In a Word . . . Granny

Now for a story that might be titled From Roscommon to the Dark Side of the Moon. I heard that, you down there at the back. Manners, please! What is it about my county that so upsets some people? Jealousy, of course.

This is the soaring story of Michael Collins – the one who flew to the moon in July 1969 and died aged 90 in April. A friend sent me details of his fascinating Roscommon backstory.

On May 1st, 1851 – 170 years ago – 52 families were evicted at Funshinagh, near Four Roads in south Roscommon. Baron Ashtown of Woodlawn House, Balllinasloe – whose family motto was "Fortune is the companion of virtue" – decided to clear the people to make room for sheep. He evicted all the families, most of them destitute after six years of famine.

Among them were the Cunniffes, including two-year-old Mary. They were taken in by cousins at nearby Corrocot. In 1867 Mary emigrated to Milwaukee in the US midwestern state of Wisconsin, where – of all things – she became involved in sheep farming.

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She met and married an Irish man called Dwyer, and their daughter married James Lawton Collins, who was a major general in the US army when he died in 1946. His brother Joseph was chief of staff of the US army from 1949 to 1953. Their father, Jeremiah Collins, emigrated to the US from Dunmanway in Cork during the 1860s.

Astronaut Michael Collins – Mary Cunniffe’s grandson – was born in 1930 and, lest there be accusations of favouritism, joined the US air force rather than the army, where his father and uncle were such senior figures.

It led to him becoming an astronaut, the one who orbited the moon alone 30 times inside Apollo 11's command module Columbia – out of touch with ground control for 48 minutes on each orbit – as colleagues Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin pranced about on the moon.

It was said of Michael Collins’s time on the dark side of the moon that “not since Adam has any human known such solitude”. For his part he said he never felt alone. That’s how it is when your granny is from Roscommon.

(It’s even better when the two are.)

Granny, diminutive of grannam, from French granddame, for "great lady".

inaword@irishtimes.com