Connors, Mary Theresa

Date of Birth: 16th February 1932

Place of Birth: Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford

Date Interviewed: 14th October 2008

Summary: Some of Mary Connors’ happiest memories are of her childhood on the open road as a member of the Travelling community. Her mother had 6 children but died when Mary was just 4 years old. At the time the nuns and priests wanted to place the children in an orphanage but Mary’s father was having none of this and took them on the run. They lived in a tent hidden out of sight of the road and were constantly on the move. Mary remembers her aunt baking cakes of bread over a campfire and wearing old flour sacks for clothes. She never learned to read or write though she did attend school in Taghmon to prepare for her Confirmation. Mary got married when she was 17 – she remembers being terribly shy back then. Mary describes in detail some of the old cures and beliefs passed down through generations of Travellers. She is proud of her Traveller heritage but laments the fact that the old ways are dying out.