also see Clontivren 2005
[From the Story of Mac's Life]
In 1977 Mac and Ngaire embarked on an overseas trip
- a highlight was finding
his ancestral Irish home, birthplace of his father, Robert Bell Cole.
He wrote home: In the late afternoon we set our tract for Clones and crossed and recrossed the border to approach the town from the Fermanagh Co. knowing that Clontivern was two miles Nth of the town and in that County while the town is a border one just inside Monahan Co. Eddie Sherrie (a local reporter) proved to be most helpful & took us to meet a Mrs Lawson nearer 100 than 90 who well remembered Aunt Sis visiting a friend of hers! She knew where the old house was located and within a few minutes we were standing at the front door of the old home and were joined by Mr Gregg whose father had purchased the farm from John Cole? So there we were within two hours of our arrival on the doorstep of Clontivern in the fading light of the long twilight with an invitation to return in the morning to inspect the interior and take photographs
see 1898 Elizabeth Cole's letter written in Clontivrin to R B Cole in New Zealand
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