Among the most noteworthy Irish expatriates reposing in Green-Wood are Matilda Tone, widow of United Irishmen leader Wolfe Tone, and their son William Theobald Wolfe Tone. William is buried with his wife, Catherine Sampson Tone, and in the plot right next to the Tones lie her parents: the controversial civil rights attorney William Sampson and his wife, Grace. The Green-Wood … [Read more...] about Heroes and Rogues: The Irish of Green-Wood Cemetery
History
Joe Kennedy – The Hollywood Years
Movie columnist Tom Deignan examines David Nasaw’s book The Patriarch: The Remarkable Life and Turbulent Times of Joseph P. Kennedy with an eye to Kennedy’s time in Hollywood. The year was 1926, a year before Charles Lindbergh would make his heralded flight across the Atlantic. And so, when a 38-year-old Joseph P. Kennedy made his first trip to Hollywood, a train would have … [Read more...] about Joe Kennedy – The Hollywood Years
Arthur Conan Doyle’s Irish Mystery
May 22nd has been celebrated as International Sherlock Holmes Day since 2013 when fans celebrated the 125th anniversary of the novel in which Arthur Conan Doyle introduced his famous sleuth. The date was chosen as it is the birthday of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who was born on May 22, 1859, to an Irish family in Edinburgh, Scotland. Sherlock Holmes — who celebrates his 125th … [Read more...] about Arthur Conan Doyle’s Irish Mystery
The Silver Kings
The Comstock Lode in Nevada, uncovered in 1859 by two Irish laborers, ultimately produced more than $500 million worth of silver, a large share of which went to the Irish-American “Big Four” – James Fair, James C. Flood, John Mackay, and William O’Brien – who had left New York for the bigger opportunities of the Far West. Dr. Roger D. McGrath tells their story. Grinding … [Read more...] about The Silver Kings
The Irish Coppers
The evolution of the Irish-American policeman – in real life and on screen. In the classic 1954 Looney Tunes cartoon entitled “Bugs and Thugs,” everybody’s favorite animated rabbit gets himself caught up with Rocky and Mugsy, a couple of bank robbers who flee the scene of the crime and head off to a rural safe house. Soon enough, Bugs Bunny fakes the sound of a police siren … [Read more...] about The Irish Coppers