JOURNAL O:fit THE COUNTY DONEGAL :HI$TORICAt. SOCIETY , written record of the link with the Inis Same O'Donnells, but so old and consistent was tradition on the subject that it was carried by the women of the O'Donnells of Goal into the families of their husbands decades before Harkin was born and iprobably long before that too. • It has not been possible to determine when C'aitriona's family settled in Lower Goal, and it is unlikely that they were there before 1665, judging by the aibsence of any such name from the Hearth Money R'olls of that year. The success of the Hearth Money Tax depended, to a large ·extent, on the activity of the local Collector. When he was energetic he roped in all possible payors and, judging from the comprehensive Roll which he has left us for the Kilmacrenan area, he must have been most offi..... clous. We can, therefore, pla~·e great reliance on this record In so far as Lower Goal is concerned. Eamon, the father of Manus, djeu at his home in Goal on 17th March, 1773, and his remains were taken to Garton to rest with his forbears. His name, age and date of his death are inscribed on ohe of the two slabs, lying side by side, that mark the family graves. 'l."ime ls taking its toll of the lettering on the stones, which is now becoming ··difficult to decipher. These same graves are still used b.y the O'Donnells. Bealach na mBrathar The Franciscans were slow to give up their heritage and forsake their stricken ·friends in the time of disaster and so, for many years alfter the destruction of their Abbey in Donegal, they roamed over the county singly or in pairs and were heartily welcome in every homestead. From the north shore of ·Lough Eske a track leads ever the mountains to Glenftnn. It is marked by white quartzite !boulders to guide the ~ave1ler in darkness 194 and in fog. This was the route used by the Donegal Friars and is still known as "Bealach na mBrathar." One SUiCh "Bnathair Siubhai,l" aLways stayed iwiith the O'Donnells -of Goal, and from hhn Manus received. his early education. He also learned his classics and received the grinding in Latin that was to stand to him so well, as we shall see later, at the, local school of Mr. McGranahan. It was hoped that he would go on for the Church, and with this in view, he graduated to the High School, Letterkenny, which was conducted by the Most Rev. Dr. Coyle, Bishop of Raphoe. Manus found, however, that he had no vocation and he returned home and settled down on his father's farm. He next contemplated }oining the Irish Brigades in the Armies of France, but, before setting out on the venture, news of the Revolution reached him and he abandoned the idea. Romance came to Manus when he was thirty. It was during th3 September turas to Garton, the birthplace of S~. Columbkille, that he met Brighid, the daughter of Doiminic Ruadh O'Donnell, of the Glassagh, Glenftnn. He immediately fell in love with her. ~he liked him too and was WilUng to marry him. When upon returning home and informing her father or her intentions, he said that before giving his consent to such a marriage he would :first like the f'Pportul)ity of meeting and assessing the worth of the man of her choice. Manus was, therefore, invited to the Glassagh. O'Donnells and O'Dohertys .Brighid's pe01ple, the Glassagh O'Donnells, occupied a very distinguished position right down to 1846, when the last of them dir:d out. Their origin is obscure, but they claimed to be of princely stock and of the main line of the O'Don-
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