Archive for the ‘Australia’ Category
Let it snow
The weather forecast for the weekend is giving snow showers. I want to be among the first that, no matter what comes out of the sky, it is NOT the fault of minister for Transport Noel Dempsey. He has probably heard the weather forecast. Now he doesn’t like the cold so I wonder has he anything planned like a trip to Australia to see the brother?
F. J. Gillen
Readers of my Echoes of the Past Column in the Cavan Echo will see my article on F.J. Gillen, the founding father of Australian ethnography. I have been anxious to try and find out some more about his Cavan ancestry. My good friend Jonathan Smyth told me about a wonderful website called Failte Romhat, which allows visitors to search various sources such as Griffiths’ Valuations of
F. J. Gillen (1856-1912
the 1850s for names and addresses. I looked for anyone called Gillen in the parish of Drumgoon, of whom Griffiths does not have any record. However, I did find a reference to a Philip Gillan of Mullaghard, Drumgoon, Co. Cavan. I think he may have been Thomas Gillen’s father, and therefore F.J.’s grandfather, as Thomas had a brother Philip who also emigrated to South Australia and who may, as an elder brother, have born the name of his father.
