin Street and Glenock.
In his will John James left everything to my dad (who had worked in the shop since childhood) and to his sister Mary. Paddy was long gone, he died in 1931.
One item of interest (to me) in his will – he was receiving £10 per annum in rent from “Stewarts’ property in Main Street Newtownstewart”. I think that might be the house next door – the house I always thought my dad had bought before he got married and my childhood home. £10 in 1955 equates to just under £270 in 2019…
Executors of the will were Francis Kirk, Newsagent and Patrick McGonagle, Merchant (from Ballymagorry)


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St Eugene’s Flute Band, Newtownstewart

(Left to right) Front row: P McGuigan, A Hackett, F McGonagle, H McGuigan Second row: J Devlin, E Gavigan, L Orr, L McGonagle, P M...