Tom Walsh (1850-1910) was connected to Nine mile house through his mother who was Bridget Scully from “The Grand Inn” in the village. An Uncle and aunt of his married into the Power family of Rock view which is only 500 meters from the Grand Inn. They emigrated to Boston before 1850 which was even before Tom was born.
When Tom emigrated to Boston at 19 years of age, his first port of call in America was Boston and he lived with the Powers for a year and a half. From that great grounding in the USA he progressed to being one of the most successful gold miners in the world during the 19th century.
Jumping forward 175 years, I was getting into my car in Nine mile house, on the 4th of April this year and I was approached by a lady with a sheaf of photocopies including a picture of a house with Powers House written beside it. She asked me did I know where this house was, and I said I did but that Powers had not lived in that house since 1850. “I know” she said, and I am a descendant of those Powers. She had 5 more family members with her, and I spent a couple of hours with them visiting Rock view, Windgap, Hardbog, and Knockroe, where I introduced them to blood relatives of theirs. There has been lots of correspondence since, but what was amazing was their sense of connection and roots to Rock view where their ancestors had left nearly 180 years ago.
Another remarkable coincidence is that some of the family today live in the state of Colorado near the town of Ouray, 8,000 feet up in the Rocky Mountains where their cousin Tom Walsh found the gold. He built a hospital there in the 1800s which is the Library today. There is a large bell outside the town hall with Tom Walshe’s name engraved on it. The Powers in Rock view always dealt in horses and their cousins in Knockroe and Colorado still have horses in their veins. It’s a small world.
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