Katy McKenna Raymond  
Personal blog of christian writer Katy McKenna Raymond in Kansas City, Missouri

Personal blog of christian
writer & fallible mom
Katy McKenna Raymond
in Kansas City, Missouri


Katy is represented by
Greg Johnson at
WordServe Literary

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LateBoomer.net

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Feebaghbane

You read that right: Feebaghbane. A tiny cross in the road, near the miniature village of Scotstown, in the section of the county called Tydavnet, in County Monaghan, Ireland.

Poor, little Feebaghbane. From everything I can gather so far, my great-grandfather Bernard McKenna was born there in 1847, smack dab in the middle of the famine years. Why his parents stayed, I have no idea. A significant number of McKennas from Tydnavet took a boat, under the direction of a kindly Catholic priest, and ended up on Prince Edward Island, where they’ve eaten well ever since.

Perhaps my people feared the ocean more than the plague. Who can say? All I know is that they did not emigrate, they stuck out the famine years and beyond. My Grandpa Bernard was also born in Feebaghbane, presumably in somewhat less hungry times, in 1884.

He moved to Scotland as a young man, and only returned once to Feebaghbane, as far as anyone knows. By that time, he was forty years old, married, and the father of five children, with a sixth on the way.

He made an overnight trip there on a boat called The Magpie, which carried cattle mostly, and a few poor humans. He went to see his mother, perhaps, if she was still alive. His old man McKenna, who’d been the famine baby, died in 1905, and by the time Grandpa Bernard made his journey home, it was 1925.

Who can say exactly what was in his mind? No one spoke of what happened after the body was found, once it washed up on the shores of the river Clyde near Glasgow. Or if they did, it was only in whispers.

Grandpa Bernard very nearly made it back to his wife and children, one of whom was my father—only four years old at the time. He was seen falling from the cattle boat early that dark morning, only a few miles from home. The boat was stopped and the waters searched, but no sign of him surfaced until three months later, after Grandma had given birth again and after most, if not all, hope for his life had been lost.

If you google Feebaghbane, you won’t come up with much, I’m afraid. There’s a florist who might deliver to an address there if pressed. There’s an outfit called simplyweddings.com that appears in several of the few results, but I don’t imagine they get much business in the Feebaghbane area.

I’m going to visit there in a couple of weeks, regardless. Because whether on the map or not, Feebaghbane has risen to the top of my personal search engine.

Besides, there’s a little spot named “Eternal Beauty & Tanning Centre” which proves once and for all that the Irish still believe in miracles.

Posted by Katy on 04/06/06 at 11:27 PM
Fallible Comments...
  1. Katy,

    I just wanted to let you know out of courtesy that I posted an entry <a href="http://irishkc.com/2006/04/kc-irish-genealogy-story.htm">tonight on IrishKC.com</a> about your Feebaghbane post. I've been following your story and as someone from Ireland now living in Kansas City, I found it quite moving. I wish you well with your trip.
    Posted by Eolaí gan Fhéile  on  04/08/06  at  07:13 AM
  2. Eolai--Wow! Thank you. I did not know about your site, and will be a regular reader from now on. We try to keep up with the Irish goings-on in KC, especially everything to do with trad Irish music and the fest. My husband is quite the whistle player, he is. :)
    Posted by Katy  on  04/08/06  at  12:01 PM
  3. hi.im very proud to be a native of feebaghbane hill,son of john+mary mckenna,grandson of james and im a bit concerned about your negative comments about my birthplace.ive got nothing but fond memories of my early life there.although from a monetary perspective things were tough we were more than compensated by quality family life
    Posted by enda mc kenna  on  06/15/09  at  08:09 PM
  4. Wow, what a story with lots of history. I agree with your interests on your history, I would also want to go there. It seems like people these day do not have the respect for where they came from. Besides being interesting, it really gives you a good idea about how your family grew to who they are now. Great article, thanks for sharing.
    Posted by George  on  01/28/11  at  05:47 PM
    5. Page 1 of 1 pages
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