The Gallaghers of Ballinrobe

When they finally got to the convent, the other man was
ready to unload the books right away, but Uncle Jim made
him wait until after he had a chance to eat his own dinner.
Uncle Jim, like others in the family, lived by the rule that
he would never take advantage of anyone and would not
tolerate anyone trying to take advantage of him.
During their 1993 visit, Uncle Owen showed
Owen and Lynn the nuns’ cemetery around the back of the
Convent of Mercy. There they got a surprise greeting from
Sister Carmel, who Uncle Owen thought had gone away
for the day. She said she saw the threesome walking around
the grounds and recognized young Owen because of how
tall he was. She shared a humorous story of Uncle Jim once
digging a grave after one of the nuns had passed away. He
was using the rocks dug up clearing the plot to build a
nearby wall. As the sweaty work proceeded, a small group
of nuns gathered around to watch Uncle Jim dig through
the difficult soil. More sisters continued to gather as he
toiled under the hot sun. At one point, Sister Carmel
recalled, Uncle Jim paused and looked up at the sisters. He
asked kindly who would be “the next to oblige us” with an
opportunity to dig up more rocks. Sister Carmel chuckled at
the memory.
The nuns said they wondered how they ever got
along without the Gallagher men and Aunt Nora’s husband,
Pat Murphy. They remembered when Uncle Jim had once
noticed lights moving inside the convent’s school as he was
heading home from town about midnight. They said Jim
knew something was wrong, waited for the kids to come
out the door, then chased after and caught one of them. He
was taken to the priest, but the police were never called.
Uncle Jim’s rule about others trying to take advantage
extended to friends, family and employers.
NEW RESPONSIBILITIES
By 1930, Uncle Michael had died of tuberculosis
and Uncles Pete and Pat had gone to America. When Uncle
John was killed in a fall from his bicycle that September,
Uncle Jim would leave working in the bogs forever and
take Uncle John’s place at the convent. At the time, our
grandfather was 65 years old and our grandmother would
have been dealing with Parkinson’s disease, leaving it to
Uncle Jim to assume more responsibilities as the oldest son
still living at home. Aunt Nora would have helped with the
running of the house. Uncle Tom would have been only 16,
Uncle Owen 14, and Aunt Ann and Aunt Mary under age
10. This is where another rule came into play –
responsibility.
Uncle Jim remained with the family in Ballinrobe
Uncle Jim was 37 years old when he left Ballinrobe for
America in 1949.
until after his parents died, Aunt Nora had married Pat
Murphy and his younger sisters were grown. He had come
to the conclusion Ballinrobe economy and the family farm
could best support fewer people and reasoned it would be
easier for him than others to find work in America. So he
gave his job at the convent to Pat Murphy, left the farm for
Uncle Owen and finally headed for a new country in 1949.
He always joked he was a “Forty-Niner,” just 100 years too
late to strike gold. He did not come by ship, as his brothers
and sisters had. Instead, he flew TWA.
Emigrating was not a quick decision … nor an
easy process. By early 1947, Uncle Jim was trying to get
approval for the move. He received a letter that March from
the American Consulate General in Dublin informing him
that because of the thousands of applicants for visas, the
process was facing months of delays. The letter pointed out
that “immigration laws require an alien to prove that he
would have adequate assurance of support for an indefinite
period in the United States, aside from any employment that
might be obtained.” The letter advised him to submit one or
more affidavits from people already in America “who are
willing and able to establish that you are not likely to
become a public charge if admitted (into the country.)”
On July 19, 1948, Uncle Jim was informed all his
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