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Hibernia:
Recognize This Ship?

By Irish America Staff October / November 2000

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It could be the same vessel that carried your ancestors to America. It is one of a collection of 11 paintings of the McCorkell Shipping Line in Derry. The McCorkell line was operated and owned by William McCorkell & Co., Ltd. from 1778 to 1897 for the principal purpose of carrying passengers to the Americas. Unlike the infamous "coffin ships," cargo vessels hastily … [Read more...] about Hibernia:
Recognize This Ship?

Hibernia: O’Neill Was
a Key Figure on North

By Niall O’Dowd
October / November 2000

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New papers show influence with Reagan. ℘℘℘ Newly released files from the Reagan White House papers show that the Irish-American president was persuaded by a personal appeal by then House Speaker Thomas "Tip" O'Neill to intervene in the Northern Ireland issue. The Boston Globe, which surveyed the files under the Freedom of Information Act, revealed that following … [Read more...] about Hibernia: O’Neill Was
a Key Figure on North

Two Grandfathers

By William Kennedy, Contributor
October / November 2000

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William Kennedy on his unsung origins. My grandfathers, George Kennedy and Peter McDonald, died before I was born. I came to know something of them through talks with my parents and other relatives, a few artifacts, death certificates and obituaries, and two photographs that defined them for me forever. Both photos are working-class portraits. The portrait of George … [Read more...] about Two Grandfathers

Puddle Jumping

By Frank McCourt, Contributor
October / November 2000

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The English Catholic martyr, St. Edmund Campion, lived in Dublin for a while in 1569 and here is what he wrote about the Irish: "The people are thus inclined: religious, franke, amorous, irefull, sufferable of paines infinite, very glorious, many sorcerers, excellent horsemen, delighted with warres, great almes-givers, passing in hospitalitie: the lewder sort both clarkes and … [Read more...] about Puddle Jumping

Leaves of Pain

By Jimmy Breslin
October / November 2000

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How too long a sacrifice can make a stone of the heart. At first, it seemed to be nothing. It was a curled-up dark brown leaf about the size of a good lock of hair and it was preserved in glass in a room in the Fairlow Herbarium in Cambridge, Massachusetts. A typewritten card alongside the leaf said that it was taken from an infected potato plant in Ireland during the … [Read more...] about Leaves of Pain