The Coyne Homestead
MUSING IN CRIMLIN
CHRISTMAS 2006
At Coyne's Deserted Cottage in Crimlin The berries red on the Holly Bushes.
A robin fluttered from stone to stone,
The verdure clung to the departed rain,
The waning winter sun shone.
The stepped stile still standing,
The trodding feet dead and gone.
Ghosts of the past struggling,
To reach the living.
The singing stream still flows where hope and love came together so many years ago.
The copulation of Crimlin East Regenerating in the land of hope, America, Firmly planted in that Lovely valley in Ireland, Long ago.
(Joe Molloy)
I FIRST VISITED THE REMAINS OF MY FATHER’S HOUSE IN CRIMLIN VALLEY IN 1957.
ALL I RECALL IS SOME BRICK WORK, NO CEILING, AN EARTHEN FLOOR. WHEN I VISITED IT, I RECALL A GLOOMY, RAINY DAY, AND EVEN IN JUNE, A CHILL IN THE AIR. I TRIED TO ENVISION WHAT PLEASURE THERE MIGHT BE IN THAT DISMAL SPOT. PERHAPS BEING ABLE TO GET CLOSE TO THE PEAT FIRE AND HAVE A WARM CUP OF TEA? A SPOT BY THE FIRE WOULD BE A CHALLENGE FOR THE 11 INHABITANTS. HARD TO FIND ANY CREATURE COMFORT IN THAT DANK SPOT.
I REMEMBER ASKING MY FATHER WHY HE NEVER REVISITED IRELAND, ESPECIALLY AS MY BROTHER THOMAS WORKED FOR TWA AIRLINES AND COULD OBTAIN AN ALMOST FREE PASS FOR HIM. HIS RESPONSE: “WHY WOULD I WANT TO VISIT POVERTY?”
HE NEVER HAD ROMANTIC NOSTALGIA FOR THE DIRE IRELAND HE EXPERIENCED AS MANY IRISH AMERICANS WHO NEVER KNEW AN ENVIRONMENT IN WHICH IMMIGRATION MIGHT BE A LIFE LINE.
ON THE SOUTHSIDE OF CHICAGO, HE HAD A HOUSE WITH CENTRAL HEAT AND INDOOR PLUMBING, SOMETHING THE LORD OF THE MANOR IN THAT AREA OF GALWAY DIDN’T HAVE. EMMETT COYNE
IN 2005, RTE, IRELAND'S EQUIVALENT OF PBS, DID A PROGRAM ON JOE MOLLOY, WHO IS JOE MOLLOY?
JOE PROVIDED AN EXCEPTIONAL SOCIO-ECONOMIC-HISTORICAL-ECONOMIC CONTEXT TO UNDERSTAND LIFE IN THIS PART OF IRELAND, CRIMLIN VALLEY FROM WHENCE THE COYNE'S IMMIGRATED.
IT IS EXTRAORDINARY FOR ANY IMMIGRANT FAMILY TO HAVE SUCH AN OVERVIEW OF THE AREA FROM WHICH THEIR ANCESTORS IMMIGRATED.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?