Dear Ron, You have expressed my thoughts perfectly! Thank you. iola Whiteside.
Sent from my iPad > On Oct 26, 2018, at 5:52 AM, Ron McCoy via CoTyroneList > <[email protected]> wrote: > > Hi Len and all > > Thank you Len for sharing this with all of us. I read this and many other > pieces of history. I notice the trend through out of the lack of mention of > positive attributes of the common people. Empathy for another human being is > completely devoid in these reports. The time period scribes never seems to > mention how hard working these people are, how close knit the families be, > the way communities work together or the weight of unfair and unjust economic > burdens they struggle under and still survive and more they insist on > thriving in the face of great adversity. I think these Ordinances are > important pieces of history not as much about what they report or say on the > surface to us but because they tell us a lot about the writer and the class > structure he dwells in. It seems important to him to paint a portrait of the > Irish working class people at a level of sub human strata (you may see pigs > and fowls eating in the kitchen and everything is dirty ). The considerable > hardships people are forced to live in are justified because of their moral > depravity, "49th: It is believed that there is at least an improvement in the > morals and cleanliness of children attending Sunday Schools". This article to > me paints a picture of a people who are brave in the face of over whelming > poverty, and unjust taxation without representation overseen by absentee > land lords. It speaks to me of a devotion to preserve the family and > traditions at all costs. As people who are forced to struggle, their hope > lies in their children and their children's, children, in other words "us". > They would not allow themselves to quit, be broken, or trodden under, despite > the written word, legal system and their betters opinion. They refused to > think of themselves as less then any mans equal. They put all their hopes in > the generations to come, they sacrificed everything to bring "us" into a > safer , a better place... may we not let them down, may we never forget who > they were and what they sacrificed for ,"us", for ,"me". What they did was > not easy and it was not pretty but they did it, a better world for us, those > like us, those like them and those still to come. May we be able to say the > same.... Thank you Len for bringing these pieces of history to us. > > Cheers > > Ron McCoy > > >> On 2018-10-25 10:20 PM, Gail Mooney via CoTyroneList wrote: >> Thanks Len - Even knowing the history of those hard times, this piece paints >> a pretty grim picture of the environments our people endured as they >> struggled to survive. I imagine depression was common in the population - >> reminds me to be more grateful for my lucky circumstances. >> From: "Len Swindley via CoTyroneList" <[email protected]> >> To: [email protected] >> Cc: "Len Swindley" <[email protected]> >> Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2018 7:02:19 PM >> Subject: [CoTyroneMailingList] Observations on the Inhabitants of Clogher >> Parish, Co. Tyrone, Northern Ireland 1833-5 >> >> Hello Listers; >> >> There has been recent interest expressed in the lives of our Tyrone forbears >> (thanks to Elwyn) and here is an extract from the Ordnance Survey Memoirs of >> the 1820s-30s that offers some observations on living conditions in Clogher >> parish. Having read through many of the memoirs covering the parishes of Co. >> Tyrone, this report could be applied similarly to all parishes. >> >> Len Swindley, Melbourne, Australia >> >> >> EXTRACTED FROM ORDNANCE MEMOIRS OF IRELAND: PARISHES OF COUNTY TYRONE VOL. 1 >> (INSTITUTE OF IRISH STUDIES, QUEEN’S UNIVERSITY OF BELFAST) (1990) >> STATISTICAL MEMOIR BY LIEUTENANT R. STOTHERD >> ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS: >> THE HABITS OF THE PEOPLE >> 42nd: There is very little order, cleanliness, or neatness in general to be >> found either in the houses or of the more wealthy farmers or in the cottages >> of the poor. The turf stack often approaches within a few yards of the door >> and thus intersects the view and stops the currency of the air. The yard in >> front of the house is full of the odour of the cow house and stable, for >> they are often built in the very front and sometime adjoining the >> dwellinghouse. The lanes and approaches to the house are narrow, rough and >> filthy in the extreme. Within no order is visible; you may see pigs and >> fowls eating in the kitchen and everything is dirty and confused, the >> furniture a few pots and noggins, a stool or a broken chair. The potatoes at >> meals are thrown out in a basket and so laid on the table or on a stool, and >> the whole family gather round, master, mistress, children and servants in a >> mass, and eat out of the basket without knife, fork or any appendage at >> meals. A man who can give his daughter in marriage 50 or 100 pounds will >> live in this manner. But this is not universally the case: sometimes >> everything is seen comfortable, neat and clean, both within and without the >> farmhouse, the furniture good and decent, the kitchen neatly tiled, the >> outside of the house well whitewashed and thatched, the yard and lanes about >> the house in good repair and clean. It is, however, to be regretted that >> very few instances occur where this order and decency is observed. >> >> FOOD >> 44th: Potatoes and milk is the general food of the farmers of this barony, >> for breakfast, dinner and supper during 9 months of the year. This is >> sometimes varied by a bit of bacon for dinner, sometimes butter and oaten >> bread or eggs are added to the potatoes for dinner. In 3 of the summer >> months when potatoes begin to fail, stirabout or flummery is substituted for >> potatoes, for breakfast or supper. >> 45th: The same report will serve for the manufacturing class and >> tradespeople. >> 46th: Potatoes and milk, or when milk grows scarce potatoes or herrings, or >> potatoes and salt is almost the only food of the poor inhabitants during the >> entire year. Occasionally a little stirabout is added for supper or >> breakfast in the summer months. >> >> EDUCATION >> 47th: There is certainly a general desire of instruction in all classes of >> the people, both Protestants and Roman Catholics. The poor are anxious to >> teach their children reading, writing and arithmetic, and although the >> facilities for the education of the Roman Catholics is not so great as for >> the Protestants, being hindered by their priests from attending Sunday and >> other schools, yet there is certainly a desire in the minds even of the >> Roman Catholics for the education of their children. >> 48th: The children of the poor pay for their education according to the >> following rates: for spelling and reading, for writing for arithmetic, for >> book-keeping [blank] >> 49th: It is believed that there is at least an improvement in the morals and >> cleanliness of children attending Sunday Schools. They are not permitted to >> attend unless they are clean and they are expelled if any gross immorality >> be committed. It is also hoped that there is in the inhabitants in general, >> a greater respect for the laws, fewer quarrels and less fighting than >> formerly >> >> >> Sent from Mail for Windows 10 >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> CoTyroneList mailing list >> [email protected] >> http://mail.cotyroneireland.com/mailman/listinfo/ >> (_internal_name)s >> >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> CoTyroneList mailing list >> [email protected] >> http://mail.cotyroneireland.com/mailman/listinfo/ >> (_internal_name)s > > _______________________________________________ > CoTyroneList mailing list > [email protected] > http://mail.cotyroneireland.com/mailman/listinfo/ > (_internal_name)s
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