Kelly is one of the most common Irish names and is found in all parts of the country. The spread and popularity of the name is due to the fact that it originates from at least seven different and unrelated ancient clans or septs. These include O'Kelly septs from Meath, Derry, Antrim, Laois, Sligo, Wicklow, Kilkenny, Tipperary, Galway and Roscommon, and the McKelly sept from … [Read more...] about The Kellys
Grace Kelly
Pennsylvania’s Irish and the
Founding of the State
By Tom Deignan
December/ January 2021
Joe Biden's nail-biting Pennsylvania win was just the latest episode in Pennsylvania's rich Irish American history.
You can take the boy out of Scranton. But Scranton still helped put its most famous Irish Catholic boy – Joe Biden – into the White House.
The 2020 presidential election famously came down to a handful of states – including Pennsylvania. That’s where … [Read more...] about Pennsylvania’s Irish and the
Founding of the State
Remembering Grace Kelly
"Because I am pessimistic, I always expect the worst. When it doesn't happen, I have a nice surprise."
She was known for her icy cool blond poise and her ladylike charm, and when she marries Prince Rainier III of Monaco in 1956, it was seen the world over as a fairytale match — the prince had found his beautiful princess.
Born in Philadelphia to Margaret and John Kelly on … [Read more...] about Remembering Grace Kelly
John B. Kelly: An American Champion
This story first appeared in Irish America in the summer of 1996 as the games of the Games of the XXVI Olympiad began. John Brendan Kelly, father of Princess grace of Monaco, won two Olympic Gold medals in 1920 and one in 1924, competing in a sport which was the reserve of gentlemen, the single and double sculls. He remains the only American ever to win the Gold in single … [Read more...] about John B. Kelly: An American Champion
The Greatest Irish Americans of the Century: Stage and Screen
By Irish America Staff
November 1999
James Cagney Screen Giant "If you listen to the clowns around you're just dead. Go do what you have to do." Born July 17, 1899 on New York City's Lower East Side, James Francis Cagney was the second of seven children, two of whom died in infancy. His father was a saloonkeeper in the tough neighborhood where many of Cagney's contemporaries ended up in prison. In an … [Read more...] about The Greatest Irish Americans of the Century: Stage and Screen