Leitrim-Roscommon

The Abbey Hotel in Roscommn Town willl be the site of the launch of the landmark book They Put The Flag a-Flyin' The Roscommon Volunteers 1916-1923 on 30 October 2005 from 2 pm to 6 pm. Local newspapers will be runnng announcements and related stories. The publicaton is the result of 12 years of research and includes information gleaned from both public and private written sources coupled with scores of interviews with participants and their descendants. The work also includes information on participants from Leitrim, Westmeath, Longford, Galway, Mayo and Sligo.
Additional details about the book and the complete book index in a PDF file at http://www.generationpublishing.com

My copy of the book arrived yesterday, and I'm finding it hard to put down. When my parents were alive I lacked the interest and the free time to question them closely about their lives before emigration. My cousins and I have invested a great deal of time in recent years just putting the pieces together. This book would have sparked a treasure trove of recollections if our elders were still here. *** The index is excellent. I have used it to check on names and places that are familiar. Meanwhile, I've begun to read from the beginning.
"Murph"

In support of "Murph's" comments, I would nominate The Put The Flag a-Flyin' as the most significant book about Roscommon since Fr. Sharkey's The Heart of Ireland. I know of no other county where the history of the 'Troubles' has been documented in such detail. Almost half the book consists of biographical notes on more than 2,000 Roscommon Volunteers involving about 500 family names. While most of its 540 pages concentrates on Roscommon, there is also a section devoted to the surrounding counties with hundreds of Volunteer name listings. This book will become a standard reference volume for historians, educators and genealogists interested in Roscommon people and history during the early decades of the 20th century.

Mike Lennon

I went to the launch in the Abbey Hotel on Sun last (30th Oct 2005) and it was a great occasion. The hall was packed with people - the speeches were short and directly to the point. I was delighted to speak to the author for a few minutes as she signed my copy. There was also a presentation to Kathleen by Ros Co Manager J. Tiernan.

The music by Matt Molloy and colleagues was fantastic as was the song sung by Kathleen and her husband (and brother-in-law?) - "They Put the Flag a-Flyin". Lyrics and mp3 at www.generationpublishing.com

The book is fantastic and very well put together - I have only read about 20 pages and it is difficult to leave it down - but I have all Winter to read it!

Overall a very enjoyable few hours on a wet Sunday afternoon!

Regards
Anthony

ballybride.com

This is great news - I'm glad I stopped by the site - found my Grandfather in the index and have ordered the book - can't wait to get it - well done, Kathleen!

Mike Lennon wrote:In support of "Murph's" comments, I would nominate The Put The Flag a-Flyin' as the most significant book about Roscommon since Fr. Sharkey's The Heart of Ireland. I know of no other county where the history of the 'Troubles' has been documented in such detail. Almost half the book consists of biographical notes on more than 2,000 Roscommon Volunteers involving about 500 family names. While most of its 540 pages concentrates on Roscommon, there is also a section devoted to the surrounding counties with hundreds of Volunteer name listings. This book will become a standard reference volume for historians, educators and genealogists interested in Roscommon people and history during the early decades of the 20th century.

Mike Lennon

Mike (or anyone!):

My father always used to mention a book by Canon Sharkey (as he called him) which he could never remember the name of but thought it might have been The Four Roads. I think it must have been this one that you mention. He said my family were mentioned in it. Have you any idea where I might be able to find a copy?

Thanks for your help now....

Paul Fallon

Happy New Year Paul

I am pretty sure the book your father had in mind must be "The Heart of Ireland" by Rev. Patrick A. Sharkey (1884-1954), a native of Drinaun, Strokestown. The book was published in 1927 while he was a curate in Boyle. He died as parish priest of Ballinameen. It is now a very rare book to find. I purchased a copy over 20 years ago in Kenny's Bookshop, Galway for £125 - God knows what the price of a copy - if you could find one -would be today.

On page 304, there is a letter quoted, written by John O'Donovan in 1837 when he was involved with the mapping of Ireland. In this letter, O'Donovan mentions John Fallon of Midgefield as one of his local history sources in the Strokestown area. Midgefield is located about 3 miles from Strokestown to the east of the road to Roscommon Town.

I hope this is of some assistance.

Best wishes

Mike

Happy New Year, also, Paul

I agree with Mike. The book is most likely "The Heart of Ireland" by Rev. Patrick A. Sharkey. I also have a copy. Over the years I have been scanning it with the intention of putting it on the Internet (for free). It's a book that should be preserved and made available to as many people as possible, I feel. (Quite a bit of the ancient history of the area -- Roscommon and the adjoining areas of Longford, Westmeath, Sligo, Leitrim and Mayo -- will be lost if it isn't.) I just don't have the time to finish it -- yet. I am attempting to keep it in its original form. The book is not copyrighted, and my investigation shows that it can be posted on a Web site. However, I did see that someone else has started to post parts of it on a site. That version is in a "standard" form, which is perfectly OK. In fact, the person(s) making it available should be commended. I don't recall the site; perhaps you may be able to find it via a search.

Best wishes, Paul B.

Thanks for your replies, Mike and Paul and Happy New Year to all!

Yes, I've had a look and seen that there are two of the chapters available online (Ch5 from p59-69 and Ch30 from p362 -386)at the following address: http://www.killaraghtgraveyard.com/the_ ... eland.html

The site owner says he'll try to do other chapters on request - it must be a hell of a job! Could you tell me what Chapter page 304 is on by any chance?

I was interested in the Kiltrustan section (ch23) - where my direct ancestors were from although they'd moved from along the road a way in the 1840's.

The Fallon mention is interesting - might be a relative but there's a lot of this surname around the area.

I'd love to get hold of a copy but it doesn't sound easy. I'll have a check with a couple of antiquarian book sellers and see if they can keep an eye out. Sounds like I'd better start saving up now!

Hi Paul. Page 304 is in Section XXXIII of the Heart of Ireland book. It's in the section titled, Kiltrustan -- One of Ireland's Art Schools. The section has six pages. I scanned it yesterday. I would say, though, that other parts of the book have more about Kiltrustan than this section.

Since the section isn't very long, Ill post it. I'll put it under another topic. I hope the moderator will indulge. I'll have to post it in MS Word; I can't seem to insert a complete file, in PDF or compressed versions. You can copy it from the posting. It probably will lose some formatting and font styles, but you will at least be able to read it.

Best wishes, Paul

I received this book last week and must say how impressed I am at the level of detail and the professionalism of the presentation. It's expensive to get it shipped over from the US but well worth it, in my opinion