Jim Butler (b. 1943)

Track 1: Jim Butler discusses his ancestry and his early days in Belville House. Track 2: Jim Butler recalls his father William Samuel Butler who joined the Garda Siochána, and returned to Portmagee in 1923 on the death of his father. The division of the family lands is also discussed. Track 3: The house, orchard and walled garden are described as they were in Jim Butler’s childhood. Track 4: The decision made by Jim Butler’s grandfather to convert to Catholicism. Track 5: The local traditions of farming and fishing in former days. The Butler family owned the first tractor in the area, bought in 1947. Track 6: Jim Butler recalls the decision to move house, which was forced upon him due to the deterioration of Belville house. He explains that his father had had a house built for the district nurses in the 1930s and it was to this house that Jim relocated. Track 7: Jim Butler’s mother, who came from Sligo and whose surname was Clarke, was a district nurse in the Portmagee area where she met her husband. Track 8: The vicinity of the house and the outbuildings are described.