| Local
History |
| Kennedy
Homestead |
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The birthplace of President
John.F.Kennedy's great- grandfather is about
6km from New Ross. It's in Dunganstown which is in our
Parish of Horeswood. He would have gone to mass in St.
Brigid's Church,Ballykelly. Patrick Kennedy was born here in
1823. He worked as a cooper in Cherry's Brewery, New Ross. A
cooper makes barrels. He decided to emigrate to America when
he was 25 years old. His father was a tenant farmer and could
be evicted for not paying the rent. Times were hard because of
the famine in Ireland. Patrick left in 1848. He first went to
Liverpool and then to Boston on a ship called the
S.S.Washington Irving.
He met Bridget Murphy from Gusserane and they married. They
lived in a place called Noodle Island.They lived in a
tenement. They had three daughters and a son called Patrick
Joseph or P.J. Patrick died in 1858 from cholera.
He was only 35 years old. Bridget was a strong woman. She
worked as a house-maid for the rich, and then in a grocery
store. Later she became the owner of this shop. She
helped P.J. to become the owner of two saloons. He
married Mary Hickey and he became very wealthy. They had a son
called Joseph who also became very rich. He married Rose
Fiztgerald and became ambassador to the U.K. Their son
John.F. Kennedy became President of the U.S. in 1961. He was
the first Catholic and youngest President of America.
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Cherry's Brewery, Creywell, New
Ross, where Patrick Kennedy worked as a cooper before
emigrating to Boston. It no longer stands here. |
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Young Patrick Joseph or P.J.Kennedy -the
President's grandfather
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President John F.Kennedy.
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Homestead
to-day |
The Kennedy homestead is a one-storey house.The
only bit that is left of the house is the stables. The cow
house was rebuilt and is now used as a gift shop and where
they show the audio-video. Patrick Grennan,a cousin of JFK, is
the owner and tour guide.
The beds were very simple with an iron frame . There were no blankets but heavy overcoats were thrown on the bed
to give more heat. To heat up the bed they used a cylinder
shaped porcelain hot water bottle. As there was no running
water they used a chamber pot which was up in the bedroom. |
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What the bedroom looked like.
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During the day they used a dry toilet in a
little building usually away from the dwelling house. Washing
was done in a basin and sometimes in a bath in
front of the
fire.
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| President
Kennedy's visit on June 27th 1963 |
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On June 27th 1963 President Kennedy and his
family came back to his ancestral home. For this event a red
phone was placed behind the stables. If he lifted this phone it
meant that a nuclear war was starting .When he got there he
said, "We drink a cup of tea for the Kennedys who left and
the Kennedys who stayed".He also said to Mrs.Ryan that he
"would come back again when there was not such a big
crowd."
The old house of Patrick Kennedy is now a two-storey house
with a porch. This porch was built on to use for toilets during
the President's visit. His final farewell to Ireland was
"I will come back in the Spring." He never made that
journey back to Ireland because he was shot at around
12.30p.m in Dallas,Texas on November 22nd 1963.
It was exactly 105 years to the day that his
great-grand father,Patrick Kennedy from Dunganstown, passed
away-the man who started the Kennedy dynasty.
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President Kennedy's visit to Dunganstown June 27, 1963
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Ballykelly school children with
the Tri - colour and American Flag line up before marching to
Dunganstown and provide a guard of honour for his visit.
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JFK meets the
school children from Ballykelly NS.
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This is a copy of the
original photograph taken by JFK when he made another visit to
the homestead as a Congressman in 1947.
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Colour
picture of the Kennedy family in Dunganstown |
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| Left:
The
President's cousin from Dunganstown, Josie Ryan, attends mass
for the president who was shot on 22 Nov. 1963 in Dallas. On
right is what the paper said about his cousins in Dunganstown
on hearing of his death. |
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Ted Kennedy with Maggie
Whitty and cousin Jim Kennedy in 1962 |
| On the front wall of the homestead today is a
plaque ,which was unveiled in 1993 by Ambassador Smith. It has
this written on it "Birthplace of Patrick Kennedy, Great
Grandfather of President John .F.Kennedy U.S.A who returned to
his ancestral home on 27th June, 1963." The Kennedy
Homestead is well worth a visit as Patrick Grennan is very
friendly and gives a fantastic guided tour. |
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This fine life-sized bronze sculpture of John
F.Kennedy at the quay in New Ross, was unveiled by his sister,
Jean Kennedy Smith on June 29, 2008. The sculpture was
designed by Ann Meldon Hugh and includes extracts from some of
Kennedy's famous speeches, busts of his cousins in Wexford,
and depicts the homestead in Dunganstown and the White House.
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Memorial Plaque
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The three of us busy at work at the
Kennedy Homestead
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by Grace MacD., Bríd B., and Jane C., in Mr.
Crowley's Fifth Class 2002 |
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to Local History |
