Terese Murphy to Imelda, 20 Sept 1971: her father's sister married 'Tailor Sullivan'; his father 'left for America some months before he was born'

# Terese Murphy to Imelda, 20 September 1971 *A typed copy, one page, enclosed with Joan Murphy's letter of 20 February 1995. Transcribed on 4 October 2026. The typing slips of the copy are kept. Square brackets hold the editor's marks.* Sept. 20, 1971 Dear Imelda: I am happy to learn that you are flying to Ireland in October. I made a fast trip to So. Ireland after five weeks on the Continent, racing ahead of the war clouds, and visiting seven countries, 1938. Your dad wanted me to go to the little village where he spent his earliest childhood. He lived in the home of his maternal grandmother in the village of Castletown. His father had left for America some months before he was born. He remained there until he was about six years old, before leaving for the States. He had a vivid memory of Castletown and the school where he attended. His grandmother's name was Lynne (Myles), a highly respected name in Ireland. As the story goes, she was "quite a gal" in her late teens and twenties. (Mother always said Agnes looked very much like her in height and features, tho she of thiner bones). Her first husband died after a few years of married life leaving her with one daughter, Mary. At that time she may not have lived in Castletown, but she was foot-loose and fancy free, and hot on the trail of another mate. He finally appeared at Mass, a man in his sixties, a prosperous land-owner and widower, who had divided his farm among his sons, as was the cutom in those days. He was lonely, and in his escape, this peasant girl, beautiful in face and figure, caught his eye. Out of this marriage, my mother was born. No wonder she had mixed-up genes! His family never accepted his marriage. They ignored her completely. I believe he died in his seventies before my mother's teens. He left them with a comfortable home where your Dad lived I located it – a lower and upper floor with a stream nearby. I described it in a letter to your Dad to his satisfaction. A friend of mine has a mother, Marguerete O'Neill, who lives in So. Ireland. She says there is a Dr. Lynne practicing there now, and in the past this name has appeared as Doctors in the vicinity near Bantry Bay. The old church is now called Sacred Heart in Castletown; the cemetery is near the church. My grandfather Lynne is, no doubt, buried there. My father's people lived in the area of Eyeries, Ardgroom and Ballycrevan. My father was an expert shoe-maker and his sister married a handsome man who was a tailor. He was called "Tailor Sullivan". He had, on two occasions, visited Butte to see my father but always returned to Ireland. At that time my father was an invalid, having siffered a severe strple tjree uears befpre O was bprm. Your dad inherited many sterling qualities from his own father – his business acumen, his personality, good grooming, and a love of beautiful things. In my short visit I was impressed with the rugged and green hillsides overlooking the sea at Bantry Bay. The natives lived in a fantasy of their own and a romantic and chilly belief in the fairies, with not too much ambition. As I told the clerk in the railroad station of Cork, "I never met a slow Irishman until I came to Ireland. I know you and Jack will love Dublin, the classic city and the cultured accent of the people. I stayed at the Gresham Hotel. Love Terese (my dad's sister). ## Note Joan Murphy's covering letter of 1995 reads the garbled sentence as "suffered a severe stroke three years before I was born."