Michael Gannon and the Lakes (By Grace Henry

THE CORRAN HERALD • 2021/2022 Michael Gannon and the Lakes

by Grace Henry (Age 11years)

Grace Henry, Lough Gara

My name is Grace Henry, I live in Monasteraden very near the lake called Lough Gara. I am the youngest of three girls. When we were small my grandparents were afraid that we would get drowned in the lake. Michael Gannon was my great, great, great grandfather. He lived in Cloonacleigha. He had a small farm there beside Cloonacleigha Lake where we now keep our sheep. Michael had a family of two girls and five boys. In the 1880s to 1890s, when his sons grew up and went to Dublin, they owned a shoe shop in Abbey Street. Hannons from Ballymote also had a shoe shop on Abbey Street, Dublin. Michael’s family used to post him the paper every day. At that time there was no road to Cloonacleigha. The postman was on foot, the poor man would want a good Christmas present. When Michael Gannon was leaving Cloonacleigha to move to a farm in Cartron, right across the lake, maybe around 1912, the weather was very cold, it could have been called the Beast from the East. There was at least six inches of ice on the lake. Michael Gannon brought all of his furniture and potatoes across the ice on the lake with his donkey and cart. The house in Cartron was overlooking Templehouse Lake. Sarah Henry from Achonry was Michael Gannon’s wife. She became very sick in 1919 and was seen by Dr. McDool from Sligo, married to a Perceval lady from Templehouse. He operated on her appendix; this was very serious at that time. Doctor McDool stayed with her for three days. It was very hot weather. He was able to look over at Templehouse. Sarah did not survive, she died one week later, R.I.P.

Death and Funeral of Mr. Michael Gannon

Late of Cartron, Bunninadden We regret to have to announce the death of the above-named gentleman which occurred at the residence of his son, Mr. Joseph Gannon, Dublin. Although he had passed his ninetieth year, he retained all his mental faculties unimpaired to the last. He was head of the firm Gannon Bros., Ltd., Upper Abbey Street, Dublin, since the death of his son Mr. Thomas H. Gannon, the founder of the business, some dozen years ago. He was one of the last of his generation, all or nearly all of his contemporaries having gone to the Great Beyond ahead of him: but he is dearly missed by his sons, daughters and relatives to whom he endeared himself in a marked degree by his numerous excellent qualities of mind and heart and his death is regretted by a very large number of dear friends and acquaintances. A man of a gentle and unassuming disposition – highly educated and intelligent – of the highest integrity and honesty he commanded the respect and esteem of everybody who knew him. May his soul rest in peace. His funeral on the 6th inst. From Dublin by motor hearse to Ballymote Cemetery was large and representative. The chief mourners were – Patrick and Joseph Gannon (sons); Mrs. M. Doddy (daughter); Mrs. E Gannon (daughter-in-law);

Griffith’s Valuation 1875 showing John Gannon living in the townland of Drumraine which sits between the ‘sister lakes’ of Cloonacleigha and Templehouse