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Our relatives in County Roscommon, Ireland recently sent us a newspaper article from October of last year about the 100th anniversary of the release of four Ballintubber woman who had been jailed in nearby Castlebar. The picture of the womens' release has been floating around family archives for some time...
Here it is:
The quartet of women in the picture -- Mary Leonard, Mary Kate Cooney, Nora Leech, and Maggie Kelly -- had been imprisoned for a month for intimidating two men in what was called the "Anti-Grazing War" -- they had protested the closing of English-owned grazing land to local farmers, had driven some of the English lords' cattle out onto the roadways in protest, and confronted the constabulary that came out to stop them. The woman third from the left is Margaret (Maggie) Kelly; she has an infant in her arms: her three-month old daughter Catherine, who had been imprisoned with her. Maggie is my great-great-aunt, Catherine my first cousin twice removed.
( Cut because 'family' stuff is often only interesting the actual family.... and if that's the case, feel free to move on! )
Here it is:
The quartet of women in the picture -- Mary Leonard, Mary Kate Cooney, Nora Leech, and Maggie Kelly -- had been imprisoned for a month for intimidating two men in what was called the "Anti-Grazing War" -- they had protested the closing of English-owned grazing land to local farmers, had driven some of the English lords' cattle out onto the roadways in protest, and confronted the constabulary that came out to stop them. The woman third from the left is Margaret (Maggie) Kelly; she has an infant in her arms: her three-month old daughter Catherine, who had been imprisoned with her. Maggie is my great-great-aunt, Catherine my first cousin twice removed.
( Cut because 'family' stuff is often only interesting the actual family.... and if that's the case, feel free to move on! )