Telephone: Drohega 163

Dear Mrs. Wright [1] ,

            Although we have never met yet I feel I must write to you direct to thank you for the information you sent through David Gilmore [2] . It seems to fill in what I was lacking, there is a difference in James Gilmore’s [3] year of birth  You have it as 1772 whereas on the Tombstone in Castletown Graveyard [4] it is died 1863 aged 80, but so many old people do not often admit to their true age, again his wife predeceased him by 35 years so that his children may not have known what he really was. We always understood that his father died when he was young & that he was brought up in Drohega by a female relative called Schoales [5] which family held a position of importance there in the 18^th Century when several were Mayors or Sheriffs of the Borough. I have given Davey Gilmore, for you, the extracts from D'Altons [6] History of Drohega. Could you kindly tell me where Alex. Gilmore [7] lived & whether he held land. Do you know of the Gilmore Coat of Arms. If you ever trace the Christian names of his father & mother as well as her maiden name I should be also interested  The tradition in our family was that the Gilmores came from the Isle of Skye which they owned having been dispossessed by the Clans of McLeod & McLean & I understand this is borne out in history. They were also, we understood, Cousins of the MacNeills [8] of Mount Pleasant, Ravensdale, Dundalk.

            Again my very best thanks for all the trouble you have taken in helping to complete the blanks in the family history.

                        Yours Sincerely

                                    James M Carroll [9]