The Downeast Shamrock by Timothy Gillis

THE DOWNEAST SHAMROCK DECEMBER 2013

From The Editor Welcome to another edition of THE DOWNEAST SHAMROCK, a monthly journal dedicated to Irish and Irish American genealogy and history in Maine, New England, the Northeast and Canada. This is our December newsletter. We did not have a November edition, again so that we can catch up with our yearly schedule! We hope to get back on track in 2014! Thanks for your patience. The editor of this newsletter has had an exciting and busy 2013, which has partly interfered with putting out a “monthly” journal in a timely fashion. I moved in April for the first time in five years and I am still going through boxes! Also, as many of you may know, I worked on and finished a small book on the history of the Portland Irish for The History Press (see page thirteen). I have also continued to work on a variety of other projects, including the DNA study at the Maine Irish Heritage Center. 2014 already looks to be an even busier year! As we know, there never seems to be enough hours in a day! On February 22, 2014, the local Ancient Order of Hibernians, Daniel O’Connell O’Donoghue Division, of which this editor is the president, will host the 150th commemoration of the sinking of the RMS BOHEMIAN, a British steamship that was wrecked off the coast of Cape Elizabeth, Maine, on February 22, 1864, with the loss of forty-‐two lives, mostly Irish emigrants 2

from Counties Cork and Galway. The event is scheduled to take place at the Maine Irish Heritage Center at 2PM. Light fare, including sandwiches, will be offered. FMI, call 207-‐780-‐0118 or contact Matthew J. Barker, President, Ancient Order of Hibernians, mjudebark@gmail.com. We are still seeking volunteers or anyone who is interested in this endeavor and who would like to learn about this tragedy. Our “webmaster” or computer technical liaison, Timothy Gillis, continues to put our newsletter online. The October issue was recently uploaded and can be viewed at http://issuu.com/gillist/docs/2013_octobe r_newsletter/0. This issue will be put online as soon as possible. Thanks again, Tim! Also remember that we are on Facebook. We are always seeking new members and hope people will post queries or comments on this site. Well, until next time, keep digging and may the luck of the Irish be with you in your search! Slainte. Matthew Jude Barker, PO Box 8421, Portland, Maine, 04104, USA, email: mjudebark@gmail.com.

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QUERIES Welcome to our monthly QUERIES section. Send us your queries today! You can email them to us or send them via snailmail. We will print queries as space permits. Queries should be to the point, providing full names, places of birth, marriage, and death, and all relevant dates. Please remit to: Matthew J. Barker, Editor, PO Box 8421, Portland, Maine, 04104, email: mjudebark@gmail.com. 246-‐3 WALSH-‐POWER-‐POWERS Seeking information on JOHN POWER and JOHANNA CHRISTIANA WALSH, who were married in Waterford City, 1947. John was s/o PATRICK POWER of and Johanna was d/o LAWRENCE WALSH of Waterford City. Any help appreciated. Thank-‐you. ANN V. QUINLAN, mjudebark@gmail.com. 247-‐3 ADLEY-‐CONNEELY-‐CONLEY Seek ancestors, info. on MILES ADLEY (1834-‐1890) of Co. Galway and Portland, ME, and wife WINNIFRED FLAHERTY (1840-‐ 1895, who had the following children between 1860-‐79: ELLEN, MARGARET, MARY, BRIDGET, KATE, m. EDWARD CONNOLLY & JOHN MULLEN, PATRICK, & ABBIE ADLEY. Any help appreciated. PEG HARMON, mjudebark@gmail.com.

248-‐3 SHORTALL-‐QUINN-‐SHANAHAN-‐ GILLAN Seek ancestors of MARY SHORTALL (Shortell, Shortal), born Ireland 1790s, died late 1850s Hammonds Plains, Halifax County, Nova Scotia. She married first JOHN? QUINN, Ireland, had daughter MARY ANNE QUINN SHANAHAN (1821-‐ 1911), emigrated to Northesk, Northumberland Co., New Brunswick, circa 1822, where she remarried to JAMES GILLAN (1785-‐1875), native of Morayshire, Scotland, and had THOMAS (1827-‐1893) and JAMES EPHRAIM GILLAN (1832-‐1863). Any help very much appreciated. Thank-‐ you. MATTHEW J. BARKER, PO Box 8421, Portland, ME, 04104, email: mjudebark@gmail.com. 249-‐3 COYNE-‐O’DONNELL-‐MULKERRIN Seek ancestry, desc. of MICHAEL COYNE, s/o SEAN, b. 1782 Illauneeragh, County Galway, m. MIRIAM O’DONNELL, had son JEREMIAH “DARBY” COYNE, 1833, who m. MARY MULKERRIN, many descendants. Any help appreciated. MAUREEN COYNE NORRIS, email: mcnorris@maine.rr.com.

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250-‐3 CONNORS-‐CONNERS-‐GLEASON-‐ ROWE-‐CARRIGG Seek parents, info. on MARY CONNORS (CONNERS), born 1905, Massachusetts. She was residing with her relatives PETER W. & BRIDGET CARRIGG ROWE (1863-‐ 1957) in Portland, Maine, 1920, when she is called their niece. She is believed to be connected to the Carriggs through the Gleason family. She often visited her Portland relatives and is said to have married at some point. Any information very much appreciated! MATTHEW J. BARKER, mjudebark@gmail.com. 250-‐3 BURKE-‐CUNNINGHAM-‐GREELEY-‐ RILEY (REILLY) Seek ancestry, desc. of MICHAEL BURKE, b. 1825 Galway, s/o JOHN & MARY A. CUNNINGHAM BURKE, m. BRIDGET GREELEY (1836-‐1913), d/o PATRICK & MARGARET RILEY GREELEY, children b. Portland bet. 1859-‐78: MARY A., JOHN A., MARGARET J., KATIE, JOHN J., WILLIAM H., HENRY, JAMES, HATTIE, & ELLEN BURKE. Thank-‐you. KRISTA J. OZYAZGAN, mainegeni@me.com. 251-‐3 KIRBY-‐McMAHON Seek info. on descendants of JOHN KIRBY and MARY McMAHON who immigrated to Portland, ME, from Co. Limerick in 1850. Children b. in Ireland: CATHERINE, MARY, JOHN, & THOMAS. MARGARET, ELLEN, & 4

ANNIE b. in Portland. Also interested in KIRBYS & McMAHONS in Limerick. PATRICIA CONCANNON, 7 Wheaton Way, Harwichport, MA, 02646. 252-‐3 CONCANNON-‐QUINCANNON Seeking info. on the CONCANNONS of Maine; some also known as QUINCANNON. Also info. on JAMES CONCANNON, founded the CONCANNON vineyards of California, whose nephew PETER CONCANNON stayed in Augusta and other Concannons from Co. Galway who came to Portland as early as 1850. Thank-‐ you. PATRICIA CONCANNON, 7 Wheaton Way, Harwichport, MA, 02646. 253-‐3 MORGAN-‐BURKE-‐McDONOUGH-‐ CORLISS Seek info. on LEONORA CORLISS, b. Galway 1867, resided Boston, MA. Related to MORGAN & McDONOUGH families of Winterport, ME. Mothers in all three families named BURKE. Any help appreciated. PATRICIA CONCANNON, 7 Wheaton Way, Harwichport, MA, 02646.

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NEW MEMBERS! We welcome

OLD NEWSPAPERS

the following new members

Below is another article taken from our old newspaper files. We, as usual, strongly recommend going through old newspapers where relatives and ancestors resided. This is from The Portland Transcript of December 8, 1866. Is it a fictional story? It is hard to tell, but it probably is.

for the month of December. CEAD

MILE

FAILTE!

hundred

thousand

welcomes!

Those

with

asterisk

recently

marked have

renewed

their

membership.

PEG DEVER HARMON HARMON, Augusta, ME LAWRENCE A. Portland, ME *

BARKER,

PAUL South

CLAIRE FOLEY, Portland, ME * VIRGINIA JENNINGS, Portland, ME NEW BUSINESS CARD FOR THE MAINE IRISH HERITAGE CENTER

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SAVED FROM A WATERY GRAVE, THE STORY OF AUNT MAME by M. J. Barker “AUNT MAME,” MARY ANNE GREANEY, was born in February 1858 in the village of Ardrumkilla, townland of Ballintleva, Belclare Civil Parish, Cummer Catholic Parish, Tuam, County Galway, Ireland, the daughter of PATRICK GREANEY (1821-‐1911) and MARY MONAHAN (1835-‐1915). She was the third oldest of thirteen children. Mary grew up in Ballintleva (“the town of the mountain” in Irish Gaelic), which is today a twenty-‐minute ride from the ancient market town of Tuam, in Eastern Galway. Ballintleva is in the shadows of Knockma, a noted promontory once said to have been the palace of Finvarra, King of the Connaught fairies and the reputed burial place of the legendary Queen Maeve. Mary and her family attended Mass at the Belclare Catholic chapel, which at the time was on the northern slope of Knockma at Churchfriar. She attended the National School in nearby Sylane, built a few years before Mary was born. The National School system, albeit under Protestant authority, educated thousands of Irish Catholics. Mary’s father Pat was known as Greacsi Mor, “the big shoemaker” in Irish. He was “kind of the head man” in the village as he could read and write 6

and made all the local shoes. Pat read and wrote countless letters for the local residents who had relatives abroad. He and his family were Irish Gaelic speakers, but he insisted his children speak English around the house, as he realized that most of them would one day have to immigrate to America. Pat’s father Patrick was an Irish poet, many of whose poems were made into songs. Either of her own volition or because her parents insisted on it, Mary became a chambermaid at the local “Big House,” Castlehackett, home of the KIRWANS, a local landlord family. She is registered in the Castlehackett payroll records in 1877-‐1878, which were owned by THOMAS COMER of Castlehackett in 1997. Mary’s future brother-‐in-‐law Larry Newell also worked for the Kirwans at the time. She was entered into the books as “Mary Greaney Patrick” to distinguish her from her cousin, “Mary Greaney Michael,” daughter of her uncle Michael, who also was employed at Castlehackett. A famine ravaging western Ireland in 1879-‐1880 forced many to emigrate, probably even Mary. Her father had requested aid from the Mansion House Relief Committee in Dublin, stating that he was “as poor a man as any in the country.” The shoemakers in Ireland had been made “idle,” due to the shoes coming from Scotland. Although the Greaneys were

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considered rather well off compared to many, they still felt the sting of this little known famine, known as “The Forgotten Famine” or the “Little Famine.” It is said Mary was the first of her siblings to come to America, settling in Portland, Maine, in the early 1880s. Why she chose Portland is not clear, although she had first cousins here named Reaney and second cousins named Greaney. The oft mentioned “chain migration” was well underway in Portland at this time, especially from County Galway. Mary’s brother Pat came over in 1881, celebrating his 17th birthday on the ship coming over. Her sisters Margaret Newell and Bridget “Delia” Greaney followed in 1882. Another sister, Winnifred, came around 1890, and brothers Tom and Peter arrived in Portland in the mid-‐ 1890s. In all seven Greaneys came here; four more stayed behind on the farm in Ballintleva. One of the lessons of the Great Hunger, the Irish Potato Famine (1845-‐51), was that the land could only support so many. Mary secured a job as a domestic and cook in Portland. For over twenty years she was gainfully employed by prominent Protestant families, including the Bosworths. A niece, Mary Moran Costello (1896-‐1993) wrote that “Aunt Mame” was an excellent cook and “set the table and served food a la Yankee style.” She also wrote that Mary “was a mother image for all and 7

we dearly loved her;” she was “quite an influence on us: stand up straight, wear your gloves, act ladylike.” In November 1898, Mary went on a trip to visit her sister Delia Kearns and family in Roxbury, a section of Boston. She was scheduled to return to Portland on a steamer aptly named the PORTLAND on the night of November 26, 1898. Her sister was due to have a baby at any time, but Mary had her tickets in hand. As she was leaving her sister’s apartment, an old Irish lady, Mrs. HART, living on the first floor, told her that she couldn’t leave, that she must stay and help out her sister. So, at the last minute, as the story goes, Mary stayed. Delia Kearns gave birth to a son two days later. A perusal of Boston city directories reveals that a Michael and Bridget Hart did, in fact, reside at the same address on Dacia Row, Roxbury, as the Kearns did. It was certainly fate that prevented Mary from going on that steamer home the night of November 26th. The PORTLAND sank in a horrible gale that began that night and did not subside until the 28th. There were no survivors. The ship, along with hundreds of others, was lost off Cape Cod and 191 drowned, including many members of the African American and Irish communities of Portland. Mary Costello wrote that “Aunt Mame” “had been saved from a watery grave” by the birth of her nephew Thomas Francis Kearns.

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In 1904, Mary’s brother Patrick J. Greaney (1864-‐1954) lost his wife, the former Mary Ellen Corliss, leaving three small boys at home. So Mary gave up her good job as a cook and moved in with Pat and his sons at 263 York Street, in Portland’s West End, to help raise the boys and keep house. 263 York, a large apartment building that Pat purchased in 1898, was also the home of Margaret Greaney Newell and her family. It was the focal point of the Greaney family and their extended kin for decades. As friends and relatives came over from the old country, they come here to visit or stay awhile until they could secure jobs and their own apartments. It was a few blocks from St. Dominic Catholic Church (now the Maine Irish Heritage Center), where all the Greaneys and Newells attended as communicants. 263 York Street is where they would also meet to speak Irish among themselves. When Mary’s sister, Winnifred Greaney Moran Norton died in 1915 at the age of forty-‐five from tuberculosis, leaving two teenage daughters, she also took care of them. Mary and Helen Moran went to live in the three-‐story Greaney homestead on York Street. “Aunt Mame,” as she was always referred to as, often made homebrew, usually wine, in her kitchen on York Street, in a big crock covered with a blanket. She would hide it from inquisitive people, especially during National Prohibition! Mary would give 8

it to people and many would toss it down the sink or throw it in the plants when she wasn’t looking. But no one could ever bring themselves to tell her that the wine didn’t taste good! Her nephew, James Augustine “Gus” Greaney, whom she helped raise, didn’t seem to mind the taste. He would always grab a bottle or two when he headed out on a date. A grandniece remembered the process of capping the bottles. The Greaney home had one of the few telephones in the neighborhood. When a call came through for a relative or friend, Mary would ring a cowbell positioned on a wire to alert people that the call was in. She would also ring it when she wanted a grandniece or grandnephew to go and fetch her something, like the eggs she purchased from a neighborhood woman. One custom “Aunt Mame” no doubt learned while serving as a domestic, both here and in Ireland, was the serving of tea at 3 or 4 o’clock in the afternoon. She always insisted her sister Margaret come up to her place to have tea with her; Margaret didn’t relish this ritual, but she would go anyway. “Aunt Mame” was a thrifty, frugal woman who often made her own clothes. Two grandnieces, Frances and Catherine Newell, laughed when they recalled sixty years later a hat she had made which incorporated old lampshade fringe. “Every time she

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moved her head, the fringe would move back and forth.” These same nieces also remember a little ditty about Mary that went, “Aunt Mame, tidalee hane, tee-‐legged, toe-‐legged, bull-‐legged old Aunt Mame.” Kids can be cruel, as they say! She was a rather short, stout woman who was indeed bull-‐legged.

“Aunt Mame” suffered from rheumatism for years, probably developed from years of strenuous work as a domestic and housekeeper. In the end she suffered from four different ailments and also from senility, from which she succumbed to on December 8, 1933, at the age of seventy-‐five. She was buried in her sister Winnie’s plot in Calvary Cemetery in South Portland, the final resting place of thousands of Greater Portland’s Catholics.

Mary Anne Greaney lived as she died, devoted to her native country and to her adopted country, to her Catholic faith, and to her family. She came to America for a better life and in many ways she found it. We know that her nieces and nephews were forever grateful for the sacrifices she made, including never having married. To the right is a photo of Mary taken in 1915, the day of her sister Winnie’s funeral. She is standing on the viaduct of the old Million Dollar Bridge. You can see her home, 263 York Street, in the background.

THE DOWNEAST SHAMROCK DECEMBER 2013

GALWAY EIGHT

SURNAMES,

PART

This is PART EIGHT of our ongoing series that explores the many surnames of the County Galway, Ireland. Most of our members have Galway ancestry. In fact a great many people of Irish heritage in New England have antecedents that originated in Galway, especially in Connemara, that romantic, wild region of the county west of Galway City. We have had many features on Galway and its families in this newsletter over the last three years. This series does not feature every Galway family, but the majority of Galway surnames has and will be treated here. For more information on these families, please consult Edward MacLysaght’s SURNAMES OF IRELAND (Irish Academic Press, Dublin, Ireland, 6th Edition, 1999) or previous versions. Also see Michael C. O’Laughlin’s FAMILIES OF COUNTY GALWAY (Irish Genealogical Foundation, Kansas City, Missouri, 1998). Mr. MacLysaght is still the acknowledged expert on Irish surnames, although he passed away in 1989. The entries usually include a brief background on a given surname, along with various corruptions, phonetic spellings, anglicized forms, and Irish Gaelic versions. KLISHAM: See CHRISHAM, CLISHAM.

KNEE: See NEE. MacKOWGE: See COOK. LAFFEY: This is a form of LAHIFF in County Galway. It is O Laithimh in Irish. Lahiff is found in County Clare. LALLY: This is a form of MULLALLY (O Maolalaidh in Irish), an important branch of the Ui Maine. LAMBERT: An English surname settled in Counties Mayo and Galway since the 1600s. LARDNER: An English name, in County Galway it is used as the anglicized form of O Lorgnain. LARNER. (O) LARKIN: O Lorcain in Irish, it is found in Galway, Tipperary, Wexford, and Monaghan. LAWLESS: Laighleis in Irish, which came to Ireland after the Anglo-‐ Norman invasion, is numerous in Counties Galway and Dublin. It is also one of the “Tribes of Kilkenny.”

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(Mac) LEE: A north Connacht name, which is also an English name found throughout Ireland. (O) LEE: This is one of two different septs, including O Laidhigh or O Laoidhigh in Galway, a family of hereditary physicians to the O’Flahertys. The other sept is found in Counties Cork and Limerick. (Mac) LENNON: In County Galway, this is Mac Loineain in Irish (MacAlenan in the 1600s). (O) LENNON: One of three distinct septs, including that of Galway which is of the Sodhan pre-‐Gaelic stock. It is often changed to LEONARD, an English surname. LENNAN. O Leannain in Irish. LEONARD: See LENNON. LINSKEY: A form of LYNSKEY (O Loinscigh), which itself is a form of LYNCH in Galway and Mayo. LINSKY, LYNSKY. LITTLE: An English surname that is a synonym of BEGG, BEGGANE, BIGGANE, and found as LEETLE in Connemara. 11

LOHAN: Originally located in County Westmeath, it spread to Galway where it is also spelled LOHANE, LOGHAN, LOUGHAN. O Leochain in Irish. DUCK is a synonym by mistranslation, according to MacLysaght. (Mac) LOUGHLIN: Mac Lochlainn in Irish, this is found especially in Derry and Donegal. It is also a minor sept in Galway, associated with the McDERMOT and O’CONNOR families. MacLAUGHLIN. McLOUGHLIN. LUDDEN: A variant of LYDON in Counties Galway and Mayo. (O) LYDON: This is mostly found in Counties Galway and Mayo, an anglicized form of O Loideain. LEYDEN. LYDEN. LYNCH: This surname is found throughout Ireland; in Galway it is one of “Tribes of Galway.” It was originally de Lench (Norman). O Loingsigh in Irish, from loingseah, mariner. LYONS: Although an English surname, it is the anglicized form of O Laighin in County Galway. LYON.

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MACK: An abbreviated form of MacNAMARA in Clare and MacENROE in Tyrone, as well as other surnames. It is also a surname sometimes found in Galway. (O) MADDEN: O Madain in Irish, it was one of the principal septs of the Ui Maine (mid-‐Galway and south Roscommon). They were lords of an East Galway territory.

(O) MANNION, MANNIN. O Mainnin in Irish, this was an important sept of the Ui Maine according to MacLysaght. They were “descended from the pre-‐ Gaelic Sodhan stock,” also according to him. It often became MANNING in America. MANTON: O Manntain in Irish, this is found in Galway as MANTAN and MINTAUN.

(O) MADEEN: A form of MADDEN in Counties Mayo and Galway.

MARTIN, MARTYN: A name found throughout Ireland, England, and Scotland (and also French Acadian), this is one of the “Tribes of Galway,” where it is Anglo-‐Norman in origin. It is sometimes an abbreviation of GILMARTIN.

(O) MALIA, O’MALLEY.

MELIA:

Forms

(O) MALIFFE: O Maoldhuibh (“black chief” in Irish) in Irish. A rare, but common surname in northern Galway. MILIFFE, MEALIFFE.

MAUDE: Although this is the surname of an affluent English family which settled in Kilkenny, it is also found among the Irish speakers of Connemara according to MacLysaght.

O’MALLEY: O Maille in Irish, this common Counties Galway and Mayo surname is found in many variations, including O’MALLY, MAILEY, MALLEY, MALIA, MELIA, MALEY, MEALLY.

MAUGHAN: See MOHAN.

(O) MEEHAN: A Counties Galway and Clare surname, O Miadhachain in Irish.

MEACLE: A surname “peculiar to Connemara,” according to MacLysaght, who could not trace its origins.

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OLD PHOTOS The gentleman pictured is JOHN ARTHUR “ART” O’DONNELL, born in Maitland, Hants County, Nova Scotia, Canada, in 1889, the son of MICHAEL O’DONNELL (1845-‐1905), a native of Maitland, who was the son of ARTHUR O’DONNELL (1795-‐1898), a native of Clonmel, County Tipperary, and MARTHA MADDEN, a native of Maitland. Art’s mother was BRIDGET AGNES GILLAN (1860-‐1900), a native of Hammonds Plains, Halifax County, Nova Scotia, the daughter of THOMAS GILLAN (1827-‐1893) and MARY ANNE DEIGHAN (DEEHAN) (1830-‐1907). Art had five sisters: Theresa, Mary, Nellie, Jessie, and Gertrude.

Art, who was employed by the Canadian railroad, married ELLEN “NELLIE” HOPKINS of Sackville, Nova Scotia, and they had three children: AGNES (1920-‐1986), who married MICHAEL KELLY; KATHLEEN, born 1926, who married ROBERT CAMPBELL; and ARTHUR, born 1931, who married THERESA DOUCETTE. Art would often leave Sackville and work in British Columbia, then come back home. He was in Yellowknife, B. C., when he was stricken ill and died on November 6, 1930, two days before his forty-‐first birthday. He is pictured below in his Canadian army uniform during World War I.

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MAINE IRISH HERITAGE CENTER NEWS As always, the Maine Irish Heritage Center, the former St. Dominic Catholic Church on the corner of Gray and Danforth Streets in Portland, has hosted a variety of recent events and programs. In November, representatives from the county government of County Donegal, Ireland visited the center and were greatly impressed with the DNA and genealogy studies. The center hosted a small receiving party. Donegal Mayor IAN McGARVEY, along with SEAMUS NEELY, County Manager, and other county delegates and councilors including PASCAL BLAKE, MICHAEL HEANEY, DR. JOHN DORAN, and NOEL McBRIDE, had a wonderful time, as they later reported. A thank-‐you letter from County Manager Seamus Neely acknowledges that Donegal and the Maine Irish Heritage Center want to “find ways to collaborate in the future.” The annual Claddagh Award Dinner was held in November. This year’s recipient was MOIRA HASTINGS FULLER, a native of Aughris, outside Clifden, County Galway. She is a banker and philanthropist who immigrated to New York at the age of seventeen. Moira and her husband Bob Fuller reside in Winthrop, Maine, and have four children and seven grandchildren.

DNA testing continues at a rampant pace. Over two-‐hundred people have now taken a FamilyTreeDNA test and joined the Maine Gaeltacht DNA Project. Genealogist Margaret Feeney LaCombe is the project’s administrator. Many others have also taken the Ancestry.com and 23andme DNA tests. We strongly recommend that if you have not already taken a DNA test, that you do so as soon as possible. The autosomal test for most DNA companies, which matches you to relatives on both sides of your family, is now only $99. Less than a year ago many of these tests were $200 or $250! The more people that take a DNA test, the better the eventual results will be. This will help all genealogists and family historians! Many researchers are solving long standing mysteries by carefully studying the results of these tests and connecting with “matches,” long lost cousins. On January 26, 2014, the first Karen Lemke Lecture will take place at the MIHC. It is by KATE CAMPBELL STRAUSS and is entitled, “Heeding the Call: Adventures of the Spirit on El Camino de Santiago.” As already noted, the 150th commemoration of the wreck of the RMS BOHEMIAN will take place on Saturday, February 22, 2014 at 5PM. This event will entail a dinner, music, and speakers. It is hosted by the local Ancient Order of Hibernians. It is hoped that all who are interested in this tragic event in Maine history will attend.

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AMESBURY, MASSACHUSETTS IRISH Irish immigrants have settled in Amesbury, Massachusetts, located on the Merrimac River, since the 1850s, when many came to work in the mills. Textile mills had been built at the falls and a mechanized nail-‐ making factory was also prominent in the town. Amesbury also became famous for building carriages, which later evolved into manufacturing automobile bodies. The Merrimac Hat Company employed hundreds of Irish emigrants and their children. The Amesbury Irish, who had been previously administered to by the priests of Newburyport, established Saint Joseph Parish in 1866. In 1903, Sacred Heart Church was formed to minister to French-‐ Canadian immigrants. The two parishes were combined in 1995 and are now known as Holy Family Parish, with an office at 9 Sparhawk Street in Amesbury. Among the Irish surnames we find in the church records in the 1880s, 1890s, and early 1900s, are DONAHOE, MEEHAN, MALONEY, BURNS, STANTON, NOON, HUGHES, FINNERTY, THORNTON, CRAVEN, NEWELL, LARNER, BURKE, CONNOR, HESSIAN (HESSION), MONAHAN, GREANEY, GALLAGHER, McDONALD, CONNERAN, O’BRIEN, RYAN, MELIA, KELLEY, FOLEY, CONROY, McHUGH, KAVANAGH, TANNIAN, MORAN, CONLEY, CURRAN, MULRYAN, GIBBONS, FORD, CORLISS, LANGAN, MAUGHAN, HAISLEY (HASELY), HART, HANLEY, MANNING, 15

FARRINGTON, CRISHAM, KENNEY, RAFFERTY, COFFEY, MOYNIHAN, McGRATH, JOYCE, KEEVEY, PENDERGAST, HEENAN, WALL, LEONARD, SULLIVAN, MORRIS, CURRY, FRENCH, HIGGINS, O’DEA, SARSFIELD, BARRY, HOLMES, BRADY, BRENNAN, DALTON, FLANAGAN, McDONOUGH, McDERMOTT, SWEENEY, BLAKE, QUINN, O’LEARY, CADY, HENNEBERRY, LAWLESS, EGAN, LALLY, and CONNOLLY. A great many of these names are indigenous or common to County Galway. Many of these families emigrated from the area and parishes between Headford and Tuam, County Galway. And many of these same families had relatives that settled throughout Massachusetts and in Portland, Maine. The baptism records for St. Joseph’s Church from 1866 until the 1920s can be accessed at the Archdiocesan Archives of Boston at the Pastoral Center in Braintree, Massachusetts. The archives are only opened a few times a week, so it is best to make an appointment ahead of time with the archivist, Robert Johnson-‐Lally. The marriage records and later baptismal records can be located at the Holy Family Parish office (9 Sparhawk Street, Amesbury, 01913). Most of the Amesbury Irish were buried in St. Joseph’s Cemetery. The Archdiocesan archives also has the early Catholic church registers of Newburyport.

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PORTLAND

IRISH

HISTORY

WILL BE PUBLISHED SOON! The History Press of Charlestown, South Carolina has announced the official date of publication for a history of the Portland, Maine Irish: January 14, 2014. The book can now be purchased online at the Barnes & Noble, Wal-‐Mart, and Amazon websites (the ISBN number is 978.1.62619.056.6). The book is $19.99 (160 pages), but can be purchased at a lower cost by preordering it. The history, entitled THE IRISH OF PORTLAND, MAINE, A HISTORY OF FOREST CITY HIBERNIANS, was written and researched by Matthew Jude Barker, this newsletter’s editor and compiler. The book was originally intended to be an overview of the history of the Portland Irish from 1661, when the first known Irish person settled in Portland, until 2013, but the author was forced to complete the history only up until 1901. The author was limited by the History Press to only 45, 000 words, so the book had to be shortened. Also, due to the word limit, the author had to focus only on certain aspects of the Portland Irish history (up until 1901) and footnotes had to be kept to a minimum. Over sixty images are also included. Perhaps, in the future, the author can write a second volume that would cover the years from 1901 until the present. This history is also a 16

forerunner to two other books that Barker is currently working on: FROM GALWAY BAY TO CASCO BAY, THE STORY OF THE PORTLAND IRISH, and THE BLUE AND THE GREEN, THE PORTLAND, MAINE IRISH DURING THE CIVIL WAR. The latter book will be finished in 2014. A word about the title of the book must also be addressed here. The original title also included the dates 1661-‐1901 so that readers would know that it does not cover the Portland Irish history until the present. For some reason, the publisher unfortunately left out these dates. The subtitle of the book refers to the Forest City, the 19th Century nickname for Portland. Hibernians refers to the ancient name for the inhabitants of Ireland, derived from Hibernia, the old Latin name for Ireland. Readers will recognize the name from the Ancient Order of Hibernians, an Irish Catholic fraternity founded in New York City in 1836. Portland also had its own Hibernian Benevolent Society, founded in 1832. A book launching will be held at the Maine Irish Heritage Center on January 31, 2014 at 7PM. A book signing and lecture will also be held in Rines Auditorium at the Portland Public Library on March 26, 2014. Longfellow Books will provide copies of the book for sale and signing. We will let you know more in our next issue!

THE DOWNEAST SHAMROCK DECEMBER 2013

POTPOURRI RESEARCHING IRISH DOMESTICS The Fall 2013 edition of AMERICAN ANCESTORS, NEW ENGLAND, NEW YORK & BEYOND, the journal of the New England Historic Genealogical Society (of Boston), has several interesting and informative articles on tracing Irish ancestors who were domestic maids or servants. These include “Researching Irish Domestic Servants,” by MARIE DALY, a “nationally recognized expert in Irish genealogy;” “Your ever grateful, ‘Birdie,’ Letters from Irish Domestic Servant Ann Mulheran, 1859-‐1864;” and “The case of Ellen Laffey.” Marie Daly’s article mentions many sources to consult in researching your Irish domestic ancestor or relative, including gravestone inscriptions; newspaper items such as the “Missing Friends” advertisements in the Boston Pilot; census records, including some that mention county of origin in Ireland; banking records; records of the business agents that helped Irish women send money home to Ireland; passenger lists; post-‐1920 naturalization petitions; and town and church records. She also stresses how important it is to trace the siblings of our Irish ancestors, as most of us know. Many times the marriage or death records of siblings will list the names of the parents of an ancestor that was not recorded anywhere else. 17

“THE GREAT SILENCE” by SEAN DE FREINE, 1978 EDITION The following is an interesting piece extracted from Sean de Freine’s The Great Silence, published in Ireland by the Mercier Press in 1965 and reprinted in 1978 (the following from this edition, page 63). “Abroad, Irish was spoken everywhere Irish exiles were to be found before the Famine and immediately afterwards…In 1784 the Catholics of Newfoundland asked for an Irish-‐speaking priest, as most of them were from Waterford. About 1820 Father Terry lamented his lack of Irish as a serious hindrance in his work among the Irish in Australia. In 1824 Father Connolly asked for Irish-‐speaking priests in Tasmania. Adams reports that in the eighteen-‐thirties the majority of Irish labourers in America knew no English; Lowell was the first of several New England towns to employ teachers to teach them English. Irish was also the language of the post-‐Famine emigrants in the Pennsylvania coalfields. It was the normal speech of most emigrants in South Staffordshire in 1856. In Wales, Father Signini compiled an Irish-‐English conversation booklet for the purpose of hearing confessions. In London an Irish-‐ speaking area grew behind Victoria Station. In Edinburgh in 1848 it was estimated that at least half of the Irish were Irish speakers.”

THE DOWNEAST SHAMROCK DECEMBER 2013

PHOTO ON COVER

“KATIE WALSH”

The following was copied from the 1860 “Portland Almanac & Register,” and shows a young girl’s writings. She appears to have been practicing her penmanship as she writes throughout the beginning of the book, both printing her name and writing it in cursive. We could not determine who this KATIE WALSH was. We did find two girls named Catherine “Welch” in the 1860 Portland census who could have been her. One Catherine was born in Portland in 1854, the daughter of Thomas and Mary Welch. The other was born in Portland in 1853, the daughter of Patrick and Bridget.

The photo on the cover was taken in Portland, Maine about 1905. It shows six Irish-‐American children, all of whom were the offspring of emigrants from County Galway to Maine and Massachusetts. These include, in front, MARGARET KEARNS COCHRANE (1895-‐1976), who died in Milton, Massachusetts and HELEN MORAN CURRAN (1898-‐1973) of Portland and South Portland; in back, MARGARET W. NEWELL (1891-‐1950) of Portland; MARY W. MORAN COSTELLO (1896-‐1993) of Portland and South Portland; and MOLLY DILLON of Portland. To the right is THOMAS P. GREANEY (1894-‐1950), who died in Los Angeles. This photo, among so many, was given to Matthew Barker in 1989 by Mrs. Mary Moran Costello, one of the girls in the photo. These children were all first cousins, except Molly. Molly was born in Portland the daughter of STEPHEN and MARY FLAHERTY DILLON.