Philip Kaighin and the Kimmeraugh Farm

Ron and Sheila Kaighin, while tracing his great grandfather Philip Kaighin, stumbled upon a couple of gems while in the Isle of Man. This is his story:

We did not see the sun very often during our stay, but the stars were obviously in the right place for us. After finding the marriage certificate, which says that Philip was living in West Kimmeragh and Ann Comish in East Kimmeragh and they were married in the church at Bride, Ann (Jack's wife) called a friend who has lived in Bride forever and asked if she knew where Kimmeragh farm was located. She did not. But she called back within the hour to say she had obtained the location from her friend the postmaster. So the four of us are driving back roads and finally locate the farm. Jack pulls over so we can take a picture. Just then a big fellow on a tractor came rolling out of the driveway. He stops to see what we are up to. Jack tells him about us and why we are here and asks permission to take photos of the house. The farmer says it is his parents who own it and they are just about to have tea, so go on up to the house. We were met on the front deck by Mrs. Nichols (I think that's right) and she gets the whole story from Jack. Sure enough she says it's time for tea, come in and join us. So there we sat in the old kitchen, with the low ceiling, where my great grandfather probably did the same over 135 years ago. He was no doubt a laborer on the farm, not an owner. East Kimmeragh farm, where Ann Comish lived, is just over the hill. Her father, John is listed on the marriage certificate as a laborer. In another record (census I think) he is shown as a fisherman, so Ann too was likely hired help on East Kimmeragh.

The two attached photos are another gift from the universe. When we sat down to tea Mr. Nichols asks if we are the people who sent the photos of their house last week. We of course don't know anything about the photos. So Mrs. finds them and a note in the envelope explains that a lady was cleaning out a house and knew that these were before and after photos of a major addition being put on this house. Her father did much of the work. If it mentioned the time period I have forgotten it. Anyway she just couldn't bring herself to throw out a piece of history, so delivered them to the house. And a week later, we show up tracing our ancestor.

Look at the before photo and note the portion of the house where the ladder is. That is the original part where the old kitchen with the low ceiling is located. The roof line shows the large addition that had already been added to the front of the house before work started on the newest addition which you see in the second photo.

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received by the editor at kaighin@iname.com