Monday, October 6, 2014

Coffee Break and Coincidence


It was a simple coffee shop in the County Clare village of Killaloe which became my office away from home during this journey back through the generations of Irish ancestors. Mainly, the coffee shop served as wifi haven, owing to the unfortunate difficulty of the wireless connection at our bed and breakfast accommodations being uncommunicative with the only computer still accessible to me.

On account of that, it was the Derg House which became our daily writing stop—Derg being the name of the lake above the historic bridge spanning the River Shannon between the twin towns of Killaloe and Ballina. Stumbling in the door from the afternoon rain which eclipsed our plans to wander the local cemeteries on our first full day here, I settled in for a hot mocha and the chance to connect to my online notes.

It wasn't a simple effort to drag ourselves in those doors, incidentally. By now, it was three in the afternoon—just about time for school to get out. We were already aware of the snarl of traffic that locked up the road over the bridge, and consequently all traffic on the main roads leading through both Killaloe and its twin town across the river, Ballina, at the close of business each day. In addition, our host had warned us that traffic tended to get heavier just after the close of the school day. We had already completed three laps around Killaloe's twisted, narrow roads and alleys in a vain attempt at locating the library, and had given up on the search as we once again came to a dead stop at the road leading up to the bridge.

Stuck in the stopped traffic about to cross the bridge, I looked up and saw the coffee house sign, decided to snag the opportunity and hopped out of the car with my daughter. My husband, promising to join us as soon as he could manage to find a parking space in the tangle of vehicles, kept his word within the hour.

Just kidding. It wasn't that extreme. This is, after all, only a village, not a metropolis. But we did have several laughs over the Keystone Cops nature of our circles around the alleys, trying to find our way to a non-existent road. I won't even begin to tell you of the narrowness of the alley across which a Volvo dump truck attempted its delivery—straddling the alley right in front of our oncoming car—or the cavalier manner in which local drivers address the hazards of the road. Somehow, it's still hard to shake that sense of driving on the wrong side of the street. Sometimes, it was we who became the hazards.

By the time the three of us had congregated in the coffee shop and warmed ourselves up with some coffee—like my nerves actually needed any more caffeine—I was well on my way to pulling up some of the historic maps I had lost in the episode of the disappearing iPad. We talked for a while with the proprietor about our quest to return to my husband's roots in Ireland, and then began writing.

In typical small town style, one of the customers seated at a nearby table overheard our conversation and decided to come over to chat. She had just been wandering the cemetery at the Killaloe Cathedral—that building on the other side of the river captured by my husband in photographs the first night of our arrival here—and shared details on some of the old grave markers she had discovered. Astute observer that I am, I sensed her excitement at sharing family history research, and listened to her stories with relish.

What I failed to notice, however, was the fact that her accent didn't quite match that of the locals. It was an accent, all right—at least to me—but face it: even I had an accent to those others seated in the shop. All the different sounds accosting my ears had blurred the distinctions, and I was oblivious to what, exactly, I was hearing.

I asked this other researcher which surnames she was seeking. One never knows: perhaps two people have returned to the same place at the same time for the very same purpose. None of those she named matched the ancestors I was following. Most of them sounded so far from the realm of possibility that I only could remember one in the recounting of the episode: Doyle.

The worst of it was that she had not been as successful in her quest as she had hoped. She complained, "to think I've come all this way to find nothing—six thousand miles!"

Wait a minute: you're not from here?

Finally being struck with the obvious, I realized it was an Aussie accent regaling my ears, not an Irish one. This woman had come all the way from Australia to do the very thing that had only cost me slightly more than five thousand miles to do, myself. Of course, I had an added bonus to my quest: my husband and I got to spend time with our daughter, who is currently a student at the University in Cork. But from the sounds of it, I was prepared for considerably more success in my search than she was for hers.

Still, we were on the same page. We were attempting the same quest: to find our family in the remote villages of Ireland. And our very different surnames had led us to this very same—albeit tiny—place. It's astounding to realize how such very different current homelands had drawn us for the same purpose. A kindred spirit wraps this task, and transforms strangers into long-lost friends, even if they turn out not to be related. Even distantly.

Fellow pilgrims notwithstanding, I had to amend her math: if it was Australia which was her starting point, hers was a journey of well over ten thousand miles. For that, I have to hand it to her: the length of such a journey would have given even me second thoughts about my research commitment.



Photograph, above: The Derg House Bed and Breakfast and coffee shop in Killaloe, County Clare, Ireland. Just over the River Shannon from Ballina in County Tipperary, this picture captures the building's exterior during the rare moment when the street just outside the door is not lined with stopped cars, awaiting the light to traverse the one-way road across the bridge. Photograph courtesy Chris Stevens. 

12 comments:

  1. I read somewhere that if you're new to driving on the left or even Ireland in general, the car rental company will put a sign on the car saying "Foreign Driver" (or some such wording). Is that true?

    I hope this Doyle descendant is happy walking in the footsteps of her ancestors even if she finds nothing new. You must be feeling pretty good about your prospects now.

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    1. I haven't seen the "Foreign Driver" sign yet, but there is a sticker inside the windshield which says, in block letters, "DRIVE ON THE LEFT" in case we need to be reminded. Believe me, though, the last place the driver would be looking, in the midst of a driving crisis, would be inside the window on the passenger side!

      At any rate, we've already been stopped by the Garda--at what appeared to be a Saturday night DUI checkpoint after our return to Cork--when we were informed that we were missing some paperwork from the car rental company. Fortunately, they didn't haul these puzzled foreign tourists off to the station for further interrogation! They graciously let us slide, mystified as to what offense we had actually committed...

      I can't help shake that feeling that we are re-enacting a childhood memory of the rendition of Mr. Toad's Wild Ride.

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  2. Firstly, not to distract you with the "irrelevant", your Aussie pal seems to be in the right place. Doing a quick look, I found in the Parish Registers - St Flannan's Catholic Church, Killaloe, Clare - Baptisms 24 May 1828 - 8 Dec 1880

    1828 May 10 Catherine DOYLE
    1838 May 9 William DOYLE

    http://www.maddenfamilyhistory.com/records_ireland/killaloe_parish_registers.html lists

    And secondly - and equally tangential, Aussies use the metric system - so perhaps the math "hiccup" was in the translation!

    Hope today's explorations find some Tullys!!

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    1. Iggy, this was one of those instances in which I kicked myself afterwards for not properly networking and exchanging contact information. I was able to share some local resources with her, but oh, how I would have loved to send her this resource you have found! She did, however, find some surnames of interest as she walked the cemetery, so she at least knew that this was a likely area for her to continue her research.

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  3. Jacqi, Sounds nice to meet up with another researcher. Hopefully both of you will some home with new discoveries.

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    1. Colleen, it's been a very different type of research (as you already know) to be up here in the area, finding things in person. Not quite as tangible as pointing a finger at names and dates in a record book, but a way of obtaining a more holistic vision of what life was like for our ancestors. There is no comparison to having an opportunity like this, just to be here where they once lived. We pass ruins alongside the country roads and wonder, could this have been there when our ancestors walked here?

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  4. That looks like a quaint place to stop...you need some cards to hand out just incase someone you talk to runs onto something after you have left:. You really must get other researchers emails!! :)

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    1. Good point, Far Side. I've already found myself passing out my genealogical society business card for those connections which apply to that association, but it would have been nice to have a personal card as well. I've certainly learned to get emails from those I'm meeting along the way! You never know...

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  5. The excellent photo of Derg House's exterior shows an outstanding example of the stonemason's art, even if accomplished quite recently. Aieee, would that our genealogical results were so beautifully fitted and mortared together !

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    1. The stonemason's art is alive and well in this country, Geolover! We've since found some hundred-year-old samples which were even more impressive, which I hope to share with you soon. We are running into research results faster than I can blog!

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  6. Wow, you are so close to where my Gleesons are from in Silvermines, just south of Nenagh on the E20. Some day I hope I can do what you're doing. My daughter is studying for 2 years in London. We hope to visit her, too!

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    1. Oh, Lisa, if you can, you absolutely have got to go! Especially with your daughter in London already. Actually, for Bay Area residents, it's a convenient non-stop flight straight to Dublin on Aer Lingus. The hardest part would be getting up the nerve to drive yourself to Tipperary.

      I do remember seeing the Silvermines marked on the map we have of the area townlands. It's interesting you mention Gleesons, too, for I've seen that surname on some of my material from the area. Who knows...we may have rubbed elbows with some of your distant cousins while we were there!

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