Irish America
Irish America
In the following excerpt from Timothy Egan’s new book on Thomas Meagher, the legendary Irishman arrives in New York City having escaped from the Tasmanian prison colony where he had been banished for his part in the failed 1848 rebellion. He had seen half the world from a ship’s deck, and yet nothing prepared him for how many of the earth’s uprooted strivers had stuffed … [Read more...] about Thomas Meagher: The Immortal Irishman
Robert Schmuhl takes us behind the scenes on a decade-long research project that culminated in his book Ireland’s Exiled Children: America and the Easter Rising. Facts are stubborn things,” John Adams famously remarked. Less known, though, is a clause he added to complete the thought – “and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they … [Read more...] about Digging Up the Past
Megan Smolenyak writes about a decade-long search that finally turned up the Irish cousins of Annie Moore of Ellis Island fame. Thanks to improved access to a variety of resources, Irish genealogy is gradually becoming easier, but challenges remain, and one of the most daunting is finding living relatives. When Annie Moore, the Irish teenager who was the first immigrant to … [Read more...] about Annie Moore’s Long Lost Irish Cousins
Irish nationals were instrumental in helping secure American independence from England during the Revolutionary War. Edythe Preet explores the key figures. John Barry County Wexford Driven from their ancestral home by the British, the Barry family relocated to the American colonies, where John Barry became a prosperous transatlantic trading captain. In December 1775, he was … [Read more...] about Famous Irish of the American Revolution
Éamon de Valera, the dominant political figure of Ireland’s 20th century, was an enigmatic figure to the end of his life. Éamon de Valera was sentenced to death for his involvement in the 1916 Easter Rising, but, under circumstances that are still a mystery, he escaped the firing squad and was instead shipped off to prison in England. Later that year, in July, the … [Read more...] about Éamon de Valera: Man of Mystery
