June, 2022

A couple of months ago we were asked by a reader in New York to help identify which Glenmore family Mary Kirwan née Dillon descended. Mary Kirwan née Dillon was featured in the Irish Advocate newspaper of New York on Saturday the 17^th of December 1983 (p. 9). The article provided some valuable as well as interesting information and photos. Below is the entire article.

Irish Advocate

“Mrs. Mary Kirwan of Liverpool, who recently celebrated her 80^th birthday, is one of the best known and best loved figures in Comhaltas in Britain. Mrs. Kirwan who is a fine singer and plays the melodeon was born Mary Dillon in Glenmore, Co. Kilkenny: she married William Kirwan. After marriage she moved to Liverpool and here was active in a number of Irish organisations.”

“She is the mother of 13 children of whom six are alive today. Through her children she became interested in Irish dancing and this brought her in contact with the music again. In 1947 she moved to England to join her husband who was already working over there. The two youngest daughters took up dancing again and in 1959 she moved to Liverpool. Here she was, and of course still is, a leading light in Irish organisations.“

“She was one of the first members of Comhaltas in Liverpool and was one of the people who helped to found the Irish Centre. She is well known figure at Fleadhanna throughout Britain and of course Fleadhn Cheoil na hEirenn. Her two grand-daughters, Maria and Catherine Bolger, are keen musicians and are members of the Liverpool Junior Bands. All in Comhaltas wish Mrs. Kirwan many more years of health, happiness and music.”

The Mary Dillon (b. 1901 in Glenmore)

Dillon and Kirwan are Glenmore names, so it came as a surprise when we found that Mary Josephine Dillon was born in Glenmore, but only remained in Glenmore for a very short time. On 25 May 1901 Mary Josephine Dillon was born to George Dillon, mason, of Graiguenakill and his wife Ellen Dillon née Curray. The 1901 census provides that George Dillon was 25 years of age and his wife Ellen was 24. He was born in County Derry and she was born in Co. Tyron. Three other masons were boarding in the Dillon home in Graiguenakill, Glenmore including: Pat and John Murphy (aged 43 & 55) and Martin Honan (aged 29). It is assumed that George Dillon and the other masons were working on the New Ross to Waterford railway line that was being constructed about this time.

We could not locate a local marriage record for George Dillon and Ellen Curry, so we cast the net a bit further and found that the couple were married on 29 July 1900 in County Tyrone. The groom was 22 years of age, lived in Strabane and his bride, Ellen Corry, was aged 22 and from Castlegore. The groom was the son of George Dillon, Sr. who was also a mason, and the father of the bride was William Corry, a labourer.   A baptismal record was found for Ellen Corry who was born on 23 March 1873 to William Corry (farmer) and his wife Mary Leonard of Coolcreaghy, Castlederg, County Tyrone.

After Mary’s birth in Glenmore, in 1901, all of her younger siblings were born in County Tyrone. Mary’s brother George Joseph Dillon was born in 1902; followed by William James Dillon in 1903 and Margaret Francis Dillon in 1904. At the time of Margaret’s birth, the family was living at Bridge End, Strabane, County Tyron. The 1911 census shows that another sibling named John L. Dillon was born in 1907, but no records of his birth could be located.

The 1911 census indicates that George J. Dillon (aged 8); William J. Dillon (aged 7) and John L. Dillon (aged 4) were residing with their widowed grandmother Mary Corry (aged 60) at 3 Victoria Terrace, Castlederg, Tyrone. Three of their mother’s siblings were also in the house: Jeannie Corry (aged 25); William Corry (aged 22) and Michael Corry (aged 18). We could not locate Ellen Dillon or the two daughters, Mary Josephine (b. 1901) and Margaret Frances Dillon (b. 1904). A George Dillon was found in the 1911census boarding at 34 Mardyke Steet in Athlone.  His age is given as 37, it states that he is an unmarried mason, and was born in Londonderry.

Unfortunately Mary Dillon (b. 1901) in Glenmore was not the Mary Kirwan née Dillon featured in the 1983 Irish Advocate (New York) newspaper article.

Mary Kirwan née Dillon (b. 1899)

Thanks to Mary Kirwan née Dillon’s grandson, Michael Ashcroft, we learned that the newspaper article was wrong. The Mary Kirwan featured in the article was not born in Glenmore, but she married William Kirwan (b. 1898) of Scartnamore, Glenmore on 16 July 1919 in Glenmore. At the time of their wedding William Kirwan was a farm labourer residing in Newtown and Mary was residing in Gaulestown, Glenmore.

William Kirwan (b. 1898) was the son of James Kirwan (c.1872-1941) (farmer) and his wife Mary Lowry (c. 1873-1938). James Kirwan was a native of Scartnamore and Mary Lowry Kirwan was a native of Rochestown. Their eldest child, William Kirwan was born at Milepost, Slieverue, but by 1911 the family was residing in Scartnamore. Mary Dillon (b. 1899) was born at Shortcourse, Waterford. On her birth registration her parents are listed as Michael Dillon (pipe maker) and his wife Elizabeth Rogers. However, on her marriage record her father is listed as John Dillon (baker).

Michael Ashcroft’s mother, Bernadette Kirwan (1933-2014) was born in Knockboy, Waterford the second youngest of the 13 Kirwan children. When she was 14 she moved to England with the family.

After Mary Dillon Kirwan moved to England we found that she registered to vote in 1945 and gave her address as 18 Suburban Road, Lancashire, England. In 1950 her address was 55 Hampden St., Lancashire. In 1951, the Comhaltas, an Irish traditional music association was formed and members of the Liverpool Ceilidh Band together with Mary Coghlan and Florrie Breannan entertained at the 21^st anniversary party at the Liverpool Irish Centre (Liverpool Echo, Tues. 27 June 1972, p. 3).

Michael Ashcroft shared that The Livepool Irish Centre had a surprise party for his grandmother, Mary Kirwan née Dillon, on her 85th birthday. “Every Irish person in Liverpool was present or so it seemed to me.”

See our post of 11 September 2022 for an article about William and Mary Kirwan’s daughter Bernie.

Please send further information or corrections to glenmore.history@gmail.com. The two photos appeared with the article in the Irish Advocate (New York) newspaper (17 Dec. 1983, p. 9). Special thanks to Michael Ashcroft for sending the correct information and the photos of his family.

Dr. Kathleen Moore Walsh