Kilgallon of Lily Cottage
Andrew, or Andy Kilgallon, born around 1850, was a cousin to Captain James and the other Kilgallons of the Upper Rosses. As a young man he was Captain of locally owned schooners. In 1881 he was in command of the Jane Millen which was wrecked off the Scottish coast. He was rescued with his crew. He married a local girl, Ellen Bruen and had sixteen children, fourteen of whom survived into old age. Later in life he became a River Pilot and on occasions took command of the tug Hope. Six of his sons were seafarers:
Andrew, who spent a number of years at sea before his appointment as a Lighthouse Keeper. He retired and settled in Dundalk. A son of his also became a Lighthouse Keeper.
John was lost overboard in the Clyde early this century.
James, became a River Pilot like his father and died in 1963.
Patrick, a seaman with the Blue Funnel Line, left ship in New York and worked ashore there before his death.
Francis went to sea in the foreign trade and, like Patrick, left his ship in New York, to work ashore. His only child, Dolly, lives in New Jersey.
Willie, was a crew member on the SS Sligo when she was wrecked on Ardboline in 1912. He then sailed foreign and later joined the Limerick Steamship Company as 2nd Mate. He obtained a Master’s Certificate and sailed as Mate on the SS Carrickfergus and the SS Kirkcaldy. Later he went to America and sailed on tankers as a Mate. During World War II he was Master of a tug in Belfast and later in Derry. In 1942 he took the SS Tartar on her last voyage down Memory Harbour.
This branch of the Kilgallon family has now died out in Rosses Point and Lily Cottage has been demolished.