When Frankie Dalton (nee Murphy) arrived in Galway on her Honeymoon with her new husband, Michael, in 1963, little did she think that almost 60 years later she would feature in a nationwide search undertaken by Waterford Library Service.
A photograph taken by Michael of Frankie while on Honeymoon was discovered in a book by a borrower in Bray Library. The photograph also featured two other ladies – Mrs. Dowling (centre), Landlady of the B&B in which the Dalton’s stayed and Mrs. Dowling’s daughter (on the left).
With nothing on the photograph to identify the people in it, Bray Library returned it to Central Library, Waterford, as that was the library from which the book had originated. And so the search began. A post went up on Waterford Libraries Facebook & Twitter accounts on Tuesday 13th July, asking for help to try to identify people in it, where it was taken and, most importantly, who owned it. With the help of social media and all the people who interacted with and shared the post, the owner of the photograph was found in less than 24 hours.
Michael Dalton (Jnr) and Bláithín Hurley, Central Library.
Michael Dalton (Jnr), Frankie’s son, suddenly found himself looking at his mother while scrolling through Facebook. She was in a photograph he had never seen and he didn’t know who the other people were, or where it was taken. His father, Michael Snr, was able to fill in the blanks and happily the photograph has now been returned to its owner. We do love a happy ending to stories here in the library and we now wish Frankie, Michael (Snr) and Michael (Jnr) all the best at the end of this tale.
Thank you to Michael for sharing the story behind the photograph with us and thank you to everyone who shared our original post on social media and spread the word!
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