Timekeeping in rural Clare - Maurer of Ennis

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Paddy Casey
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Timekeeping in rural Clare - Maurer of Ennis

Post by Paddy Casey » Mon Aug 23, 2010 9:03 am

Browsing "The Parish of Kilkeedy - a Local History" compiled by Frank Brew I came across the following delightful vignette about timekeeping in rural Clare in the 1920s. It was written by Archdeacon Padraic o Laoi, usually known as Fr. Paddy Lee in the parish. Born in August 1914 in Leitra, a townland of Tubber, he died 12-Jun-1999.

The excerpt from his accounts of life in Leitra in the 1920s reads: "In our kitchen hung a fairly large kitchen clock which was meant to be wound every eight days but because of its age and thereby the weakness of its springs it had to be wound every six days. This clock was the timekeeper for the five families in the village. It was essential that it be kept ticking in time so that all of us would be in time for Mass on Sunday. None of the villagers had a watch and the radio had not yet been invented. There was only one way of ensuring that the clock was showing the correct time and that was to get in touch with someone with a watch going to Gort or Ennis and thus ensuring that we had the right time. Johnny Waters husband of our local teacher drove his pony and trap to Ennis every Saturday bringing Mrs Waters to the market. Invariably he stopped the pony at the head of the road and shouted to all and sundry do ye want any messages from town ? A chorus of answers could be heard from the various tillage fields "Bring home the time" . At evening one of us waited at the head of the road till Johnny came along. As soon as you were told the time you raced helter skelter home to settle the clock. Alas a day came when the clock stopped and a week or two went by when no one in the village knew the time. Then as if in answer to our prayers a man from Ennis came to the village on a bicycle with a small bag of tools and announced that he would mend clocks and watches. He sat on a bag at the side of the road and I took our dead kitchen clock to him. Within a half hour the clock was alive and back to its normal self. To us he was a magician and deserved every penny of the two half crowns he was paid (25 pence). He rejoiced under the name of Maurer from Ennis."

The name Maurer is very Swiss, and watch- and clockmaking was/is big in Switzerland. I wonder whether this Mr Maurer, or his ancestors, is/were from Switzerland.

There is a present-day jewellers shop at 26 O'Connell St in Ennis, Maurer J & Sons.

If an Ennis member of this forum happens to be passing by Maurer J & Sons may I ask him/her to drop in there and ask them what they know about the origins of the family and the family business and whether they have any family memories of this itinerant Mr Maurer and, if they find anything out, to report back to this forum ?

Thanks in advance.

Paddy

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Re: Timekeeping in rural Clare - Maurer of Ennis

Post by pwaldron » Mon Aug 23, 2010 9:53 am

One of the Maurers today is involved in a profession just as intricate as clock repairs - heart surgery! He opened the 2008 Merriman Summer School and this biography appears at
http://www.merriman.ie/scoileanna/2008/ ... nteoiri.en :

Brian Maurer
Brian is Medical Director of the Irish Heart Foundation and Director of Cardiology at St. Vincent’s University Hospital and Blackrock Clinic. He is the author of numerous papers on cardiovascular disease. Interests include history and archaeology (especially County Clare), golf, sailing, good company and medicine.

You can find his contact details at
http://blackrockclinic.com/default.aspx ... 56&CID=101

\pw

mick o
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Re: Timekeeping in rural Clare - Maurer of Ennis

Post by mick o » Tue Sep 07, 2010 3:11 pm

in the 1911cencus of ireland clare -ennistymon -riverview terrace lists joseph fehenbach and family occupation watchmaker born germany.what happened to german nationals living in ireland at the out break of the 1914 1918 war.?

miriam scahill
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Re: Timekeeping in rural Clare - Maurer of Ennis

Post by miriam scahill » Thu Sep 09, 2010 6:56 pm

The census of 1901 & 1911 for Moore St., Kilrush, shows Peter Dold, Master Jeweller and Watchmaker - born in Germany. His wife is shown born in Co. Clare - poss. married in 1885. Their son - also Peter - continued the business - it was taken ove by Joseph Hartman - with Limerick connections - poss. in 1950's.
Census of 1911 shows 'Kilbery' as place of birth for Peter, Sen. - on closer insp. it looks like Fluberg/Fliberg !!!
Michael Hartman is present owner.

smcarberry
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Re: Timekeeping in rural Clare - Maurer of Ennis

Post by smcarberry » Thu Sep 09, 2010 8:11 pm

I am not a German speaker but my maternal line is full of Germanic surnames, so I have become familiar with German regions and pronunciations as well as common misspellings. If you magnify the 1911 writing enough, you can see that the final letter on Peter's place of birth is a "g" rather than a "y." The placename is phonetically rendered, as it is indeed pronounced Friberg but it is spelled Freiberg. See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freiberg,_Saxony

Sharon Carberry
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Re: Timekeeping in rural Clare - Maurer of Ennis

Post by pwaldron » Fri Sep 10, 2010 11:38 pm

The name Dold still appears on a shopfront in O'Curry Street, Kilkee. My earliest memory of the shop, probably in the 1970s, was as a newsagents run by a man named Ted Kavanagh, long since deceased, and not related to the Dolds, as far as I know. Apart from that, I have no idea when the Dolds arrived in or departed from Kilkee.

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Re: Timekeeping in rural Clare - Maurer of Ennis

Post by M. McNamara » Wed Sep 22, 2010 8:19 pm

I have spoken to one of the Maurers of Ennis and gave her a copy of Paddy Casey's story which started off this thread. She will talk to her father about the family origins and will either come back to me or will post here.

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Re: Timekeeping in rural Clare - Maurer of Ennis

Post by Paddy Casey » Thu Sep 23, 2010 10:30 am

Thanks very much indeed for taking this trouble. I very much look forward to reading this family's account as, presumably, will others in this forum.

Following the lead of Paddy Waldron (above) I contacted Brian Maurer, who also services tickers but not of the same kind as his ancestors, and he said that he too would post an account of the Maurer family here in due course. Now, of course, it's possible that he will combine his contribution(s) with that/those of the family in Ennis. We shall see.

Paddy

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Re: Timekeeping in rural Clare - Maurer of Ennis

Post by M. McNamara » Mon Sep 27, 2010 6:35 pm

Following is from Marianne Maurer, who owns and runs the excellent Rowan Tree hostel in Ennis.

" The Maurer’s moved from Freiburg in Germany which is close to the Swiss border & the black forest in 1896 – it was my great grandfather Joesph Maurer who was the “travelling” clockmaker. He first came to Galway and worked in Fallors jewelers for a few years until he moved to Ennis in 1905. He used to travel around Co. Clare on pony & trap or bicycle fixing clocks. He set up 2 shops, 1 on Abbey Street and the other on O’Connell Street where it still stands & remains a jewelers today. In 1960 he opened 2 more shops in Limerick, one on William Street and one on O’Connell St, his brother Des ran the shops in Limerick. They had a team of 5 watch makers working in the shops in Limerick.

The family lived upstairs in the shop on O’Connell St. in Ennis and his son Bernard (my grandfather) trained as an optician in London & was also trained in clock & watchmaking. He took over the family business. He married an optician Dr. Eileen Kennedy (my grandmother).

Subsequently the business was passed onto my father Denis Maurer who trained in Switzerland as a watchmaker and jeweler. He ran the business successfully for many years."

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Re: Timekeeping in rural Clare - Maurer of Ennis

Post by Sduddy » Mon Sep 27, 2010 8:43 pm

A few watchmaker-jewellers seem to have come to Ireland from the Blackforest area in the late nineteenth century. In 1898, Lizzie McNamara married one Adolph Heim who had a watchmaker and jeweller shop at 5 Patrick St., Limerick. He was very friendly with the Hartmanns who had a watchmakers shop in the same street. Their daughter, Maria Wilhelmina, kept some photographs of Adolph with some of the Hartmann family. Alphonse Hartmann moved to Galway. At least the 1911 census shows him there. The Fallers and Hartmans are still flourishing in Galway, but the story was different for Adolph Heim. He died in 1902. Lizzie died in 1903. Maria was raised in Ireland but maintained contact with her German relatives. Among the letters she kept is one from her uncle Rudolph, in German, and one from cousin Johanna, in English, dated April 1931, in which speaks of "your beautiful home" - Triberg and the Blackforest. She also mentions Freiburg with its beautiful cathedral and Kappel and the source of the Danube.
Last edited by Sduddy on Thu Jan 06, 2022 7:05 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Timekeeping in rural Clare - Maurer of Ennis

Post by Paddy Casey » Tue Sep 28, 2010 8:00 am

Thank you so much for obtaining this information about this family and posting it here.

I was in Freiburg im Breisgau in the Black Forest last week (it's only a short distance from where I live). I wonder what made a watchmaker from there emigrate to Galway and then Ennis. Was it just wanderlust or news that there was a need for watch- and clockmakers in the West of Ireland or part of some grand strategic plan of a Maurer patriarch in Freiburg ? Or pure chance of some kind (i.e. went on a ship to America and ended up shipwrecked off the Galway coast) ?

Did Marianne Maurer mention where Denis Maurer trained in Switzerland as a watchmaker and jeweller ? I live only 45 minutes away from the watchmaking valleys here.

Paddy

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Re: Timekeeping in rural Clare - Maurer of Ennis

Post by Sduddy » Sun Oct 03, 2010 3:19 pm

A tangle in this thread - my post sent September 29th was caught in the time warp and went in under Sept. 27th.
Just a small note to add: the 1901 census shows Nicodemus Weiphar, clockmaker, assistant to Joseph Hartman, Jeweller, Limerick, but the 1911 census does not show him. Looks like he might have headed back to the Blackforest.

There must have been a growth in the jewellery-watch-clock business in Ireland at the end of the nineteenth century. A new class of strong farmers and shopkeepers were now able to buy marriage-rings and pocket-watches. These people now had houses with parlours and a parlour mantlepiece had to have a clock. A photograph of the front of Adolph Heim's shop is faded, but I can make out a trophy (cup) and medals in the window (with clocks, watches etc.) and this reminds me that the Gaelic revival of that period brought feiseanna and gaelic games, which in turn must have brought sales of prize-medals.

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Re: Timekeeping in rural Clare - Maurer of Ennis

Post by Paddy Casey » Sun Oct 03, 2010 3:35 pm

I wonder what happened to these German immigrants as WW1 broke out. I searched around the WWW but couldn't find any specific information relating to Ireland. Do you have any family information on this topic ?

Paddy

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Re: Timekeeping in rural Clare - Maurer of Ennis

Post by pwaldron » Sun Oct 03, 2010 8:08 pm

Brian Spring from Ennis gave an excellent talk to the Clare Roots Society in September 2009 about his Spring ancestors - who were also jewellers and clock-makers from Germany and who initially settled around Francis Street and Patrick Street in Limerick before moving to Clare. Add them to the list!

Not all the jewellers and clock-makers in that part of Limerick were of German origin - the Irwin family who ran several shops in Roches Street and Patrick Street (two still in business) are believed to have originated in Scotland, although census returns suggest that they came to Limerick via Donegal and Mayo. See "Limerick jewellers has a wealth of history; Although fashions have changed a lot, the Irwin family has run a jewellers in Limerick for over 130 years" by Rose Doyle in The Irish Times, May 17, 2006. p. B2.

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Re: Timekeeping in rural Clare - Maurer of Ennis

Post by Sduddy » Mon Oct 04, 2010 8:17 pm

Paddy, first, as a newcomer, I want to say thanks for all your work, including transcribing records, which has helped me with my own family tree. As to German immigrants and WWI, my feeling is that the German immigrants assimilated very quickly. They seem to have married Irish people. I think these Germans from the Blackforest were from a strong Catholic tradition, and this would have helped a lot, and indeed may be part of the reason they choose Ireland. Adolph Heim's sister, Katherina, appears in a couple of the photos I mentioned, but seems to have returned to Germany by 1901. I puzzled over a couple of postcards to Maria, from Kappel, because they were from "your aunt Kathleen", and finally decided that she had adopted the Irish version of her name, at least for purposes of corresponding with Maria. She also sent a picture of Our Lady of Lourdes, "Frau von Lourdes", to Maria, and this confirms to me that she was Catholic. Maria died in 1966, when I was 15. When she came to visit us, our main interest was in her transistor radio. It is only now that I wish I had asked some questions, but never had the wit to do that.
Last edited by Sduddy on Thu Jan 06, 2022 7:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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