Let Me Sing of What I Know
(1)
A wild west Coast, a
little town,
Where little Folk go up
and down,
Tides flow and winds
blow:
Night and tempest and the
Sea,
Human Will and Human
Fate:
What is little,what is
great?
Howsoe’r the answer be ,
Let me sing of what I
know.
William Allingham
Ballyshannon was the first town in County Donegal to
publish a newspaper when The Ballyshannon
Herald was printed on the Mall in
1831. This newspaper tradition was
continued in the town with The Patriot,
The Liberator, The Donegal Independent,
The Donegal Vindicator and the Donegal Democrat. The newspaper tradition
is another indication of the commercial prosperity of the area as local
newspapers depended on local commercial outlets for advertisements.
Local newspapers are of great interest and value to
the local historian and to the genealogist as they may be the only source for
local events which were not written down elsewhere. Local newspapers also
record advertisements, obituaries, property sales, sport, national events, and
a host of local memories. Two of the pioneer editors in the development of
newspapers in Ballyshannon were John McAdam and John Downey
John McAdam was born in Glasgow in 1856 and came to
Ireland to work on The Tuam Herald. In
1889 he was invited by the Land League to set up a newspaper in Ballyshannon. The Donegal Vindicator was established
on East Port in the town and supported Parnell and the Home Rule Party until
the Parnellite Split over Kitty O’Shea.
McAdam had a keen sense of social justice and also an interest in recording
local history which is invaluable today. Two of the local papers The Ballyshannon Herald and The Donegal Independent merged into The Donegal Independent in 1884 with
Samuel Delmege Trimble as proprietor. McAdam eventually gained control of The Donegal Independent which merged into The Donegal Vindicator. John McAdam was also proprietor and editor
of The Derry Weekly News and The Tyrone Herald.
The period of the independence
struggle was a dangerous time for the McAdam family who courageously reported
on local incidents in the struggle. The British Army raided the newspaper
offices and arrested Eily and Kathleen McAdam and seized newspapers and files.
They were later released without charge. During the Civil War (1922-1923) armed
men entered the newspaper premises and smashed the printing press. Nevertheless
despite intimidation the paper still continued to record local political
and community events and is an important source in trying to gain
a balanced viewpoint, alongside government records of the period.
John Downey, first editor of The Donegal Democrat was a son of Michael and Mary
Downey from Cashelard, and he was educated by Master Thomas McIntyre who
had his school in College Street in Ballyshannon. He was employed in different
printing establishments in Ballyshannon; working firstly with P.A.Mooney of The Donegal Independent. Later he worked
in The Donegal Vindicator on East
Port where was foreman in the printing works for John McAdam. In 1909 he was
goal-keeper for the Aodh Ruadh Hurling Club and a staunch supporter of Gaelic
games. Sinn Féin swept all before them in the 1918 General Election and the
time was ripe for a new local paper to
reflect the changes in the country. In
1919 John Downey established his own newspaper, The Donegal Democrat, with the backing of local business man Cecil
Stephens, himself a keen local historian. The
Donegal Democrat reflected the new nationalist Ireland and this newspaper
also came under close scrutiny from the British Army at Finner.
John Downey presented The Democrat
Cup for the County Donegal club championship in Gaelic games. He was
also actively involved in promoting the Irish language through the Gaelic
League. Downey had a keen interest in drama, the local brass and reed band,
handball, the Red Cross and on every movement for the good of the town. He
regularly recorded the activities of these clubs and also has left a rich
legacy of local history which is not available anywhere else. In particular the
two local newspapers courageously recorded the independence struggle of the
1920s which gives a rare and valuable insight into local incidents. Both papers
were raided by the British military from nearby Finner Camp who on occasions
seized documents and files. John Downey was buried in Cashelard on Friday 23rd
of May 1947. Members of the Downey family still reside in Ballyshannon today.
The Year of the Gathering: Please let people with connections to Ballyshannon and surrounding
areas know about this site, particularly people who are not living locally and
those who are abroad. The site is called "Ballyshannon Musings" and
there are a number of back issues. New items will be posted every week or so
during 2013-The year of “The
Gathering”. Keep in touch.
New Local History Book: “Ballyshannon
Genealogy and History” by Anthony Begley details the history of the
Ballyshannon area in the 19th and 20th centuries including fishing,
sport, tourism, social
history, flora and fauna, The Independence struggle, The Emergency, buildings,
townland history and lots of reminiscences.
The book covers an area
roughly from Ballyshannon:
·
To Rossnowlagh, to Belleek, to Finner/ Bundoran to the Loughside and
towards Ballintra. Contains 500 pages with much material on how to trace your
roots. All the gravestone inscriptions in the 3 local cemeteries are recorded
and indexed for ease of location. Includes many rare images and modern colour
aerial photographs of the area.
Available from The Novel Idea Ballyshannon/The Four Masters Bookshop
Donegal Town or can be ordered on line from anthonyrbegley@hotmail.com Price €25 softback plus postage if required. A limited
number of hardbacks also available. Enquiries welcome.
Next Week’s Blog
on local newspapers concludes with the
contributions to local history of Cecil King, editor of “The Donegal Democrat,”
and John Ward, editor of “The Donegal Vindicator”.
Thanks for sharing this important story. Would the Ballyshannon library have copies of these newspapers? Also was it a common practice to print obituaries for the ordinary citizen in Ballyshannon newspapers around say 1890's? Cheers, Craig
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