RootsChat.Com

No joy with the photo, I'll try again another time. Re the Phelan letters, I have photocopies of most of them, so I'll get them scanned and send them on. Are you familiar with Rita Nolan's book "Within the Mullet"? There's a few extracts from those letters scattered through a few chapters; its a vexing book though, as it has no index.

Re William Bingham, his marriage in 1825 to Maria Houston, daughter of Arthur Houston of Drum (near Binghamstown) is recorded in the Registry of Deeds, Dublin (memorial no. 809/491/545827). As part of the agreement, some lands held by Denis Bingham in the Mullet and in Doolough were placed in trust for William Bingham, as well as lands in Doolough  and Gortmore held by Arthur Houston.
One parcel of land was in the townland of Curraboy, by Saleen Harbour (to the south of Binghamstown) and it was here that William erected stores, also a dwelling house (Bay View) which was approx ¼ mile east of the harbour. The harbour enterprise was not particularly successful, so in early 1848 he leased the stores for use as an auxiliary workhouse and got the post of workhouse superintendent. This proved his undoing: he contracted fever and died later that year.
His widow Maria and her family (four daughters and two sons) continued to live at Bayview and she was still there in 1883, but by 1887 she was living in Doolough Lodge with her son Arthur and his family. Her eldest son, Willy, who immigrated to Australia in 1860, kept in regular contact and many of her letters to Willy have survived, thanks to his great grandson, Ian Phelan, now deceased.