This post by Riobard O'Dwyer who is the expert on everything that one could possibly want to know about the Beara Peninsula in extreme southeast Kerry (and Cork, too) (and everybody who ever lived there, too) has some interesting information on occupations that people might have pursued if/when they weren't engaged in farming themselves to make a few odd shillings and pence. Ray Marshall -----Original Message----- From: pmlbounce@rootsweb.com [mailto:pmlbounce@rootsweb.com]On Behalf Of Riobard O'Dwyer Sent: Wednesday, October 17, 2007 4:10 PM Source: BEARA@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [BEARA] Occupations Apart from the copper miners and the seine (mackerel by night) fishermen, you had the stone mason, the carpenter/boat builder/common cart maker/harnessmaker, the blacksmith. The shoemakers were numerous (one left in Beara now). The butter makers and the butter carriers were very important as well. The local people drank plenty buttermilk(drank plenty of it myself from the churn as a young lad, and it didn't do me any harm !!), made fine healthy home-made bread with it, and there was no shortage of home-made butter. In fact two O'Sullivan families from the Eyeries Parish got their Branch-Names from the butter. One were the "Shandons" (the original man used boast that his horse was the only one from home that was able to carry a full load of butter all the steep way up to the top of Shandon Street, Cork City, to the butter market); the others were the "Shamrocks". The drivers of the butter carts from home here used stop for the night about half way to Cork City. One man brought a mixture of grass and shamrock in a bag for his horse, but when the driver got up in the morning to feed his horse for the remainder of the journey, his bag of grass and shamrock was "gone". He went around the place shouting "Who stole my shamrock ?" And he was duly "christened". Also you had people who spent their time going around mowing hay with scythes. There was fierce competition for the honor/honour of champion mower. There was a competition in Gortnabulliga, Eyeries Parish, one time. One of the mowers managed to slip a strong dose of salts into the liquid container of his rival. About half way through the competition, the salts started to take effect, and by the time the "salted" rival had spent the most of an hour running back and forth behind the furze bushes, the mower who had strong faith in the power of "salts" had proven his point. He obviously was a man who used his head as well as his scythe !! ----- Riobard. ----- Original Message ----- From: "John McAuliffe" <jmcauliffe@parmeko.co.uk> To: <Beara-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Wednesday, October 17, 2007 12:39 PM Subject: [BEARA] Occupations >I suppose this is a silly question about SW Ireland in the 19th century, >but was there any other industry other than the copper mining at Allihies and > fishing > > I research family history and in England the occupations were numerous. > > With my ancestors from Beara I have always assumed from what I have read > that 90% plus had a hard life trying to get by on farming their small > plots of land, > > with the odd blacksmith, miller etc (agricultural tradesmen). > > Would this be a correct assumption as I have seen very little information > on trades. > > Regards > John