"...to seek and to find the past, a lineage, a history, a family built on a flesh and bone foundation."

Saturday, June 27, 2015

Sepia Saturday #285: Within these walls: 'School days'

School days, school days, 
dear old golden rule days,
Reading and 'riting and 'rithmatic,
taught to the tune of the hickory stick.
You were my queen in calico,
I was your bashful, barefoot beau,
You wrote on my slate,
'I love you Joe',
when we were a couple of kids.

It's funny how the mind works, isn't it? When I was looking at the inspiration image of the Chittenden Hotel for today's Sepia Saturday, these lyrics from a very old (1907) American chanty began to run through my head.

For reasons unknown to me, occasionally my Irish mother would sing this tune, while she was washing dishes, doing a simple mending job, or weeding in the back garden. When I was a child I thought it was a very silly rhyming bit, but it made my mother happy, and the light-hearted nature of it seemed to make quick work of the task at hand. I can still picture my mother working away, head slightly bobbing, as she trilled out this simple ditty.

How does this bring me to today's post? Well, the little tune, together with the image of the hotel building, reminded me of school and school buildings, and some of those educational institutions that have figured in my family history. So without further adieu, I give you, 'School days'.

The first set of images shows Clongowes Wood College in its various incarnations. Founded by the Jesuits in 1814, and situated just outside of Clane, in County Kildare, the college is a seven-day boarding school for boys. Several members of my family were educated here, including Andrew J. Kettle, who attended in the 1840s, and his sons Laurence Joseph Kettle and Thomas Michael Kettle, both of whom attended during the last decade of the 19th century.

The gateway into Clongowes Wood College remains much as it was from the school's inception.
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'The Castle' of Clongowes Wood College in its earliest incarnation.
[National Library of Ireland]
The Castle, with the addition of the Boys' Chapel which was built in 1907.
[National Library of Ireland]
Clongowes Wood College as it looks today.
©irisheyesjg.
Additional buildings on the campus include the white building know as The People's Church.
Built from 1819-1821, it served as the Boys' Chapel until the current Boys' Chapel was built in 1907.
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Back in County Dublin, in the lush pastoral setting of Rathfarnham, is St. Enda's Boys' School. My family's connection to the school comes from the paternal side of the family tree. According to my late father and his siblings, my paternal granduncle Patrick Geraghty was a member of the teaching staff of St. Enda's School. Patrick went on to teach at University College Cork, but of his time at St. Enda's, so far definitive proof eludes me.

Founded in 1908 by Pádraig Pearse — he who read the Proclamation of the Irish Republic at the outset of the 1916 Easter Rising — the school stands on 50 acres of woods and parkland.

With the view that conventional education was destroying young minds, instead of nurturing them, Pearse's antipodean methods seemed newer than new, but harkened back to the past and a theory of 'pure learning'. Gaelic culture and language were at the forefront of his educational system, as was Irish Nationalism, and the connection with the natural world was deeply ingrained in his philosophy.

The 'Hermitage' of St. Enda's School.
It is now the Pearse Museum.
©irisheyesjg.
The Dormitory.
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The Study Hall as it once looked.
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The Study Hall now stands empty of desks, though little else is changed.
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The Chapel as it looked when the school was in operation.
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The Chapel as it is today.
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One of several follies secreted in the lush green landscape of the school.
©irisheyesjg.
Leaving behind the grandeur of Clongowes and the pastoral setting of St. Enda's, we head to the urban landscape, and the single simple granite building which comprised the Christian Brothers' School of St. Paul when it was founded in 1869. This was the school as my paternal grandmother's eldest brother Michael Magee knew it when he was in attendance in 1912. The school is located on North Brunswick Street in the Stoneybatter neighbourhood of Dublin City. With the passage of time the school has expanded, with 'modern' additions added on in later years; however, the original building still stands, and now houses the Boys' Primary School.

Although their programme of education was not as radical as that of St. Enda's School, nonetheless the Christian Brothers infused their lessons with more than a healthy dose of Irish Nationalism. Gaelic language and culture were also part of the curriculum. Such an education would have a profound impact on Michael Magee's life. In 1913, at the age of 15 years, Michael joined the Irish Volunteers. He fought during the 1916 Easter Rising, and would die as a member of the Active Service Unit in 1921 during the Irish War of Independence. Coincidentally, St. Paul's school fronts the street in an area in which 18 year old Michael was Volunteer Section Leader, serving with 'A' Company, 1st Battalion of the Dublin Brigade during the 1916 Easter Rising.

The Christian Brothers' School of St. Paul,
North Brunswick Street, Stoneybatter, Dublin City, County Dublin.
©irisheyesjg.
Be sure to stop by the Sepia Saturday blog to connect with others and see how they have interpreted today's theme.


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All Rights Reserved.

Wednesday, June 3, 2015

Handwriting & Heredity: Does your handwriting resemble that of an ancestor?

The hands of some Fitzpatrick and Hynes family members.
For those of us who spend an inordinate amount of time writing on a laptop or desktop computer, when we kick against the traces of the tech world and take a pen in hand, our writing may show those marked changes which can be brought on by the ergonomics of tap, tap, tapping on a keyboard. The movement of our hands and the ability to write may also be affected by the simple wear and tear of daily life, and for some of us, diseases such as arthritis change the way in which our hands move, and thus the way in which we write.

A few days ago while I was perusing records, I noticed the toll ten years had taken on the handwriting and the signature of one of my 2nd great-granduncles. Although the signature is still very much his own, there is a slight shakiness to the way in which the characters are formed.

When I looked through other documents — letters and the like — I noticed there are similarities in the cursive writing of members of the same families, similarities which appear to have come down through the generations. When you consider your own handwriting, do you ever compare it with that of your parents or grandparents, or perhaps someone further back? Do you notice any resemblance between the characteristics of your writing and that of a family member, or is your cursive hand distinctively different?

According to geneticists, there may very well be a gene by which characteristics of handwriting might be passed on through the generations; however, they have yet to discover precisely that gene. Some say it is more likely cursive writing is affected by the way in which a child's fine motor skills are developed through schooling, both formal and otherwise. However, if it is only a matter of schooling, then why is it we might find a great-grandchild whose penmanship mirrors that of his great-grandfather's?

Does your handwriting share any traits 
with the writing of an ancestor or a relative?

The signature of paternal great-grandfather Patrick Magee, 1901 Irish Census.
His daughter Mollie wrote with the same flourish, forming her 'M's in the same manner.
The signature of paternal great-grandfather Patrick Geraghty, 1901 Irish Census.
His grandson, my father Michael, formed his 'G's in an identical fashion.
The signature of paternal great-granduncle William Dunne,
Royal Dublin Fusiliers recruitment record.
William's sister, my great-mother Mary Dunne Magee, wrote with a similar hand.
The signature of maternal great-grandfather Thomas Fitzpatrick, 1911 Irish Census.
At least one of his granddaughters forms her 'F's in precisely the same fashion.
©irisheyesjg2015.
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