From Ballyboyle to Corglass... a Boyle family's story
Part 2 - Corglass
Patrick Boyle 1895 - 1970
Patrick4 also went to the US, leaving Queenstown (Cobh) on the Oceanic on January 30, 1913 and arriving in New York on February 7. As his contact in the US, he named his brother John, at 245 North 6th St, Brooklyn.
One story has him working as a taxi driver in New York. Perhaps this is true, but in this photo, the car is clearly a studio prop, and this may have given rise to the taxi driver story. Having a photo taken with a car to show the folks back home that one is doing well has always been a favourite theme among immigrants! However, he doesn't seem to have stayed long before returning to Ireland.
Why he returned is uncertain, and there are a range of potential reasons. Perhaps he accompanied his injured brother John home? There was now a substantial farm in Corglass, and keeping the land "in the family" was a very important duty in the Ireland of those days. Terence was running the farm in 1916 but, it seems, had other plans as had Peter, and John had died in 1917. Perhaps it fell to Patrick to take over the farm and care for his aging mother?
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However, a different, and more poignant, story is the most plausible. Again, this has Patrick as a driver in New York, either of a train, or more likely a tram or trolleycar. The public transport system in New York was effectively controlled by the Irish political fixers, and it was quite easy for a young lad just off the boat to 'get a start' if he had the right contacts and progress to become a driver, even if he had never driven anything other than a donkey and cart before.
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But when his brother Peter arrived in the US in 1920 he found Patrick in a distressed state. He had been involved in an accident which may have had fatal consequences. Though not his fault, he was so traumatised by the incident that Peter felt that he would only deteriorate if he remained in New York, and encouraged him to go home.​​​
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Given the circumstances (see box 'New York Traffic') the fanciful story that he returned to Ireland because he was 'on the run' from the police investigating the accident is unlikely to be true, but it is quite possible that the best thing for him was to return to the more peaceful environment of Corglass.
Since Peter only arrived in New York in June 1920, it would appear that Patrick returned to Ireland in the latter half of that year.
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Within a matter of months, on April 20 1921 he married Katie Higgins, daughter of Patrick Higgins and Mary Sheridan of Aughamore Lower.
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Although their ages in the civil marriage records are given as 26 and 24, Patrick was only 25 and Katie was 28! They had seven children,
John (1922-1995)
Bridget Mary (1923-1993)
Kathleen (b.1925)
Patrick (1926-2020)
Terence (1928-1991)
Peter (1929- 1996) and
James (b.1934).
Patrick's mother Bridget Brady died in 1935 and the farm passed to him, and over the years he acquired additional land in the surrounding area.​​
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Katie died on 26th February 1938, aged 47. Her death certificate eluded me for many years, as her name is incorrectly recorded as ‘Mary Anne’. The cause of death is given as ‘Bright’s disease’ (a generic term for a variety of serious kidney conditions) from which she suffered for 12 months. ​
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Patrick was left to bring up his family of seven, with the eldest, John, barely 16 and the youngest, James, only four. It can not have been easy for him, or for the children.
Patrick4 with his wife Katie Higgins and son Patrick5
New York Traffic
At this time, New York was on the way to becoming the most populous city on earth and was experiencing an explosion of largely unregulated street traffic. According to an article from the New York Times dated September 2, 1913, the city endured 471 traffic fatalities in 1910, many of them involving trams and trolley cars. It was estimated that some 95 percent of fatalities were pedestrians, many of them children, struck in the streets and causes included unregulated chauffeurs, poor roads, and a culture of children playing in the street that had yet to adapt to the times. The most disturbing trend was a propensity for hit-and-runs. Most drivers scarpered from the scene of an accident - there was little chance of being apprehended, and little expectation on the authorities to follow up such cases.
In the early 1930's the de Valera government refused to pay to the British Government the annuities due in repayment of the loans advanced to farmers in 1903 to buy their land. Britain retaliated by refusing to accept Irish agricultural produce. The resulting 'Economic War' caused considerable hardship to larger farmers, and Patrick4 expressed his concerns by joining the 'Blueshirt' organisation. Though it adopted the outward signs of the fascist movements then popular in Europe, and some of its leaders were admirers of Mussolini, it was essentially a rural conservative movement opposed to de Valera's policies and the perceived 'communistic' tendencies of the extreme Republicans. As such, Patrick's involvement was consistent with the conservative views of the family in political matters. He is also listed attending a meeting of the Dromard Farmers’ and Ratepayers’ Union in 1933 (McNerney, p.192).
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There are a few mentions of Patrick in the local newspapers in connection with the sale and purchase of land. His dealings in these affairs brought him into contact with the self-styled Prince of the Decies, and it seems that Patrick may have become an unwitting victim of the 'Prince's' greed and vanity. Read about it here.
Patrick (2nd left) his daughter Bridget Mary Treacy and two nephews - Higgins? Kennys?
Four of Patrick's sons, Peter, James, Patrick and John, at James's wedding
​In 1948 Patrick sold the farm in Corglass to Francis Donohoe and moved to another farm at Killeen, near Granard. This brought to an end at least 100 years' continuous occupation by the family. Patrick died on 31 December 1970.
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​​​​​​​Killeen was formerly owned by a family called Armstrong, According to the 1911 Census, Robert Armstrong was born about 1864, and had been married for 11 years, but had no children. So it is likely that there was no-one in the family to take it over, hence it was sold. The farm eventually passed to Patrick’s son James5, and to his son Noel6, who still lives there.
