Correspondence from Art H

Correspondence from Art H. Montgomery, Carnaveagh House

Author's notes: the letters are unedited and transcribed as Mr. Montgomery, now deceased, typed them. 

                    5 October 1982

…In 1776 a William Breakey leased a pzat of the town land of Creeve to one Fowlerthis William is stiled a lined draper and lived I think in Monaghan town

 In 1815 this property was owned by James Breakey who leased at least a part of it to John Jackson who built this house, formerly called Cree ve Castle, it was this john Jackson who might be said to have masterminded the local boomin this area his daughter married a Cunningham and in 1836 she was living here and this whole district was owned either by Jacksons or Cunninghams, embracing 5 large farms and about 16 smaller ones and 15 water drive n mills of various kinds .

Now my grand father and his brother had mortgauges on the Cunningham property and when the Cunningham families all whent bankrupt my grandfather, his brother having died, was left midleman landlord of this part of Creeve , and until the last Land Act we pain a smzll  rent to a mr Breakey who lived in Glasslough Street , Monaghan   We have lived in this house since about 1854.

 No Breakey ever lived in this house but there was a Breakey family in the townland of Carnaveagh in fact I knew the last of them Thomas he was in fact a great friend of mine, an expert with sick animals especially horses, I can remember about 1913 siting up all night and walking through a heavy snowsotrm 3 miles into ballybay to get some medcine he fancied would cure a horse which the vet had deemed incureable and he saved the horse,………

                   28 October 1982

                   …The tom Breakey who lived near us was unmarried , he had a sister who married              one Henry Bodell her name was, I think Sarah and later they took over the farm, I do not remember when Tommy died as from 1910 till 1919 I was mostly away at school and at war, Inevar thought about his age but would say anything from 60 to 80..