This is a photo of my maternal grandmother Mary Clifford, or Nom as she was always known to me. She was born in the rural picturesque parish of Cartron, Kilmore, Co Roscommon in 1913. Kilmore is a tiny townland tucked away between Dromod and Carrick-on-Shannon, Co. Leitrim. At the young age of 16, Mary left Ireland behind and set out for a new life in America. As with all the … [Read more...] about Family Photo Album: Mary’s Gift
Photo Album
Family Album: John Hughes
This is a picture of my grandfather, John Thomas Hughes, born January 1891 in Dundalk, Co. Louth. He died in May of 1954, so I never had the pleasure of meeting him, but I have garnered information through stories from my father, my visits with relatives in Ireland, and from my own genealogical research. My dad and I spent a very poignant day in October 2003 at Calvary … [Read more...] about Family Album: John Hughes
Family Album:
Denny-Fitz and Hanna
Our grandfather Dennis O’Connor was born in 1864 near the town of Abbeyfeale, in County Limerick. He and his 10 siblings were raised in a four-room cottage on a small farm bordering the River Feale. Dennis and his younger brother Michael immigrated to America in 1888. They stepped off a Rock Island freight train near the small town of Grayson, Missouri to begin their lives in … [Read more...] about Family Album:
Denny-Fitz and Hanna
Family Album: Grandma Ellen Heaney
This is a photograph of my grandmother, Ellen Heaney, who immigrated to New York City in 1900 from Drumlish, County Longford. She was a maid and from her meager salary she saved up to purchase this dress from Macy’s. She married Michael Kane from Esker, County Longford in 1908. They lived on the Westside in St. Bernard’s Parish where they raised six children, one of whom was … [Read more...] about Family Album: Grandma Ellen Heaney
Photo Album: The Wealth of the World
At rest, this picture belongs to a wedding album from 1966. Plain, awkward even, it was composed by the photographer whose job it was to snap the parents of the groom. It doesn’t speak of small Galway farms disappearing over shoulders, the ride over the sea, their names. They are Edward Donohoe and Winnie, who was first Una Ryan, then Winnie Donohoe and, for an afternoon, Jane … [Read more...] about Photo Album: The Wealth of the World