Cullen, Ellen Mary [Interview 2]

Stella Wallace interviews Sister Ellen Mary Cullen at Mount St. Mary’s, Charlottetown, PEI (motherhouse of the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Martha), discussing memories of Irish settlers, Catholic parishes on the island, and "Father Fitzgerald" [likely Father Alexander Thomas Fitzgerald, a Dominican friar and missionary who was one of the first to minister to Charlottetown's early Irish Catholic settlers]. She also talks about old cemeteries and churches, Bishop MacEachern, and talks about various other memories of Irish tradition from her lifetime. Sister Cullen is also heard discussing -- and sharing -- family historical documents with the interviewer.

Interview

Wallace, Stella

Cullen, Sister Ellen Mary

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1982-06-04

Held by UPEI Library-SMI-ARCH 1983-001. Series 1

00:45:20

Introduction
Sister Ellen Mary Cullen reads from an old book. Talks about cemeteries, gravestones, counties. Her Cullen grandfather was from Wexford County, Ireland. Reads an Irish poem. Mentions Sister Margaret Marie Devereaux. Irish custom, women would curtsey in Church. Story about a priest in Kinkora "encouraging" a parishioner to drop all his change in the collection plate. Speaks of James Walsh and his wife Katherine (Kitty) and Kitty's run-in with a bear near Georgetown. Story about a man named Bennett and his Catholic conversion. More about the James Walsh family and their son John Joe Walsh. Also speaks of Allan MacRae, a high school teacher in PEI.
Father Fitzgerald was a priest in Charlottetown. Speaks of the Acadians in PEI, their churches and buried goods. Father Fitzgerald arrived in July 1825; he improved the churches and cemeteries. List of people who gave money to help improve the churches, most buried at the cemetery on St Peters Road. Mentions the Burke's papers at UPEI's [Robertson] library Story about Bishop MacDonald, St Andrews church. Mentions Gaelic speaking. Father Fitzgerald maintained very strict rules.
Sister Ellen discusses a newspaper clipping from Gazette, September 1823. More about Father Fitzgerald.
Speaks about many Irish families: James Reid (Boston), Michael Landrigan, the McCabes, Connors and O'Connor, Doyles, Lampheres, Cairns, and the Morrison's.
Talks about old documents, names. Settlers traveling, Kinkora, names included in monument. Forbidden Gaelic, Ireland, hedge schools. Irish name Barren, hedge schools in Ireland. Cullen's and Prendergast's from Wexford county, great grandfathers monument standing, Hope River Pioneer cemetery, 1828
Speaks of rivalries between counties, differences in accents, and Catholics. Story about a man recognizing the difference in accents. Discussion about superstitions, belief in forerunners, belief in deaths predicted by happenings. Mentions the different in accents in Kelly's Cross, and difference in last names, pronunciation: Cullen's, Murphy's, Wexford.
Story about the Landrigan family. Talks about marriages: arranged marriages and getting permission to marry. Superstitions. Story about groomsmen falling for the bride, Pendergast. Doctor married Dorsey girl. Mentions Rich Pendergast's book about Irish families.
Speaks of a well-off Prince Edward Island man [Hugh Monaghan?]. His daughter, Mary Ann Monaghan, paid $11,000 dollar to buy the property for Mount St. Mary's, in 1920. Mentions Owen Connolly.

Held by UPEI Library-SMI-ARCH 1983-001. Series 1