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 Morris, B McNally, E McNamee, J Carlin, J McSorley, J McAleer

Third row: WJ Gallagher, H Duffy, J McNamee, D Moore, E Morris, E McNamee, E McNally, J Devine, W McLaughlin

Back row: E McNally, F Kirk, J Harkin, H Harkin

One of those photos I can remember from when I was no age – I think this was originally part of a calendar. Was tickled as a kid to see my dad with hair.

Tyrone Feis Winners 1945-46-47

National School, Newtownstewart

My old Primary School, in the Main Street. There was an earlier National School (Mill Street?) but this school opened in 1879.

Originally there were separate schools for boys and girls; amalgamated in 1938.

The Girls’ School opened in 1867, Principal was Mrs Ellen Fisher. Mrs Fisher was succeeded as Headmistress by her daughters Miss Annie Fisher and Miss Christina Fisher in turn – the Fishers were in charge throughout the entire existence of the separate Girls’ School.

Boys’ school principal in 1905 (when records start) was Charles Browne – the C Browne in the Newtownstewart Cycling Club photo. JJ McAnulla was principal from 1911-1941; Con O’Donnell 1941-1943; Michael Cassidy 1943-1960; Seamus O’Kelly 1960 until the school closed in the early ‘70s and St Patrick’s PS opened up in Dublin Street.

In my time there were two classrooms in the building above and two further classrooms in wooden buildings at the back. I believe these huts were left behind when the Americans left the area after WW2

Dublin Street, Newtownstewart

The Kirk family home in Dublin Street, Newtownstewart. The house stood almost directly opposite the start of Methodist Lane. Judging by pictures of Dublin Street in the first years of the twentieth century, this building was built sometime after that. The house was demolished in the mid-1980s.

Two photos of John James Kirk outside the sitting-room window – no idea who the others in the groups are – JJ is in the light suit.

Paddy Kirk (1901-1931) with companion.

Mary Agnes Kirk (1900-1989) at her front door. Mary was the sole inhabitant of the house from 1965 until it was demolished in the ‘80s. She then moved into the council house that was built right next door.

The Dublin Street house was home to the following members of the Kirk family: James (1841-1916), Hugh (1875-1937), Isabella (1875-1965), Mary Agnes (1900-1989), Paddy (1901-1931) and John James (1903-1955).

It was also home to my father Frank Kirk (1921-1976) and Patrick Joe Conway (1910-1975?). Both boys were ‘adopted’ by the Kirks, to borrow the terminology used in the 1911 census – there was no legal adoption process in place in Ireland until the late ‘30s.

Newtownstewart Cycling Club 1908

This great photograph appears in the Billy Dunbar book and a booklet produced by Ardstraw East parish in the late 1980s. It shows the Newtownstewart Cycling Club c1908 – the club was founded 3 years before.

Left to right: JJ McAnulla, C Browne, E Muldoon, H O’Connor, H McBride, P Woods, J Lynch.
JJ McAnulla became Headmaster of the National School, Main Street in 1911 and remained in that post until 1941 when he retired. Hugh McBride was secretary of the Cycling Club, a local publican – father of Brian & John McBride.

Of most interest to me is Hugh O’Connor (b1866). Hugh was my g-g-uncle – circumstances dictated that I don’t have many photographs of the Newtownstewart O’Connors so this one is precious.

In the 1911 census Hugh was living with his mother Anne, brother Michael and niece Alice Donnelly in Dublin Street. He lists his occupation as Insurance Agent; he was unmarried

Hugh O’Connor bankrupt

Notification in the Newry Telegraph (7^th December 1852) that Hugh O’Connor (1829-1895) was due to face a bankruptcy hearing in Omagh on 5^th January 1853. Hugh was a grocer – his shop was the one on the far right in the picture above, in Main Street, Newtownstewart.

Newtownstewart postman walks 138,000 miles

According to the records in PRONI, Hugh Kirk (1875-1937) joined the Post Office on 30^th January 1899.

Here’s Hugh outside the Post Office on Main Street, with the National School in the background. A nice sunny day and Hugh looks like a cheerful chap, cap at a jaunty angle in both pictures.

Hugh & James O'Connor - Newtownstewart 1852

The 1852 ‘Baird’ map of Newtownstewart has two O’Connors in the village itself, both on Main Street.

(115) Hugh O’Connor and (283 / 284) James O’Connor.
Earliest image I have seen of NTS (so far) is from 1871 (in ‘Newtownstewart Remembered’ by Billy Dunbar) but I thought I would try to figure out where Hugh and James and their families lived and get some idea on how old the houses currently standing on those sites are
In 1852 Hugh O’Connor (my g-g grandfather, father of Arthur) would have been 23 – I wonder if I’m correct in assuming that the Hugh at #115 is the same person?
Another map in the Baird book names T. Connor and J. Connor Sen. as tenants of land just outside the town
My current guess is that T. Connor was Hugh’s father and James Senior was his grandfather. Don’t ask me why I think that…

Hugh O'Connor

1890-1896 (Dunbar p127) Hugh's house is the last one on the right in all of the next three photos..

Moving right to left, first named shop is John Sweeney, Grocer & Fishmonger. Next door is Publican Joseph Duncan, then Andrew Walker, Publican, Grocer & Provision Dealer. Further up the street is a pavement billboard with the name DP Smith, Haberdasher / ladies fashions

1910 (Dunbar p104) last house on the right

Left to right: Church of Ireland; entrance to Model School; Miss Smith Dressmaker; Cresswell’s Home Bakery & Confectionary; Post Office. Close; McHugh’s General Draper; Bobby Patterson (manager of Co-op Creamery; George Tait Saddlery. Mrs Smyth’s millinery & mantle warehouse; Maggie Kane’s sweet shop; W Gallagher & J Lynch poultry & egg merchants. Close; Temperance Hotel; P Devine Publican; James Gallagher public house, name also on the next building (HOC’s old house)

Google image - 2017?

James O'Connor

1904 (Dunbar p102)

Directly opposite Hugh O’Connor’s house.

It’s a bit harder to make out where these buildings would have been. My guess is they are the two houses on the right-hand side of the picture. Looking left to right, Lyttle’s London House, a close, large house – JO’C properties are the next two buildings.

Buildings now occupied by Hood & Co? The view is a bit different because a building (buildings?) at the end of the street were knocked down to change the road lay-out from Omagh

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)

Owen McCrossan (1861-1905) will

Getting sight of this will was the first indication I had that the reason I was struggling to find my father's grandparents in Ireland was because they had emigrated to the USA, to Philadelphia...

I Owen McCrossan of Glassmullagh in the County of Tyrone hereby revoke all former wills made by me and declare this to be my last will and testament.

I bequeath the Licensed House and premises in Dublin Street, Newtownstewart, at present occupied by my brother Robert McCrossan as a yearly tenant, to my sister Catherine McCrossan of Glassmullagh.

I bequeath my three houses in Dublin Street, Newtownstewart, one of which is at present occupied by William Barton, another by a woman named Mubrine and one is at present vacant, to Catherine O’Connor, at present residing with me in Glassmullagh.

I give, devise and bequeath my farm in Dunteague, known as McNally’s farm, to my sister Catherine McCrossan. 

I give, devise and bequeath my farm in Dunteague known as McTaggart’s farm or the Upper Farm, to my brother Robert McCrossan of Newtownstewart.

I have my life insured in the Colonial Mutual Life Assurance Society Limited for the sum of Two Hundred and Fifty Pounds and out of this sum I bequeath

      ·    Fifty pounds to my sister Jane Magee, wife of Hugh Magee of Dunteague

·       Ten pounds to the Rev C McFaul CC Invaugh, said sum of Ten pounds to be applied by him in purchasing a statue or statues for the altar at Dregish Roman Catholic Chapel.

·       Five pounds to the Rev C McFaul CC for masses to be celebrated in public and in Ireland for the repose of the suffering souls in Purgatory (3/6 each mass).

·       Five pounds to the Rev C. O’Brien of Gortnacrea for masses to be celebrated in public and in Ireland for the repose of my soul and those of my relations (3/6 each mass).

·       Seventy five pounds to my sister Catherine McCrossan.

·       Fifty pounds to my brother Robert McCrossan.

·       Fifty pounds to my sister Anne O’Connor, wife of Arthur O’Connor, at present residing in Philadelphia.

I direct my brother Robert and my sister Catherine to defray the costs of taking out Probate to this my will and also my funeral and testamentary expenses in equal shares. I appoint William Porter of Gortnacrea and Patrick McCrossan of Glassmullagh to be executors of this my will. In witness whereof I have hereinto subscribed my name this 27^th day of April 1905.

Signed: Owen McCrossan

Witnesses present: Robert Quinn, James Roche

Daniel Baird - the man who bought Newtownstewart

The Stewarts

In the time of the O’Neills, the village that became Newtownstewart had been known at various times as Lislass, Lislap, Baile Nua & Baile an t-seancaislean.

Early years of the Plantation 1610 James Clapham (Clephan) was granted (bought?) the ‘Newtowne’ lot in August 1610. This comprised 3000 acres. In 1618 he sold out to Sir Robert Newcomen.

20^th July 1629 Newcomen’s son-in-law William Stewart became the local land-owner. The Stewarts (of course) gave the town its name.

In 1682 William’s son became a peer of Ireland with the title 1^st Viscount Mountjoy. His son married the daughter of Viscount Blessington in 1696.

This was the start of the Mountjoy-Blessington dynasty…

Newtownstewart sold

The second Lord Mountjoy and Earl of Blessington died in 1829, in severe debt. Parliament appointed a ‘Court of Commissioners’ to sell off any such estates and in 1848 Newtownstewart came on the market.

The sale, by public auction began in Dublin on 23^rd November 1846.

It involved almost the whole of Newtownstewart town and nearly every townland in the parish and, of course, attracted widest interest. Lot 1 e.g. comprised the townlands of Deerpark, Grange, Rakelly, Crosh holme and the town and townparks of Newtownstewart: in all 1,969 acres producing a rental of £1,307. Sold ultimately to Mr. Daniel Baird, merchant and magistrate of Derry, but a native of Tyrone, for £26,050. There was included another piece of land, making in all upwards of 2,000 acres and producing a present rent exceeding £1,400 a year but the Government valuation is worth £2,800 a year…sold together with the Town all the rights and privileges of Lord of the Manor (Ardstraw – Historical Survey of a Parish, John H. Gebbie 1968)

Daniel Baird

(Image from ‘The Maiden City and the Western Ocean’ by Sholto Cooke, 1961)

Baird was born in 1795 & brought up in Castlefin, County Donegal, where the family had a general store. He was married twice; his first wife was Mary Wauchob. They married in 1824 and had four children.

Mary died in 1837; Daniel married Barbara Delap in 1839. Daniel and Barbara had one daughter

Daniel’s career as a merchant and ship-owner began in the early 1820s and his success and wealth increased steadily throughout the next two decades.

Daniel became Mayor of Derry in 1847, the year he bought Newtownstewart. Up to that time he lived in a villa – Cassina - in the south of the city; in 1849 he bought a mansion in Derry known as Boom Hall.

Not only was Daniel Mayor of the city but he was, at various times, Chief Magistrate of Derry, Chairman of the Port and Harbour Commissioners and High Sheriff of Tyrone in 1854

Daniel Baird died on March 2^nd, 1862 at his home, Boom Hall.

His properties in the Newtownstewart area were passed down the family line until his descendant

Lt-Col. Charles Edgar Maturin-Baird (1899-1994) was required by the Irish Land laws to sell most of his property to the sitting tenants in 1932.

For more information on Daniel Baird see

https://landedfamilies.blogspot.com/2018/05/330-maturin-baird-of-boom-hall-and.html

A troublesome railway passenger

James Kirk (1841-1916) had an eventful career as a railwayman at Newtownstewart. Employed as a Surfaceman (track worker, p-way man) for the Irish North-Western Railway, James was called as a witness at the trial(s) of Thomas Hartley Montgomery, who was accused and eventually convicted of the murder of William Glass in the Northern Bank in 1871. More of this in a future posting.

By 1876 the INW had merged with the Northern Railway of Ireland and the Ulster Railway to form the Great Northern Railway. 

James had moved on to become a Night Watchman by the time he had this unfortunate encounter with an overcarried drunk, as reported in The Londonderry Sentinel, Saturday February 21, 1891

The Manor of Newtownstewart - 1852 map

Last year, while on an Ulster Historical Foundation Genealogy course, I ‘found’ a wonderful book of bound maps of Newtownstewart & the surrounding area in PRONI.

‘Maps of the Manor of Newtownstewart, in the parish of Ardstraw and County of Tyrone, the estate of Daniel Baird, Esquire. Surveyed by R. H. Nolan & Co. 1852’

The maps are beautifully hand-drawn and coloured. Each house in the town is numbered, with an index that tells us who was living in each dwelling place in 1852.

Names of interest / potential interest in the town for my family tree are:

27	John McCrossan	177	James McGlinchy
80	E McGlinchy	207	Patrick Donnelly
111	Mark Mullan	249	Hugh Tolan
115	Hugh O’Connor	260	Catherine McCrossan
117	M McMullan	283	James O’Connor
168	William McGlinchy

Plots of land outside the town have T. Connor, Hugh Tolan & J. Connor Senior (2 plots) as tenants

Main Street, Newtownstewart, in the early nineteen-sixties

A poem by Bridie Stankard, first published in History West Tyrone, Journal of the West Tyrone Historical Society (2007).

Most of the names in here are very much from my era and, of course, there’s a thrill in seeing my father’s name in print…

In the friendly town of Newtownstewart there’s a street you must pass through

And a hint or two I’ll give you if you’ve business there to do;

From McMaster’s to McDevitt’s it’s a shopping centre grand,

You will not find its equal in the whole of Ireland.

You can watch the model railway train and marvel how it works,

As you sip a cup of tea you’ll get in Frankie Kirk’s

His assistant, Miss Rose Bradley, will serve you with a smile,

Her pleasant courteous manner makes a visit there worthwhile.

If your car runs out of petrol, one more drop you cannot squeeze,

You will get her filled up quickly at Barney McNamee’s

And down the Castle Brae you’ll find that Barney’s not alone

There’s another petrol station manned there by Alfie Hone.

Wouldn’t it be just ideal if there would be a marriage

Between that petrol station and John McGlinchey’s garage?

For drapery and hardware and all kinds of useful goods,

No need to visit Omagh, just call into Francie Hood’s.

Whilst Mervyn Millar loads the feeding stuffs upon your cart

You can let his brother Bertie, book your cattle for the mart.

If you feel the flu you’re taking or lumbago splits your sides

You will find a cure for every ill in Hassard’s or McBride’s.

Beside the Back Street junction as you go through the doors

You will find a warm welcome in the New Reform Stores.

A friendly greeting then takes place between Drew Quinn and me

With Armour Beattie in the background to act as referee.

If you must attend a function, or a passing-out parade,

Drop in to Samuel Carson’s, get a suit that’s tailor-made.

A nylon frock, a jumper, or Parisian hat that tempts

Will be found by every lady in the shop owned by John Kemps.

Mincemeat, steak and sausages and even bullocks’ hocks

You will find them in profusion in that shop of Bob Kinloch’s.

Whilst Armstrong they tell me is doing a roaring trade

Although not long in business he’s already made the grade.

The Houstons and the Gallaghers are long established there,

Of pleased and happy customers they’ve merited their share.

To the friends you meet whilst shopping your troubles you can tell

Beside a cheery fire in the Abercorn Hotel.

And as for public houses where many a cold could kill

The number on the Main Street at five remaining still:

No need to look for pep pills or expensive monkey glands

Or travel to some spa resort in far off foreign lands.

Just stroll into the Central Bar a visit there will pay,

The sign outside announces you’ll get ‘Younger every day’.

To the bottom of the Main Street the men are all decoyed,

By the pleasant helpful lassies that the Roches have employed.

If you want to take a taxi, Crudden, Roche or Jack O’Neill,

Moorehead or Philip Harkin you’ll find ready at the wheel

They will reach your destination, deposit you with care,

And you’ll even find a bit of change left over from the fare.

If you want to give a party when your friends are gathered there,

O’Neill or Joseph Hamilton will soon supply your fare;

If you need more drinking glasses or pretty china delph

From Mr Hazlett’s large supply you can choose them for yourself.

And now that I’ve concluded, here’s my advice to you.

Support the shops of Newtownstewart if you be passing through.

If life’s troubles overcome you and like giving up you feel,

There’s an undertaking business carried on by Jack O’Neill!

International toy emporium

From the Ulster Herald, 14 December 1968…Tokyo indeed!

Finding the farm

Cassie O’Connor (1883-1951) was brought up with her maternal grandparents – Francis McCrossan (1826-1907) and Anne McCrossan (ne Mullan) (1826-1895).

c1860, when Griffith’s Valuation was carried out in our area, Francis (my g-g-grandfather) was already a householder in Glassmullagh.  

Using the Ask about Ireland website http://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/#

I entered as much as I knew about Francis and found his details in a scan of the original document:

Here’s the (readable) detail:

The website then links you to the original map. I was looking for 2A / 2B, Francis' farm.

The map is great – you can zoom in to find what you’re after and there’s a slider where you can merge the map with its Google Earth image…

I struck gold!

Next step was to go out there to have a look…

Still standing…but it has gone downhill a bit since Google took their snap. Maybe with a lick of paint...?

Cassie O'Connor's farm, Glassmullagh

I struggle to find living relatives in Ireland who can help me with any family history detective work. I was aware that my father had been left a farm by his mother – Cassie O’Connor - and that he had sold it not very long after her death but all I knew was it was in Glassmullagh, a townland a few miles outside Newtownstewart.

Glassmullagh is on this map of townlands, right at the bottom, sandwiched between Dunteige and Lisnacreight.

Cassie died on 14 December 1951 in Strabane and the farm was first advertised in the Ulster Herald on Sat Jan 5^th 1952

It looks like Frank didn’t sell it first time round because it was advertised again in the Derry Journal two years later, on Fri 26^th Feb 1954

I eventually found the farm by going back a lot further in the family tree and with the help of Griffith's Valuation and the internet. In my next post I’ll run through how I did that, if I write it down I hopefully will remember it myself next time I need to do this!

Kirk's shop

This is the earliest picture I have of my dad, Frank Kirk, the shy looking boy on the left. I don’t know who the other kid is.

I’m guessing that this was taken on the day of his first Holy Communion, the suit and tie wouldn’t have been his normal outfit. Frankie would be seven in this picture, which makes it 1928. 

The boys are sitting on a bench outside what would soon be known as ‘Kirk’s shop’ in Main Street, Newtownstewart. The shop had been owned & run by Lizzie McGlinchey who died on 14 May 1928. Beneficiaries in her will were her sisters, Agnes Kearney and Bella Kirk. 

The shop then passed on to Bella’s eldest son, John James Kirk. It looks like this photo was taken not long after Lizzie’s death, with ‘J.J. Kirk Proprietor’ added under the ‘McGlinchey’ sign. 

As far as I’m aware, Lizzie always kept shop in the same place but this piece from Barney McCool in the Tyrone Constitution (7 November 1980) suggests otherwise: 

There were a few small shops beside there which have also been incorporated into Hood’s buildings.  Do any of you remember Lizzie McGlinchey’s wee shop or Maggie Mullan’s with its wee bell which jingled every time the door opened?  What memories in a sound!  You could have got brandy balls there – four for a penny, and conversation lozenges as well and washed them down with a tuppeny bottle of lemonade. (‘70 Years ago’) 

I think Barney got that wrong and Lizzie always traded from the same location, on the other side of the road, just across from the Bank. 

My dad worked in the shop from an early age and took over when John James died on 1 March 1955.  

In the early ‘60s Frank bought the house next door and incorporated the living room into the shop as a toy showroom. The shop was a typical village store, one of two newsagents in Newtownstewart. Frankie sold groceries, stationery, greetings cards, sweets, cigarettes, records (for a brief time), fresh fish every now & then, stamps, books, toys, ornaments, cutlery, ice cream – anything and everything. The shop also took in parcels from Ulsterbus – the most interesting for me were cardboard boxes with a couple of ferrets inside and big reels of film for the Gorey Cinema. 

For a while dad had a café in the back of the shop, though that must have closed in the mid-sixties, my memories of it are sketchy. Up until the end we still had a Coca Cola fridge, big globe light shades, a ham slicer and all the shelves were there that had been lined with bottles of soft drink when the café was a going concern. 

Apart from the toy showroom, the shop wouldn’t have changed much from John James’ day, until the early ‘70s when my dad did a little DIY and changed things around a bit, most notably getting rid of a small office that John James had where he could keep an eye on all that was going on. Frank had an architect draw up plans for a bigger refurbishment but that was not to be. My father died on 27 September 1976. 

We sold the shop to the Gallaghers who subsequently sold to Pat McNamee. Pat still runs the shop, it’s now a Centra store, unrecognisable from the days when the shop was Frankie Kirk’s.