Shortly after her nineteenth birthday, Anne Ellen entered a very different stage of her life. By October 1945 she was working at Johnston’s Drapery in Blacklion, Co. Cavan, leaving behind the years of study and regular travel to Manorhamilton.
She would remain at Johnston’s for about three and a half years, until March 1949. The surviving evidence from those years gives us something quite different from the school certificates and reports: a glimpse of Anne Ellen in the working world, dealing with customers, sales and stock in a busy border-town drapery.
Johnston’s of Blacklion
Johnston’s Drapery, Blacklion, Co. Cavan.
The letterhead on Anne Ellen’s surviving employment reference identifies the business as Joseph Johnston, Ladies’ and Gent.’s Outfitter, General Drapery, Boot & Shoe Warehouse, Blacklion.
Johnston’s was therefore much more than a clothing shop. Drapery, footwear and other necessities formed part of a business serving Blacklion and the surrounding rural district. For Anne Ellen, arriving there in 1945, it provided several years of practical experience in retail sales and stockkeeping.
The history of the shop stretched back well before Anne Ellen’s time. That earlier story was later recorded by Harold Johnston in an oral-history interview with Maurice O’Keeffe for Irish Life and Lore.
The Origins of Johnston’s
Harold Johnston’s oral-history interview with Maurice O’Keeffe provides the family account of the origins of Johnston’s Drapery in Blacklion and how the business came to be established.
Harold Johnston, Blacklion.
Harold Johnston talking with Maurice O’Keeffe about the origins of Johnston’s Drapery.
Working at Johnston’s
Employment reference from Johnston’s of Blacklion, 23 March 1949.
The reference is the clearest surviving documentary evidence of Anne Ellen’s years at Johnston’s. Dated 23 March 1949, it records that she had been employed there since October 1945.
Her employer described her as “honest,” “very good at sales” and “a good stockkeeper.” It also records that she was leaving the business at her own request.
Those few lines tell us considerably more than the dates alone. Anne Ellen had clearly become experienced in dealing with customers as well as in the practical management of stock during her three and a half years in the shop.
The reference addresses her as “Miss Annie Cassidy.” This is the second written documented evidence of this name use to refer to Mam.
Read employment reference transcription
Blacklion, 23 March 1949.
Miss Annie Cassidy has been in my employment since October 1945, at General Drapery business.
I have always found her honest, very good at sales, and good stockkeeper.
I can without hesitation recommend her to anyone requiring her services.
She is leaving me at her own request.
Wm. R. Johnston.
The Last Week of March 1949
The final week of March 1949 brought a decisive change in Anne Ellen’s life, one that would take her north to the Inishowen Peninsula in Donegal, just across the border from Derry. A flurry of correspondence, prompted by a job advertisement, changed the course of her life and opened a new world of colleagues and friends — and, in time, a husband, children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Irish Independent, 23 March 1949.
View the original newspaper page
The advertisement sought a junior assistant with about four years’ experience and asked applicants to state their wages and send a copy of a reference. Its date — 23 March 1949 — is the same date as Anne Ellen’s surviving reference from Johnston’s.
The close correspondence between the two documents gives us a remarkable glimpse of events as they unfolded: a job opportunity appeared, and Anne Ellen had in hand a reference recording more than three years of sales and stockkeeping experience.
Job offer from James P. McIvor, Quigley’s Point, Co. Donegal, 28 March 1949.
Transcription of job offer
Dear Miss Cassidy,
With reference to your letter of 25th inst. in reply to our advert in [Independent?] for assistant to “General Drapery dept.”
We have pleasure in offering you the position at the salary mentioned by you.
As we are presently short-staffed we would like you to come immediately, & suggest you get train or bus to Derry City, where in Derry go to Lough Swilly Bus depot (any person will direct you) where you will get a bus to Quigley’s Point.
Quigley’s Point is ten miles from Derry City in Co. Donegal.
Please advise when we can expect you.
Yours truly,
James P. McIvor.
The reply from James P. McIvor completes the extraordinary sequence of that final week in March. Anne Ellen had written on 25 March in response to the advertisement; three days later, McIvor was offering her the position and accepting the salary she herself had stated. He wanted her to come immediately.
The letter also gave her the route into the next stage of her life: train or bus to Derry City, then to the Lough Swilly Bus Depot and onward to Quigley’s Point.
What had begun with a small classified advertisement had, within a matter of days, become a definite journey to Donegal — opening the door to a new future that would shape the rest of Anne Ellen’s life.
