Longford Family History Service relocates to The Killian Homeplace

The Killian Homeplace Family History Centre was launched on March 19, 2023, the 25th anniversary of the purchase of the property.

Joan Killian Gallagher, a determined New York business owner, sent Roscommon solicitor, Peter Jones, to The Longford Arms on that day in 1998 and asked him to return with a “farm under his arm.”

He was bidding on her behalf for a farm advertised in the Longford Leader as “24 acres of excellent agricultural land and a two-roomed cottage in need of repair.”

Originally belonging to her great uncle, John Killian, it was inherited and being sold by a cousin of the same name. It was half of the original farm purchased from the Land Commission by her great-great-grandmother, Anne Furey Killian, in 1893.

Mr Jones was the successful bidder, and Joan returned to New York with a farm under her arm.

The second half of the original farm was purchased two years later from Killian cousin John Gillooly of Ballinaboy, Roscommon. The Killian fields in Fermoyle were secure; they would remain in the family and become The Killian Homeplace.

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The restoration of the original farm buildings was a long and arduous process, complicated by the emergence of the Celtic Tiger. In fits and starts, the construction progressed until finally, at the end of 2012, the cottages were ready. But ready for what?

The Gallagher family had a close connection to the University of Notre Dame home of the "fighting Irish American football team. Joan had endowed a scholarship in memory of her grandfather, Thomas F Gallagher Sr., and she was eager to connect this very prestigious university to The Killian Homeplace.

Joan reached out to the head of the Notre Dame Global Gateway in Dublin, Kevin Whelan, to see if the university could utilise the properties in any way. Meeting with Kevin and his team in February 2013, everything fell miraculously into place; Notre Dame agreed to bring their first group of Summer interns to Fermoyle for the June Bank Holiday weekend.

In addition to this exciting news, Longford County Council nominated The Killian Homeplace for ‘The All Ireland Pride of Place Award’ in the Diaspora Category just a few days later.

The Notre Dame weekend was an amazing event featuring a sports day at the Fermoyle National School, a night of music and Irish dancing at the Homeplace, and Mass at sunset on the pier at the end of the road. Just days after the Notre Dame students left, the presentation for the Pride of Place committee took place.

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Tom Dowling, the committee's chairman, emphasized the importance of the project being sustainable and connected to the local community, and in 2013, TKH won the 2013 ‘All Ireland Pride of Place Award!”

Year after year, The Killian Homeplace welcomed the students, and they experienced the wonders of County Longford, but that all changed just before the 2020 Intern weekend. The 2020 COVID-19 pandemic changed how everyone in every corner of the world lived, and it became clear that the formula for the Notre Dame weekend was no longer sustainable.

The three empty years also took its toll on the cottages, and after months of expensive repairs, Joan searched for a new purpose for her treasured properties. The answer came very organically as the result of a genealogy search she had done in 2019 for her New York real estate advisor, Dennis Hughes.

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As she headed to the airport for a flight to JFK, she said, “With a name like Hughes, you must be Irish.” He responded that his mother was from Austria, his parents were divorced, and he knew nothing about the Irish side of his family. Joan responded, “I’ll find you an Irish cousin, Dennis!”. She began the search while in Ireland, always one to rise to a challenge.

Joan struck gold when she found an essay in the UCD Folklore Collection, written in 1938 by Kathleen Delaney, that mentioned Walter Hughes, a poet and schoolmaster who happened to be Dennis’s great-grandfather.

Hoping to find the name of a Hughes family still in the vicinity, Joan reached out to Judi Roche. Coincidentally, Judie was the florist for Joan’s daughter’s wedding to Mayo-born Brian Lynn in 2016, and she knew everyone in the community.

Judi’s response took Joan’s breath away; she told her that Kathleen Delaney was alive and well at 98 and still working as the sacristan at the local church. Naturally, Joan and her husband changed their plans to include a trip to Mayo Abbey to meet Kathleen.

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Kathleen told Joan that she had been in touch with the older generation of Hughes cousins who had emigrated and had not heard from any of them in many years. However, fate had other things planned, as after connecting, Dennis visited her a few months later, calls her every week, and gets updates from Kathleen’s cousin, Ger Delaney, who manages her care. Kathleen celebrated her 102nd birthday in September.

Kathleen’s cousin, Ger, runs the South Mayo Chapter of the Irish Family History Foundation. Joan invited him to the 25th anniversary celebration, the official launch of the TKH Family History Centre. He reached out before the date and suggested she meet with the Irish Family History Foundation Chairman, Dr Brendan Scott.

Ger mentioned that County Longford no longer had a Roots Ireland chapter following the closure of the centre on Dublin Street in Longford. A few days before the event, Joan and Eilish Feeley, the Director of the new entity, welcomed Dr Scott to the centre in Fermoyle. The core values of The Killian Homeplace aligned perfectly with those of the Irish Family History Foundation.

The County Longford Chapter of Roots Ireland became a reality. The rest, as they say, is history. As they turned onto Rathcline Road that day, an incredible triple rainbow spanned the horizon, confirming they were on the right path!

Staffed by a team of highly qualified researchers, the centre has welcomed visitors worldwide.

The Killian Homeplace will be a gathering place where family stories can be recorded and preserved for future generations. It will be a meeting place for family reunions, a place where workshops will engage the local community with the returning members of the global diaspora, and it will continue to evolve into a much valued 'go to' space for the family history/genealogy community.

On Saturday, November 25, the Research Team at The Killian Homeplace Family History Centre in Fermoyle will hold a free genealogy consultation clinic for the local community. The clinic will run from 10 am - to 3 pm.
Please make an appointment by calling 086-3952557 or emailing longfordroots@ thekillianhomeplace.com or visiting thekillianhomeplace.com

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