I had an amazing reaction to the publication of last week’s blog on Tom Crean.  Readers from across the world – New Zealand to the United Kingdom, responded with requests  for further research on their Kerry ancestors, and possible relationships to Tom Crean or his mother’s family – the Courtneys (also recorded as Cournane in the 19th century).    I am sure we are going to find some fascinating stories of long lost Aunascaul people who travelled the globe.  They may be ‘long lost’ to Kerry, but not to descendants who IFhave kept their memories burning brightly.

What has this to do with Kerry gravestone images?  Exactly one year ago I got an email out of the blue from  Joe Maher, who said that he was starting to photograph and record every recordable gravestone/tomb in all Kerry cemeteries.    I admired his ambition and encouraged him in this work, even though privately I thought that if he ever actually got to all Kerry Graveyards, photographed the legible inscriptions, logged and uploaded them to a website, well maybe I would hear form him again in about five years’ time.   Well yesterday, just one year later, Joe is back having completed ‘99%’ of the job as he says himself ‘The project turned out to be much bigger than I ever dreamed’.  While he still has indexing to do and generally finish off the website, have a look and see what he has achieved.  I am attaching the original gravestone or ‘headstone’ as we call it, of Tom Crean, his widow and young daughter who are buried in Ballinacourty, Annascaul and my parents Dan and Margaret Moloney, in Listowel.   All ImagesIF