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Stephen O'Mara papers (P40)

O'Mara papers in [UL Archives].
Collection IE 2135 P40.
See catalogue. Also here.

• Papers and photos of my great-granduncle Stephen O'Mara of Strand House.
• Also a collection of Kate O'Brien papers.

• Dates 1843-1991, but mainly 1916-1959. Donated 2013. Catalogue 2019 by Anna-Maria Hajba.
• O'Mara Online Exhibition

• Photos taken by me, and used here with permission of UL Archives.

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P40/11

P40/11. Family letters 1904-1916.
All from James to his brother Stephen, unless noted.
Mostly dry letters about the family bacon business.

• Telegram of 4 Aug 1904 to Stephen senior.
• Letter in 1900-1907 from James to his mother. See p.1 and p.2 and p.3. Discusses Dick Ray merging his business interests with the O'Mara business.

• Letter of 30 Aug 1912. See p.1 and p.2 and p.3.
• Letter of 3 Sept 1912. See p.1 and p.2.
• Letter of 6 Sept 1912. See p.1 and p.2.
• Letter of 15 Nov 1912. See p.1 and p.2.
• Letter of 5 Jan 1913 from James to his father Stephen senior. See p.1 and p.2.
• Letter of 10 Feb 1913. See p.1 and p.2.
• Letter of 18 Feb 1913. See p.1 and p.2.
• Letter of 22 Feb 1913. See p.1 and p.2 and p.3.
• Letter of 25 Feb 1913. See p.1 and p.2.
• Letter of 4 Mar 1913. See p.1 and p.2.
• Letter of 6 Mar 1913. See p.1 and p.2 and p.3.
• Letter of 7 Mar 1913. See p.1 and p.2.
• Letter of 10 Mar 1913. See p.1 and p.2.
• Letter of 11th [illegible] 1913. See p.1 and p.2 and p.3 and p.4.
• Letter of 23 May 1913. See p.1 and p.2.

• Letter of 1915 from James to his father Stephen senior. See p.1 and p.2.
• Letter of 7 Nov 1916. See p.1.

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P40/12

P40/12. Family letters 1926-1942.
All from James to his brother Stephen, unless noted.
Mostly dry letters about the family bacon business.

• Letter of 3 Aug 1926. See p.1 and p.2.
• Letter of 2 Sept 1926. See p.1.
• Letter of 10 Sept 1926. See p.1 and p.2.
• Letter of 14 Sept 1926. See p.1 and p.2.
• Letter of 18 Sept 1926. See p.1 and p.2.
• Letter of 29 Sept 1926. See p.1 and p.2.
• Letter of 8 Oct 1926. See p.1 and p.2.
• Letter of 9 Nov 1926. See p.1.
• Letter of 26 Nov 1926. See p.1 and p.2.
• Letter of 27 Nov 1926. See p.1.
• Letter of 30 Nov 1926. See p.1 and p.2.
• Letter of 7 Dec 1926. See p.1.
• Letter of 10 Jan 1927. See p.1 and p.2.
• Letter of 12 Jan 1927. See p.1.
• Letter of 12 Feb 1927. See p.1 and p.2.
• Letter of 16 May 1927 to Stephen from Noraville, Limerick. It is unclear which O'Mara it is from. See p.1 and p.2 and p.3.
• Letter of 23 May 1927. See p.1 and p.2.
• Letter of 10 June 1927. See p.1.
• Letter of 15 June 1927. See p.1.
• Letter of 25 June 1927. See p.1 and p.2.
• Letter of 4 Sept 1927. See p.1.
• Letter of 7 Sept 1927. See p.1.
• Letter of 9 Sept 1927. See p.1.
• Letter of 25 Oct 1927. See p.1.
• Letter of 25 Nov 1927. See p.1 and p.2.
• Letter of think 18 Dec 1927. See p.1 and p.2.
• Letter of 12 Jan 1928. Letter from James to his brother Phons. See p.1 and p.2.
• Letter of 30 Jan 1928. See p.1.
• Letter of 11 Feb 1928. See p.1 and p.2.
• Letter of 21 Apr 1928. See p.1 and p.2.
• Letter of 1 Sept 1928. See p.1 and p.2.
• Letter of 1 Oct 1929. See p.1 and p.2.
• Letter of 8 Oct 1929. See p.1 and p.2.
• Letter of 18 Oct 1929. See p.1 and p.2.
• Letter of 28 Mar 1930. See p.1. See envelope with stamp.
• Letter of think 13 June 1930. See p.1.
• Letter of 29 Apr 1930. See p.1 and p.2.
• Letter of 24 June 1930. See p.1.
• Letter of 17 July 1930. See p.1.
• Letter of 23 July 1930. See p.1.
• Letter of 5 Dec 1930. See p.1 and p.2.

• Letter of 17 Feb 1941. See p.1 and p.2.
• Letter of 11 Sept 1941. See p.1 and p.2 and p.3.
• Letter of 1 Nov 1941. See p.1 and p.2.

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Other images

• P40/190. Handwritten family tree by Peter O'Mara. And notes.
• P40/191. Handwritten notes on the family of old James O'Mara. It is fairly inaccurate, notably in who married Tom Ray.

• P40/234. Address book kept by Stephen O'Mara senior around 1905-1910.

• P40/238. Book of accounts and lists of property. Dates 1920-1924.
  • 1920 page has "List of furniture property in Tuaim uí Meára".
  • The P40 catalogue thought this was Toomevara village but it is Stephen's house in Limerick, named after Toomevara, the supposed O'Mara ancestral home.
  • See pages dated 1921 and 1924.
  • The catalogue says dates go up to 1927, but I cannot see that.

• P40/288. May-June 1886. Letters from Stephen O'Mara senior to his wife Ellen during his absence in London to attend the Home Rule debate.
  • Letter of 28 May 1886. See p.1 and p.2 and p.3. He mentions his friend Fr. Edward O'Dwyer who was appointed Bishop of Limerick on 18 May 1886.
  • Letter of 29 May 1886. See p.1 and p.2 and p.3.
  • Letter of 4 June 1886. See p.1 and p.2 and p.3.
  • Letter of 7 June 1886. See p.1 and p.2.
  • Fragment. See p.1 and p.2.

• P40/294. Letters from Stephen junior to his sister Mary Rynne.
  • Letter with uncertain date and location. From Limerick. See p.1 and p.2. Mary's boy has a birthday so it must be Sept 1900 or later .
  • Letter of 19 Mar 1912. See p.1 and p.2 and p.3.
  • Letter of 11 Apr 1913. See p.1 and p.2.
  • Letter of 11 July (no year). See p.1 and p.2. Saying Mary is welcome to keep living at Strand House.
  • Letter of 2 Dec 1927. See p.1 and p.2 and p.3. See envelope with stamp, which is incorrectly labelled as belonging to another letter.

• P40/295 [1910-1921]. Letters to Mary Rynne from her parents.
  • Letter of 29 Jan 1910 from her mother (died 26 Oct 1910). See p.1 and p.2 and p.3. She is in Canada, going to see "Adelaide and baby".
  • Letter of end-Jan 1910 from her mother. See p.1 and p.2 and p.3. She is in Canada seeing Adelaide.
  • Letter of 16 Feb 1914 from her father. See p.1 and p.2.
  • Letter of 20 Apr 1916 from her father. See p.1 and p.2. He is on board ship.
  • Letter of 3 June 1919 from her father. See p.1 and p.2.
  • Letter of 9 June 1919 from her father. See p.1 and p.2. After death of Nell on 17 May 1919.
  • Letter of 26 Apr 1921 from her father. See p.1 and p.2 and p.3.

• P40/615 [c. 1930s-1940s?]. Typed copies of items, including:
  • The Way to the West (part two), a short story by Alice Cashel. See p.3 and p.4 and p.5 and p.6 and p.7.
  • The Girl of To-Day, a poem by Kathleen Riordan. See p.7 and p.8.
  • A Happy Shower, a short story by Maureen O'Mara. See p.8 and p.9.
  • Sorrow, a poem by Patricia M. O'Mara. See p.10.
  • Current Affairs, by M. A. O'Mara. This would be Maureen O'Mara. See p.10 and p.11 and p.12. Seems at first to be written at end of 1913. But later it seems to be written after WWI.

• P40/654. Letters from Fr. Paddy O'Mara.
  • Letter of 10 Nov 1926 from Fr. Paddy at Rathfarnham Castle to "Nance". See p.1 and p.2.
  • Undated letter from Fr. Paddy at St.Francis Xavier's to "Ann". See p.1 and p.2. Has notes on the life of Joseph the opera singer.
  • Letter of 12 Mar 1962 from Fr. Paddy at St.Francis Xavier's to "Anne". See p.1 and p.2.
  • Postcard with 1965 stamp from Fr. Paddy to Nancy at New Strand House. See front and back.

• P40/909. Photo album.
  • Album of unlabelled, mostly unidentified photos from c.1880s. Many missing photo slots.
  • Checked all the backs of photos. For most, nothing but photographers' names.
  • Photographer locations are Limerick, Dublin, England and Ontario. (Ontario would be Andrew O'Mara branch.)
  • One of them is Ellen Pigott.
  • One of them is John Crotty.
  • See empty slot with the apparent title "Uncle Phonse".
  • See empty slot with the apparent title "Fr. Duie".
  • See page with 3 photos. What looks like Michael O'Mara and also two children, unidentified.
  • See page with 3 photos, unidentified.
  • See page with 3 photos, unidentified.
  • Photo of a man. The back says "Finucane MP". London photographer. This must be John Finucane, MP for County Limerick East 1885-1900.
  • Unidentified man.

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More images

There are more images not laid out above.

• Search for all P40 images.

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Augustinian photo

This photo in [P40/909] looked interesting but may be nothing.
A bit of digging shows this is at the Augustinian church in Limerick, and the photo is from Rev. James A. Anderson, an Augustinian who seems to be a friend of the O'Maras.
See larger and full size.

This photo in The Lawrence Photograph Collection [NLI] shows the location is George St (later O'Connell St), Limerick.
The location is the old Augustinian RC church at 26 George St.
Ryan's jewellers is next door. See extract from [Ashe's Directory, 1891-92, p.41].
A new Augustinian RC church was built at this location in 1938-1942.
See modern street view.

• The back of the P40 photo says "From Father Anderson, OSA, to Mrs. O'Mara". Date July 1894. It looked like "USA" but it is OSA.
• Entry in address book [P40/234] shows this is Rev. J.A. Anderson, OSA.
• [Thom's, 1901, p.1457] shows this is Rev. James A. Anderson, then based with the Augustinians in John St West, Dublin.
• 1901 census shows Rev. Anderson was born 1839, Drogheda.
• So we have location and person. But whether this has anything to do with the O'Mara family history is unknown. Probably not.

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Papers to be consulted

Have merely done a rough first pass.
Some papers to look at:

• P40/62 to 72. Items from 1942 to 1956. "Closed". Review at various dates 2026 to 2040.
• P40/332 to 340. 1959 purchase of "Ivy Bank House". Also 646-647.
• P40/519 to 522. Adoption of Peter.
• P40/532. Letters from Mary Rynne to Stephen junior.
• P40/537 to 546. 1946 to 1956. Care of Joseph O'Mara's widow Adelaide and daughter Maureen. Some closed.