Paddy McNamara, Blind Fiddler (about 1820 - 1902)

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Sduddy
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Joined: Sun Sep 26, 2010 10:07 am

Paddy McNamara, Blind Fiddler (about 1820 - 1902)

Post by Sduddy » Wed Aug 29, 2018 1:13 pm

The online biographical notes on Paddy Canny (1919-2008), one of the founders of the Tulla Ceili Band, say that one of those who influenced his style of playing was Paddy McNamara, a blind fiddler, who travelled about teaching music and who spent some winters with the Cannys. I was intrigued by this blind fiddler, and wondered why there was always just this little snippet about him. I imagined that if he taught Paddy Canny in the 1920s, there must be more about his life somewhere, surely.
But I have come to realise that it was in the lifetime of Pat Canny (Paddy Canny’s father), that he stayed for those winter months. I think it was Pat he taught, and that Pat transmitted his style of playing to his son, Paddy.

I could not find out where Paddy McNamara was from until I hit upon this site: http://www.gannetschool.it/leggendoquaela29in.htm. That piece* told me he was from Cooleen Bridge:https://goo.gl/maps/PNztK8twcHT2, and from that point I began to make progress:

1901 census shows Patrick McNamara, aged 81, occupation: Musician; Blind; living in Lecarrow Lower (Feakle D.E.D.). Lecarrow Lower lies at the southeast end of Feakle parish and adjoins the townland of Poulagower in Tomgraney Parish, wherein lies Cooleen Bridge (on the R461 - over the river Graney), so Patrick could very well be described as being from near Cooleen Bridge. His wife, Johanna, is aged 61.

He died the following year on Dec. 28, 1902, in Laccaroe, aged 82, occupation: Fiddler; Informant: Johanna McNamara, wife of deceased. His death was registered in Feakle, Scarriff Union. Johanna died in 1905, aged 72, in Scarriff Workhouse.

*Patrick Joseph in that piece is P. J. Hayes

Sheila

Sduddy
Posts: 1826
Joined: Sun Sep 26, 2010 10:07 am

Re: Paddy McNamara, Blind Fiddler (about 1820 - 1902)

Post by Sduddy » Thu Aug 30, 2018 10:54 am

Correction: No, he died that same year on Dec. 28, 1901. Johanna reported the death early in 1902.

Because of the seeming dearth of information on this Patrick McNamara – I say “seeming” because there are probably people living today in Lacarrow Lower who know about him - I looked at Griffith’s Valuation and I decided that the McNamara farm closest to Cooleen Bridge is plot 10 in Lecarrow Lower (109 acres and 3 houses) leased by Michael, James and Hugh McNamara from Margaret Gore. I’m not sure if I’m right in thinking that these are the three buildings all marked with lower-case “a” on the Griffith’s map (http://www.askaboutireland.ie). I looked at the Geohive map: http://map.geohive.ie (Geohive was OSI til very recently) and I can see that a new road was made sometime before 1913, which runs right by those self same buildings. It seems to follow the west boundary of plot 10, so maybe it was there at the time of Griffith’s Valution (the 1837 – 1842 map was used to draw the plot outlines, so there may have been features, such as some new roads built during the Great Famine, which are not shown in the Griffith’s Valuation map on askaboutireland.ie.).
There are 29 plots in Lecarrow Lower in Grifftih’s, and 29 houses there in 1901 – I’m sure some places changed hands, but most places probably just went from father to son (I haven’t done a close study!). One of the 29 houses is that of Patrick and his wife Johanna. In 1911 there are 27 houses in Lacarrow Lower. Patrick’s house does not seem to have been taken over by anyone. Sometimes a vacated house was used as an outoffice (shed or barn) by the relative who had taken over the farm. Look at the roofs of outhouses and you will sometimes see the remains of a small chimney. This is just a general tip and not intended as a tip for finding Patrick’s house.

Sheila

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