Elizabeth "Bessie" Sweeney wife of James Gallagher they are my Gallagher/Sweeney Grandparents.

Grandma was said to have been a very progressive women and a head of her times. She also was said to have been a great business women.

They had nine boys and one girl, born at the Homestead in Casheloogary, County Donegal.

One boy and one girl died young in 1901 in a Diptheria Epidemic. They died just a few days apart. Bernard about age 4 and Rose about age 1.

All of their other son's, except for one son Hughie and one son James that died about age 21, came to the US.

Email from Monica Dignam Balkema who just visited this last June 2009.

Cashelogary is just now a wide spot in an unpaved lane. It seems to consist primarily now of sheep fields but the house from which your father and my grandfather emerged is a poignant ruins at the end of ‘Gallagher's Lane", a name that the current owner a man by the name of Peter seems to continue to use.

Picture in the Middle: Ruins of the old House.

You can click on the photo's to enlarge them and read more info.

1901 Residents of a house 35 in Casheloogary (Inver, Donegal)
Gallagher James 43 Male Head R C County Donegal Farmer Read only Irish English Married
Gallagher Elizabeth 38 Female Wife R C Co Donegal Cook and Housekeeper Read write Married
Gallagher James 12 Male Son R C Co Donegal Scholar Read write Not Married
Gallagher John 11 Male Son R C Co Donegal Scholar Read write Not Married
Gallagher Ed 9 Male Son R C Co Donegal Scholar Read write Not Married
Gallagher Michael 8 Male Son R C Co Donegal Scholar Read only Not Married
Gallagher Pat 6 Male Son R C Co Donegal Scholar Read only Not Married
Gallagher Frank 5 Male Son R C Co Donegal Scholar Cannot read Not Married
Gallagher Hugh 4 Male Son R C Co Donegal Scholar Cannot read Not Married
Gallagher Willie 2 Male Son R C Co Donegal - Cannot read Not Married

1911 Residents of a house 6 in Casheloogary (Dunkineely, Donegal)
Gallagher James 56 Male Head R C Co Donegal Farmer's Read Irish English Married
Gallagher Bessie 48 Female Wife R C Co Donegal Read and write Irish English Married
Gallagher John 23 Male Son R C Co Donegal Farmer's Son Read and write Irish English Single Gallagher Edward 22 Male Son R C Co Donegal Blacksmith Read write Irish English Single
Gallagher Michael 20 Male Son R C Co Donegal Farmer's Son Read write Irish English Single
Gallagher Patrick 19 Male Son R C Co Donegal Farmer's Son Read write Irish English Single
Gallagher Hugh 17 Male Son R C Co Donegal Scholar Read write Irish English Single
Gallagher Willie 13 Male Son R C Co Donegal Scholar Read write Irish English Single

I hold in my hands a treasure so rare, I close my eyes and imagine I'm there, When she wrote each name with care, Not knowing with me some day she'd share. Could she have known what a jewel it would be? That it would be something I waited to see? That one hundred years later the Bible I'd hold, That in it's pages more than God's story is told. I imagine she was proud of her family, For what greater gift could there be, Did she imagine the family to come? That I would be from the family of her son? This family heirloom I will handle with care, So that in another hundred years it will be there, For my great great grandchildren may it be, A gift they are searching for to add to the family tree.