Fursey Whyte

This is his Fursey’s account of moving from Cloondahamper in 1947 at 22years of age.

His early years

His parents were Bridget Long and William Whyte from Cloondahamper. They had three in family Fr. Oliver Whyte, Fursey and Sr. Patricia.

How the move came about?

The move came about at a time that Fursey had a girlfriend named Agnes Kilgannon, later to become his wife. One evening she took him to see a holding of land that her father had been offered by the Land Commission. It was twice the size of her own place and would have a new house and out buildings.

Fursey was struck by the amount of good land and when he got home he couldn’t stop talking about the great deal it was to get a new two storey house and sheds in with the land. All you had to do was give up the bit of land that you owned. He decided unknown to his father, to go into Galway with his cousin to the Land Commission with a map in hand of his home place. When he came home he told his mother what he had done and how the Land Commission Officer would call out to see them soon.

His mother listened and understood the big change it would be for them, most of all the father. She understood Fursey’s vision and they kept quiet about this idea until the day came when the inspector called from the Land Commission Office. They had to make sure that the father was occupied elsewhere as he wouldn’t take to this idea lightly.

The inspector wrote out his report and was impressed with the two holdings that they had which could be divided up amongst the local people to improve their livelihood. Time passed and some months later a car pulled up outside Whyte’s and the father went outside, as it was rare to see a car in those days. A man got out of the car with a map in his hand and in a Dublin accent he asked “Are you Mr. Whyte”? The father replied that he was, and was then asked did he apply for a change of land. ”What” shouted the father, so Fursey had to speak up quickly and said that he applied. The officer asked who is the boss and Fursey said that his father was. Well it didn’t make any difference as the officer was only sent to point out a holding of land to them.

Fursey made the arrangements to meet up the following week in Mountbellew. By now the father was very annoyed to put it mildly and pointed out that he had spent half his life trying to earn the price of the land that they owned and now to think that there would be a sign put up on the telegraph pole to say they were moving. There was a lot of giving out and Fursey went down the yard with the horse and cart and his father went into the house complaining to the mother. She told the father he never gave the idea a chance and to have a bit of  sense. It will do you no harm at all to go and look at the place and it would be a day out. So the day came and Fursey and his father went to see the land in Clontuskert, Ballinasloe.

Once the father saw the place he fell for it and wanted to sign up for the change there and then on the spot. There were 152acres in exchange for their split holding of 99acres, plus a two storey house and out-buildings to be built for them. There were no ditches to be seen, just a stretch of land laid out before them.

Fursey’s mother saw the place only once when the Land Commission were about to build the house and she was asked to decide where she would like it built. The house was built in 1946 the same year that she died. So she never lived to see it. The family moved up in 1947, even though Fursey had been staying there on and off depending on what sort of work he was at there. He often slept in the shed when he didn’t cycle home at night. When they moved, they walked the cows and cattle up to their new home, and took everything with them including the turkeys. The only thing left behind was the cat. It was discovered later on that there was sand, a lot of sand in the sand hills on the land. This turned out to be very valuable to the Whyte family and Fursey has since bought three more places around the area which he explains are all set now.

Fursey married Agnes in 1950 and they had four children, three boys and a girl. His father-in-law never did sign to make the move and so missed the opportunity. Some time later the engineer from the Land Commission Office came to see how they were settling in and explained that he was looking for other families to move as the Land Commission had a lot of land in the area to give to families that wanted to change to a bigger holding. Fursey came back to the parish of Killererin and called to families to explain the chance that they could take and move to a bigger holding. Some people said no that they wouldn’t like to move, that they hadn’t the courage, and more couldn’t as the old people had the place in their names and so the older folk just couldn’t uproot and move away. Those that did move did very well and it made a big improvement to their lives.

The people that did make the move are listed below:

Derrybawn      Paddy Joe Mulry went to Eyrecourt

Hillsbrook       Eddie and Mammie Naughton went to Eyrecourt

Hillsbrook       Thomas Fleming wet to Eyrecourt

Tygreenane     Johnny Duggan went in 1948 to Redmount Hill

Tygreenane     John Gilligan and family went to Eyrecourt in 1951.