Catherine Coll : Short Biography

This is the very interesting story of Catherine Coll.who had the same name as Eamon de Valera's mother and they were known to be cousins.

Above is a photo Of Catherine Coll sometimes spelled Cull from Fanningstown in Fedamore parish taken about 1939. She worked as a servant girl in Mortgage townland.She married Morgan Hayes from Killeagh near Caherconlishin 1887 and lthey had seven children .Morgan was a cooper and in 1911 got a job with Guinness's Brewery in Dublin and the family moved  there to live at 8 Christchurch Place near his workplace, On Easter Monday 1916 he insisted in going to work on an afternoon shift and was shot dead by a British army sniper, one of the first casualties of the famous Easter Rising.He was buried in Glasnevin Cemetery and his name is included in the Rememberance Wall  erected in 2016.

Catherine continued to live on in Dublin with her widowed daughter ,Mary, but she also died ,soon afterwards and Catherine returned to live in with her married sister, Bridget Halpin, in Garryellen in Fedamore Parish until her death in 1943. One of Catherine's nephews another  Morgan Hayes, became a singing sensation in Dublin during the 1930's-40's and was often billed as "The Singing Busman"

Catherine's daughter,Margaret.,lived with her grandparents John Hayes and Peggy (nee Murnane) in Killeagh and at 17, eloped with William Rainsford to Canada.in 1905 and after two years moved to New York where William had a brother who got him a job as a baggage handler in Grand Central Station.William was very enterprising and took on extra work on the docks,got involved in boxing promotion and became an avid astronomer. The family returned home in 1913 for a short visit and sailed back to New York on the Lucitania..They finally returned home in 1916 immediately after Morgan Hayes's death and purchased property in Newtown,Gragane and Knockroe near Caherconlish where William built up a thriving business in exporting eggs and poultry etc to London and he had a few lorries hauling turf, gravel etc on the road..Interestingly, during the second world war he often communicated with Eamon de Valera  to source scarce transport resources and he put Catherine Coll's name also on the letters 

William Rainsford was of the same branch of the family as  Sir Marcus Rainsford whose grandson Mark Rainsford leased his small brewery at St.James'sGate in Dublin to Arthur Guinness in 1759 who founded the famous Guinness's Brewery.It was ironic that his father in law ,Morgan Hayes got a job in that brewery

Catherine was reputed to be a very good storeyteller and a very strong willed person