John Hayes, 1826-94, Dysert to OH

[smcarberry]

Clare genealogy involves such huge gaps in wealth and viability, way beyond what I can readily understand or even believe except that I read it in contemporary accounts. After using the Library online resources to see a James Hayes in Glashy, Doolin, with property over a 1000 acres in the 1870s (same townland that was the residence of Patrick Nagle Hays in an earlier posting), then I came across a truly sad story involving a Hays family who had to drop out of Clare society altogether and still that didn't save one of them. This is the first that I have heard of caves being used for refuge, although it does make sense in view of their availability and providing superior shelter to roofed-over ditches.

This descendant's account appears on p. 98 in a Google book entitled Vinton County, Ohio History & Families by Turner Publishing Company (the only author noted). Zaleski is southwest of Columbus, in central Ohio.


Sharon Carberry
USA

John Hayes of Dysert, PA, OH, 1826-1894.jpg (65.01 KiB) Viewed 5535 times

[Paddy Casey]

Re. the use of caves, Sharon, my paternal ancestors lived in the village of Moyrhee in the townland of Shanballysallagh in Tubber. Moyrhee is situated on the Moyrhee river and on the other side of the river is the "island" and townland of Addergoole (it's called the Island in that part of the world although it is not an island but a large tract of Burren limestone between two branches of the Moyrhee river). The Island is accessible from my great-grandparent's house via stepping stones. The limestone is filled with caves, crevices and cracks - a kind of geological Swiss cheese and, indeed, at a couple of points the river disappears into a hole in the ground and reappears a few hundred yards away. In fact, the whole landscape between Tubber and the Fergus river source is full of these limestone caves. I nearly fell into one a couple of years ago when trying to force my way through some dense brush in search of an ancient church that I had been told was "....in there somewhere...".

There were only two families on the island of Addergoole and they disappeared a long time ago. It is now uninhabited.

Our family used the caves on the Island for storing perishables in summer and the last of our family to live in the ancestral house told me that those makeshift fridges were known as summerhouses and that in byegone years they had been used by illicit distillers. Because the Island was enclosed by a river around most of its extent, and because it was very sparsely inhabited, they had good warning of any approaching Revenue police and could hide the three key items of evidence that the police needed in court for a conviction (the still, the worm and the mash or potale). See also http://www.ourlibrary.ca/phpbb2/viewtop ... urder#p328

Now the Addergoole caves are the European breeding sites of the Lesser Horseshoe bat and are protected by a European Union order (amusingly, my cousin who was born and bred just across the stepping stones from the caves and has farmed there for all of his professional life had been totally unaware of the bats and the EU protection order).

So much for caves.

Paddy

[smcarberry]

Paddy,

Your relating that provides insight into the authentic and unique character of rural Clare. I am afraid to ask about the "worm"
part of distilling, but I do know something about bats. I am supposing that bats are seen with benign or even favorable regard now in Ireland because rabies has been extinct there for decades. Not so in the U.S., including my residence in Connecticut back in the 1990s where a bat or two decided to try calling it home, specifically my bedroom in the middle of the night. There is nothing quite like waking up and becoming aware that the shadow flickering around the ceiling is a bat. It took two encounters but finally a police officer was persuaded to capture and release the bat very far from my home. However first I accidentally wrestled with the furry beast mano-a-mano which led to my receiving a gamma globulin shot followed by the usual multiple shots for rabies. It turns out that these animals can squeeze into a space as narrow as the
width of a pencil, when sufficiently motivated. No home is truly safe.

Sharon C.