Letters from Bridget - Explaination

She had children .... Bernard came to America, Patrick, Ellen, James, whom I believe came to America also .... while Peter, and Thomas, stayed in Ireland. She mentions "John" in one of her nine letters, but gives no hint as to his relationship to the family.

The old house Alvin inherited burned and Grandma Grace Keenan Shearer's house in Biggs burned .... how did these letter's ever survive, until my aunt Bertha gave them to me in 1982 ? WSB.

At the time these letters were received, the Keenan's were still living in Weston, Oregon, and all four children living at home.

There is or was a hint that the family came from Cork before coming to Mullabawn.

9 Letters from Bridget - Mullabawn Post Office by Forkill Co., Armagh Ireland, to son Bernard as of 5 Jan 1895

Letters from Bridget - 16 Mar 1880

Mullabawn March 16th 1880
Dear son it is with pleasure I commence to inform you that we got your letter on Tuesday 9th of March and on Friday the 12th we got the money Sam MAGRWN came in to the post office as I was sitting on a chair and he signed his name to the cheque and said he was very glad to have it to do we are ever obliged to you and no mistake it came in a good time I sent Peter with it the next day and paid the rent which we are sure of another year and I hope the times will be better then is a great many out of their place and plenty in houses in a very bad way there is what they call Parish relief giving out every week to the suffering poor that is to those that cannot get it any other way but no one else it commenced here last week and is in all the Parishes in Ireland what money is a collecting in America the most of it is going to the west of Ireland the Forkhill Parish was the last that got any of it since the time that our lease was broke the rent was raised the rent of the whole farm is 15 pounds. Dear son it will be a renewal of health to me to hear from you and your mistress and family may God pour a blessing upon you all we rote to Patrick a year ago and got no answer we got a letter from Ellen about 12 months and we were very sorry to hear her daughters death I have her likeness yet and Patricks and his mistress's likeness and two of yours Peter was in England this time you sent yours and we sent one of them to him he got it framed very nicely it cost him four and six pence it is as fresh today as it was the day you sent it I be seeing them with the fire and pleasing my mind looking at them, we were all very glad to hear of you and your family being well and in good health Knowing that you will feel happy to hear of us all enjoying the same thank's be to God for all his holy gifts, at the time you sent for Thomas or Peter one of them to go Thomas would not go and Father would not let Peter go as he thought he would answer better with John and Margaret and his self and he never turned his toung on his father or mother nor would he let any one else there might be a change for the better in twelve months as self the neighbors are all very glad for what you have don and is blessing you may God bless and mark you with grace the post master in Forkhill said there came more money order's to him this last month than did since he started all from America. Ireland is in a very bad way. Write soon and let us know how you are all doing as we will feel happy to hear from you again and let us know how the rest of the family is. Your old sweetheart Mary Ann is married and has nine of a family. Michael Gologhy is dead too years ago. Peter and misses and family John and Margaret joins with me in sending our love and best respects to you and your Mrs and family in this warmest manner. We are forever obliged to you for what you have don us the money we got it was [an unreadable section] It was a blessing to get so good a gift [another stained area ..unreadable] No more at the present from your loving mother and Brothers and Sisters.

Dear Brother Bernard if it is a thing that I ever get ritch or gets as far as a trifle of money you are in title to it I will never forget it to you, your Brother Peter.

Letters from Bridget - 8 Jun 1880

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Mullabawn June 8, 1880
Dear son it is with Pleasure I take my pen in hand to let you know that I received your kind and welcome letter which gave me and all the family great satisfaction to hear of you and your kind wife and family being well and in good health. I got your letter on the 26th of May, the invoice did not come in until the 3rd of June and on that same day I got the money which was a hansom present when I got the money Peter says to me Mother the day is fine and you may as well come to Dundalk as it was so long since you were in it before so I went and had a very pleseant day. I got every thing to my wishes. Dear son you are a very thoughtful man and were that when you were a little boy may your own children be as good to you as you are to me. When your letter was taken in to the house when Peter opened it and read a part of it he filled up with the crying to say you were to good as to send Fifty dollars more may the Lord pour a blessing on you your wife and family. The traveling poor are blessing you for your thought and kindness to home, I suppose you forget the size of the little farm you were raised on. I pay £10 pounds of rent in the year it is my own name that is in the recit. Peter his wife and family and John and Margaret is living in the house with me. Thomas is living on part of the farm of which he pays £4 8s of rent so the rent the whole farm is £14 8s in the year

Your Brothers and sisters are all well my grandson little Bernard says he wishes he was big boy and that he would go over to see you Your wife is a very good woman and kind to us for if she was a bad one she would strive to prevent you doing what you have done for me May God mark you and her with his holy grace.

Dear son your last letter has made this a blooming summer for us it is very remarkable the changes that has come on the place here this last four year and it is not the case in one place but many the Smiths family are all well. There is three of Peter's boys in America one of them died b... he has to in England Bernards family is well the eldest boy and girl is in Lavaerpore the rest of the family is small he is very lo he has a sort of a swelling on most of his hand. Thanks be to God I have very good health but I am getting very stif. John is getting into bad health. I will get Peter to write to you about another fortnight and perhaps I will send my likeness to you. Peter says you are entitle to another as it is all we can give you at the present. We got no word from Patrick or James or Ellen this last three years if you hear from them send us word how they are

P.S. rite soon and let us know how you are all getting along hoping when this reaches you it may find you all well. The family all join me in sending our love and best respects to you and your wife and family your affectionate mother Bridget Keenan to her son Bernard Keenan.

[In another style of writing]
Thanks be to God. We was very glad to hear from you tell me how the crops look and how much grain you have got put in this year. Tell me how much stock you have got there are there any one in need in your neighborhood have you heard any thing about the apparations at Knock if you have tell us all about it and how many cures you know of how far you live from Knock

Letters from Bridget - 5 May 1882

Original folded like a card
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Best to print in landscape
Mullabawn May 5th 1882
My Dear Son and daughter and family I am proud to let you know that I got your letter and was very proud to hear of you and family being well I and my familly is quite well I also got the money you sent me which my family and I is forever obliged to you for your kindness to me Thanks be to God that you are so lucky and so fortunate as to be able to look to us in the bad times but only the goodness is in you and your wife yous would not be out so much with me. Your kind and thoughtful letters are remarked by all the neighbours.

Dear Son I wonder very much that you never spoke any thing of my picture that I sent you. I own I am old and faild but I would like you to tell me in your next letter how I looked when I reached there after crossing the stormy sea. You must have a very speedy way for ploughing when you can plough so much in the day. half an acre in the day is as much as we can do in the day. why you have more ploughed than is in all Mullabawn. We lost Patrick's address I sent too of my pictures to Ellen and she was to send one of them to Pat at the same time I sent it to you so I got no letter from them this long time. when you tell me in your letters that they were well I feel contented. it was a very stormy winter with win and rain not very much frost nor snow we have spring labour finished. those days people is late with the labour here this season owing to the wet wether. theref was a splendit crop of potatoes in this country last season. I suppose you remember Peter and Bernard Smyth, Catherin Gollogy and Mary Ann. they are all well and is glad to hear how well you are off. the traveling poor says you are happy blessed with the good woman you got and indeed they be praying for your self are for how kind you's are to me. I hope this will be a good summer.

The landlords are very determed still and must get the rent and is getting it. there is a great many injected out of there. [unreconizeable word] the money you sent done a deal of good. may God protect you and your's and bestoue a blessing on your [hanlin?]. I hope you will rite soon. good by my dear Children. my family all joins me in sending our best wishes to you your Wife and family from your mother Bridget Keenan to my son Bernard Keenan

Letters from Bridget - 4 Jan 1883

Letter was folded as a card
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MULLABAWN January 4 1883
My Dear Son and Daughter and children, It is with pleasure I rite you these fuw lines to let you know that I and family are quite well and we are all very happy to hear of you your Wife and family being in the enjoyment of good health which is the greatest blessing we can have. thanks be to God for all his goodness. it was on wednesday the 27 of December I got your letter and on Wednesday 3rd of January I got the money you sent me. my family and I are ever obliged to you and your wife. I hope the almighty God will send you twise as much in the place of what you are sending to me. we are praying for your welfare and so is the traveling poor. the neighbors are all very proud to hear of how well you are doing and the good letters you are sending. it is what we say and so does the Neighbors say the same. that as good as you are your Wife is fulley as good. thanks be to god my health is as good as it was this last twenty years onely that I am stiff of my limbs. in the warm wether I walk up to the top of the road and has my little Children Playing about me. I wounder very much what I have done on the rest of my family that is in America. I wrote twice to them and got no answer. the landlords are dowing better than what they were. they are giving from three to four shillings of a reduction to the pound. this is expected to be a hard season on the poor class. there is a very bad Potatoe crop this season. the flax crop has don a deal of harm bad yeald and bad price. any having cattle to sell the are giving a very good price. we are all very sorry for the mistress having the tootheak. I hope she is quite better of it is a painful complant whildt it lasts. I have a little grandson here an name sake of yours. he says to me this morning when he seen Peter going to write, Granma come with me to America and I will forse Uncle Bernard home. you are the good uncle to us all, my family all joins me in sending our love and best respects to your wife and family. may God bless you all. we are all proud of the beatiful cards you sent me but we do not know by the names whether they are boys or girls. good by for the present. hoping to hear soon from your loving Mother Bridget Keenan to my son Br Keenan

Letters from Bridget - 31 Dec 1883

MULLABAWN 31 Dec 1883
My Dear son it is with the greatest of pleasures I rite you those fiew lines to let you know that I received kind and welcome letter which gave us all great satisfaction to hear you your Wife and family being in the enjoyment of good health My family and I are quite well I received your letter on the 20th and after that I got the money on the 26th is was a welcome Christmas box

My Dear Son and Daughter-in-law and Children my family and I is for ever obliged to you and your kind wife besides ourselves being thankful of yous the neighborhood are all glad to hear how well you are doing the all say you have got the best woman in all America the has being very good crops here this season especially the Potato crop the Flax crop was doing very well untill this last eight or nine years since that it has don a great deal of harm the people about here does not intend to sow any more of it but we did not quit soon enough oats is giving very low price this fiew years 6 shillings and 6=3 per hundred is the common price so it is very hard to raise money the is no chance of earning a shiling in this country My Dear Child I remember the time befor you went to America when there was word of thomas going in you place how you would be leaping behind at the back of my chair and saying mother speak for me to go you are happy blessed that left this country the time you did there is none of those tenants that was enjiected out of there places they did not get back yet thanks be to god we are not near so bad as what we were three or four years ago we may thank you for a deal of it I hope the almighty will send you double as much in the place of what you sent me, you and your wife and family has your brothers and sisters wife and family blessings along with mine we got no letter from the rest of the family this long time I am very glad picture pleased you from your mother Bridget Keenan to my Son B. Keenan

Letters from Bridget - 6 Jul 1885

Mullabawn July 6, 1885
Dear Son and Daughter and fanily I rite you those fiew lines to let you know that my family and I are all well and in good health we were all very happy to hear of you and family enjoying good health my own health is as good as it was twenty years ago onely for the stiffness of my limbs I got your letter and money all aright which I am for ever obliged to you and your kind wife yous have my blessing and all my family joins me, the poor begger Women when they call they be asking about you an when they hear of your kindness they be praying and blessing you an your family the neigh-bors are very proud to hear how well you are doing Ireland is very low at present every thing is cheap and it is very hard to make money the very best of them are busy enough this must be a late season crops of all kinds are very short we have a very drie summer a little rain would doo good we had a very could month of May with some frost we got no letter from Patrick, James or Ellen this eight years we rote too or three times I think Patrick must be dead or else he would not forget me, like your self he was very good child Edwin Ssherlin and wife both died there was about nine months be-tween them there is a son of Peter Smith's home from collage he was ordained last week Dundalak is in co., Loidh it is onley three short mile from the co., Armarh Neury is in Armagh Patrick Dolan that was at School along with you he is a Doctor this last ten or twelve years his brother Thomas died he has a younger Brother a Priest there is a great deal of the people who was injected out of there places did not get back John is getting very old looking and stiff my family joines me in saying that we are for ever tankful of you and your Wife for your kindness thanks be to god
I remain your loving mother Bridget Keenan to Bernard Keenan

Letters from Bridget - Jan 1886

Mulabawn January 1886
My Dear Son and Daughter In-law and family you know that I received the greatest of pleasure I rite you those fiew/fuw lines to let you know that I received your letter which leaves us all very happy to hear of you all being in good health I also got the money you sent me on Thursday 30th of December which was a welcome Newyear's gift Peter his wife and all the rest of the family joins with me in sending our harty thank's to you and your kind wife You and your kind wife was praised by rich and poor the poor are praying to God you to have the hight of good luck in every way for how you are thinking of me and my charge my health is as good as it was tewnty years ago onely that I am getting very stif I lie in my bead in the mornings untill ten and eleven the morning your letter came to us I was taking my breakfast they did not tell me until I had don Peter kindled the pipe and was taking it to me I raised up he had the pip in one hand and the letter in the other well mother which of the too will you have I took the letter kissed it and cried not for grief but with joy those too last summers was wormer than what we had for a long time past this was a very favor-able winter we had a little frost and onely one day's snow the Potato crop was very good this last too seasons corn and flax is yealding very badly all sorts of cattle are come to very low price oats never was so low in price it is onely 5 = 9 per hundred it never was so hard to make money there is very busy times in the country the Tenants striving to get the rents reduced it is expected there will be buisy times in Parliment at this sitting they will sit on the 12 = 13 of this month I will send you a paper then there was a great many deaths here this twelve months past Bernard Smith and Catherin Gollogly are both dead they died the one week in last August ....... your Brothers and sisters joins me in sending our love and best wishes to you and your Wife and family wishing you all a happy new year and many of them May God protect you aginst them roughs ..... I will conclude for the present hoping to hear from you soon from you
I remain you loving Mother Bridget Keenan to Bernard Keenan

Letters from Bridget - 25 Apr 1887

Mullabawn April 25 1887
My Dear Son and Daughter inlaw and family I rite you those fiew lines to let you know that we received your letter and money all right which we are for ever thankful of you and your kind wife it sertenaly don us a deal of good may God replace double as much in it's stead Dear Son and Daughter we are very happy to hear of you's all being well and in good health and wishing you deal of happiness in your young son we are all well at present my health is very good I do not get out of my bed any day untill ten or eleven we all be very glad to hear from you's besides your a great help to leave us comfortable John is getting very stif and little work dose him for the time to come The people have nearly all the crops finishing there is no person about here remembers so dry a spring as this was last summer was a very wet season and caused bad crops to much rain dose not do with this country I hope them wild caracters you called them roughs are not coming near or annoying yous we rote a nother time to Patrick and got no ansur if you get word from him let us know there was very troublesom times in this country between landlords and tenants some Landlords are doing a little and some more they will gieve none a tall we had not very much snow last winter but along teadous frost all sorts of grain are sellling very cheap Some say Ireland will mend if we get home rool but it is very teadous coming Peter has five of a family three little boys and too little girls my self and Peter's Wife is doing very well there could be no better all the young people of this country is going to America Peter his wife and all the family joins me in sending our love and best respects to you your Wife and family good by for the present from your Mother Bridget Keenan to my Son Bernard Keenan
P.S....rite soon
[ Alvin Bernard KEENAN was Bernard's 1st. son, and Arthur was his second. WSB ]

Letters from Bridget - 5 Jan 1889

Mullabawn January 5th 1889
My Dear Son I rite you those fiew lines to let you know that I got your letter and money all right and I am sure Peter and his wife and I are very thankful of you if we were to sell all the corn we have it would not mak six pounds my Dear son my health is as good thanks be to God as it was ten years ago onely that I am gett-ing very small and stiff this was a very wet season this sumer and winter the corn is yealding very bad it did not ripen even owing to so much wet by hearing from you it left us to have a very pleaseant Christmas we had Patrick Hanlon's sister and too of his brothers we missed Patrick very much he used to gieve us a call every Christmas he was always good natured we would like to know if you got word from Patrick James or Ellen if you did send us word how they are doing I would like to hear from them befor I would die we rote twice to Patrick and Ellen and got no answer I am sure we are very thankful of you and your Wife for how you's are looking to us, This house had always the luck of a good number of People at present there is eleven we had no snow this winter yet we had about ten days frost and is still going on Dear Son my family all joins me in sending our best respects to you your Wife and familly and also to Patrick wishing you all a happy new year and many of them P.S. rite soon as we would like to hear from you.

No more at the present from your Mother Bridget Keenan to Bernard Keenan
Address Mullabawn Post Office by Forkhill Co., Armagh Ireland