| The Story of O'Donovan Rossa |
|
|
|
| Written by Con O'Callaghan | |||||||
| Wednesday, 05 October 2005 | |||||||
Page 1 of 5 O'Donovan Rossa is perhaps Reenascreena's most famous son (although residents of Rosscarbery invariably lay claim to him as their own, his mother was from Reenascreena, and many locals claim he was born here). Here Con O'Callaghan relays the story of O'Donovan Rossa.... (CJ)  O'Donovan Rossa Rossa was the son of Denis O’Donovan Rossa of Carrigangrenane and Nellie O’Driscoll of Reenascreena. He was baptised in Rosscarbery on the 10th September 1831. At the age of three he went to his grandfathers house at Reenascreena, and he stayed there until he was seven, then he returned to Rosscarbery. The years spent in Reenascreena gave him a good picture of Irish life at that time. He learned the Irish language, as that was the language of the house and the language of the farm. At the age of seven he returned to Ross to prepare for Communion and Confirmation. Rossa got a great knowledge of Irish history from his parents. He had learned that his father’s family were originally from Rossmore, but were evicted from there and came to Carrigangrenane Reenascreena only to be evicted from there again and moved to Rosscarbery. He knew that the eviction from Rossmore was for Religious reasons and was during the penal times. The invaders were taking the land from the native Irish. The scenes he had seen during the famine years strengthened Rossa’s hatred of English rule in Ireland.Coming on the harvest time of the year 1845 the crops looked splendid, but one fine morning in July there was a cry around that some blight had struck the potato stalks. The leaves had been blighted and from being green, parts of them were turned black and brown and when these parts were felt between the fingers, they’d crumble into ashes. The air was left with a sticky odour of decay as if the hands of death had stricken the potato field and that everything growing in it was rotting. “This is the recollection that remains in my mind of what I felt in our marsh field that morning”. Then one of our fields had a crop of wheat and when that wheat was reaped and stacked the landlord put keepers on it. One of the keepers (Mickeleen O’Brien) went with my mother to the Lloyds mill and from the mill to the agent. When my mother came home she came without any money. The rent was £18 a year. The wheat was thirty shillings a bag, there were 12 bags and a few stone, that came in all to £18/5s and she gave all to the agent. During those years in Ireland ’45 ’46 ’47, the potato crop failed but the other crops grew well, and as in the case of my people in ’45 the landlords came in on the people everywhere and seized the grain crops for the rent---not caring much what became of those whose labour and sweat produced those crops. The people died of starvation by thousands. We adapt the English expression and call those years “The Famine Years” but there was no famine in the land. There is no famine in any land that produced as much food as will support the people of that land---if the food is left with them. But the English took the food away to England and let the people starve.” A list of exports of food from Cork on a single day 14th Nov 1848 as listed in “Ireland a History” by Robert Kee:
To further show that there was plenty food in the Country, Fr W Holland in his book “A History of West Cork” Quotes from Cork Arch, Record no 173, page 57. A Government Estimate reported some 16 million quarters of wheat for 1847.A Quarter-480 Lbs would be sufficient to support a single person for an entire year. In addition, there were sufficient green crops at a stone per head per day to support 4 million human beings. Rossa’s father died in March 1847. He went to Smorane in 1848. The home in Ross got broken up and the family went to America. Rossa lived with his aunt, Mrs. Stephen Barry. Her daughter was married to Mortimer Downing who had a hardware shop in Skibbereen and Rossa worked there. The day that Rossa’s mother, sister and brother were leaving for America, he came to see them off. He mentions the long straight road from Tullig to Mauliregan and that he stayed looking up the hill after the horse and cart until they were gone from his view. Rossa married Nanno Eagar in Skibbereen on the 6th June 1853. Shortly after getting married he set up his own business in Skibbereen, selling hardware and seeds and doing well. In 1856 the Phoenix National and Literary Society was founded, with the principal aim of rousing the spirit of the people, so low after the famine and the failure of the Young Ireland Rising. Through reading in the Phoenix Society, Rossa knew that in 1641, which was 40 years after the Battle of Kinsale, Catholics held just 59% of the land of Ireland. By 1688 this figure had dropped to 22%: in 1695 the figure was 14% and in 1714 Catholics owned just 7% of the land of Ireland. From these figures Rossa could clearly see that it was easy to pass “The Act of Union” in 1800, and it was only property owners were allowed vote and I think it may be that undemocratic act which still ties the six counties to England. Some members of the Phoenix Society were: Daniel McCartie ,Dan Crowley, Patrick Carey Patrick J. Downing, Morty Moynahan. James Stephens came in 1858 and the Phoenix Society became the Fenian Society. The society did not escape the attention of the police. With the help of an informer the leaders were arrested in December 1858. This man Daniel O’Sullivan (Goula) from Kerry got £50 for his false information. Rossa was remanded in Cork jail for 8 months. His business suffered as a result and he got into financial difficulties. The rich and landlord class ceased dealing with him, and the poor were afraid to be seen trading. His wife Nanno Eagar died in January 1859 and left four sons. |
|||||||
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
