Farewell
to Ballyshannon
“Farewell to Ballyshannon” is a story which
tells of a young local boy called Johnny being accompanied to the Great
Northern Railway station in Ballyshannon, by his mother and his sister Susy, on
the first stage of his emigration to America. The following is an extract from
the story which reveals a continuous process of emigration from the Ballyshannon
area and the sadness of those leaving and those left behind. The narrator and a
friend were also on the cart to the railway station.
Johnny’s mother accompanied her twelve year
old son on the horse and cart from the Main Street to the railway station on
Station Road:
“He’s
but a little chap to take the green fields to Amerikay alone. Ay surely!” said
our carman, musingly. By this time we were rattling down the street, and over
the bridge, from which we could see the silver spray of the falls below and
hear the dull thunder. The other car was close behind, all the ragged retainers
trotting cheerfully in its wake. “Is there much emigration from here?” one of
us asked. “Ay surely”, said the man, “what else is there for them? Sure there
isn’t enough to keep the life in the old bodies, unless the young goes away to
Amerikay, and sends home the money. Och, sure, it’s the sorrowful place. If you
was here last Wednesday you’d have seen a trainful starting for Derry. An’ the
same every Wednesday since March. I don’t like to be about the station myself
them times. It’s terrible hard for them to go.
We
asked one or two sympathetic questions. He answered us flicking his whip.
“There’s some,” he said, “tht’ll hold up strong and silent; and there’s others
again, keenin’ worse than the old women at the wakes. There’s a girl now,” he
broke off, pointing at a straight, handsome creature, who was just stepping
across the street. “There’s a girl started for Amerikay, an’ kem home the next
day. Ay, faith, it was the shortest voyage yet known in the town. She turned
back from Derry. She said she didn’t give a thraneen for the passage money.
She’d work her fingers to the bone to earn enough to keep the oul’ woman out of
the workhouse, without lavin’ her childless. “ He said it with a certain
admiration and added immediately afterwards, “ There’s not a handsomer nor
cleverer girl than Nancy Goligher in the three baronies.”
Then he planted his feet firmly, as if he had
talked enough, and began to sing in a deep baritone:
Farewell to Ballyshanny! where I
was bred and born;
Go where I may, I’ll think of
you, as sure as night or morn.
The kindly spot, the friendly
town, where every one is known,
And not a face in all the place
but partly seems my own;
There’s not a house or window,
there’s not a field or hill,
But, east or west, in foreign
lands, I’ll recollect them still.
I’ll leave my warm heart with
you, Tho my back I’m forced to turn-
So adieu to Ballyashanny, and the
winding banks of Erne!
It was the song of a townsman who had won the
delightful immortality of being the ballad maker to his birthplace. Under the
circumstances the song sounded curiously mournful. William Allingham’s ballad
“Adieu To Ballyshanny” must rank as one of the finest and saddest emigration
songs of all times.
On arrival at the railway station some of
Johnny’s friends came to see him off. The mother explained that he was setting
out for Florida to join his father who had been there eleven years. He had been
unable to secure work in Ballyshannon. Each year one of the children emigrated
to join him in America. Only her self and Susy remained and they would follow on
next year, when they could get the fare together. The story concluded with the
train ready to pull out and the strains of Allingham’s famous emigrant ballad,
“Adieu to Ballyshanny”, are whistled by the young boy who was joining the many
people from the locality forced to emigrate by economic necessity.
In 1894 Katherine Tynan, well known novelist
and poet, wrote the original story, “Farewell to Ballyshannon” about this young
boy’s departure from Ballyshannon.
Next Blog will be posted on Monday 28th January
2013: “The Maid of the Melvin Shore and other True Stories”.
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.
None of the
material used in the blogs is taken from this book. The
book covers an area roughly from Ballyshannon:
·
To Rossnowlagh, to Belleek, to Finner/ Bundoran to the Loughside, to
Corlea, to Cashelard and towards Ballintra. Includes all the parish of
Kilbarron and the local parts of Mágh Ene parish. 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.
Ballyshannon Musings: 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 available; google: ballyshannonmusings.blogspot.com They can
access the site on the internet (or by connecting to my Facebook page). New
items will be posted every week or two on Ballyshannon Musings during 2013; the year of “The Gathering”. Keep in
touch. Google “The Gathering in Ballyshannon” for more details of events you
might like to attend.
Who is Reading the Blog?
The top 3
audiences for the blog at present are in:
1.Ireland
2. USA
3
Great Britain
Very good
interest in the blog but you can help spread the word, by copying the paragraph
above this called “Ballyshannon Musings” and sending it to a friend or two.
Anthony, Thanks so much for sharing this great story. I attached it to my James J. Doherty family tree who was born in Ballyshannon in March 18, 1851. About May 1, 1870 at the age of 19 he left behind his parents Thomas Doherty/Sarah Rourke and siblings of 26 Back Street Ballyshannon to come to the USA. Cheers, Craig J. Dougherty Lowell, MA, USA
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