Joyce Raftery

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• First-hand information. Entered by Joyce Raftery at registration.

I am the youngest of 5 siblings and the youngest in the generation of my 24 first cousins (on my fathers side). My father was George Raftery born 1 APRIL 1896 in Ballaghdereen, Co.Mayo (boundary changed to Co.Roscommon in 1897). His family moved to FRENCHPARK and later to Grallagh, Fairymount, Co. Roscommon. He inherited the farm and moved to Alma-Cottage, Finisklin, Sligo c.1932, which he bought via The Land Commission (his father Michael died 1929). In Finisklin three of my father's siblings lived. Next door to us lived his sister Ethel, married to (Patrick Joseph) Pat Henry (Western Wholesale Ltd) and family. Less then a half-mile away lived his brother Joe (Michael Joseph) founder member of the (Western Wholesale Company Ltd) married to Nell Reynolds and family. His sister Mary (Molly) was a nun in the Ursuline Convent, Finisklin. His sister Maud was married to Hubert Reynolds (brother of Nell Reynolds married to Joe Raftery). Hubert was a Draper in Main St. and farmer, in Ballinamore, Co.Leitrim. My Dad, George's youngest brother Paddy (Patrick Cyril) was a doctor Manchester and lived in 'Beechfirld', Heaton Moor, Stockport, Manchester, England married to Kathleen Corrigan. His daughter Patricia (deceased) and grand-daughter Helen (Barrett) followed him in his practice. My father followed in his father's footsteps as a commercial traveller for Henry Denny & Co (meat products) and Grants of Ireland (wInes and spirits) and jars od sweets. He was also a farmer (50 acres=selling milk until 1954, when he no longer had a reliable live-in workman). Dad died in 1962 (age 66) when I was 14. My mother lived until 1997 (2 months before her 90th birthday). My mother was Kathleen/Kay Milne (born Mary Kathleen Agnes on 18 April 1907). She was a nurse and trained in the Mater Hospital, Dublin. She had a very clear memory, from whom I got "Unsourced Family History of both the RAFTERY & the MILNE sides of our ancestors in the early 1980s. I married Martin Enright from DIngle, Co.Kerry on 1 Nov 1974. in University College Church, Stephen's Green, Dublin (where my parents had got married). We have three children Dónal (born 17 Mar 1976, SIobhan born 19 April 1977 and Colum born 7 Sept 1980. SIobhan married Michael Durand from Waterford in the Elvis Chapel, Las Vegas abt Sept 2009 and they have 2 daughters, Nóinín born 24 Feb 2012 and Coco born 10 March 2015. Career: I went to University College Dublin (UCD) 1966-1972. B.A. (Hons) 1970 in Archaeology and Early & Medieval Irish History. DIploma in Librarianship and Archives, 1972, Registered for MA in 1972, not submitted. All in UCD. Worked as archaeologist (temporary jobs), Librarian (Assistant Co.Librarian in Sligo, seconded to set up Library at Regional Technical College, Sligo, now Institute of Technology, Sligo), Archaeologist (self-employed since 1980) and set up WIld Rose Tours, ground-handling experiental tours mainly for American Colleges (1987-). Now RETIRED..... Continuing research., and occassional tours. Wrote a long essay: 'Here You are Somebody: the Sligo Relatives of WB Yeats" PUBLISHED: in Dedicated to Sligo, 2013, ed .by M.A.Timoney, 259-286 and additional photos page170. Currently undertaking further research towards a book on the same theme. I have traced c.120 relatives of WB Yeats. The essay is 20,000 words plus 5,000 words in Endnotes. [1]

Sources

[1] Personal Recollections of Joyce [Raftery-94] on Sept 2019