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The
Cassidys of Clogher
By
John Cassidy
This is the story
of one branch of the Cassidys originally from Drumbar, a townland on
the outskirts of Donegal Town, County Donegal, Ireland. The story
begins with my great grandfather John Cassidy, who was born in
Drumbar in April 1802.
At the time of
writing, little is known about the family, except that, according to
the Spinning Wheel Premium Entitlement Lists of 1796, when free
spinning wheels were given to a number of households that were
growing flax, one of them was John Cassidy (Drumbar), who was
probably my great great grandfather.
Under the Tenement
Act of 1842, a national system of land taxation was introduced. This
was based on an estimation of the valuation of land or property of
each landowner or householder. A survey of all landholders was
conducted in the 1840s and 1850s.
The valuation was
supervised by Richard Griffith and even today it is referred to as
Griffith’s Valuation. This report lists nine Cassidy families in the
Donegal Town area. They were Anne Cassidy of Ardatowel, Owen Cassidy
of Main Street in Donegal Town, two Francis Cassidys of Drumbar, two
widow Cassidys of Drumbar and two William Cassidys of Drumbar.
As Catholic schools
were forbidden by law, John Cassidy’s only formal education was
gained through attending what was known as a “hedge school.” These
were usually held in the open fields behind a hedge. During his
teenage years, both he and a relative worked as farm laborers for
two landowners in the Donegal Town area. When his relative decided
to marry the landowner’s only daughter, it caused quite a problem
for all concerned. Like the laws governing the schools, Catholics
were forbidden by law from becoming land owners. To overcome this
problem, John Cassidy’s relative joined the church of his
bride-to-be – the Church of Ireland. In doing so, the rest of the
Cassidy family ended all contact with this member of the family, and
so it has remained, until now.
Hopefully my
research will lead to a reunion of all the Cassidys of that period.
John and Kitty Cassidy
John Cassidy
married Kitty McGinty, born 1806 in the townland of Barnesmore,
County Donegal. They settled in the townland of Clogher in the
parish of Townawilly, County Donegal. The townland of Clogher, which
means “stony place” is situated three miles north of Donegal Town,
just off the main Donegal/Ballybofey Road. It is surrounded by
mountains. To the east is Clogher, to the north is Barnesmore, and
to the west is Townawilly and the Bluestack Mountains with their
mesmerizing waterfall, known as The Greymare’s Tail that rushes from
its summit into Lough Eske in the valley below. It was into such
surroundings that John and Kitty Cassidy settled and raised six
children – three boys and three girls.
Their small holding
consisted of the following – a two-roomed thatched cottage and ten
acres of land. Their annual rent was three pound for the land and
ten shillings for the cottage.
Today all that
remains of their home is a few large stones that are still close to
the original site. Also visible is the plot of ground where they
grew their potatoes, and, although it was in the middle of a hay
field, thankfully, both my grandfather Hugh and my father, William,
preserved it in its original form.
John shared a
further two acres of land with his neighbor Bryan Moss. It was there
that he grazed his sheep. Each year John would sell some of the
flock in the market in Donegal Town. The money gained from those
sales was used to pay the rent and meet other family needs. Anything
that disrupted that way of life would have meant financial ruin and
possible eviction.
The Cassidy Murder
When one of John’s
sheep went missing during the first famine years (1831-33) he
undertook an extensive search of the locality. He eventually found
the horns of the animal that had his markings at the rear of a
cottage that was rented by a woman known as the widow Kelly.
Mrs. Kelly had two
sons who spent their time stealing from their neighbors. When John
Cassidy confronted them, they denied having any involvement in the
disappearance of the animal. Shortly afterward, the Kelly family
decided to immigrate to the United States. The day they were
leaving, the Kelly brothers paid a visit to John Cassidy’s home
where they proceeded to give him a terrible beating that left him
confined to bed for a number of weeks.
In the spring of
1838, John Cassidy’s oldest son, also named John, boarded a sailing
ship called the Zephyr that was anchored at the Hassins in Donegal
Bay and sailed to New Brunswick, Canada. From there, he made his way
to New York where the Kelly family was living. One morning, as one
of the Kelly brothers was standing on a railway station platform, he
failed to notice his former neighbor standing behind him. As the
train entered the station, John Cassidy pushed him in front of the
train.
He died instantly.
As there were many
witnesses present, John fled across the US. He settled in Seattle,
where he worked on the construction of the Seattle/Montana railway.
Little else is known of this member of our family, except for an
unconfirmed report that he served as a town sheriff in Butte,
Montana. John never returned to Donegal.
The Cassidys During the Famine Years
We – the present
generation – cannot even begin to imagine how difficult it must have
been for John and Kitty Cassidy to rear their family during an era
of a cholera epidemic, two potato famines (1831-33 and 1843-47).
These two disasters alone saw the population of Donegal fall from
296,448 in 1841 to 255, 158 in 1851. That downward trend continued
through emigration, right up to 1971 when the population of the
county stood at 108,549. The fact that our ancestors survived at all
was a miracle. Not only did they survive, but quite a number of them
helped to shape the Ireland of today.
John Cassidy died
in 1882 at age 80. His wife Kitty died in 1890 at the age of 86.
Their grave, which is located at the rear of Saint Agatha’s Church
in Clar is marked with a large Celtic headstone that was erected by
John’s son Hugh (my granddad) in memory of his parents and his first
wife Ann Mulreany (1863-1884) of Screen, Donegal, who died at the
age of 21 in childbirth one year after they were married.
As already
mentioned, their oldest son, John, immigrated to the US, as did
their daughter Hanna.
--Frank Cassidy
(1835-1899) was born in Clogher and married Sally Freel (1836-1912)
born in Inver, County Donegal, daughter of Francis Freel and Katie
McCracken. Francis and Sally lived in the townland of Aughlim,
County Donegal. They had 10 children, and most of their descendants
now live in the United States.
--Jane Cassidy
(1840-1926) married Patrick Meehan (1840-1930) born in Inver, County
Donegal, son of James Meehan and Sally Freel. Jane and Patrick lived
in Dooring Point, Inver. They had 12 children, and their descendants
are to be found in various Irish counties and in the US.
--Sara Ann Cassidy
married Brian Meehan, brother of Patrick Meehan, shortly after they
were married. They immigrated to Georgia in the United States. They
had four songs.
The youngest member
of John and Kitty Cassidy’s children was my grandfather Hugh, who
was born in Clogher in 1851. In 1858, at the age of seven, Hugh
began attending Ardeeven National School. The following year, the
landlords closed the school because the local tenants refused to pay
higher rents that were being demanded of them. History was repeating
itself like his father before him. The rest of Hugh’s education was
gained through the hedge school. Hugh would later become a teacher
at one of those hedge schools.
Sometime in the
1870s, Hugh immigrated to the US. He lived and worked with his
brother John in Seattle. On his return to Clogher, he built a new
house. It was the first house in the parish to have a slated roof
and two upstairs bedrooms. This house was the family home until a
new house was build in 1986. To the left of the house, Hugh had a
garden where he grew his potatoes and vegetables. It also had apple,
pear, strawberry, and gooseberry trees. But pride of place went to
this favorite dish, the rhubarb patch. Hugh also planted 60 trees,
most of which are still growing today.
A
Tradition of Military Service
As already
mentioned, Hugh’s first wife, Ann Mulreany died the year after they
were married. His second wife was Mary Ann Kennedy, born 1866 in
Inver, County Donegal, one of 10 children of Charlie Kennedy and
Madge Gildea who was born in Clogher. Hugh and Mary Ann had seven
children – five boys and two girls. All five of their sons served
either in the army or police, and in some cases, both.
--John (1890-1918)
R.I.C.
--Charlie
(1892-1976) R.I.C./British Army, France 1916-18. On his return, he
served in the Liverpool Police. Charlie’s four sons served in both
the armed forces and the police. John and Frank in the army, Jerry
erved as soldier and policeman. Charlie served in the R.A.F. during
World War II. He was shot down over Belgium in 1942 and spent three
years in a prisoner of war camp.
--Tom (1904-1927),
member of the Irish Republican Army 1918-22. He was one of the first
to join the newly formed Irish Police Force (An Garda Siochana) in
May of 1922. He was promoted to sergeant in September of that year.
Sadly, Tom died in 1927 at the age of 23.
--William
(1907-1979) He spent six years in the Irish Army
--Dan (1909-1987),
He spent three years in the Irish Army 1928-1931.
That tradition of
service has been continued into this generation by Hugh’s grandsons
Danny Cassidy, who served in the Irish Guards, and John, who is a
member of An Garda Sichonna in Donegal and his great granddaughter
Patricia Hegarty, who is an officer in the Metropolitan Police Force
in London.
Hugh and Marry
Ann’s daughters were Annie (1899-1949) married Connal Thomas
(1882-1947). They lived in Edergole, in the parish of Killymard,
County Donegal. They had six children.
Catherine (Kitty)
(1902-1977) married William Hegarty (1896-1968). They lived in
Donegal Town and had six children.
The Sacrifices of the Cassidy Women
In compiling this
family tree, I would like to put on record the enormous
contributions and personal sacrifices that were made by the Cassidy
women down the years. For example, whatever land was available was
shared among the sons. The daughters had only two options: they
could get married, provided they had a dowry (i.e. money or cattle).
Even when married, their troubles were far from over. Firstly, they
were expected to share the workload of the farm. Saving hay/turf,
milking cows, etc. plus all the household chores. They would also be
expected to give birth to at least six children. As healthcare as we
know it was unheard of back then, each birth could mean death of the
mother. Indeed, it was common practice to save the child at the
expense of the mother.
The daughters’
second option was immigration, usually to the United States. For
some, it meant never seeing their family again. Even in this new
world, the daughter was at a disadvantage. Whereas the men worked in
the construction industry with their fellow countrymen, the women
were employed as housemaids or in factories and found themselves
working and living among strangers. This did not stop them from
playing a pivotal role in the well-being of their family back home.
They used their money to help pay the rent, later to buy the
smallholding, provide a dowry for a sister, pay the passage of a
family member traveling to the US. Bust most importantly, once
married, they ensured that their children received the best possible
education.
Hugh Cassidy and the Law
By 1922, the people
of Ireland had lost all faith in British justice. The dominant
political force in the country was Sinn Fein, who set up their own
courts. One of the people who served as a court judge in Donegal was
Hugh Cassidy. In 1986, a group of barristers were asked to study the
decisions reached by the judges of that period. They concluded that,
although these men had no formal training, their decisions, which
were based on commons sense rather than the rule of law, were in
most cases correct.
One of the many
regular visitors to the Cassidy household and close friend of Hugh
Cassidy was a man named Mickey Brown. Mickey’s wife died at a young
age. They had four children who were reared by relatives in
Ballybofey, County Donegal. It has been said but not yet confirmed
that his graddaughter is Rosemary Brown, born in Derry, better known
as Dana, well known singer and presently member of the European
Parliament.
My grandfather died
on December 4, 1946 at the age of 95. He was laid to rest with his
parents in Clar. This is also the final resting place of his first
wife Anne Mulreany, his daughter Annie, sons John, Tom, and Dan. My
grandmother died in 1952. Her grave is located at the top of the
hill, at the rear of Clar church. This is also the final resting
place of my parents, William and Kathleen Cassidy. The grave is
marked with a white headstone bearing their names.
This is but the
beginning of this family history. Today the descendants of John and
Kitty Cassidy are to be found in the four corners of the world and
it would be impossible for any one individual to compile a family
tree that would include them all. Such a task can only be achieved
with the help of each family unit.
It is my dearest
wish that this goal will be achieved.
--John
Cassidy
Dublin, Ireland |
