Father Quigley was returning to America where he had already spent two decades of his life. He was known as a priest with strong oratory skills and likely the Irish gift of the gab. As such, the other passengers on the month long journey to America would have likely heard many of his stories, perhaps many times over. Thomas and Mary McNamara would have been challenged to avoid Father Quigley and he may have even dropped in for a cup of tea in their small house on deck. Depending upon whether or not the McNamara's were truly married, these conversations could have gotten a bit awkward as Father Quigley was likely to ask about the priest who married them.
Edward Quigley attended St John the Baptist seminary in Charleston, South Carolina and was ordained a priest in 1837 by Bishop John England. Father Quigley was stationed at the parish in Savannah, Georgia where on 27 January 1838 he became a naturalized U.S. citizen. His naturalization certificate with a beautiful red seal is available on ancestry.com - check it out here if you have a subscription: https://tinyurl.com/Edward-Quigley-in-Savannah. Savannah at that time was predominantly Protestant. The Catholic parish would have consisted mostly of poor Irish immigrants escaping the potato famine and former French residents of Santo Domingo (Haiti) and their servants escaping the violence of the slave revolts in the French Caribbean colony. In 1856 Father Quigley would return from his trip abroad to Savannah where in 1858 a yellow fever epidemic scourged the city. He bravely administered the sacraments to the sick and dying during this epidemic. Father Quigley's experiences are told in his contributions to "Catholicity in the Carolinas: Leaves of History" by the Reverend Jeremiah Joseph O'Connell. It would be remiss of me not to mention the most famous marriage that Father Quigley would have officiated during his time in Savannah. In the early 1840's, Gerald O'Hara (age 43, born in County Meath) married Ellen Robillard (age 15, daughter of Pierre Robillard) from a French aristocratic family in Savannah.
Sometime prior to the start of the War Between the States, Father Quigley relocated to New York. In the 1870 federal census he is living in Buffalo at the residence of Bishop Stephen V. Ryan (see census below). Included at the Bishop residence is Father John Tuohy (age 63), the brother of Jeremiah "Darby" Tuohy, the classical teacher of Killaloe who is discussed extensively on the forum here: http://www.ourlibrary.ca/phpbb2/viewtop ... f=1&t=6916
Father Quigley appears to have been a man of very good humor. In March 1876 at a meeting at the Young Men's Catholic Association in Buffalo, the Catholic Union newspaper of Buffalo reported that "Rev. Edward Quigley, who was unanimously elected Moderator, kept the audience in good humor for ten minutes in endeavoring to solve the duties of his office, and finally gave it up. He afterwards decided that moderator was a word in contradistinction to the meaning of what that office's vocation really should be when energy and renewed life was necessary for the Association's progress."
In the same issue of the Catholic Union, just one column to the left, was a most interesting article that highlights the social class distinctions among the Irish in Buffalo. Back in February 2018 when the search for the missing Thomas McNamara of Glandree was just getting underway, a link was provided to "The Social Organization of the Boardinghouse: Archaeological Evidence from the Waterfront" by Elizabeth Peña and Jacqueline Denmon. Their excavation of three privies in Buffalo highlighted the social distinction on the waterfront as evidenced by the few brier pipes found amongst the clay pipes. The below newspaper article from March 1876 is heavy on social class distinction and references what a certain class of pipe smokers can put in their pipes:
Thomas Mack and the other Irish workers on the waterfront who lived in saloon boardinghouses were dependent upon saloon owners such as Patrick Kane for their jobs, pay, accommodation as well as food and drink. These working men were greatly taken advantage of and initially I felt that "dictators" and "bog-trotters" was a reference to this terrible situation. But this is not the case. The article was from 16 March 1876, and I believe the argument was over how best to celebrate St. Patrick's Day.There are a few conceited Irishmen in this town who endeavor to make people believe, and try to flatter themselves, that without their individual approval, presence, or help, nothing worthy of the race can be accomplished. They are generally low-bred fellows, who, however much they may impose on the "natives", are but the laughing stock of the great majority of their fellow countrymen. They would make good "bog-trotters" or "poteen-boys" at home, but they will never succeed in this country as dictators. Any of them capable of reading can put this in their pipes and smoke it.
Source: 16 March 1876 , Catholic Union, Buffalo, New York, Page 5, from genealogybank.com newspaper archive: https://tinyurl.com/16-March-1876-Catholic-Union
Patrick Kane, the Canada invading Fenian who led the 1869 Fenian Picnic procession with the 7th Regiment I.R.A., was also on the organizing committee for the St. Patrick's Day procession for 1876. The Fenian Picnic was a party with Young's Band and dancing until a late hour. I reckon there would have been large compromises on both sides on the nature of the St. Patrick's Day procession. In 1876 no Fenian organizations are included and it was led by a Platoon of Police (with Patrick Kane as an Aide). Young's Band was in the procession, but so were the St. Patrick's Temperance Society and St. Bridget's Temperance Society. Another article in the same issue of the Catholic Union was reported under the title "How the Anniversary of our Patron Saint will be Celebrated":
A short clip on the same page of the newspaper gives a clue on realistically how many Irish would celebrate on the evening of 17th of March: "If you see a drunken Irishman anywhere tomorrow, roll him into the gutter and christen him a groundhog. Such a brute brings disgrace to an entire nation".How shall we spend St. Patrick's day, for we wish to honor our patron Saint, and we wish to enjoy ourselves? Let us rise early on "St. Patrick's day in the morning," put on our shamrock and go to Mass. Those who shall have the good fortune to assist at the Pontifical Mass in the Cathedral, will return to their homes wiser and better, for they shall hear from the mouth of one of Ireland's gifted sons [Father Edward Quigley] a compendium of Irish history, particularly of the part connected with the life of St. Patrick. But what about the evening? Where shall we spend the evening? The orphans wish us to go to St. Stephen's Hall and hear them sing; and how can we refuse our little ones that boon? They have prepared an elaborate programme, and under the direction of Rev. Father Ritter, they cannot fail to interest and amuse us. By all means let us not forget the orphans on the evening of 17th of March.
The battle for the rights of the Irish workers on the Buffalo waterfront would continue to brew, but take a later generation to resolve. The true hero of this battle was Jimmy Quigley who at the age of ten went to Buffalo to live with his uncle the Reverend Edward Quigley in 1864. Father Quigley ensured that his nephew received the best education available in Buffalo and subsequently he went to study in Rome at the College of Propaganda. In 1879 James Edward Quigley was ordained a priest in Rome. In 1896, he was appointed Bishop of Buffalo replacing Bishop Stephen V. Ryan.
Bishop Quigley was less concerned about St. Patrick Day's celebrations and was more focused on the rights of workers to a fair wage, safe working conditions, and the formation of labor unions as outlined in Pope Leo XIII's encyclical Rerum novarum. Bishop Quigley's battle against William "Fingy" Connors in the Great Strike of 1899 was epic and told in this excerpt from "Against the Grain" by Timothy Bohen: http://www.buffaloah.com/h/bohen/conners.html Bishop Quigley was chosen as the moderator of strike negotiations by both sides. Unlike his uncle, the Father Edward Quigley, who failed miserably in his moderator duties at the meeting of the Y.M.C.A in 1876, Bishop James Quigley was a great success and the 1899 strike was settled. The ensuing agreement ensured that dockworkers would no longer be paid by saloon keepers. For his strong efforts, Bishop Quigley was appointed Archbishop of Chicago in 1903.
Very mysterious how the search for the missing Thomas McNamara of Glandree continues to lead us back to Buffalo, New York.