My grandmother Johannah Phelan was born in Annestown, Tramore, County Waterford, Ireland in 1849. She emigrated to the United States in 1873, her passage paid by her aunt and uncle, Patrick and Catherine Phelan O’Rourke. Johannah married Jeremiah King, a neighbor of the O’Rourke’s, and they had eight children, one of whom died in infancy. They lived in Owosso, Michigan, and … [Read more...] about Photo Album: From Annestown to Owosso
Photo Album
Photo Album: A Brief Moment in Life
In this 1914 photograph, my mother, Katherine Gallagher, and her older siblings, Anne and Bud, pose in front of their home on West Liberty Street in Cincinnati, Ohio. My grandfather Andrew Gallagher worked at the American Oak and Leather Company for fifty years. On a tanner’s salary he raised eight children, and lived to see all of his seventeen grandchildren. His wife, my … [Read more...] about Photo Album: A Brief Moment in Life
Photo Album: The Yankee Division
Born in predominantly Irish Catholic South Boston in 1895, my father Edward H. Burke rose to become battlefield combatant, sign letterer for the City of Boston, family man and post commander of the American Legion. He fought in France in World War I with the Yankee Division out of New England and attained the rank of sergeant. He received a chest wound and was gassed as well. … [Read more...] about Photo Album: The Yankee Division
Family Photo Album: Traveling Mary
Mary Dolan was born in Croghan, Roscommon in 1862, the oldest child of Andrew Dolan and Anne Tansey. She had a case of wonderlust and kept on the move over the years of her youth, first to South Africa, next to Australia, then to New Zealand. From there she moved to Fiji, later Samoa, and still later to Hawaii. The last queen of Hawaii, Liliuokalani, asked to meet her, … [Read more...] about Family Photo Album: Traveling Mary
Photo Album: Grandfather’s War Years
My grandfather, John Fay, was born in Finavarra, County Clare in 1896. The youngest of twelve children, he grew up on a farm that juts out into Galway Bay. Family lore has it that he had an almost idyllic childhood - trapping lobsters and playing amongst the ruins of an abandoned fort. He also attended school until he completed his secondary education. That in itself seems … [Read more...] about Photo Album: Grandfather’s War Years