Between 1981 and 1990 I made notes immediately after speaking to various Co Cork people about my Cork ancestry. I now wish to make those notes available to anyone interested. Any clarification comments added at this stage are in square brackets. I would welcome any questions or comments.
Source: Maud Vickery (b. 1896) of Donemark Falls, Bantry, Co Cork.
Notes from conversation on 4 May 1983
- A Vickery Family Bible went to the USA and is now probably lost. Someone who copied it showed the original John Vickery’s wife as Catherine Swanton.
- She thinks that the Rooska farm [lived in by earliest John Vickery] was passed to John’s son William, who perhaps had no children. Ownership then passed to the Whiddy branch who rented it out. At present a Sullivan family live in it, having bought from the Vickerys some 20-30 years ago – previously they rented. As a child she thought that the original house was a ruin but the Sullivan occupiers say it is the original.
- The original John Vickery’s tomb is in the old churchyard – straight up from the gate, slightly to the left, opposite ruined church. The Ballycommane branch kept this tomb - a tablet at its side records a 1914/16 burial.
- She thinks the [Vickery] history compiled by the Clancoole people was primarily for children & it contains a number of inaccuracies.
- She says that both Sullivans and Vickerys (she is descended from both) always said Michael Sullivan was descended from the O’Sullivan Beare of Dunboy. Michael Sullivan is mentioned in a book “The Two Chiefs of Dunboy” as a son of McFinnan Dhu (Dereen) of Dunboy Castle.
- Our branch of the Sullians were known as “the Sullivan Hurrigs”.
Notes from conversation on 5 May 1983
- Mrs Phipps [Mary nee Sullivan 1890-1977] told her that she had read that Michael O’Sullivan’s father had lost his farm through trading with the French. He, Michael, later fought a duel with the son of the new owner and lost a couple of toes as a result. Michael was very tall, very quiet and very handsome.
- Mrs Phipps also said that Michael O’Sullivan was a Catholic but allowed his wife Mary Vickery to bring up the children as Church of Ireland. He, however, remained a Catholic all his life and was buried one. He was respected around Bantry for this.
- As a child, she was shown an old wall, since gone, to the right of the present house at Rooska. However, the present occupier Mrs O’Sullivan apparently insists the present house is the original one.
Notes from conversation on 5 June 1984
- She gave credence to the story of the Sullivan family being descended from the O’Sullivan Beare because a Roger Sullivan who was generally known to be a descendant always said (in her youth) that the Sullivans of Tedagh were related to him.
Notes from conversation on 14 Aug 1985
- She heard the story of Michael O’Sullivan’s father losing his farm from Mrs Phipps (I was wrong in thinking she had read it somewhere).
- In the 1920s-30s Roger Sullivan of Reendonegan frequently told Maud they were related. She assumes that he meant through her Sullivan grandmother. It was generally accepted that he was descended from the Dunboy family – he was commonly known as “the last Chieftain”.
