Michael O’Donohoe had no intention of reinventing the wheel. Papers in the archive reveal how meticulous he was in his research method. Michael combed through standard reference sources, comparing one with another to present an informed result. In many instances Michael created a useful index to allow quick and easy access to internal data. You…… Continue Reading
Boys’ National School Castleisland
Michael O’Donohoe’s transcription of the roll book of Castleisland Boys’ National School contains his own enrolment there in 1945: This followed the appointment of his father Matt, a garda based in Farranfore, to the station in Castleisland. From this time on, the town was home to the O’Donohoe family. The roll book, which consists…… Continue Reading
Castleisland in Deed
Notes on a number of legal agreements appear in the collection. Michael’s interest appears to have been in the history of the land and property held in Castleisland by Daniel J Kelliher, one time shopkeeper and publican of Main Street. The business no longer remains but a lease on the premises dated 21 March 1910…… Continue Reading
Fr Kieran O’Shea: parish priest and historian
Listowel native Fr Kieran O’Shea, parish priest of Knocknagoshel from 1990 until his death in 2006, has left lasting reminders of his ministry in Kerry. His name appends to a number of publications including Knocknagoshel Parish (1991) and Castleisland Church and People (1981), the latter resulting from his curacy of Castleisland parish from 1977-1990. …… Continue Reading
Barony and Civil Parish Maps of the Castleisland district
Michael O’Donohoe approached the ordnance survey map of the Castleisland district in a creative way to help discern, at a glance, who owned what and where in the nineteenth century. It is a very useful guide for anyone interested in history and genealogy or for those new to research who want to understand the…… Continue Reading
‘The Master’ lights up a Kerry gem
Among the extensive papers in the Michael O’Donohoe Collection is an interesting note on the ‘Reid Prize’. In 1899 it was awarded to David Reidy of Knockeenahone Male National School, one of many Kerry boys who benefited from the Reid Bequest. More than one century on, the school is no more but the award…… Continue Reading
Rev Thomas Radcliff’s Agricultural Survey of Kerry in 1814
Michael O’Donohoe’s papers include an extract from Rev Thomas Radcliff’s agricultural survey of the Castleisland district conducted more than two hundred years ago. The extract, transcribed below, captures social as well as agricultural change. Kerry in 1814 At the commencement of this Barony, in its nearest approach to Killarney, is an extensive tract of…… Continue Reading
Castleisland Charter school
The O’Donohoe Collection contains a number of articles and references to the Castleisland Charter School which operated in the town for about forty years in the closing decades of the eighteenth century. The material includes Michael O’Donohoe’s summary of the school from its opening on 2 May 1763 until its suppression in 1802.1 …… Continue Reading