In Reply to: re: Oldest firm in Castlebar posted by Local on April 12, 2010 at 20:37:55:

I don’t know if there any dirct family members now living in Castlebar but when William Gibbons died in 1946, he left a total of £156,000 in his will to his sister, Mrs. Kate Sheridan. She resided with him after the death of her husband, William Sheridan, Solicitor (who was the son of Joseph Sheridan, Spencer Park). Mrs. Sheridan herself died in 1952 and bequeathed her residence and contents to a distant cousin in the North of Ireland. A generous lady, she left a large portion of her estate to her Trustees to give to deserving charitable causes in the Archdiocese. The heating system installed in the Church of the Holy Rosary was due to her generosity and another time when the roofing of the Church was infested with woodworm, the huge cost of treating it was borne by this kind benefactor, so that the parishioners didn’t have to contribute one penny.
The town owes a lot to the generosity of Mrs. Sheridan and the Gibbons family.