Ballybay, County Monaghan
My maternal grandmother was a Draffin before she married. Her great-grandfather, David Draffin, had lived in Ballybay, County Monaghan. The libraries in Ireland store much of the genealogy information so from Bushmills, we headed towards Ballybay library, a drive of just over 2 hours. We had a picnic lunch at Springhill House on the way. The librarian at Ballybay was very helpful, looking up a census and finding that David Draffin actually lived at Drumgrole, a tiny hamlet a couple of kilometres from Ballybay. She also suggested that we visit a lady called Catriona at the library in Clones who was the local expert in genealogy with a wealth of knowledge and many contacts. By now it was mid-afternoon so we decide to spend our time exploring Ballybay and Drumgrole and leave Catriona till tomorrow.
The Draffins
Drumgrole is farming country and like the rest of the Irish countryside, incredibly green. We'd seen plenty of sheep but very few cows in our travels. Around Ballybay this is reversed and there are plenty of dairy farms. No wonder the Draffins in my family either became or married dairy farmers when they emigrated to Australia!!
Killyliss B&B
I had emailed Pauline, the owner, the fact that I was looking up family history when I booked. She was really helpful and went to a great deal of trouble to see what she could discover about the Draffins. Very little, actually. She spoke to an elderly neighbour who told her there were no longer any Draffins in Ireland. They had all moved across the border into Northern Ireland. Everything now hinged on seeing Catriona toomorrow at Clones. It was getting on for dinner time. Pauline suggested Kieran's Restaurant in Ballybay. The interior was retro, the service was excellent and the food really good. We will definitely come back for another meal when we return to Ballybay!