Johanna Sullivan Leary
My gr gr gr grandmother                                             Cornelius Sullivan
 Born in Cooleanig 1827                                      Brother to Johanna, born 1821


photo courtesy Phil Dodge                                    photo courtesy Neil Dreher

Ireland Day 1

We left Boston at night on the 20th August and arrived around 9AM at Shannon Airport. I spent most of the flight looking over various survey maps I had purchased on the last trip. We were trying to figure out the traveling distance of our itinerary. I would be the navigator while Debbie drove. I intended to buy a few more survey maps on my visit this time as well. They are about 12 dollars each but are very detailed and show the various townlands that are not on the regular maps. A relative of mine, Mike Skerritt, visited some of the townlands I told him about. The people in Galway, who assisted him in his travels, as he had a driver, did not even know where these townlands were, so survey maps are very helpful, especially if you know where your family was from originally. I had sent Mike some survey maps via the internet that I had scanned for him. If he did not have them, I am certain he never would have found the areas where his family lived. These can also be purchased online though they are a bit more expensive.
           I was mostly interested in visiting Cooleanig in County Kerry where my Sullivan’s lived in the early 1800’s. They later came to Maine to settle in Whitneyville. In fact, Cornelius Sullivan’s train engine, The Lion, can be seen at the Maine State Museum. I have copies of letters written from Ireland in the 1860’s until the 1880’s. There are five in all.
          Debbie and I headed for the Hertz Rent a Car and Debbie picked up the very tiny Blue Fiat with a stick shift. This would be very interesting, and Debbie whom I consider to be very brave, had no concerns about driving with a stick on the other side of the road. For those of you who do not know Debbie, she is one of my best friends from Middle School. She is a full fledged scientist, with a title of Doctor Professor. I just call her Debbie. I do recall that our common friend Jane and I used to call Debbie “The Professor” way back in seventh grade. I like to think we may have inspired her, but most likely not. Anyhow Debbie graduated from RPI and moved to Oakland, CA and got her PHD. She had some neat jobs including Maine Maritime, University of Hilo, HI and finally her job in Australia. She is very independent and adventurous. I received an email from her once telling me that she was going to take her sailboat from CA to HI… and later I found out that she was all alone. She managed the trip perfectly fine and even did some repairs to her boat about 100 miles off shore from Diamond Head. It was very foggy the day she arrived. I was very relieved to hear from her. This was my traveling friend, so I thought you should know a little about her.
          We were on our way to Killorglin, Co Kerry where the Parish of the Sullivan’s was located. We drove through Adare, known for its beautiful thatched cottages and stopped at Castleisland for lunch. Debbie “broke down” and asked and old fellow for assistance in putting the Fiat in reverse (there was some trick). She was most grateful and even said that she could kiss him. He loved that! Meanwhile, I went into a travel agent’s office to ask the distance to Killorglin. It was only ½ hour away. She even printed out directions for me.
          Once in Killorglin, it was busy with traffic due to Puck Fair. I was interested in meeting a woman named Mary who answered my query online about parish records. Amazingly enough, she found my ancestors along with their baptism dates with the little information that I had sent to her online. This was one of the most amazing finds and I suppose one day I will submit the story under my Genealogy category. Mary was not there as it was lunch time according to the sign on her office door. I slipped a note into the mail slot and had sent a check to the parish for her work.. Even if I was unable to meet her, I wanted to try. It was exciting just to be there. We wandered all around the church and took many photos of the gravestones and architecture. Then we headed for Cooleanig. It was halfway between Killorglin and Beaufort. We had to count roads to find the area. MacGillicuddy’s Reeks are the majestic mountains which surround the area. It was gorgeous and very rural, perhaps not unlike it was 100 years ago. We also saw a sign that had Churchtown Graveyard written on it so we took a walk through the graveyard. It was full of Coffey and Sullivan families. (My ancestors perhaps who shared the same names as their descendants in America) We were getting a little tired and Debbie was exhausted from her detailed attention to driving. Once we arrived in Killarney, we searched for our hostel and were anxious to take a shower. Once we checked into the hostel, we had to move the car down the road ½ mile to a car park which was in the church parking lot of St. Mary’s. We carried our bags back to the hostel. The car lot was free until 8am.
          After our shower, I suggested we turn the corner and catch a jaunting cart ride. I had taken a jaunting cart ride when I was in Killarney before. The cart holds four people and the driver tells stories all along the ride as his horse trots through the Killarney National Forest (25,000 acres in all). It takes about 1 hour to travel a very small section and it is very relaxing. These drivers are quite comical and tell stories of their homeland, catering to the tourists of course. He told us, “They call that over there, Honeymoon Island… room enough for two…. Standing room only”  Debbie laughed and said, “Doesn’t sound like much of a honeymoon to me” He told us that he had 4 horse and took each of them out two days each week, rotating them, to not overwork them. Today we had Black Jack, age 8. He said that if Black Jack could talk, he would be out of a job. I suppose he meant that the horse had better stories or the horse would tell all his secrets.  As another driver approached us in the opposite direction, our driver confessed that the man was hardly sober. The tales they are long!! They tell you the lore of the forest.
          When we finished, we walked around the many shops in Killarney, which is a great place to shop. I bought some jewelry, some Irish Music & some fine linen for my cousin’s upcoming wedding. Afterwards we stopped in an internet café where it cost 1 Euro for 15 minutes. I emailed Terry to tell him we arrived safely. I also called my Irish friend Bridie to tell her we would be seeing her when we arrived in Galway in two more days. It was really neat to hear her voice. We seemed like old friends. She and her husband lost their son to MD and I looked forward to meeting them. Afterwards we headed for the Danny Mann restaurant and Bar which happened to be across the street from our hostel I loved it there before in 2002 but in 2006, the attitudes about Americans were a little different. I think it was because we were at war. I felt it everywhere we traveled and we kept to ourselves. We were not demanding in any way. My Irish cousins told me that many Irish feel that Americans are demanding. We did not let it ruin our trip but I couldn’t help but feel badly about the experience. We had several occasions where we were the last ones waited on and in one establishment, we were ignored altogether. We just got up and left after ½ hour of waiting. It was disappointing. The only reason I mention this is that I noticed a big difference from my visit four years ago. We left and went across the street to the Stratford End Bar where a huge crowd was watching a rugby game. One group was watching the Rose of Tralee which is very popular in Ireland. It is a contest which happened to be featuring a Kerry girl and it was not a beauty contest but rather a contest of talent. Sounds like my kind of contest! Off to bed for a good night’s sleep.