Glenmore Business
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Glenmore Creamery Featured in Butter Museum’s Latest Video [updated]
The video is on facebook. The fastest way to find it is to go to the Butter Museums webpage and click on the little facebook symbol in the upper right side of the home page.
Here is a link to the video on Vimeo
Early Glenmore Business Newspaper Advertisements [Updated]
While searching local newspapers various advertisements for Glenmore businesses, or businesses belonging to people from Glenmore, were found. Prior to 1925 there were very few advertisements, however several were located in local newspapers in the late 1930’s. For a short article on Glenmore Village in the 1930’s see, https://glenmore-history.com/glenmore-village-in-the-1930s/.
The following two ads were found together in the Munster Express of 16 December 1938. The J.K. Walsh shop and hall was the former premises of the Gaffney shop and mill. Locally Mrs. E. Walsh was called Lizzie J.K.
The Fluskey shop housed the second post office of Glenmore, was the place of the first telegraph and later the Glenmore telephone exchange. Robert Fluskey died in 1925, thus his sons who later ran the business appeared to have continued to leave the business in their father’s name. For details regarding Robert Fluskey see, https://glenmore-history.com/glenmore-businessman-robert-fluskey-1843-1925-and-the-sisters-of-charity-of-the-incarnate-word/.
The above ad for the Glenmore Creamery was found in the 15 December 1939 Munster Express. This ad confirms that the Glenmore Creamery had the second telephone in Glenmore. Danny Dowling earlier this month stated that he believes that the Glenmore parish priest was Glenmore 1.
The above ad for Pat Hanrahan’s shop in Glenmore Village was published in the Munster Express on 15 December 1939. For information on the Hanrahan Brothers who were reared in Glenmore and ran businesses in Glenmore Village and New Ross see, https://glenmore-history.com/michael-j-hanrahan-1888-1968-struggled-along/ and https://glenmore-history.com/michael-j-hanrahan-1888-1968-early-twentieth-century-gaelic-football-on-both-sides-of-the-atlantic/.
The ad below was also published in the same newspaper in 1939.
The following two ads were published in the New Ross Standard on 17th of December 1937 for two different businesses in New Ross owned and operated by two of the Hanrahan brothers raised Glenmore.
[Update 22 June 2021: At Christmas 2020 Danny Dowling remarked that the Holden that was in business with Hanrahan in New Ross was originally from Clune, Glenmore and P.N. O’Gorman was connected to Glenmore. ]
[Update 22 June 2021: At Christmas 2020 Danny Dowling remarked that the Holden that was in business with Hanrahan in New Ross was originally from Clune, Glenmore and P.N. O’Gorman was connected to Glenmore. William Aylward was a native of Parkstown, GLenmore and operated a grocery/pub in Waterford in the early 20th century.]
Lastly, there were some earlier ads found that are not directly related to Glenmore, but are interesting. For example, below is an ad for the Michael F. Murphy Company of Kilkenny. This ad was published in the Kilkenny People in 1907 and reflects the wide range of services offered from furniture removal and warehousing to steamship agent.
However, the strangest ad found from an early 20th century newspaper was found in the Munster Express of Saturday the 12th of October 1901 on page 6.
OLD FALSE TEETH BOUGHT—many people have old or disused false teeth. Send your teeth to R.D. and J.H. Fraser, Ltd., Princes St. Ipswich (estab. 1833), and they will remit the utmost value by return, or make you best offer. Largest and oldest buyers of old false teeth anywhere in the world.
In attempting to find out when the Fraser Company of Ipswich may have ceased trading in the buying of old false teeth the below sign was found. The sign indicates that R.D. & J.B. Fraser engaged in more trade than just the buying of old false teeth.
Dr. Kathleen Moore Walsh
Glenmore Businessman: Robert Fluskey (c. 1843-1925) and the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word [updated]
When Danny Dowling was a boy in Glenmore Village in the 1930’s he lived next to Fluskey’s Shop which also served as the post-office and telegraph office. At that time Jim Fluskey ran the business with his wife Mollie née Murphy of Davidstown, Glenmore. The Glenmore business was established by his father Robert Fluskey in about 1880. Danny believes that Fluskey purchased the shop from the Walsh family that then relocated to Waterford. One of the Walsh family members who operated the shop in Glenmore later, when quite elderly, lived on Peter St. in Waterford and spoke to Danny about her families shop in Glenmore.
By 1930 Robert Fluskey’s shop was the busiest and most thriving shop in Glenmore Village. This shop sold all types of foodstuffs, bran, flour, and meat such as bacon, cigarettes and tobacco etc. They also sold animal feed such as meal, bran and pollard. Even today the building that served as the Fluskey shop is now a remodelled house and still is referred to locally as Fluskey’s. Although emigration and religious vocations were common in most Irish families in the early twentieth century the Fluskey family was unique in the proportion of the women that joined one order, the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word.
The first Fluskey to come to Glenmore was Robert Fluskey (c. 1843-1925). Robert, called Bob, by the local people, was originally from Ullard, Graiguenamanagh. He left Graiguenamanagh and was working in Waterford at the Chapman’s on the Quay. He lived on Barronstrand Street and married his first wife, Catherine Power (c. 1835-1880) on 6 May 1878 in Waterford. The marriage records record that the newlyweds were both servants. Robert’s father was listed as James Fluskey, a farmer. Catherine worked as a house-keeper for Egan’s according to Danny’s interview of Nicky Forristal of the Mill, Graiguenakill. Danny on 29 May 2020 stated that Egan’s was where Penney’s is located today. Her father in the marriage records was listed as Walter Power, a farmer. Soon after their marriage they moved to Glenmore. Catherine Power died in Graiguenakill, Glenmore on the 24th of January 1880. She was 45 years of age and she died from an ovarian disease which she had for 2 ½ years. Her husband was present when she died and his profession was listed as grocer. Although Power is a common name in the Parish of Glenmore, Danny does not know if Catherine Power was a native of Glenmore or had family connections here.
Robert Fluskey married his second wife, Catherine Dunne on the 30th of May 1880 at Glenmore. Catherine Dunne was a dressmaker and her father was recorded as the late James Dunne, a carpenter. According to Danny, Robert Fluskey was an able, straight businessman and within a few years of moving to Glenmore his shop was thriving and his business interests expanded. By 1884 he was recorded in the County Directory as the Postmaster of Glenmore.
Robert and his second wife had eight children according to the 1911 census. In 1911 only six children were living.
[1] James Fluskey was born on the 22nd of January 1882. After his father’s death James ran the Glenmore business and became the Glenmore Postmaster. Mollie Fluskey née Murphy died on the Bank Holiday Monday in August 1957. According to Danny’s notes she was about 65 years of age. Jim Fluskey died on the 24th of June 1960.
[2] John Fluskey was born the 28th of November 1883 and died on the 14th of July 1900 at the age of 17. He was ill for two weeks with meningitis and TB.
[3] Terence Fluskey was born on the 29th of January 1885. Terence Fluskey became a clerical worker in Waterford where he was living on the 29th of April 1919 when he married Statia Maher, of Rochestown, Glenmore. The couple were married at Glenmore. Statia was the daughter of Michael Maher, farmer.
[4] Bridget Fluskey was born on the 12th of June 1886.
[5] Kate Fluskey was born on the 11th of December 1887 and died of TB on the 17th of June 1904 at the age of 16.
[6] Mary Ellen Fluskey was born on the 17th of March 1889.
[7] Anna Theresa Fluskey was born on the 1st of August 1891.
[8] Elizabeth Ita Fluskey was born on the 25th of January 1897.
Catherine Fluskey née Dunne died on the 10th of June 1916 of a cerebral embolism at the age of 65. Her son Terence was with her at the time of her death. Her husband, Robert Fluskey, died on the 28th of September 1925. At the time of his death his youngest daughter Lizzie was with him.
An obituary appeared in the New Ross Standard edition of 9 October 1925. Robert Fluskey’s obituary makes interesting reading and is unusual for the time as no chief mourners are listed. In fact none of his children are named not even his three daughters who took religious vows.
OBITUARY MR. ROBERT FLUSKEY, GLENMORE. The regretted death of Mr. Robert Fluskey took place at his residence, Glenmore, Co. Kilkenny, on Sept. 28th. He had reached the ripe age of 82 years, and though he had been in failing health for some time the end came rather unexpected when fortified by the rites of the Catholic Church, of which he was a devout, loyal and faithful, member, he passed peacefully to his reward. The deceased had the distinction of giving three daughters to the Church, and who are nuns in the great Order of the Word Incarnate, U.S.A. He had spent many years in business in Glenmore, where he was regarded as the soul of honesty and uprightness in all his business transactions, and was universally esteemed, which was shown by the very large number who attended his funeral and paid him their last mark of respect at the graveside. The funeral took place to the family burial ground, Glenmore, after Office and High Mass, at which the Rev. M. Holohan, P.P, Glenmore, presided. Celebrant, Rev. C. Bergin, Glenmore; deacon, Rev. Thomas Green, C.C. Rosbercon; sub-deacon, Rev. W. Murphy, C.C, Ferrybank; master of ceremonies, Rev. J. Bergin, C.C. Slieverue. In the choir were the Very Rev. Canon Doody, P.P, Ferrybank: Very Rev. L. Coghlan, P.P. Rosbercon; Rev. J. Madden, P.P, Mullinavat; Rev. M. Halloran, chaplain, Belmont; Rev. N. Hennessy, C.C, Tullogher; Rev. C. Kennedy, chaplain, Kilmacow; Rev. P. Delaney, Dean, St. Kieran’s College; Rev. P. Staunton, C.C. Mullinavat. R.I.P.
A year after her father’s death, Elizabeth Ita Fluskey followed her older sisters and emigrated to the US. Her emigration papers are now available on line. She arrived in the US on the 14th of June 1926 aboard the SS. Cedric. She reported that she was to work as a student nurse at St. Michael’s Hospital of Newark, New Jersey. She had grey eyes, was 5’7” in height and weighed 138 pounds. Unlike her older sisters who became nuns, Elizabeth married Michael McKenna, a native of Monaghan, on the 1st of June 1934 in Brooklyn, New York. The couple had three children Robert, Mary Ann and Betty Ann McKenna. Michael McKenna died on the 2nd of July 1949 and Elizabeth McKenna, née Fluskey died in November 1985. Danny explained that Elizabeth’s daughter, Betty McKenna came to Glenmore from America as a young woman and stayed. She married Sean Walsh and had family.
Fluskey Women of the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word
Robert Fluskey’s daughters
Bridget Fluskey (1886-1970) joined the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word Order and became Sister Mary, Our Lady of Good Counsel and was a teacher. She died on the 13th of October 1970 at the Incarnate Word Convent in San Antonio, Texas.
Mary Ellen Fluskey (1889-1974) became Sister Mary Irma. Sister Mary Irma died on Christmas Day 1974 at the Incarnate Word Convent in San Antonio, Texas, where she is buried in the convent cemetery. Her obituary in the Antonio Express newspaper states that she was survived by her sisters, Mrs. Elizabeth McKenna, of Brooklyn, New York and Sister M. Ciaran Fluskey S.P. Holy Oaks, Massachusetts. Her death certificate notes that she was a retired practical nurse.
Anna Theresa Fluskey (1891-1980) also became a Sister of Charity of the Incarnate Word. It is believed that Anna was the Sister M. Ciaran Fluskey listed in Mary Ellen’s obituary above. A Massachusetts death record was found for Anne T. Fluskey that reveals that she died on the 11th of January 1980 at Holyoke, Massachusetts.
Robert Fluskey’s Great-nieces(?)
Alice Fluskey (1904- 1984) was the daughter of Terence Fluskey, of Hoodsgrove, Rosbercon and Kate Fluskey née Haberlin. The 1911 Census reveals that Terence was a laborer and he and his wife had two sons and two daughters. Alice was the eldest at 4; Richard was 3; Thomas was 1 and Mary was two months. Kate Fluskey died on the 20th of May 1915 at the New Ross Workhouse at the age of 41 of gastritis cardiac debility. After their mother’s death Alice and Mary were sent to live with Jim and Mollie Fluskey in Glenmore. It is believed that Terence and Jim were first cousins. The marriage record for Terence Fluskey and Kate Haberlin provides that Terence was the son of Richard Fluskey [corrected 10 May 2022] of the Mile Bush, Rosbercon and Kate Haberlin was the daughter of Thomas Haberlin, a laborer from Forristalstown, Glenmore. James Fluskey and Mary Doherty were witnesses at this wedding. According to the New Ross Standard of 19 September 1924 Alice professed her religious intentions at the Incarnate Word Convent in San Antonio, Texas. She became Sister Mary Ellen.
Mary Fluskey (1911-1999) like her sister Alice, and older Glenmore cousins, entered the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word Order. She became Sister Catherine. Mary was the last of her family and the last of the Fluskey women who entered the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word. Her obituary is below and provides a great deal of detail concerning her vocation.
The photos of Eliz. (Lizzie) Fluskey and Michael and Eliz. (Lizzie) McKenna are old passport photos. In the featured colour photo of the Village, Fluskey’s is the two storey bluish building on the left of the photo.
This post was updated on 30 May 2020 after Danny Dowling provided additional details on 29 May 2020.
The photos of the Fluskey grave markers were added 21 June 2020.
Dr. Kathleen Moore Walsh
Fatality at the Glenmore Creamery: Martin Forristal (1879-1931) [updated]
Last Saturday we focused on the establishment of the Glenmore Co-Operative Creamery. According to Danny Dowling only two fatalities were associated with the operations of the Creamery. One involved the death of an employee, Martin Forristal (1879-1931) and the other involved the death of a volunteer worker on the Creamery threshing engine, Jack Mernagh, in 1911. The Mernagh tragedy was briefly covered in our blog of 2 February 2020 entitled “Glenmore and the New Ross to Waterford Railway Line.” Today we will focus on Martin Forristal.
Martin Forristal was born on the 16th of August 1879 in Robinstown, the son of Michael Forristal, of Rochestown and Anastasia Grant. Martin only had one sibling, his brother John Forristal who was born on the 15th of June 1877. At the time of the birth of his sons, Michael Forristal listed his occupation as servant. Michael Forristal died prior to 1901. [According to Francis O’Brien, of Glenmore Village, his great-grandfather was the coachman, Michael Forristal, who died in October 1880 in Rochestown, Glenmore of meningitis at the age of 35. Thus Martin was only a year of age when his father died.] The 1901 Census of Robinstown provides that Martin was living with his mother, Anastasia Forristal and they both list their occupation as farmers. In 1911 in addition to Martin and his mother, Mr. James P. O’Donovan, the first Glenmore Creamery manager, is aged 27 and is also living in the home. Anastasia is 60 years of age and Martin is 31. John Forristal was not residing at home in 1901 or 1911.
On the 9th of June 1915 Martin Forristal, aged 36 married Anne Roche (1890-1955) of Rathinure, Glenmore. Anne was 26 years of age, having been born on the 1st of January 1890 and the daughter of farmer John Roche and Kate Phelan. (See Guest Author, Walsh, (2020) The Enduring Names of Rathinure for additional information regarding the eviction of Johnny Paddy Roche from his field in Rathinure).
Martin Forristal and Anne Roche were married by Rev. Fr. Thomas Phelan, Glenmore P.P. and witnesses were Patrick Kennedy and Kate Roche. To this union at least 8 children were born: (1) Michael “Mick” Forristal (1916-1981); (2) Stasia “Sister Paschal” Forristal (1918- 1990) of the Sacred Heart of Mary Order; (3) Catherine “Kit” Forristal (1920-1998) married John Phelan; (4) John Forristal (1927-2004); (5) Bridget “Sister Bernadette” Forristal (1921-2001) of the Sacred Heart of Mary Order; (6) Mary Forristal (1923-1975); (7) Ann “Nancy” Forristal (1924-1997) married John O’Brien and (8) Martin Forristal (1930-1995). The obituary of Nancy Forristal O’Brien provides that another child, Johanna Forristal died young (at the age of 5 weeks in 1927). The photo of eight Forristal children was taken in front of their home in 1935. All of the Forristal children remained single except Kit and Nancy. [Ironically, Martin Forristal, Jr. like his father was only about a year old when his father died.]
In addition to operating the small farm Martin Forristal began working at the Glenmore Creamery in 1905 when it was being built and began operations. Martin Forristal died tragically on the 8th of June 1931 at the Glenmore Creamery. At the time of his death, at his place of employment, Martin Forristal was 51 years of age, married with eight children between the ages of 15 and 11 months. An inquest was held on the 10th of June and extensive newspaper articles appeared in the New Ross Standard (12 June 1931) and the Waterford Standard (13 June 1931) providing graphic details of the death. Dr. Fitzgerald, coroner, held the inquest into the death, and the following jury was sworn: Patrick Hanrahan, merchant (foreman), Patrick Dowling, Edward Corcoran, M. O’Hanlon, John Phelan, M. Hynes, and M. Kelly. Superintendent N. Walsh, Thomastown, conducted the proceedings for the Garda. Mr. Shannon, inspector of factories and workshops under the Department, was in attendance, as was Mr. O’Shaughnessy, solicitor, Waterford, for the Creamery Committee.
There were six witnesses called. Dr. Matthew P. Coghlan, the dispensary doctor, testified that be saw the body of the deceased on Monday evening. The deceased was then lying on the loft of the creamery at the place of the accident. Dr. Coghlan made a superficial examination of the body, and satisfied himself that he was dead. The following day in conjunction with Dr. Valentine Coghlan, he performed a post mortem. There were contusions, on the back of the shoulders and on both arms, hips, and legs, and the back of his skull was broken into small pieces, some of it was driven into the brain. The scalp at the back was also in pulp. The brain was lacerated, and a portion protruded at the back of the head. In his opinion the cause of death was fracture of the skull, with laceration of the brain. He testified that the injuries were consistent with the deceased being caught in a revolving shaft. Dr. Valentine Coghlan stated that he performed the post mortem with Dr. Matthew P. Coghlan, and had heard his evidence, and agreed with it in every particular.
The third witness was Martin’s brother John Forristal. John Forristal testified that he resided at the Quay, New Ross, and was a grocer’s assistant. He viewed and formally identified the body of his brother Martin. He stated that the deceased would have been 52 years of age next August and was employed as an engine driver by Glenmore Cooperative Creamery.
The fourth witness was James Cashin a general worker of the Glenmore Creamery. Cashin testified that at about 3:30 p.m. on the 8th of June he was on the ground floor of the creamery. He stated that he was having a cup of tea and the deceased talked to him for about two minutes. The deceased then went upstairs to the mill. “I heard an awful racket upstairs, and it sounded like bones cracking. I dashed up the stairs, and the first thing I saw was some clothes spinning around on the mill shafting.” Without waiting to ascertain if Forristal had been injured, Cashin ran back to the ground floor and stopped the machinery. When he went back upstairs he saw the deceased lying on his back on the pulley. The shaft had ripped the clothing off of the deceased; the only clothing on the deceased were his boots and socks. He appeared to be dead. Cashin immediately informed the manager James O’Donovan.
The fifth witness was the Creamery Manager, James P. O’Donovan. He testified that James Cashin reported the death and he immediately went to the mill loft. He stated that the deceased was employed as engine driver and had been an employee of the Creamery for 26 years. When he went up to the mill on the 8th with Cashin he saw the deceased on his back under the pulley. He was devoid of clothes, and appeared to be dead. He saw the deceased’s clothing on the shafting between the small pulley and the driving wheel. O’Donovan immediately sent William Walsh for the priest and phoned the guards and Dr. Coughlan. In response to questions O’Donovan stated that it was the business of the deceased to look after and work all machinery in the creamery. The wheel that was part of the accident was protected by a timber guard. The coroner requested the exact duties o the deceased and O’Donovan stated that his duty was to start the engine in the morning, fire the boiler, and work the mill and other machinery in the creamery. It was usual for the deceased to go to the loft to grind corn. To engage or start the shafting it was on the ground floor. He had been grinding corn for eleven years. In order to start the screen working it was necessary to get in between the driving wheel of the mill and the wall. As a precaution the deceased should have stopped the shaft which would have required him going downstairs.
The final witness was Mr. Shanahan, inspector stated that the machinery where the accident occurred was in what was known as a dangerous area, and, owing to its character, it was impossible to fence off every portion of it. He opined that the deceased should have shut off the shafting and made it safe before going into the loft. In his opinion, all the necessary precautions had been taken by the management of the creamery.
After a few minutes’ deliberation, the jury returned a verdict that the cause of death was due to fracture the skull and laceration of the brain as a result of being accidentally caught in the shafting. The Foreman, on behalf of the jury, tendered their deepest sympathy to the family and relatives of the deceased, who was a most upright and popular man. The coroner, the doctors, the Superintendent, Mr. 0’Shaughnessy, solicitor, and inspector Shannon joined in the expression of sympathy. The New Ross Standard noted that the eldest son, Michael, had been at school at St. Kieran’s College, Kilkenny, during the preceding nine months, and came home on vacation the day before the tragedy. It was also reported that the deceased had a most excellent work record. “He was intensely devoted to his work, and was held in the greatest esteem by the manager and the creamery committee. He had a most pleasant manner, very obliging, and was extremely popular in the district.”
After the inquest the remains were taken to the Glenmore Parish Church, accompanied by a large concourse of people. The following morning Office and High Mass, at which a large number of clergy were present, was held in the Parish Church, after which the remains were interned in the Glenmore cemetery. It was reported that the funeral was one of the largest seen in the district for a long time, and it was notable tribute to his memory and expression of sympathy with his family and relatives.
Danny Dowling said that after Martin Forristal’s tragic death his eldest son Mick went to work at the Glenmore Creamery. Mick’s brother John worked the small Robinstown farm and during busy periods at the Creamery also worked there. Their brother Martin, who was almost a year old when their father died, worked for 43 years at the Glenmore Creamery. When the son, Martin Forristal, retired in 1995 it was noted in a New Ross Standard article that his retirement ended a 90 year employment relationship between the Forristal family and the Glenmore Creamery.
Special thanks to Francis O’Brien, Glenmore Village for the photos of his grandfather, Martin Forristal, the eight Forristal children and the 1958 photo of the Glenmore Creamery workers and also for the dates of births and deaths for his grandmother and aunts and uncles.
The featured photo is of the Forristal house in Glenmore Village as it looks today. [The post was updated on 28 May 2020 with additional information provided by Francis O’Brien.]
Dr. Kathleen Moore Walsh
The Glenmore Co-Operative Creamery (Est. 1905)
The Glenmore Co-operative Creamery was registered on the 18th of April 1905 under the Friendly Societies Act. This registration required the Creamery to submit its accounts yearly to a government auditor. The object of the society was to manufacture cream, butter, the sale of artificial manures, seeds, farm implements and all other occupations allied to agriculture.
A lengthy newspaper article appeared in the New Ross Standard of Friday the 12th of January 1906 (p. 5) extensively covering the first annual meeting of the Creamery of shareholders. The meeting was chaired by Rev. Thomas Phelan, P.P. of Glenmore. Over 100 shareholders were in attendance, the first annual report was delivered, the first year of operations was reviewed, future plans were discussed and a new board of management was elected.
To become a shareholder or member of the Glenmore Creamery famers were required to apply for admission. Applicants were required to purchase the number of shares equal to their number of cows. In 1905 the cost per share was set at £1 per cow, payable in instalments, as determined by the Committee. By resolution passed at the start of the creamery, members were required to pay on admission an instalment of 2s. 6d. each share, and a second instalment of 2s. 6d. payable in June 1906. Because the Glenmore Creamery was registered as a limited society, the liability of each member was limited to the sum unpaid on any share the member held. This was an important feature of the Glenmore Creamy; in the event of voluntary liquidation or on a winding-up order, a farmer shareholder was liable for nothing except any outstanding instalment on his shares. After just ten weeks of operation in 1905, all expenses were met, a good price was paid to the members for their milk, and £106 profit was achieved and used to reduce the bank debt.
The First Year
It was noted that the Glenmore Creamery was built on a large site, with an ample supply of spring and stream water, and was built on a plan which provided for extension. The stones were given free by Mr. Curran and on the 20th May 1905 the foundation stone was laid. On the 12th of September 1905 the building and equipment were complete, and on the 13th of September 1905 milk was received by the Glenmore Creamery for the first time. At the time of its opening the Glenmore Creamery was an auxiliary plant where milk was collected and sent via horse drawn wagons to the central creamery at Mullinavat. The Committee was from the outset of the view that the Glenmore Creamery should become a central plant. Therefore, when the Committee sought machinery they chose machinery for a central rather than auxiliary creamery. The required machinery was obtained from Burmeister and Wain.
The operation of the early auxiliary Glenmore Creamery was recorded in the first annual report and printed in the newspaper article. Milk was received by weight. Each morning a sample was taken and preserved, and twice in the month the sample was tested to determine the quantity of butter fat contained in each supplier’s milk. The test provided the number of pounds of butter fat in every hundred pounds of milk. The farmers were paid per pound of butter fat, and the payments were made at the end of the month. The Mulllinavat Central creamery churned the Glenmore cream. “To provide against injury to the character of the cream, or the dairy, the [Glenmore] manager … received strict orders to refuse milk offered in bad condition.” Shareholders who needed milk cans for the forthcoming season were asked to order them through the manager by the end of January 1906. Payment was accepted in cash or by instalments, with payment for the milk cans spread over the season. Any shareholder availing of the instalment payment scheme was charged 5 per cent interest.
Future Plans
In its first annual report in January 1906, the Glenmore Creamery Committee acknowledged that there was a desire to move the Glenmore Creamery from an auxiliary plant to a central plant where it would churn and produce its own butter. It was noted that …”sentiment is a very bad producer of butter fat and until the guarantee of 1,100 cows, has been completed, it would not be advisable to undertake the additional outlay of approximately £7OO needed for a central.”
In addition to moving to becoming a central creamery plant there were also plans for a co-operative store in which shareholders could purchase at “first cost” with a guarantee of genuineness artificial manures, oil and cotton cake, flax-seed for calf-feeding, seeds and other agricultural requirements. “Shareholders desirous of availing of the advantages of the cooperative prices” were asked to provide their orders to the manager without delay.
Election of New Committee
After the first annual report was presented Mr. John Mullaly moved, and Mr. Thomas Kelly seconded, the following six resolutions: “That the report and balance sheet be approved.” “That we thank the committee for their attention to the business and their satisfactory report.” “That as a mark of our confidence we re-elect the following: Patrick Walsh (Davidstown), P. Fitzgerald, J. Hartly, D. Doolan, W. Forristal, J. Reddy., James Kirwan (Gaulstown), R. Fitzgerald, John Curran (N.T. Glenmore).” “That we re-elect the Rev. T. Phelan, P.P.. hon, president, and Rev. W. Walsh. C.C.. vice-president.” “That we desire the committee to proceed with the erection of the central as soon as they are satisfied it will be for our benefit, and we call on all who purpose becoming members to pay their instalments at once.” “That we appeal to the county committee of agriculture to send an expert to give a series of practical demonstrations in the preventive methods of that dread scourge–contagious abortion in cattle—which has caused great loss in the district.” ” That the committee arrange for a veterinary surgeon to treat by special arrangement the cattle of the shareholders.”
Guest Speakers
Mr. Drew, secretary, committee of agriculture, stated that the Department had issued a leaflet which gave full information on the treatment of contagious abortion, and that any man of ordinary intelligence could successfully carry out the instructions. Any chemist could supply the articles needed at the cost of a couple of shillings. Farmers needed to put their heads together and stamp out the disease, otherwise the dairy industry would suffer. Mr. Drew also explained the various schemes for the improvement of livestock and pointed out the necessity and utility of getting good stock animals.
Mr. Thomas Ray, horticulturist with the county, appealed to the people to take up more fully the growing, of vegetables, fruit and flowers. He opined that every house should have a garden and in it a succession of vegetables. He stated that he would gladly give instruction and advice. Apple trees cost one shilling and gooseberries a few pence, so he hoped to receive large orders from the Glenmore district. He stated that during this season 4,000 fruit trees already had been planted in County Kilkenny.
Early Years
In October 1905 the Mullinavat Creamery wrote to the Glenmore Creamery stating that another auxiliary creamery was seeking for it to churn for them. Mullinavat asked Glenmore its intentions regarding becoming a central creamery. If Glenmore did not move to churning its own butter, Mullinavat needed to put in larger machines to meet the churning demands of both auxiliary creameries. If Mullinavat went to the expense of larger machines it would require a contract with Glenmore Creamery that would require the Glenmore Creamery to remain an auxiliary creamery for several years. The Glenmore Committee noted that there were 700 cows in the district and felt that if shareholders would guarantee an additional 500 cows Glenmore Creamery could become a central creamery (New Ross Standard, 20 October 1905). Rather than be tied to Mullinavat the farmers of Glenmore guaranteed the needed 500 cows and Glenmore Creamery became a central creamery.
The early newspaper accounts do not provide any information concerning the first creamery manager, Mr. James O’Donovan. According to Danny he had a difficult job particularly in the early years as he was responsible for detecting and rejecting milk that was sour or would in anyway cause problems with the production of butter. Wild garlic was soon eradicated across the district because if eaten by cows it made their milk offensive and the milk would be rejected at the creamery. Nicholas Forristal, of the Mill, Graiguenakill, Glenmore explained to Danny that in the early years of the Creamery most householders in Glenmore kept a goat or two. Some farmers mixed goat’s milk in with the cow’s milk and this caused the butter to be streaky because goat’s butter is very white. When James O’Donovan became aware of the milk being adulterated with goat’s milk he ordered that the Creamery would not accept milk from farmers who kept goats.
In addition to dealing with the farmers the manager also had to manage the creamery staff. On 16 May 1908 it was reported that he rendered every assistance, including sending for Fr. Crotty and Dr. O’Dwyer, when an unnamed dairy maid suffered the loss of a finger while working at the Creamery. “It was miraculous she escaped so well.” (Wicklow People, 16 May 1908). [Update: Maria Cleary was the dairy maid that had her fingers crushed in machinery. She was taken to workhouse infirmary where one finger was removed. (Waterford & Tramore Visitor, 28 May 1908)] In our next article we will highlight a Glenmore Creamery employee who was killed while working in 1931.
From its humble auxiliary beginnings, within four years of the Glenmore Creamery being established it was reported in January 1909 that Glenmore butter had “topped the London Market” (New Ross Standard, 22 January 1909).
Special thanks to Jacqueline Walsh for the old photo of the Glenmore Creamery.
Dr. Kathleen Moore Walsh
[Update providing the name of the injured dairymaid was completed on 21 June 2020.]
[Correction made on 14 August 2021–the newspaper of 12 Jan. 1906 recorded that the laying of the cornerstone took place in May 1905 rather than March 1905.]
Glenmore Village in the 1930’s [updated]
Tucked in Notebook 24 were three loose pages of handwritten notes Danny Dowling started regarding the Village of Glenmore in the 1930’s when he was a boy. Special thanks to Jacqueline Walsh for the old photos of the Village. [At the request of a reader a map of the Village is attached below with numbers inserted into the text to correspond to the map. The map is not to scale.]
Throughout the decade of the 1930’s, the Village of Glenmore was mainly situated in the townlands of Graiguenakill, Cappagh and Robinstown. Danny refers to the area around the present pub as the original village area. This original village area was at the T in the roads where the road called the Churns ran down the hill from the New Line (now N25) into the village and intersected with the main Village road that ran between Cappagh and up the hill past St. James’ Catholic Church. A village pump was located in this area in the 1930’s just in front of where the pub is now located.
In the original village area commencing with the buildings that lined the main Village Road (and facing up the Churns road) the building closest to the stream was Jim Fluskey’s shop[1]. His wife was Mollie Murphy, of Davidstown. Fluskey’s shop was the busiest and most thriving in the whole Village. They sold all types of foodstuffs, bran, flour, and meat such as bacon, cigarettes and Tobacco etc. They also sold animal feed such as meal, bran and pollard. The second Glenmore Post Office was in these premises.
The next building (toward the Church) was Dowling’s house [2]. This was the house where Danny was born in 1927. Previously Mary Hanrahan, née Murphy owned the house along with a farm of nearly forty acres. Both her husband, Jimmy Hanrahan, and her son, John Hanrahan, were dead. Mary Hanrahan gave the premises and land to her niece Hannie Murphy, of Ballinlammy who was married to Pat Dowling, of Jamestown. Jimmy Hanrahan had been a cooper by trade and Hanrahan family had their cooperage in the townland of Robinstown on the other side of the road opposite to the Gaffney premises and corn mill. [3]
Gaffney’s once had the next buildings toward the church. The last of the Gaffney’s sold out and moved to England before 1930. The premises in the 1930’s were in the possession of the Heffernan—Walsh family. [3] In addition to a shop there was a dance hall established in 1937. Lizzie and Minnie Heffernan were sisters. Lizzie was married to Jimmy Walsh, of Ballybrahee, and they had three children: Eric, Hal (Harry) and Etta. Etta Walsh married Pat Fitzpatrick who was a superintendent in the Garda Force. Minnie was not married and lived in the shop while Lizzie and her family lived in the attached dwellinghouse next door which was known as J.K’s. The dance hall was at the rear and accessed from the Mullinahone Road. [3a]
Across the main Village Road (opposite the present pub) at the bottom of the Churns there were three attached houses. The middle house belonged to John Cody, [5] the local postman, his wife Allie and their three daughters; Maryanne, Katie and Alice. Alice Cody married John Ryan from County Carlow. Alice had the post office after Fluskey for a number of years, thus the third Glenmore post office was here. [5] Next door, going up the hill, lived the Jones family. [6] [Danny’s notes do not indicate who lived in the corner house [4] but I was able to verify with Noeleen Fogarty, née Hennessey that her father was born in this house in 1926. It is believed that previously the Flynn’s her grandmother’s people resided here.]
Further up the hill on the same side of the road were the shoemaking premises of Jim Scanlon and his son Jack [7]. They manufactured man made boots and shoes for heavy work and repaired shoes. In busy periods, Scanlon’s workshop employed journeymen shoemakers. Jim Scanlon was reputed to produce work which was considered to be first class. Jim Scanlon was a native of Knockbrack, Glenmore and started his shoemaking business in Glenmore about 1920 or earlier. Jim Scanlon died in 1931 and that was the end of the shoemaking business. His son Jack remained in the shoe repair business until after the Second World War.
A little further up the hill toward the New Line there were two small houses built together [8 &9]. Doolans lived in one of the houses. Later O’Keefe’s lived in the other. [Per Jo Doyle, née Mernagh one of these houses was split and then there were three houses. Jo in the early 40’s went to school with Biddy Doolan who lived there and Wattie Walsh lived in the other house. It is believed that Wattie was the son of Jim Walsh who also had a couple of step-daughters.]
Across the Road (next door up the hill from the current pub) was Jim B’s. [10] James Walsh, a native of Ballyfacey, was the local carpenter who did all kinds of work including the making of farms carts. He operated a workshop from his premises and lived here with his wife and family. Where the pub is now were outbuildings. The pub was established in 1963 by Seán Walsh and is currently operated by Michael Barron, of Carrigcloney. At the bottom of the hill across from Fluskey’s stood Mackessy’s stage house or grain store[11]. Previously a forge was located across from Fluskey’s.
Crossing the Mullinahone stream into Cappagh, Mackessy’s coach house [12] was the first building on the stream side of the road. Opposite the coach house in the 1930’s the first house was occupied by Patsy Ryan. [13] The next house was occupied by Paddy Jones [13a], who was married to Alice Dunne and the couple had two sons Pakie and Seamus Jones. Mrs. Cashin [14] had the third house . Her husband drowned in the River Barrow. The Cashin’s had four children. Jimmy Cashin was the engineman in the Creamery; Mick Cashin was in London; Ellie Cashin married John McBride and Statia Cashion married a man named Doyle from New Ross. Statia worked with P.N. O’Gorman Auctioneers and Valuers, of Rosbercon, for several years until O’Gorman’s death. Statia Doyle [15] lived next door to Heffernan’s shop. Prior to Mrs. Cashin the house was occupied by Miss Bolger who had a dressmaking business there.
The next building was Heffernan’s shop [16] which was operated by Mikey Heffernan and family. His wife was a native of Co. Tipperary and was principal of the Girl’s National School. Previous to being a shop the building served as accommodation for the married police in the Village. Single officers had accommodation provided in the Barracks. The last house before leaving the Village was a two-storey house occupied by Maggie McGuniesse. Maggie was married to Patsey Walsh and had a large family. [17]
Going up the main Village road, from the original village, the hill at the Barracks [18] (at the corner of the intersection with the Mullinahone Road just past J.K.’s) was called the Barrack’s hill. In the 1930’s the next house on the same side of the road as the barracks was Forristal’s. [19] When James O’Donovan, the first Creamery manager, first came to Glenmore he lodged at Forristal’s. The next house going up the hill on the main village road was the Sacristan’s house [20] in the front corner of the church yard. Across the road from the Sacristan’s house was Pat Hanrahan’s premises. [21] Much later Hanrahan’s became the location of the 4th and final Glenmore Post Office.
At the end of Hanrahan’s house, the Vee road intersects with the main village road. On the Vee road opposite Hanrahan’s field (this field is where the first Glenmore Chapel was located prior to 1813) the Glenmore Creamery [23] was located in the 1930’s. When the creamery was established in 1905 it was situated in the townland of Kilmakevoge. When the creamery was extended the shop and corn storage facilities were situated in Robinstown.
Further up the Vee road hill toward the Old Line the next building in the 1930’s was the tiny shop of Bridie Doolan [24] also located in the townland of Kilmakevoge. Danny expressed in November 2019 that when he was a boy Christmas stockings were hung in the window of the shop and he spent a lot of time admiring the Christmas stockings. The next building up the hill was where John Hennessey [25] had his forge. This premise is directly across the valley from St. James.
At St. James church, [22] on the main Village road, the next building up the hill was the Curate’s [26] two-storey house. A little further up the main Village road, on the same side as the Church, there were three houses (across from the old Boy’s and Girl’s National Schools.) Heading out of the Village in the 1930’s, Powers [30] lived in the first house. Henry Bevins, N.T. [31] lived in the second house, and the O’Donovan sisters [32] lived in the third house. The O’Donovan sisters were sisters of the first Creamery Manager. Later Daisy and Pat Irish lived in this house.
Across the main Village road from the Curate’s house, and up the hill a bit, was the school teacher’s house [27]. It is believed that Mrs. McCarthy (Mariah Deady) lived in this house in the 1930’s. Prior to this the Curran’s lived in this house. On the same side of the road up the hill further was the Boy’s National School [28] and then the smaller Girl’s National School [29]. In the 1930’s this was considered the end of the Village.
If anyone can add to the information or has corrections please send them to glenmore.history@gmail.com.
Our next blog will highlight events that transpired 100 years ago at Easter at the Glenmore Barracks.
Dr. Kathleen Moore Walsh [updated 9 April 2020]