Emma Ann Hunter: 14 September 2024

Today I am in Tullamore looking for traces of a woman whose surname was Hunter and whose Christian name was sometimes Emma and sometimes Ann.  Emma Ann Hunter married John (actually Sean) McGillicuddy from County Kerry and was the grandmother of Eliza Hankin.  Eliza was my distant relative who in mid August 1914 received the Postcard from the Moon Man. 

While Margaret’s cancer kept growing in her body, I unraveled the mystery of the Moon Man.  I discovered that his name was Alfred Pearson and that like so many wonderful young men, his life was tragically cut short by World War 1.  For the rest of her life, Eliza Hankin treasured the Postcard sent to her by the Moon Man.  That Postcard confirmed that he intended to enlist in the King’s Own Liverpool Regiment to help his country fight Germany.

Looked at objectively, Alfred had many reasons to be resentful of Britain – and yet if he ever felt any resentment, he put it aside and acted only as a patriot.

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John McGillicuddy married Emma Ann Hunter on 18 April 1868.  John and Emma were about 20 years old.  Emma Ann was Eliza Hankin’s grandmother.

Although John McGillicuddy was definitely an Irish refugee trying to avoid death by starvation, his wife Emma Ann was definitely not a refugee.  The father of Emma Ann was John Hunter who was usually called Ralph Hunter.  The father of John Ralph Hunter was Thomas Hunter, a farmer who lived in the Townland of Ballintemple, Parish of Templeharry, County Offaly, Ireland.  Thomas Hunter had so many assets he needed to make a Will in 1795.

Thomas Hunter, the father of John Hunter who was in turn the father of John “Ralph” Hunter, was the grandson of yet another Thomas Hunter whose occupation was being a “Gentleman”.    The Hunter family probably came from Scotland, after the Anglo Irish wars of the 17^th century which resulted in a brutal repression of the native Irish people by the English government.  John Hunter, father of Emma Ann became a Catholic faith to marry the mother of Emma Ann.  Because John Hunter had already inherited the family farm, he was able to become a Catholic without losing his inheritance. 

All of the history I have just recited is a long way of saying that Famine starvation is most unlikely to have been the reason why Emma Ann Hunter fled to Liverpool from Ireland.  Her family background was comfortable even while the Famine killed hundreds of thousands - or probably more – of her fellow Irish.  Emma Ann was not starving in Ireland, but despite this she abandoned the relative comfort of her family home at Ballintemple and made the very dangerous journey to Liverpool where she had zero family support.  So precarious was the life of Emma Ann Hunter in Liverpool that she married an Irish refugee whose only assets were integrity and the energy to do hard physical work all dayto support his family in a foreign city in return for what was certainly a miserable wage.

Whatever the reasons why Emma Ann fled Ballintemple in County Offaly - where her family was a respected part of the local community – they must have been powerful indeed.  In fleeing to Liverpool, Emma condemned herself to a life of grinding poverty and death in the Lancashire Mental Hospital.  Her reasons for fleeing Ireland must have been extremely powerful indeed.

My research says the documented children of John McGillicuddy and Emma Ann Hunter – as distinct from those who have disappeared from history – numbered at least 10.  They were:

• Margaret Mack, born on 8 May 1868.
• Emily Ann McGillicuddy was born in the 1^st quarter of 1870.
• Mary Ellen Mack was probably born in 1872 or 1873.
• Elizabeth McGillicuddy was born on 23 July 1874.
• John James McGillicuddy was born on 4 June 1876.
• George McGillicuddy was born on 29 January 1878.
• John McGillicuddy was born on 29 May 1880.
• Annie McGillicuddy was born on 11 July 1882.
• Alice McGillicuddy was born on 26 January 1884.
• Annie McGillicuddy was born on 16 March 1885.

Although it is usually almost impossible to identify the houses where the Postcard Book people once lived, the Churches where they were baptised and married usually still exist.  Tomorrow I will mostly go looking for Churches. 

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If I can overcome the flood of memories, I may also visit a very special place in County Kildare called Killashee House. 

Margaret and I were married twice at Killashee House in 2009.  Our first marriage was in the manner dictated by official Irish law.  Our second marriage took place immediately after the first marriage.  Our second marriage was our real marriage.  An integral part of the Handfasting Ceremony is the use of a ceremonial cord which the Celebrant wraps around the wrists of the couple getting married.  The expression “Tying the Knot” is derived from the Handfasting Ceremony.

Joyously and with enormous love, immediately after our “official” marriage in 2009, Margaret and I tied the knot at Killashee House in 2009.

Perhaps I will have the courage to return to Killashee House tomorrow …