Thomas Phelan
Thomas Phelan was a boot and shoe maker. In the Harvey's directory for 1869, he is listed as living at 13 Milk Lane in Waterford. Waterford Heritage Services advise that Milk Lane no longer exists and is incorporated into the present day Arundel Square.
It is known that Thomas was the father of Mary Ann Phelan and John Phelan and possibly other children.
Life in Milk Lane would have been like life in all the lanes of Waterford.
" . . . . the houses or tigeens were ancient buildings, held together with large stones and mortar. A family to a room was the norm, and families tended to lead cluttered lives. There was no running water, an outside toilet, rooms lit by paraffin lamps. They reeked of damp and yet the people who lived in them made palaces of them.
On summer evenings the people would sit outside their doors chatting and listening to a musician. Most of the houses had pet birds who would be brought out to sing in their little home made cages.Extract from Munster Express article "The Vanishing Lanes", Christmas supplement 29 December 2000.
At the age of 78 years, Thomas Phelan died of "senile decay" on 22 December 1893 in Milk Lane, Waterford City. He was a widower at the time of his death (his wife's name is not known) and his son John was the official informant of the death.
