So with that, I'd like to turn it over to-- just one other thing. I'm sorry. I did want to start by saying that, Julie and I-- speaking for the two of us-- have nothing against green beer, nothing against Lucky Charms or green plastic hats. But for the next hour, we would like to invite you to take a few steps further deeper into Irish culture as we discuss our family's history. With that, I'm going to turn over to Julie.
Thanks, John. [SPEAKING IRISH] 100,000 welcomes to you. This is an Irish slogan which is seen all over Ireland and is the epitome of the Irish people. You're always made to feel welcome in an Irish home. Come sit by the hearth and share a story, a song, a joke, or a good laugh. The Irish are all about the craic. Not that kind of crack. C-R-A-I-C is an Irish word meaning a good time, which we hope you have here today.
This house in this photo is where my family was born and raised. This house remains in my family today. When my grand uncle passed away, it was inherited by my cousin at the age of 13 as he was the only son of my uncle with the Monaghan name, and my granduncle was determined there was going to be a Monaghan in this property for a long time to come.
It's a one-bedroom cottage with a large center room that was used as the parlor or the kitchen that was centered around the hearth or the fireplace in the home. You may notice the roof of the cottage is what is called thatched. It was made from reeds woven together. And these could be done in very intricate patterns. And they would last for over 20 years or more.
It's a very expensive art form today to replicate, but it is still done. There are some people that can still do the thatched roofs.
Next slide, John. Thank you. So we're to talk a little bit about some Irish history just to give you some background. The Vikings and the Normans were invaders of Ireland in the 19-- sorry, the 9th and the 12th centuries. King Henry VIII established the Kingdom of Ireland in 1542.
When King Henry died, the Nine Years' War began between England and Ireland. The Irish were defeated in that war and remained a colony of Britain until the 1800s when the act for the union of Great Britain and Ireland was passed. This act abolished the Irish parliament, and they were then ruled under the parliament at Westminster in London.
There was much discrimination against anyone who was Catholic at the time. Catholics could not be government officials. Most of Ireland were poor tenant farmers. And the English landowners in Ireland were the only ones who could afford to make the trips to England to be representatives in that parliament.
Ireland relied very heavily on the potato crops for their food source. The topography of Ireland itself is very rocky wetland, and it made it easy to grow that crop. In 1845, there was a fungus that destroyed most of the crops. This and England also continue to export food out of Ireland, even though there was a famine going on, to feed the people in England.
This led to years of starvation for the Irish people. After years of being ravaged by famine, Irish farmers were being forced out of their homes. English landlords started evicting tenants all across Ireland. The farmers eventually fought back and started the Irish Land War. The land acts were a group of laws that gave tenants the power to sue landlords over lease violations. They were very important because it finally gave the Irish a chance to purchase their land.
Over the next 20 years, farmers saw their rents fall and could finally afford to purchase their leased fields. In 1916, a rebel group called the Irish Republican Army-- sorry, Brotherhood-- rebelled against the British and seized many government buildings in Dublin. All of the leaders of the rebel group were executed by the British. This group later became known as the Irish Republican Army, or the IRA. And the political arm of the IRA was known as Sinn Féin, which meant "ourselves alone."
In 1922, under the Anglo-Irish Treaty, 26 of the 32 counties of Ireland became the free state. Six counties in Northern Ireland remained under British rule. In 1998, the Good Friday Agreement brought an end to 30 years of conflict in Northern Ireland, known as The Troubles. Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland experienced an economic surge in 1995 to 2008. That came to be known as the Celtic Tiger.
Ireland had a young, tech savvy workforce and great tax benefits for companies such as IBM, EMC, and Boston Scientific, who all continue to invest there today. Next slide. In this photo, it's a picture of my mother and her friend in Dingle County Kerry, Ireland at the age of 16 shortly before she emigrated to the United States.
A few more facts about Ireland. The country of Ireland is comprised of 26 counties. Six additional counties are part of Northern Ireland. Ireland established its independence just over 100 years ago. 8.5 million people lived in Ireland in 1841, and 5 million people live in Ireland today.
This photo in the background is a picture of the hearth from the thatch cottage that you saw in the first slide. This is where all the meals would be cooked, the heat for the home would be provided, and many a night of some good fireside chats and stories and music would be had here. Gaelic is the traditional standard Irish language. An estimated 1.7 million people speak Gaelic, and an estimated 170,000 people speak Gaelic in their daily language.
Next slide. This is a little bit about Saint Patrick. Saint Patrick was born in Britain in the late fourth century. He was kidnapped by Irish Raiders at the age of 16 and sold into slavery. After six years, he returned to Britain and became a Christian priest. Patrick returned to Ireland as a missionary where he spent the rest of his life converting the Irish to Christianity.
And according to legend, he used the three leaves of the shamrock to represent the Holy Trinity to the Irish people as well as having driven snakes out of Ireland. Saint Patrick died on March 17, 461, and that day became a religious feast day in Ireland. Saint Patrick's Day honors the patron saint of Ireland, Saint Patrick.
First publicly celebrated in the United States in 1737 by the charitable Irish society of Boston. It was celebrated worldwide ever since. In Ireland, Saint Patrick's Day remained a religious holiday until the 1970s, when it became a public holiday. Traditionally, Saint Patrick's Day was celebrated by going to mass and wearing a sprig of shamrock on your lapel. Today, we're celebrated with parades, festivals, and other festivities, and it's become a symbol of Irish culture and heritage.
I know a lot of people celebrate Saint Patrick's Day with corned beef and cabbage, but that is not actually the traditional meal of Saint Patrick's Day in Ireland. Cattle were very expensive in Ireland, and so they were valued by the Irish for milk and dairy production and farming. So pork was cheaper, and they would have Irish bacon or ham.
When the Irish emigrated to America, they were introduced to corned beef, and it was cheaper and it looked like pork. So the Irish who emigrated to the US were very poor. And if they could save money by cooking everything in one big pot, even better. These photos here on the slide are from-- they're photos from the Holyoke Saint Patrick's Day Parade.
Next slide. Blue was actually the original Saint Patrick's Day color because it was the color of the Order of Saint Patrick, which is a group of knights that was founded by George III of England in 1783. The color changed to green over time perhaps because Ireland is known as the Emerald Isle due to its 40 shades of green landscapes. Green is the color of the shamrock.
And during the 19th and early 20th centuries, green was adopted as a symbol of Irish identity and was used in the flags and banners of various Irish nationalist groups. The photos on this slide are of myself and my sister and our dance costumes that were hand embroidered by my mother. The other photo is of my daughters at the New England Regional Irish step competition, called the Oireachtas, which means "assembly."
My daughter, Megan, came in fourth and my daughter, Emily, came in sixth at this competition. They performed a dance called Saint Patrick's Day, which is a heavy jig that is danced the same everywhere for over 400 years. Next slide. And since it is International Women's Month, we would be remiss not to mention Saint Bridget.
Saint Bridget was an early Irish Christian nun and abbess who founded several monasteries in Ireland, including the famous monastery in Kildare. She is known for her miracles and her compassion for the poor and the sick, as well as for her contribution to Irish art and culture.
The Irish celebrate her feast day on February 1, which is known as Saint Brigid's Day, and it marks the beginning of spring. On this day, it is tradition to make Saint Brigid's crosses out of rushes, which have woven into distinctive four-arm design that is associated with the saint. If you take a look at the picture of Saint Bridget, you'll see in her hand the green cross, and that is an example of one of the crosses that children make every year on her feast day.
These were hung around homes in Ireland to bring good luck and blessings to those who lived there.
All right. Thanks so much, Julie. Now, I'm going to talk a bit about my experience doing ancestry research on my Irish heritage and what was useful and maybe some lessons learned. I bought a membership to ancestry.com, and that was certainly very well worth it. It allowed me to build an ancestry tree that was based on vital records.
I also submitted my own DNA to ancestry.com, and I submitted my parents' DNA separately as well. That was very helpful in a couple of ways. One, I was able to confirm that my ancestry records were generally matching my DNA regional estimates, which is a way to confirm the accuracy of your research. It also connected me with a very distant cousin in Scotland who had done research on our common ancestors.
In his research, which he shared with me, was invaluable in terms of unlocking my family's history in 19th century Ireland. And I'll talk more about that as well. Local government vital records registry-- in my case, the city of Boston-- was very helpful in terms of filling in gaps for records that weren't on ancestry.com.
Family stories-- we all have them-- are a great way to study your own family ancestry. They're also a great source of misinformation. So you have to make sure that as you rely on family stories when doing ancestry research that you're backing up those wonderful folks with some vital record research.
And personal photos add so much to ancestry work, and you can understand them so much better. But also, internet photos are incredibly valuable. You don't have to possess photos that you know are your family members in order to have generally available photos really provide meaning and context to your ancestry research.
A PowerPoint or another presentation software is really important because you run the risk of just bombing your relatives with random factoids as you find them out. And so weaving them into a presentable story can be much more enjoyable for everyone. Lastly, important historical and cultural markers-- Julie will use them as she's speaking-- is a nice way to connect your family to generally-- history and culture.
Before we leave this particular slide, I want to introduce you to a few people. In the upper right-hand corner, we have my great grandfather, Jeremiah J. Dunnovan, who was born in County Cork Ireland in 1853. He died in Jamaica Plain in 1937. He is joined by his five-year-old grandson, Jimmy Dunlap.
Jimmy is my father. And God willing, he will turn 96 this year. Also joining us in the center photo is Sarah McKinney Dunlap, who was born in Canada in 1862 and immigrated to the US in 1880. She died in Jamaica Plain in 1947. She is said to have ruled the funeral and wake circuit along Central Street and Jamaica Plain through the 1930s and '40s.
She was my great grandmother. She is what many of the Boston Irish refer to as a tube boater. Because like many Irish Bostonians, their journey took an extended stay in the Canadian maritime provinces before continuing the journey to Boston. The photo in the lower left is an internet photo courtesy of Life magazine which shows their neighborhood in Jamaica Plain in the 1940s. You will see that there is both a horse-drawn carriage and a cart.
Just as a matter of general interest, this is the map of the United States showing Irish ancestry as a percentage of population. You will see that Massachusetts and New Hampshire are the leaders. New Hampshire is the most Irish state, with 20% of its population having Irish ancestry, followed by Massachusetts, which has 19%.
Runners up are the rest of the New England states in Philadelphia and Delaware. The rest of the country was less fortunate. These are two maps side by side of Ireland. This is the general map of Ireland. Right over here is the county map of Ireland. And I'll use this on the next page for some more detail.
This is my ancestry results lined up against the actual counties of Ireland. We had been told that we generally were from Galway, which is this area here. But through research and DNA results, I found out a lot more. I'm 90% Irish, and the vast majority of my DNA comes from this area right here. Sligo is one DNA group. It's actually-- Sligo Bay is the name of the DNA group.
Leitrim and bordering counties, which is this area right here, is the second highest level of DNA. Donegal and this little peninsula right up here is the third highest DNA group. Followed by Munster, which is down here. Like we call the six New England states-- the six states New England as a region. This region here is called Munster, and that's where the rest of my Irish DNA comes from.
And then I have 5% Swedish Denmark, 4% Scottish, and 4% Wales. So this was certainly very interesting to see how my actual DNA matched. And by testing your parents separately or other family members-- if you have that option-- you have the ability to get greater differentiation about where different parts of your family came from.
So I'm going to focus on County Sligo, which is where the most of the majority of my DNA comes from. It's in the West Coast of Ireland. Not the prettiest name, but what it means is "abounding in shells" in the traditional Irish language of Gaelic. It's divided into 41 civilian parishes. Ahamlish Parish is the northernmost corner of the county on the coast of Donegal Bay.
That is where my family came from, Ahamlish Parish. And my family specifically came from the townlands of Edward, Candaff, Cliffoney, and Creevykeel, among others. So this is much, much more information than anyone in my family had prior to this research. This is Mary Anne Leonard McGee. She is the daughter of Michael Leonard and Francesca Hart, born in Mount Edward.
Their first child-- again, born in 1864. 1863, at 19, she married Felix McGee. Mary and Felix were tenant farmers in Cliffoney on the estate of Henry John Temple, the third Viscount Palmerston, a member of the British Parliament. Julie talked about tenant farmers. My family were tenant farmers. Their first child, Margaret Mary Maggie McGee, was born in 1884 in the village of Candaff.
Mary Anne is my great great maternal grandmother. This photo was found in my Nana Geswell's top drawer upon her death. It had the name Mary Leonard written on the back. That name didn't mean anything to our family at the time, although my mother and her sisters hypothesized that it was my grandmother's grandmother.
When I did ancestry research, the birth record of my great grandmother had listed on it Mary and Leonard, which was the name written on the back of the photo that we found in my grandmother's drawer. So that's how we closed those dots. Right here, this is-- let me just get to the site-- the document you're looking at right now is the 1864 baptismal register for Ahamlish Parish.
Line 43-- right here-- shows the baptism of Mary Anne Leonard. And just for you IT and finance folks, this record keeping method was prior to Microsoft Excel. This was a micro hard version 1864 prior to any upgrade. Right here, Mary Anne Leonard. Her parents' name, and Mount Edward being the village.
Mary and Felix and their nine children were living in Cliffoney in 1901. Felix was a farmer. Mary, a homemaker. Maggie, my great grandmother, was employed as a lace maker. The other children were younger. Her father died that year, leaving Mary Leonard a widow with a farm and nine children. Mary Leonard spoke both Irish and Gaelic. She was bilingual-- probably the last of that generation to speak both languages.
This photo I find a fascinating photo. It is an internet-available photo. And the photos-- the people in this photo are tenant farmers in Cliffoney Townland County Sligo in 1901. My family had the same occupation at the same time in the same place. So it provides important cultural context. However, I think I'm a good deal better looking than the gentleman in the photo, so I'm not inclined to think that there's a direct connection. But there certainly could be.
Banada Abbey Technical Lace School. One thing that the Catholic Church did for the tenant farmers who were living in poverty was they taught them skills, and the abbeys taught young women how to make Irish lace, which was one of the biggest exports to Ireland. When this photo was taken, my great grandmother was already employed as an Irish lace maker, but this, Banada Abbey, was the technical school in the county in which she lived, and this is the graduating class of lace makers.
In 1910, Maggie was 25, maybe 26 years old and working as a sewing maid in Dublin. In March of that year, she immigrated to the United States. She departed Liverpool, England on the Lusitania and arrived in New York City on March 25. Maggie's mother, Mary Leonard, died on December 19, 1936 in Cardiff. She was 72 years old at the time of her death.
I want to talk a little bit about her notable passage on the Lusitania, which is a famous ship. It was considered best in class for third-class accommodations for transatlantic journeys for Irish immigrants. And tragically, five years after my great grandmother came over on it, it was sunk by a German U-boat, which resulted in a loss of many lives, including many Irish immigrants.
The photos to the left-- generally available on the internet-- is a photo of the third-class accommodations in the Lusitania. This is the Lusitania's is manifest of alien passengers for the United States from March 19, 1910. You go to the third line on the bottom, you will see McGee, Margaret. 25 years old, sewing maid. And that is my great grandmother.
Now, talking a bit about the Boston Irish, now they've arrived in the United States. What was the Irish experience in the United States?
The burning of the Ursuline Catholic Convent in Charlestown in 1834 was the most infamous act of terrorism directed towards the newly arriving Irish immigrants. During the mid to late 1800s, NINA would appear on job advertisements, meaning no Irish need apply. The high watermark for Irish immigration was 1851 to 1860.
Here, you see Catherine Donovan, who I affectionately-- or not always affectionately-- knew as Great-Aunt Sister Imelda. This is her as a teenage girl taking her vows to join the Convent with her brother and sister on either side of her. She looks fairly ambivalent about the ordeal. In the lower right, you see my great grandmother on the roof of her boarding house in Charlestown with my grandmother and my grandmother's younger sister.
My grandmother's Uncle Pat came over from Ireland afterwards to live with them. This is my grandmother, her sister, and her Uncle Pat on the roof in Charlestown. My grandmother is a young woman. Irish immigrants to the US decreased by 1890. By the time of my great grandmother's arrival, Charlestown and Boston had become a fundamentally Irish community. When she arrived, the mayor, for example, was John "Honey Fitz," who was the grandfather of President John F. Kennedy.
Margaret's oldest daughter, Mary McCabe Geswell had six daughters, Mary, Margaret, Florence, Joan, Jean, and Frances. My mother is Florence. Those daughters had 17 children. Those children had 24 children. This is me at the Ring of Kerry around 2000. This is my mother and my Nana around 1960. This is my grandmother, Mary McCabe Geswell, shortly before her death in 1992 with her grandchildren and great grandchildren. With that, I'm going to turn back to Julie.
Thanks, John. So here, you'll see my family crest. This was gifted to me by my uncle when we got married. So my married name is Kenny. And my maiden name was Lonergan. Every city, county, and province in Ireland has its own emblem. And Irish families are no different. The heraldic emblems in Ireland date back to as early as the 13th century when they would take pride of putting their crests on their robes, armors, or shields. Irish family crest almost always include a shield and a motto, usually either in Latin or Irish.
Next slide. Here, you'll see a picture of my paternal great grandparents, Michael Lonergan and Mary Scott. They had four children. And they lived in Bansha, County Tipperary, in Ireland. Michael Lonergan worked at Lismacue House in Bansha, County Tipperary, for the Baker family. The Baker family was an English landlord that had built this big estate.
Eventually, it came down to be owned by Alan Baker, who lived there until 1959. He was the first person to qualify in the 1900s as a veterinary surgeon at the Royal Veterinary College of Ireland. So he established a stud farm. And he acted as a local vet. His son William maintained the stud and vet practices. And now, William's daughter Kate owns this property. And that's the picture that's up there is present day, what the Lismacue House looks like.
My great grandfather, my grandfather, my grandmother, and my father all worked at Lismacue House. Michael Lonergan, my great grandfather, died February 8, 1951, at the age of 74. My dad never met his grandmother. She had passed away before he was born.
Of their children, their daughter Mary came to the US and settled in East Walpole. She and her husband and their daughter were the ones who sponsored my dad into America and that he stayed with when he first came out. Their son Patrick emigrated to the US, where he settled in Springfield.
My grandfather was supposed to come to the US. But at the time, TB was very rampant in Ireland. And you had to have a physical before coming to the US. So when he went for that physical, they noticed that he had a mark on his eye. He had been hit by a rock when he was younger. And so they denied him coming into the US, saying that they didn't think he would be able to make a living here because of he had a physical disability with his eye.
My other grandparents were Steven Clancy and Mary Reynolds. They were from Caherscooby, Newmarket-on-Fergus, in County Clare. They had 10 children. Annie, May, Lucy, and Tommy all emigrated to the US. Annie came to Springfield to her uncle Patrick's family.
Once she was established, she brought May out with her. And then, Lucy had trained as a nurse in England. And then, she came to the US to take care of her sister Annie, who was very sick with cancer. Lucy married and lived in Great Neck, Long Island. She brought her brother Tommy out to America. Lucy was 100 when she passed away in 2019.
Next slide. This is a photo of the workers and their families that worked at Lismacue House. On the property were four cottages that these families lived in while they were working there. My grandfather is on the left of this photo with a little blue star over his head. And my grandmother is on the right in the third row with a little star over her head as well.
Behind them, you can see one of the cottages to the left and then one of the horse sheds as well. The other two little stars here would be my uncle Stephen and my cousin Patrick Keough.
Next slide. So these would be my maternal great grandparents, Flan Monaghan and Margaret Moran from Clarinbridge, County Galway. Patrick Rooney and Mary Kelly from Lisheenkyle, Athenry, County Galway. Flan Monaghan and Margaret Moran had seven children. They made a living by dredging for oysters. They lived on the water right in front of their house. It was a tributary of Kilcolgan River.
None of them ever learned to swim, but they would go out dredging for oysters just to try to get as much money as they could from that. There is an annual oyster festival every year in that area. It's become fairly famous. They farmed on 35 acres of land that had been given to them from the land commission.
The land commission used to take land from larger English landowners. But the landowners would offer up pieces of the land, hoping-- they would give it in different areas-- hoping that the land commission wouldn't come back and looking for more from them.
Patrick Rooney and Mary Kelly, they are from Lisheenkyle, Athenry, County Galway. They had 57 acres of land that they had been able to purchase on their own. They had six children. Of those six children, Delia and Mary emigrated to the US.
Delia settled in Brighton, Massachusetts. And Mary settled in West Roxbury. My granduncle Jim was in the family home until he passed away. He had no children. And the house was sold to a neighbor by his widow.
Next slide. So these are my paternal grandparents, William Lonergan and Catherine Clancy. Catherine Clancy was born May 4, 1915, in Newmarket-on-Fergus, County Clare. William Lonergan was born in 1911 in Bansha, County Tipperary.
They met at Lismacue House. She was a cook and cleaner in the house. And then, my grandfather was a laborer. He worked with the horses. He had gone to England a few times, bringing horses back and forth to different owners that had been brought to Lismacue House to have foals and to have the vet work with them.
They were married March 26, 1940, in Limerick. They had four children, Michael, Eileen, Stephen, and Patrick. Michael and Eileen emigrated to the US. Michael emigrated first. And then, he brought his sister Eileen out.
Next. These are my maternal grandparents, Michael Monaghan and Julia Rooney. They married in England. They came back to Ireland when World War II started. Their children were Maureen, Peggy, Kathleen, Maureen, Julia, Anne, Bridget, and Michael.
They met in Ireland. And then, Mick went to England for a job. And then, he sent for Julia, where they were married and had their first child. There was no family at their wedding. They had two friends as witnesses. This outfit in the picture that they're wearing is actually their wedding picture. They would just wear suits back then when they got married.
You'll also see that my grandfather has some medals that he's wearing. Those were his hurling medals that he was very proud of. He was a championship hurler. And I actually have one that I wear around my neck, which happened to be one of his kid's medals.
Maureen, Kathleen Maureen, came to the US. Maureen came first. She did come on a boat. It took her 9 to 10 days to get here on the boat. It was the first time she had ever seen corn on the cob. She didn't quite know what to do with it. She actually thought you were supposed to eat the husk and tried to eat it. And her teeth really hurt afterwards. And then, my mother Kathleen came out to her aunt Delia. And then, her sister Noreen actually came out to my mom.
OK, next slide. So on this next slide, this is actually my grandparents' birth certificate. And I just found that this was very interesting because if you look under the column where it says condition, my grandfather was listed as a bachelor. And my grandmother was listed as a spinster, which I thought was kind of funny.
Next slide. So these are my parents, Michael Lonergan and Kathleen Lonergan. Kathleen was born in Cregmore, County Galway. My dad, again, was born in Bansha, County Tipperary. They both emigrated to the US in 1959. In talking with my mom and my dad, they said there was no work at home in Ireland other than farming. And so they decided to take a chance and come out here to the US.
They both arrived in 1959, my mom in October and my dad in June. My mom was 17, and my dad was 19 when they came here. When you would come to America, your family might hire a car for you to bring you to the boat or the plane. My aunt came on a boat, as we said, for 9 to 10 days. My mom came by plane.
The night before, they would have a party or a wake as they would-- it was very similar to for the person that was leaving because it was very much like a death for them because they didn't know if you were going to see that person again, if they were ever going to make it back to Ireland. There was many that didn't make it back.
My mom borrowed the cost of the flight, which was 159 pounds, from her uncle. And she later paid him back for the cost of that flight once she got here. My mom lived with her aunt for about two months before she was able to find an apartment with her friends.
Her first job was packing wool in a barrel. She then got a job at the First National Bank as a runner. And she would have to go in between floors just running checks from one department to another. She was paid $140 every two weeks. And she later on got promoted to sorting checks. That was an upgrade for her.
And then, she had also never been on an elevator in her life because she came from a rural farming country. And so she was scared to death the first time she ever got on an elevator. But after a week or so, she got used to it.
She took a job at the First National Stores later on because it was she thought it was more money. It was working in the meat department. And it was $90 every week. It was actually more than what my dad was making at the time.
My dad came from Ireland to his aunt in Walpole. He played hurling with the Ancient Order of Hibernians, America's oldest Irish Catholic fraternal organization. He met my mom after hurling game at Victory Field in Watertown and asked her to a dance that evening.
He first did carpentry work. He worked at Logan Builders in Canton. He went to Wentworth at night for machining. He took different classes, math and machining classes. He then worked at Bird & Sons as a laborer. And a job came up as a machinist, and he got it.
After about three years of dating, my mom and dad, they were married. They went on their honeymoon. And he came back to find out he was laid off. He then got a job at Polaroid for a little while, then Draper Labs. At times, he worked three jobs. Then, he got a job at [INAUDIBLE] in Lexington, where he worked nights for 12 years. And he was there for 47 years before he retired.
They bought a house in Allston. And then, they also bought a house in Brighton. My dad was not a good landlord because he was working three jobs already. So they later sold the house in Allston and just remained in the house that they bought in Brighton.
They always did all they could for those back in Ireland, sending money back or buying furniture or anything like that they could do. One year, my mom went home to visit. And she was insisting that they were going to have running water in my grandparents' house before she left, and they did.
My first visit to Ireland was when I was about three years old. And my sister actually had her first birthday there in Ireland. My husband Martin is also from Loughrea, County Galway. His name in Irish would be-- I'm going to murder this-- but Marchin Cooney. That is the Gaelic for it.
He came to Boston 1987 to family and friends in Quincy. And he was able to get his green card through the Morrison visa, which was a huge visa for a lot of the Irish people to become legal here in this country.
Next slide. So this is a photo array of some of the photos of my family. The run-down house here is where my mom was born. It was a one-room gatehouse to a big English estate. It was where all seven of them lived, in this one room, until they were able to get a house from the county council later on. It's a little bit larger. The house with the blue door is actually that same house, but it had been renovated a few years ago.
There's one picture here of my dad when he was about 13. And there's a picture of my mom. And she was about nine years old in this picture. And then, the picture above is my dad. He also played hurling when he came here to the US. And that was one of the championships that they won.
Some of the important pieces of Irish culture that my parents have tried to bring down to us was the Catholic religion, family, sports, music, dance, and then myths and folklore, all sorts of stories. And so now, we're going to take some questions from people. And if anyone else has a story they would like to share-- and I will just say [GAELIC] to you all, which is Gaelic for cheers.
Thank you very, very much, Julie. That was wonderful. So we do have some time. And we welcome anybody of Irish heritage who wants to share a little bit about their Irish heritage. Anybody of any heritage who wants to share it a little bit about their heritage is welcome also. And if we have one or two people out there who can dare express a Gaelic phrase, I welcome you to unmute yourself and do that now, if you dare.
I just unmuted to go ahead and show everyone how you spell [GAELIC].
There you go.
Which means cheers. And we will be having a drink following this, right?
That's right.
John, do you know how to pronounce what I put in the chat, which means Happy St. Patrick's Day? Do you know how to say it?
I would defer to Julie on that one.
Oh, my gosh. I don't think so. I've had to practice the ones that I said before.
I was hoping you can help me when I see my Irish friend later tonight. I can just say it. I guess I won't be able to say it.
I see my friend and colleague Marie Bowen, the vice chancellor of HR for the Boston campus. Marie, do you have anything to say?
Hi. Well, I'm going to try and say something. And I'm sorry I'm not on video. The sun is shining. And I look crazy on Zoom. So I'm going to spare everybody that visual. But what's in the chat is-- so forgive me. I don't know if your Irish friend will approve of this pronunciation.
But I think it's [GAELIC], which is one way of saying it. And another way of saying Happy St. Patrick's Day-- so this, I'm about to exhaust, I think, my Irish vocabulary-- is [GAELIC]. So I think [GAELIC] is the day. [GAELIC] is the feast day. So it's the feast day of Patrick. And [GAELIC] is good, blessed. Good feast day of Padraig to you.
Good job.
You did pretty great, Marie.
That's it. That's all I got.
Hey, John and Joey, I want to just thank you both for sharing your family's story. This was really, really cool to hear. It's actually near and dear to my heart because you might not know it from my last name, but I am half Irish. My mother's parents actually immigrated to Waterbury, Connecticut, from County Kerry in the early 1920s after the Civil War.
And my background is actually-- it's Kate Browne's Pub. But that was my great grandfather's pub, Patrick O'Sullivan. Back then, it was known as O'Sullivan's Pub, which is in the town called Ardfert, which is right outside of Tralee in County Kerry. And I had the privilege of finally going there in 2019. And it is still in operation today. So it was really cool. So thank you both.
Oh, nice.
So now, if we tour Ireland, will we be well received there?
Very well received, yes. And mention my name, and they'll pick up the tab, John.
I was got to say, can we drop your name?
Hey, John, actually, could I ask you quickly? When you did your family research-- because I've done this as well-- I've had trouble with some Irish records because I know-- maybe you can explain this-- that some of the records were lost in a fire during the Civil War that were held in Dublin. And so I've hit some dead ends. So I may want to pick your brain about trying to track down some records.
Yeah, a lot of the Irish records are actually Roman Catholic baptismal and death records rather than governmental records. The governmental records are pretty tough to get. But I'm happy to talk to anybody interested in ancestry research.
Thanks.
I just wanted to say thank you very much. I think it was a great presentation, really interesting. I really appreciated hearing the stories, being Irish myself, and hearing similar stories from my own family. But, John, my father did a lot of his research in Ireland, going church to church.
And, Julie, you caught my attention with your picture of your family home because my family is also from Dingle, County Kerry. So it caught my attention. Thank you so much.
Thank you.
I will say to anyone, if your parents were born in Ireland, that you are-- from what the government told my sister anyway-- that you are an Irish citizen automatically if your parents were born in Ireland and that you only have to-- you're basically just getting an Irish passport just to make it official. But you're already an Irish citizen if your parents were born in Ireland.
Others? Other people who have anything to--
So you can't tell it from my last name, but my maiden name was Walsh. So my mother and father both were born in Ireland. My mom was from County Kerry. My dad was from County Cork. And I don't want you to take anything away from the fact that the only phrase they ever taught us in Gaelic was [GAELIC].
Oh, yeah. [GAELIC], yep. My grandmother did teach me, [GAELIC], which means, how are you, and [GAELIC], which means, I'm fine.
Much better upbringing than myself.
[GAELIC] means, kiss my rear end.
Yes, it does.
My donkey. My husband has an t-shirt that says donkey on it.
This was very interesting. Thank you.
Yep.
Can we use that instead of Happy St. Patrick's Day in Gaelic because it's much easier to say?
Not in the workplace.
Outside of workplace.
Yes.
I don't know if anybody used to watch the show The Wire, but it involved some Irish folks in the production. And they had two detectives on there called Polk and Mahon.
Anyone else have anything they want to share?
The only thing I want to share, John, because you did such a great job with your research, I'm going to contact Dr. Henry Louis Gates to put you on Finding Your Roots so you can dig in more.
I don't know if I'll have a bigger draw as some of his other guests, but I'd be happy to participate.
Sounds good.
You know you'll end up being related to Oprah or something.
That's right. You don't know. You might have famous relatives. Good point.
I really appreciated both your presentations. It made me feel all warm and fuzzy hearing everything. I look pretty Irish from what people tell me. But I grew up thinking I was mostly Scottish. But I did ancestry.com. And I am 79% Irish. And then, the rest is the surrounding area. So yeah, you do have to be careful of what your family tells you or what you hear growing up.
Either way, I would have been fine with either one. I had never had a real interest in going to Ireland. But I was fortunate enough to go twice for work. And I was in the north of Ireland twice actually. And I can't recommend it enough to people, if you haven't been.
The thing I remember most was the air smells so beautiful and fresh. And the skies, the color of the sky, is really beautiful all different times, whether it's raining or sunny, and the color greens. Before I hit the ground, flying, landing on the airplane, when you look out at all the different color greens and squares and patches on the Earth, and it's just a beautiful sight to see.
So once I made my first trip there-- and I was lucky enough to get to go back-- it felt like home actually. It really did. And this was before ancestry.com. So I highly recommend it. It's a fascinating place, full of history, very, very welcoming people. So thank you.
That's great. Thank you, Candice. We have just a few minutes left. Anyone else want to share? All right. Any parting words from Julie?
I would just say, so I see Prithee's asking me to share a famous myth from Irish folks. I just know some of the, I guess, sort of-- I would call them more superstitions from my parents. So one of them was that if a white dove was to land on the roof of the house that somebody was going to pass away in the house. I've never seen it happen. I have never seen it actually come true. But according to my parents, that's one.
And then, depending on where you're from, my parents would argue different stories. Like, my mother would talk about a certain bird or something. And my father would say, I've never heard of that bird. I don't know what you're talking about.
And so there was a bird. I think it was called the [INAUDIBLE] that would lead you. If you ever saw it and you followed it, it would keep leading you off into the fields, into the fields, into the fields, and that you would never make your way back.
And my father, coming from Tipperary, had never heard that. He had heard of this bird and never heard of the story. So it's actually kind of fun to see them sort of argue the differences of what they know from Ireland and what actually happens or what is true.
That is great. All right. I guess unless anyone else has anything to say, on behalf of Julie and myself and the president's office DEIA team, I'd like to give a special shout out to Sarah McKenzie in the budget office, who was on the planning team, Cheryl Millett and Jackie Kettler from HR, Christina England and John Dawson from UITS for all of the work they did to make this presentation possible. Thank you to Julie. And thank you to all of you. Happy St. Patrick's Day to all of you.
Thank you so much.
Thanks very much. This was perfect.
Thank you all.
Great.
Thank you.
Thank you.