Special Letter Collection

The Welch (Walsh) family from Clashaganny includes 4 letters written pre-Famine and 1 afterwards (1849). The McHugh family of Drim letter has a collection of over 100 letters sent between 1878 and 1994. These give an account of the McHugh family as they travelled to the United States and Australia and the successes and trials of the extended family during that period. These letters involving people from our parish give us a window on how our forefathers lived and died in the 19th and 20th centuries. Also, we discovered that local man Liam Delaney had letters and picture postcards written by his uncles and their wives to family members in Milltown.

We continue to collect letters for our collection e.g. we received a letter written by John O’Keane to the Archbishop of Tuam (Gilmartin) about how Knock must be acknowledged by the pope as a holy site. He explains how he saw a vision of the Virgin Mary at Knock one night after running guns and how that night changed his life. Courtesy of C Heneghan/M Revell (nee Keane).

The full collection of letters can be viewed on our heritage website: www.milltown.galwaycommunityheritage.org
Supported by the Heritage Council under the Community Heritage Grant Scheme 2024 and Galway County Council.