While my Great Grandma Bridget Chambers’ birth certificate
shows that she was born in Islandeady, County Mayo, Ireland, she probably
actually resided in the townland of Letter or Leiter. According to the Griffiths Valuation of
Ireland, Letter is the townland that is mentioned as to where her father Thomas
Chambers was renting land.
So my quest is now
to find out more about this little town known as Letter. Answers just beget more questions in
genealogy! On the wonderful website AskaboutIreland.ie, there is a link to
the Griffiths Valuation of Ireland.
Instead of only seeing the usual pages I typically find for Griffiths,
this site also shows maps and all the great information about each place found
in the back of the Griffiths Valuation book.
According to
page 258 of Griffiths, Leitir means spewy hillside. The town has aliases of Lettermore and
Letterbeg. I didn’t know that towns had
aliases! It is bordered on the north by
Derrintloura and Cartoonduff, on the east by Derrycruv, on the south by
Derrycooraun and Derrygowla and on the west by Kilmaclasser. Now according to my map reading skills, it
is about 3 ½ kilometers (as the crow flies) northwest of where I stood at the
Islandeady cemetery.
The townland of
Letter includes about 230 acres of arable or land suitable for
agriculture. There is also Letter
Station (not sure exactly what this is) that is located in the center of Letter
389 feet above low water (does this mean sea level?) See what I mean, the more you learn, the more
questions you have!
My cousin Betsy
was blessed to have actually stepped onto my 2nd great grandparents’
land in the town of Letter. I am very
fortunate that she has shared her photos of this area with me.
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