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Dear Goldens,

The concrete round  (broken) sign says Rathscanlon House.  Rathscanlon was a name for the general area near the road leaving Tubbercurry for Ballina.

Actually, Rathscanlon means "circular fort or mound".  The house is on Highway N 17, just a bit south of the town center (left hand side of the road as you leave town).  Since all of the letters our ancestors wrote from the home gave Rathscanlon as their address, finding this broken sign in front of the house made us feel quite certain this was the house.  As we looked at the house we also looked at the pictures taken in 1920.  The biggest difference was the second story.  We were told that the house had added a story and been used as a boarding house for some years.  Then the house was abandoned for 40 years and got very run down.  A man currently lives there and is very slowly making improvements.

We were told by a lady, Mrs. Killoran-who runs a pub, that Richard Jasper had been the magistrate of Tubercurry.  He had initially been trained for the ministry, but changed to law.  Apparently his grandfather had been quite wealthy.   The town doesn't appear to have many Protestants left, although the church remains.  We were able to get the keys from a local butcher (Sherlock).

  Mr. Sherlock gave us the name of Mrs. Price in Coolaney whose maiden name was Goulden.  She didn't think we were related, but she told us about a visit she had had from Dr. Thomas Coles from Grosse Point, Michigan.  He's descended from Ann Golden who married a Mr. Brush.

Mrs. Price also showed us a letter the Thomas had left with her regarding our family.  It's the same letter from son Richard to Jasper that we already have.While discussing the surgery that young John had before leaving Ireland, he refers to a surgery on his lip (not life).  Perhaps he had had a cleft palate.

Mrs. Price also told us about an Arthur Golden who lived in Dun Moran Strand. He did not know of any connection, but his wife Jenny thought there was a connection to Rathscanlon.  He looks very much like my grandfather, the son of John Golden.

We also visited Sligo to see where the ship left for Canada.  We drove to Rosses Point which overlooks Oyster Island, the spot where Jasper and his sisters waited two weeks for good sailing weather.

I hope others in the family are able to visit Tubbercurry.  It's a lovely little town and everyone we met was friendly and helpful!

Regards,

Joyce (Golden) Brown