Thomas “Tommy” Tinneny

Thomas Tinneny was born on Goladuff on May 26, 1894. He was the son of Bernard Tinneny and Margaret McEntyre. The Rev. Hugh O'Neill baptized him in Saint Mary's Church, Newtownbutler on May 27, 1894. His godparents were Patrick and Catherine Reilly.

Tommy was raised in the 1 room house of his grandmother on Goladuff along with her, his parents and 3 siblings. He attended Wattlebridge School. He could only attend school six out of twelve months of the year because of the annual flooding of Quivvy lough. The flooding in effect caused Goladuff to become an island with no land route to the schoolhouse at Wattlebridge. Wattlebridge.

      Wattlebridge School from the pamphlet “Wattlebridge School 1895 - 1972.“ Courtesy of Linda Connolly.

Thomas was included in The 1901 Census of Ireland (March 31, 1931)  living in the home of his 80 year old grandmother, his parents and siblings.

Form B of the 1901 Census shows Tommy’s grandmother’s house as number 5 on the form, that it was constructed of stone and that the roof was made of thatch or wood, had one room and I out building. The form also indicates that the home like all the others on the form was among the holdings of a land lord.

Notes:

1.    The landlord was John Creighton.

2.    Also listed on the form at number 4 is the house of Margaret Tinneny the mother of Patrick “Yankee Pat” Tinneny and widow of John “Big John” Tinneny. Patrick was born in that house and as a young man went to Greenock, Scotland to work, married Margaret Malloy in Greenock and had a family there. He and his family immigrated to Philadelphia in the early 1900s.

When Tommy was 26 years old his father died of cystitis and bequeathed Tommy 15 pounds 6 shillings.

Source: British Probate and Wills record.

In November 1925 Tommy married Mary Ellen Tracy at Saint Mary's Church in Newtownbutler.  Mary Ellen was born on August 15, 1898. Her parents were Daniel Tracy and Mary Maguire.  Mary Ellen was raised at the home of her parents in Killyraw, Newtownbutler.

Photo courtesy of Lorraine McKenna Pearson.

According to Francie Tummin of Goladuff, Tommy had 2 or 3 cows in the field near his house on Goladuff. One day Tommy went into the field and found one of his cows dead. Several days later he went into the field and found a second cow dead. That day he pronounced "That's the last four footed animal I'll own." He sold the farm on the hill to Kate Tinneny and her niece Alice and moved to Newtownbutler. 

 Photos of the Tinneny home in Cullion 1950s. Courtesy of Lorraine McKenna Pearson.

Tommy and Mary Ellen lived at their home in Cullion, Newtownbutler with their daughter Margaret ”Peggy” who was born February 26, 1926. When Peggy married, she, her husband Thomas McKenna and their children lived in the home at Cullion with her parents.

Photo of the home in the 1990s showing renovation and structural updates. Courtesy of Lorraine McKenna Pearson.

Tommy with daughter Peggy. Courtesy of Lorraine McKenna Pearson.

Mary Ellen standing, with her niece and grandsons Patrick “Patsy” and Fergus McKenna. Courtesy of  Lorraine McKenna Pearson.

Photo Tommy Tinneny. Courtesy of Michael McPhilips.

Tommy enjoyed traditional Irish songs and sang at local gatherings and in some of the pubs around Newtownbutler. He appeared on local radio Sunday afternoons singing traditional Irish songs. Betty Tinneny, who was raised in Roslea, County Fermanagh, remembered hearing Tommy singing on the radio during these Sunday afternoon shows. At the time she didn't know that he was a relative and that her roots went back to Goladuff where Tommy was born. Tommy also sang, according to his daughter Peggy, in all the concerts that were conducted in Saint Mary's Parish Hall in Newtownbutler. 

In 1971 Tommy was the only person around Fermanagh who remembered a song about Father Clarke. Father Clarke was the parish priest of Saint Mary's and a folk hero of sorts in the area. Tommy provided the words of the song to Mr. John Joe McCusker for publication in the book he wrote about Cannon Maguire and the Newtownbutler area.

Father Clarke's Song 

In the nineteen-eighties the BBC (British Broadcasting Company) sent a team of people to interview Tommy and to tape many of the old Irish folk songs that he sang. The tapes were then placed in the Ulster Folk Museum's Cultural Center outside Belfast.   

Listening to some of those tapes in 1996, Rich Tinneny heard a recording of Tommy singing songs in a strong and clear voice. One of them was about the Titanic. The Titanic song had about forty versus and on the recording Tommy prefaced singing it with a saying that he was noted for “It's as long as from Saint Paddy's day to America."   

Musical Traditions Records' first CD release of 2004: The Hardy Sons of Dan (MTCD329-0), includes a song by Tommy titled “The Clones Murders”. Keith Summers recorded Tommy singing the song in Tommy’s home in Cullion, Newtownbutler 9.10.80 and included the following comments about Tommy and making the recording:

“Tommy Tinneny was in all ways the elder statesman of the local Newtownbutler singing crew. To him, Paddy Halpin was "young Halpin".  Tommy was well into his 90s when I recorded him singing.  I'd been introduced to him by his daughter and he is one of the few instances where I recorded without assistance and made a cold call to a singer in Fermanagh.  In addition to The Clones Murder, Tom had a version of The Titanic, the ballad of the shipwreck, that lasted well over seven minutes and Tom was a very, very good singer.  Because of his age I did not record him at any great length and he died shortly after making these recordings.”

The Clones Murder

By

Tom Tinneny

Tom Tinneny

You feeling-hearted Christians now
I hope youse will draw near,
And listen to these mournful lines
I mean to let youse hear.
Concerning poor John Flanagan,
His loss we do deplore,
Since he was cruelly murdered
We shall see his face no more. 

He lived in the County Monaghan,
Not far from Clones town.
He came into the market,
Cashed a cheque for fifty pounds.
He little thought that morning,
As he left his father's door,
That he would be cruelly murdered
And we'd see his face no more.

For eight long months his body
Lay concealed in Clones town.
No word of him then could be got
When searched for all around.
Two men were carting dung away
And they saw a dreadful sight
The body they discovered there,
Which brought the crime to light.

The police came, and the dung was searched
And his body there was found.
He was brought out upon the yard,
But his body it was laid down.
The hardest hearted would relent,
It was dismal for to see.
But we hope his soul's in heaven above
Shine for all eternity.

He was an honest young man,
As all the people know.
He little thought in Clones town
There lurked a cruel foe.
It shook the County Monaghan
When they heard the news was true.
That he was cruelly murdered
And his age but twenty-two.

But suspicion rests upon a man
Who in Armagh gaol does lie.
For God will do what's just and true,
He rules the earth and sky.
The secrets of the sinner's heart
Is known to him each day.
And he who killed John Flanagan
With revengence must repay.

Our Lord Himself He gave command,
He says, "Thou shalt not kill."
Cain was marked out without a doubt
When Abel's blood did spill.
And on the general judgement day
None will escape their doom,
When earth and sea gives up its dead
From every silent tomb.

God comfort his poor parents,
Also his sisters dear.
For since they've heard of this dreadful crime
Sure, they have shed many a tear.
But we hope they will be united
On that bright and happy shore,
And meet again in Heaven where
They're ne'er to part no more.

Note: See Robin Morton's “Come Day Go Day” p.163 for description of this real event of 1903.  There, the song is called Fee and Flannigan and it was sung by John Maguire, in Tonaydrumallard, Co Fermanagh.  Clones is only a few miles from Newtownbutler, but is actually just over the border, in Co Monaghan, and is also the setting for a well-known fictional murder recounted in Patrick McCabe's The Butcher Boy.

In addition to singing songs, Tommy also wrote songs one of which was titled "The Bridge Into Galloon."  Following are the words to that song, which were transcribed by our cousin Fidelma Tinneny of Quivvy from an audio tape of Tommy singing the words.

View of the Galloon Bridge from the water. Photo credit Captan’s Handbook@.

The Late Thomas Tinneny, of Cullion, Newtownbutler 

Newtownbutler has been renowned for traditional singers over the past years, and one of them now deceased was Tommy Tinneny.  He lived to the fine age of 86 years, and until the end could be heard to sing many of his songs.  He learnt many of his ballads from his mother, Mrs. Margaret Tinneny (nee McEntyre, and his Uncle Benny McEntyre, (Big Benny), as those who lived in Derrykerrib knew him. 

Tommy was born and reared on Goladuff, some four or five miles from Newtownbutler.  Throughout his life he worked locally. One of his jobs was the building of Galoon Bridge in 1928 - 1929.  Later on he composed and sang "The Bridge into Galoon: and sang it to the Air of Father Clark, the Priest who was banished from Newtownbutler for marrying a Catholic and a Non-Catholic.  He also sang the ballad of "The Clones Murder, and Fee and Flannagan". His collection of songs included comical as well as the local stories and folklore of the era of the early part of the century.  His songs have been collected and recorded by the Ulster Folk Museum, outside Belfast, and also by an American Girl, who used them to help with her finals at University in the United States of America.

Peggy Tinneny

Newtownbutler

Back Row: Fergus McKenna, Patsy McKenna

Front Row: Tommy Tinneny, Chrissie McManus,Thomas McKenna, Teresa Kennedy McKenna.

Courtesy of Lorraine McKenna Pearson.

 

Tommy with daughter Peggy. From a photo by Amanda Sheridan O’Keefe.

Tommy with family friend Margaret Donnegan of Kiilnakirk. Courtesy of  Amanda Sheridan O’Keefe.

Mary Ellen died in the family home at Cullion March 28,1958. Tommy died at Cullion January 23,1981. They were both buried in the family plot in the churchyard of Saint Mary's Church in Newtownbutler.

The photo of the grave and list are from Irishgraveyards.ie website.

Following are the names and dates of others buried in this Tinneny grave along with Tommy: