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paul@storywise.com
Fifteen years later,
we get the
opportunity
to revisit Menlough
and that part of Galway where
the family origins wait to be
uncovered.
The entrance to the village of Skehennagh
is marked by this
dramatic ruin,
a building known as Garbally Castle.
Highlights of the Trip
Since coming to Belfast for work with students
from Queens University and Ulster, I have been
hoping to get the chance to drive down to Galway
and revisit the areas of Menlough and
Skehennah, those places from where the family
migrated over a hundred years ago.
A Galway Phone Book
In June of this year, the chance came to take the
Galway tour. I got hold of a Galway phone book
and looked up all the Costello's listed in and
around Menlough. What I found was at least 8
Costellos with Menlough addresses. I started to
call them and prepare for the visit.
Reconnecting with Sean and Mary Costello
What I found was a great response and interest, but no one with any real memory of
Costello's who had gone to Australia. The only Costello with a clear Australia connection was
the family of Sean and Mary Costello who run the shop ( meaning pub) beside the church at
Skehenna. This was the same family that we had been able to contact in 1984, when I called
Sean. His wife, Mary, informed me that Sean had passed away in 1985.
A Fortune in Australian Gold
His father remembered his father John coming back
from Australia with a fortune in gold with which he built
his shop and pub. He had first gone out to California
before winning his fortune in Australia's gold rush.
He made the gold into gold buttons that he gave to his
daughters when they were married. Mary had a bill of
sale that went back to 1897 and it seemed a
reasonable chance that John was the brother that
returned leaving his brothers and sisters in Australia.
But Mary informed us that John was born in 1841 and
died in 1902. When he survived the famine, he set out
for himself. This means he is too old to be the son of
Bridgett and Thomas, who only marry in 1844.
Priests in the family?
Mary's brother in law, Tom, Sean's brother, told us that our family were connected to a Fr.
Patrick Costello who as a priest in Tuam 00353 093 47613 and his brother Tom and Anne,
at 0353 0905 84793. I called them and again seemed to draw a blank, for neither seemed to
recall any Australian connection.
Driving from Belfast to Galway
All that remained now was to check it out on the spot. We drove from Belfast and made for
Menlough via Enniskillen and Sligo and Tuam. We arrived at Menlough and stopped at
Glyynn's pub and shared a drink with Rose Glynn who told us that she was from Donegal. She
didn't know the local families from way back but explained how the neighbors didn't live far
from one another and usually ended up marrying each other.
"I thought it was just himself"
When we dropped in on Rose, we passed her husband who was painting outside. She took
some time coming out to serve us and when she did, we heard the genuine Irish expression,
"I thought it was just himself."
John Costello's Pub ( click photo to see larger image)
We visited Mary's pub and met Tom Costello. He was Sean's brother. This is
the pub or "Shop" as they call it, that John built with the money he earned from
the gold he had found in Australia. Mary wasn't sure when it was built but she
proudly showed me a bill of sale going back to 1897. She said it was built in
the traditional style and had not been changed much since then.
Finding the Original Street ( click photo to see larger image)
Tom told us that for their money, the Costellos of our line came from
Skehenna and were related to the Flemings and the Kenny's who lived next
to each other and that this street is just down the road.
This was the street with the first house on the left belonging to the Flaherty's -
who were once the Flemings, (where we visited Aileen Flaherty) and the last house belongs
to the Costellos.
Costello's next door to Flemings next door to Kenny's
It still has Costellos and Flaherty's (who are related to the Flemings who once lived there) and
the land next door used to belong to the Kenny's so that the street had all three together. That
might be the best explanation of why the names keep cropping up in the baptismal records
we read at Menlough in 1984.
"New Houses on the Left, Old houses on the Right"
Tom Costello- Mary's brother, explained that the new houses were on the left and the old
houses or their locations were on the right. He was eager to put us on the right track. He and
Mary both remembered 15 years before when they had received a phone call form an
Australian asking about family connections.
They had decided even back then that the Costello connection we were after had to be the
Costello's in the house at the end of the street across the fields. He gave us phone numbers
and contacts and even called us back in Belfast with phone numbers.
From this land to a land down under ( click photo to see larger image)
This is the land beside Sean's "shop."
We were told it was called "Kenny's field." This picture is taken looking across to the street
with the Kenny-Fleming-Costello connections and is taken from the parking lot of Sean's pub.
Recognizing Skehenagh Church from James old photo.
On the other side, there is the church. When we referred to the notes that Sister Kit had given
us back in 1984, we read that "the chapel at Skehanagh was where James Costello had
gone to church. There is a picture that James, Sister Kit's father, had of the church. "
( click photo to see larger image)
When we compared the old picture and the present church, it seems pretty
clear that this is the place.
Calling on the Old Costello Homestead
We called on the Costellos, Margaret- a teacher in Dublin- and she didn't recall any Aussies.
She said another Costello lived in the street too, but wasn't sure of him. Her parents were
Tom and Anne, and Tom's father was John Costello, whose wife was Mary and her family
name was also Costello, from Killascobe. John had brothers with names Matty and Tom and
Dennis.
Meet Tom Costello
We met her father the next
day,Tom,(b. December 3rd
1928)and he was a friendly
but shy character who was
happy enough to have his
picture taken.
His brother was the priest at
Tuam, Father Patrick,
whom I had phoned. He
said that Patrick was
younger and probably didn't
remember much more of
the family history than he
did.
Meeting the Neighbours-We had our own Ramsay Street!
We saw a lady in the window of the house next door and made a call. We met Aileen
Flaherty, the widow of Michael Flaherty, and his mother was Honore Fleming. She recalls the
close connection between the Kenny's and Flemings and Costello's.
The Site of the thatched cottage
John recalled that the street used to have three families. The original Costello house- a
thatched roof cottage- was gone now but it used to stand where this barn now stands
.
The Costello House today
The present residence
looks bright and new-
a far cry from what the
original Costello's left in the 1880's.
The Fleming House ( click photo to see larger image)
He also pointed out where the Flemings used to live.
It was now a farm building used for storage.
It was next door to the Costello's old house site.
The View across the fields to the church
As we stood on the original land where the Costello house stood, we could look back across
the fields and see the Church. We wondered if young James would have run across these
fields to go to church.
Into the Village of Menlough
We drove on to Menlough and tried to get a feel of the small town.
It felt somewhat bigger than our last visit.
Saint Mary's Menlough ( click photo to see larger image)
We found the church where Thomas and Bridget were married back in 1844-
or at least its modern incarnation, Saint Mary's.
The parish bulletin calls this church the Menlough Church of the Killascobe
parish.
IRA Connections?( click photo to see larger image)
On the way out, we passed a plaque full of names and registering the
memory of those local people who had fought for Irish Independence. We
noticed a Thomas Costello from Killascobe.
A Fleming Connection
At Mary's place, we phoned an Assumpta Macaewan whose mother- Kitty Finnerty, nee
Fleming- her father was Martin Fleming and grandfather was Mark Fleming. She had told her
that she was related to the Costellos and the Kenny's and her mother was a Fleming. The
mum was senile and so had no more information. The Fleming that they recall was Honore
Fleming.
Conclusions: 1984-1999
15 years ago, we could easily imagine a famine struck family struggling to support a large
family off a scrap of land that looked pretty unforgiving. Today, with the beautiful new houses
and cars and farm equipment, it is a far cry from a scene of poverty. Ireland looks in the pink
of prosperity and the original Costello land looks like it is making a profit these days.
As for the Costello's that we met, the memories seem to have grown very faint over time.
People with the same name in the same street did not seem to know or much care how they
were actually related, so what chance of tracking down a 100 year old connection to a distant
continent.
The brightest spark of recognition came from the Kenny letter. And the folks most willing to
join us in our search were Mary and her brother Tom, the people who run the John Costello
pub in Skehennagh. I am sorry now that I did not take a picture of them as a way of saying
thanks for their hospitality
Returning to the Land of our Fathers and Mothers.
What we did discover was the landscape- to be able to actually identify the plot of land where
the original family had lived- of course we would need title deeds etc to confirm this, but that
was a thrill to see.
And to meet with Costello's who, though we couldn't find the missing link exactly, have to be
related to us somewhere down the distant track of time.
Last updated 08/07/1999. This is the Costello family web site designed to help gather and pass on the
stories of our clan.. If you have any comments or additions, please email me at paul@storywise.com
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