More Cemeteries

Gerry and Terry at Carrigallen

erry Bohan, Teresa's son from Lough Rynn, was wonderful company on this trip. We spent five out of eight days and evenings with him, and had a really good time. He went with us on our most recent graveyard search, directing us to all these little townlands, which we never would have been able to find ourselves. He would ask the locals of any Reynolds' graves that were around, which was a big help. Gerry did find the grave of one of his relatives so we took a photo of it.

First we went to Carrigallen. There were three cemeteries there ... but no luck. Then we went to Drumreilly, which is Killyfea, and Drumlea, and Newtowngore, then back to Cloone to the one we missed last time. No Bernard or Winifred Reynolds! The next day we went back to Aughavas, to the old cemetery on the hill. Last time we couldn't get up the steep embankment because it was too slippery, so we only looked at the graves on the bottom. Gerry, who is 6'2", with his long legs, climbed up to the top; I climbed up half way. The weather was quite disagreeable during most of our stay, and I thought the wind was going to blow me off the side of the hill. We found nothing. Then we went to the Parish of Fenagh. By this time, it was pouring rain, off and on with hail. We were getting pelted and it felt like a thousand bee stings. Fenagh cemetery was at the location of the ancient ruins of Fenagh Abbey. It was large and very spread out. We didn't find any of Terry's Reynolds but quite a few other ones. There were graves located inside the Abbey but the gates were locked. The Abbey was quite large and each of the rooms had several graves in them. We tried to read the names from the gates but really could only read a few at the front. There was another small graveyard next door, where the new parish was, but the weather was so bad we decided not to look.

We are running out of graveyards in the area where Bernard and Winifred lived. We think that Winifred came from Ballinamore because she had a brother, Peter Shanley, who lived there, who we found on the 1901 Census. All of these towns we've been going to are, basically, the long way around the back side of Mohill towards Ballinamore. I just have a feeling that maybe they are buried in the Shanley family plot somewhere in Ballinamore. I learned something from the immigration lists for the Port of Boston. When Grandfather Terence came to America in 1908, he listed his closest living relative in Ireland as his father, Bernard. But, when his siblings Hugh and Bridget came in 1914, they listed their closest relative as their uncle, Peter Shanley. So, maybe both Bernard and Winifred Reynolds died between 1908 and 1914, and the children were living with Peter Shanley in Ballinamore. I think it's a possibility that they might be buried there. We will research it more on the next trip.

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