Ave Maria,

Louisburgh,

Co. Mayo,

3^rd May, 1963.

Miss, Katharine McLennan,

Honorary Curator, Louisbourg Museum.

Dear Miss McLennan,

Further to our correspondence regarding the possible connection between the names of our respective towns, I should like to acquaint you with some information and facts, relative to the matter, which I have met with in some recent research on events prior to the Siege of Louisbourg. As you shall see, they differ in some few respects from our hitherto accepted theories.

May I remind you of the general hypothesis. I have been of the opinion that our Louisburgh was named after yours because of the fact that our local landlord of that period was married to the daughter of a British officer who had taken part in the Siege of Louisbourg 1758).

Firstly then, as to the facts: The Howe family, to which I have referred in an earlier letter, had four brothers, at least three of whom were British officers in the American campaign. These were: ADMIRAL RICHARD (later EARL) HOWE of the famous First of June Victory, 1794, who was appointed commander-in-chief of the North American Station (15 February 1776) and got a joint commission with his brother, GENERAL WILLIAM HOWE, to deal with the revolt there. A third (the eldest) brother, GEORCE AUGUSTUS HOWE, as a young officer, had served earlier under General Abercrombie and was killed in action.

Sir John Barrow's Life of Earl Howe (p.55) records this as in July 1758, although in the Gentleman’s Magazine it is referred to as on 8 September of the same year. (Gent Mag., 1758, p. 496, col. 2). The Annual Register of 1758, recording the same event, states that General Abercrombie conducted the first expedition to drive the French from Ticonderoga. His army went there in four columns through wooded country and with unskilled guides, and, marching disorderly, came upon a French advance column. In the ensuing combat the gallant and daring young officer, George Augustus Howe, was killed. What is of special interest to me is that this account occurs in a paragraph dealing with "The Siege and Taking of Louisbourg" (Annual Register 1758, p. 72, chap. XIll, col. 2). Of further interest is a footnote to the above reference (Ann. Reg. 1758) which states that in Nottingham on September 14, 1758 the officer's mother, Charlotte Howe, requested that her other son, Lt.-Colonel Howe, who is with his regiment at Louisbourg, be allowed to supply for his late brother in Parliament.

Another pertinent fact is that, on May 27, 1787, the youngest daughter of Admiral Richard Howe - namely, Louisa-Catherine - was married to the then Earl of Altamount (later first Marquis of Sligo); and lived at Westport. Louisa-Catherine was born on December 9, 1767 (Life of Howe, George Mason, p. 54). Lastly, according to a French traveller through Ireland in 1797, "the present lord [Altamount] …has commenced to lay the foundation of another town, to be called Louisburg" (A Frenchman's Walk Through Ireland, De Latocnaye, p. 173).

So much for the facts: now to the hypotheses.

Accordingly, I feel that it is more than a coincidence that Lord Altamount, in building a new town, should choose for the same name as that of a town in Nova Scotia, where his wife's uncles had been in military action, and where one of them - a favourite - had been killed. I feel that such a coincidence would be more difficult to accept in view of the name (Louisa-Catherine) of the young lady who came to live in Mayo, presumably in 1787. I venture the opinion that her name commemorated the victory at Louisbourg, nine years before her birth; and that the name of your town was transferred, through her, to a town built by her husband some ten years after their marriage.

A link between our towns is not, of course, uncovered; but I shall appreciate any help you can give in proving (or disproving!) its existence. It is quite possible that the enigma will be explained only from the Sligo family papers. I am sending a copy of this letter to the present Marquis of Sligo and shall share with you any further data that comes to light.

With sincere good wishes from Louisburgh to Louisbourg,

Yours sincerely,

Leo, Morahan (Rev.)