Monday had been set aside to see what could be found in a day at Enniskillen tracking the Irish family of Randall's great grandfather John Cassidy who came to Australia as a boat person in 1858. Well, Randall had quite a bit of luck in that regard. A very helpful tourist information office got him to the local Enniskillen library where the expert research officer Murana McGuire dug up quite a bit of information once we had found the precise area where his part Cassidy family had lived.
We found the area where John Cassidy's father and brother James and his family lived. It looks like one brother stayed on in Ireland. A lot of quite useful census, family breakdown and location information was obtained.
From the library it was a case of driving to the area, enquiring at the local post office door to discover that the family had died out here in the 1950s. Randall had a series of discussions with the post office lady who called about 3 or 4 others on farms in the area. She then relayed us through two other ladies before we had the Cassidy story tied up and a couple of photographs taken. We are sure we had found the right farm when we were told about the last of the Cassidy's dying out.
Almost everyone we spoke to had parts of their own family in Australia. Everyone was helpful and very inquisitive at the same time as we struggled to get away gracefully.
We ended up in the kitchen of a farm with a nice old couple offering cups of tea and telling us quite a bit about local happenings. They were armed with census information, family bibles and the old local fables. Fascinating experience and mission accomplished.
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