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HOME IN IRELAND
LInk
to a letter by John J Langdon about Creevagh.
We recently received a
letter from a Langdon cousin that took a trip over to Ireland and sent pictures
of the Old Homestead. Below is first the Letter and then the pictures with
descriptions.
Dear Langdon cousins,
By way of introduction,
my name is Frank Wilson. My mother was Gertrude Hughes. She was born in Gretna
Nebraska. My maternal Grandparents were John Hughes and Elisabeth Langdon. My
maternal Great grandparents were William Langdon and Margaret Thomas.
You have
previously been kind enough to provide me information about the Langdon history
so I would like to provide you some pictures and information I have from my most
recent trip to Ireland and visit to the Langdon homestead. In 1996, I had
received the information about Tom and Molly McHale and where they lived in
northern County Mayo. This information came from a book that Tom Nolan had
assembled regarding the Langdon-Thomas history. Tom McHale is a descendent of
the Langdon family that stayed in Ireland and he owned the homestead farm.
I met the McHales
during my trip to Mayo in 1998. Tom had recently died but I did get to meet
Molly his wife and Sean his son. In October of 2002 I traveled back to Mayo
again with my wife Ruth and had a chance to visit for a day again with the
McHales at the Langdon Homestead.
As usual you can click on the
image to make it larger.
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This is a picture of Molly and myself taken inside her home. Sean, her son, also has a home right next door on the same property. This property as I understand it is the joining together of the old Langan and Thomas property. The houses are built so close together that the children easily walk between grandmas and their own house. Molly is a widow now. Her daughters live in London. |
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This is my wife Ruth holding 1 year old twin Maria and Sean holding her twin brother Allen. This is taken in Seans house. Sean works fulltime at the nearby Quarry and also takes care of the farm which consists of cattle and sheep. |
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This is Seans wife Rosemary holding Allen. She works nights at a home for the disabled. |
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These are their other two sons Connor and David. |
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This is the northern boundary of the farm at the edge of the Atlantic ocean. |
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This is the sheep pasture |
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This is the Atlantic up close. You will note that Sean has a fence up to keep animals and children away. He has told his sons not to throw stones into the ocean so they won't get tempted to go near the fence. The cliff is quite high with pounding surf at the bottom. Sean said that his father would catch fish by throwing a line over the cliff. |
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This is an abandoned road bed that goes through the property. It was built by the famine people in order to get a few pence from the government for food. It was never used. Sean receives a government subsidy to preserve it. |
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This is the same road bed with Sean, Ruth, Connor and David walking down it. |
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This is also a preservation project and is old potato mounds for growing. |
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