A Visit to the Home Place

Here is Part Two of the never-ending saga of our trip to the west and south and middle of Ireland. Denise takes over to tell the tale of the Slattery family and their roots in Tipperary.

Shane and a brand new calf, born five minutes before we took this picture.

My grandfather, Dr. William Patrick Slattery, was born in Emly, Ireland in the late 1880s and he is who we have to thank for our Irish citizenship. Now, if you are taking a moment to wrap your head around that date, stay with me: my own father, Roger Casement Slattery, was born in 1916, so yes, my family goes way back.  Dad was named after Roger Casement, the Irish nationalist who was executed by the British in 1916 for high treason and his role in the uprising.  William Patrick Slattery left Ireland in the early 1900s to study medicine and become a physician in Dubuque, Iowa. The place he left, a small speck of a village near the town of Tipperary in central Ireland, is where we made our trek.

Some 35 years had passed since I was last in Ireland and I was thrilled to return with Steve and introduce him to the Slattery family who still live and work on the same dairy farm where my grandfather grew up. Today, the farming operation is overseen by Shane Slattery.  Shane was just a young boy when I previously visited so it was quite a surprise to see a middle aged guy in place of the young lad I remember!  Shane is the son of Tom Slattery (who recently passed away) and it is Tom and my dad who were cousins, making Shane and I second cousins. Tom Slattery was a handsome, rugged, clever man (much like my dad)  who married Mary Slattery and they had Shane, their only child. Shane was born into the dairy farming life and lives much the same life that his dad did, albeit with a little more technology. 

Running a dairy farm means milking those cows seven days a week and every day of the year. There’s no break.  It’s a tough job and a lonely one at that. Shane supports his lovely family (two teen girls and his wife and of course his mother) from the production of about 80 cows.  We happened to arrive at a particularly busy time as the new calves were being born and it takes a lot of attention to handle this. 

Shane is a solo operator and we were really grateful that he and his family took time to welcome us for this visit or a Friday night meal and long chat into the evening around the stove. His girls delighted us by singing a lovely song about Ireland and Coco was so at home in this old farm house you’d think she was born there too.

We returned the following day for more conversation with Shane and Mary and a hearty mid-day meal. When we pulled up, Shane was walking from the barn pushing a big wheelbarrow. When we went to greet him, he showed us the contents of the barrow: a brand-new calf, born just five minutes before!  Later, Shane took Steve and I into the village of Emly to see the gravestone of my ancestors, buried in the church cemetery.  Shane filled in some blanks about the Slattery’s, namely that William Patrick was not actually born on the farm, but in the village, and was sent there to live with his cousins when his mother passed.  

It was a bittersweet visit: I stood with Mary — aged 82 and as bright and sharp as could be —  on the small bridge just in front of the old house. I gave her a good hug and asked her how long she’d lived there, as she married into the Slattery family. “Over 55 years” she smiled.  And what part of the country did she come from?  “Oh, just over there, like” indicating the next hill over.  She’d lived in and around what we were looking at and her entire life was here, with her family and the cows.  

I don’t know what Shane will do as he gets older. Who will take over the farm?  The girls are not interested. I asked him about this and he didn’t shy from telling me that it certainly was the question, like.  (In this part of Ireland sentences are mostly punctuated at the end with “Like’” —very endearing)  But for now, The cows are calling …like! 

I’ve got some photos with captions that tell more about our visit. 

Mary Slattery, age 82

Shane Slattery and his dear mother, Mary

Isabel Slattery – age 13 

A bunch a new baby cows! 

Shane at the Slattery Family plot.  His dad was buried there just last December.  The cemetery dates from 1641 as seen inscribed on the wall as one enters.  Wow.