Fouhy descendants find their roots in Kildorrery

On Tuesday, July 10, 16 members of the O?Connor family, descendants of William Fouhy (1870-1932) of Scart Kildorrery, visited the parish of their forefathers. From New York, they are on a 10 day bus tour of Ireland visiting Dublin, Kerry, Galway and Belfast.

Last week the leader of the group, Kathleen O?Connor found the Ireland Reaching Out website and made contact. She had a photo of a gravestone of their great grandfather, William and a story that their great great grandmother was buried in Rockmills. After a bit of research we managed to find the gravestone in the Kildorrery graveyard and as a result we were able to identify their family. Unfortunately, Jack Fouhy, the last member of the family in Kildorrery passed away unmarried in 1995. However, the old homestead is still standing and the interior is in its original state. Built in the early eighteen hundreds it consists of the kitchen with the big open fireplace and a room either side with high wooden ceilings.

We met the group on their arrival and brought them to their family grave in Kildorrery. Some of the group found this very emotional. Then we proceeded to Rockmills. We were unable to identify the Condon grave as there are very few marked graves in that graveyard. However, they were amazed to hear that, in the old days, some gravesites were only marked with uninscribed stones and that every family knew where their own grave was and also that there was a custom that many women were buried with their mothers rather than with their husbands.

Then it was on to Scart to the old homestead. There, we were warmly welcomed by Diarmuid Murphy, the owner of the property where Jack Fouhy?s old house stands. It was possible to enter the house and walk around inside as Diarmuid and his wife have had it all cleared out and hope to preserve it in it?s original state. What a treat for the visiting group! There were tears of emotion as the family stood in the house where their forefathers were born and reared. Many photographs were taken which we hope will hold precious memories of their visit to our little corner of North East Cork. When all that was done, we waved goodbye to a lovely Irish American family as they set off on their journey to Blarney.