McKane's Corner |
The story of why and how I call my blog McCain’s Corner goes back to the McCains
that stayed in Ireland, in Donegal, when my branch of the family migrated to
Colonial America. I had, from my
childhood, been fascinated with the concept of finding that part of my family that
stayed behind in the Old Country. My
book, Finding the McCains goes into
detail about my forty year search for them and how I finally located them and
the McCains in the New World were reunited with the McCains that stayed in
Ireland. The McCain’s Corner blog is named after a landmark associated with our
family in Stranorlar, County Donegal, Ireland.
In 2008 I wrote a group of articles for the Irish
newspaper The Finn Valley Voice. The paper is based in Stranorlar and its
editor is Celine McGlynn. It is an old
fashioned regional paper that was founded in 1994 and it is one of the two
oldest independent newspapers that have survived in Ireland, the other one
being the Tirconaill Tribune. It is unique in another regard in that it is
owned by an all lady group. Celine not
only edits and manages the newspaper, but she is also an accomplished
artist. Celine does oil paintings of
Donegal landscapes and her works have appeared in the Screig Gallery, in
Fintown. Celine wanted to run some
articles to highlight the growing interest in John McCain’s presidential
bid. I suggested to Celine a column for
her paper, which would address the McCain connection to the district and other
topics of interest. I suggested we call
the column McCain’s Corner. Celine McGlynn thought my McCain’s Corner idea a good one and in
the spring of 2008 I began a series of articles that appeared as the McKane’s Corner column in the Finn
Valley Voice.
Hanging Out at McKane's Corner |
When I suggested that name I did not know that there
exists a landmark called McKane’s Corner. In the late 1800s John McKane of Trenamullin
founded McKane’s General Merchants Shop
at the corner of Chapel Street and Main Street in Stranorlar. From the early 1900s this street corner was
used by the local men to meet together and talk about the issues of the day and
to enjoy the craic. It became known as
McKane’s Corner and remains to this day a Stranorlar landmark. Pat Holland, a reporter with the Finn Valley Voice, told me of a poignant
letter he read about McKane’s Corner.
The letter was written in 1917 by Patrick Kelly, who was away fighting
in World War I. He sent a letter home to
his family and toward the end he wrote, “tell me how they are getting on about
McKane’s Corner, you can tell them all I was asking for them.” Poor Patrick was killed shortly after posting
the letter home. The letter is still in
existence, kept by his grandnephew, Jonathan Kelly.
Pat gave me a tour around the twin towns and took me
to McKane’s Corner. On the day we
stopped at the corner there were several older gentlemen seated there, deep in
conversation. They were keeping up the
McKane’s Corner tradition of meeting to chat about the events of the day. We talked to them and took photographs and
they were delighted as were we. Pat and
I also solved a mystery while we were at McKane’s Corner. The location of the original sign of McKane’s
General Merchants Shop was unknown. Many
feared it had been taken down and was rotting away in some barn, or worse, had
been burned as trash. But we found it
that day. The Flower Shop is now in the building that once was McKane’s
General Merchants and as we were looking at the current florist’s sign we
noticed that behind it was the original McKane’s sign. It is worth stopping the car to take a few
photos on McKane’s Corner, and besides, Kee’s Hotel and bar are just a few
steps away.
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