Nora Brosnan’s role in the fight for Irish independence is remembered by her granddaughter. Hanora “Nora” Brosnan was born on September 17, 1905, the youngest of 10 children, to Mary Flynn Brosnan and John Brosnan, in Castlegregory, County Kerry. Nora’s father was a farmer and the owner and operator of a successful local forge. The Brosnan home was a comfortable place with a … [Read more...] about Photo Album: Rebel Irish Girl
Family Album
Photo Album: Molly Long’s 100th Birthday
To receive a personal letter and gift from the President is one of the lovely Irish ways of honoring centenarians. We were indeed proud on May 19, 2016, to read to our mother, Molly Long, a message from President Michael D. Higgins: “What a wonderful occasion for you, your extended family and friends as you reminisce and celebrate a life great in years, and I have no doubt, … [Read more...] about Photo Album: Molly Long’s 100th Birthday
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The Road to the Bright City
My grandfather John Bernard “Barney” Hynes and his brother Thomas J. Hynes emigrated from Loughrea, Galway, Ireland to Boston, Massachusetts in 1875. They were in their early teens.
Barney got a job with the Elevated Railroad Company, where he worked for 40 years and moonlighted at night singing, mostly at Irish wakes.
Tom went to Harvard where he spent countless hours on the … [Read more...] about Photo Album:
The Road to the Bright City
Photo Album: John Harrington
My great-great-grandfather John Harrington’s family had probably been in the Beara peninsula of southwest Ireland for many generations before he emigrated in 1848, during the Great Hunger. In Irish, the ancestral name was probably Ó hIongardail (anglicized to Harrington for ease of entry into tenant logs after the land seizures of the 17th century), a name associated with an … [Read more...] about Photo Album: John Harrington
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Granny Mac’s Centenary
My grandmother Nora MacNamara (née Hickey) turned 100 on June 15, 2014. From her retirement home on the Dingle peninsula, County Kerry – snuggled in the foothills of the Slieve Mish mountains and overlooking the clear blue Atlantic ocean – family and friends gathered to celebrate the centenary of a woman known to her grandchildren as simply ‘Granny Mac.’
What was the secret to … [Read more...] about Photo Album:
Granny Mac’s Centenary