The Adventures of Maggie Mcgonagle

By Maureen Fay Morris

As a very young girl, I spent many wonderful hours with my grandmother. She would have the kettle on in the afternoon when I came home from school. We would not only share tea, but Grandmother would read my tea leaves and tell me of all the wonderful things that I would experience as I grew up. My Grandmother loved to tell stories about the old country. I loved nothing better than listening to her stories. I have told many of her stories to my own children and my grandchildren. They have loved them as I did when I was a child.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Feb 16, 2009
• ISBN: 9781453501634

Book preview

Copyright © 2009 by Maureen Fay Morris.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner. 

Art work:

Cheryle Fay Clark

Stephen Morris

Anneliese Peters 

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Contents

Prologue

Chapter One    A Very Close Call

Chapter Two    Maggie Learns An Important Lesson

Chapter Three    Strange Happenings

Chapter Four    The Fairy Queen

Chapter Five    Maggie & Katie’s Secret Adventure

Chapter Six    The Mystery Of The Castle

Chapter Seven    Grandmother’s Stories

Chapter Eight    The House Of Grave Stones

Chapter Nine    Grandmother Goes Home

Chapter Ten    Maggie’s Good Bye To Burtonport

This is a book dedicated to my Grandmother,

Maggie McGonagle, who I loved very dearly,

& my grandchildren & great grandchildren.

PROLOGUE

As a very young girl, I spent many wonderful hours with my grandmother. She would have the kettle on in the afternoon when I came home from school. We would not only share tea, but Grandmother would read my tea leaves and tell me of all the wonderful things that I would experience as I grew up. My Grandmother loved to tell stories about the old country. I loved nothing better than listening to her stories. I have told many of her stories to my own children and my grandchildren. They have loved them as I did when I was a child. 

Maggie took care of my sisters and me after school for many years. This allowed my mother to work hard, build a business, and move on to a much better life. Without Maggie’s help, my mother could never have accomplished all that she did. 

My Grandmother was a great inspiration to me. Maggie had a very hard life. She came to America to live with her sister Mary when she was just a young girl of 14 years of age. Mary was expecting her first child. Grandmother always told me that she wanted to go back home to Ireland to visit the land she loved. When I was a child, she would say to me, Maureen, pack your bags we are going home to Donegal. Sadly, Maggie never returned home. I visited Donegal many times and have learned to love the land, much as Maggie did. 

Life in America was very hard in those days and the Irish people where not well accepted. Maggie married a man named James Baker, who came from a wealthy family. His family did not accept Maggie because she was Irish, Catholic, and poor. They disowned their son James and his family. Maggie had nine children with James. Four of the children died, before each was two years old, from contagious diseases such as Measles and Scarlet Fever. When James died in his early forties, Maggie supported the remaining children as a wash woman. Maggie’s greatest gift to her children was her strong faith and an exceptional work ethic. 

CHAPTER ONE

A VERY CLOSE CALL

Maggie was reading a book before the fire when Mother called her.

Come Maggie, help me prepare dinner. It is almost noontime!

It was a lovely day in Burtonport. Maggie sat herself down on the doorstep of their cottage to peel potatoes for the noonday meal. Her father would soon be home for his dinner, and they had to hurry to get the potatoes boiling.

Maggie McGonagle was very different from her five sisters and two brothers. They all had blond or red hair. But Maggie had sparkling green eyes and long black hair. Her father, Andrew, often called her his little Black Beauty. Maggie loved to run and play and scuffle with the boys, and the girls in Burtonport called her a tomboy. But Maggie didn’t care. She knew that she could climb a tree faster than any boy in the village.

Maggie and her mother Margaret were making a stew with the fish her father had brought home the evening before. Margaret was a well-loved name in the McGonagle family. Both Grandmother’s and Mother’s name was Margaret. Maggie’s real name was Margaret, but everyone called her Maggie.

"Hurry Maggie! Let’s get the potatoes on the fire. The fish