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Re: McInerney 1898 postcard from Killawinna to Belgium

Posted: Mon May 25, 2020 7:26 am
by Jimbo
Hi Sheila,

Yes, the newspaper reviews for Mary Jane O'Donovan Rossa's readings often noted her beauty. "Mrs. O'Donovan is a lady of prepossessing appearances blonde, with dark hair and regular, pleasant features, while her countenance is draped in smiles, and now and then absolutely bewitching. As an elocutionist she has few superiors," reported the Dubuque Daily Times of 22 June 1869.

Below is a map of Iowa showing the numbers of Irish in 1870 by county and their rank among other foreign born groups. The county names are very tiny, but Dubuque is located on the eastern border of the state and in 1870 had 4,237 Irish born. The Irish were the second most populous compared to other foreign born groups in Dubuque; most likely behind the Germans. It appears that the Irish percentage for Dubuque County in 1870 from "The Irish in Iowa" from my last posting was incorrect. The total population of Dubuque County of 38,969 in 1870 (per wikipedia & ancestry search query), multiplied by 16.7 percent Irish does not equal 4,237 Irish born (this # agrees very closely to the results of an ancestry search query). I believe the correct % of Irish was only about 11 percent in Dubuque County.
Irish in Iowa, by County, 1870.jpg
Irish in Iowa, by County, 1870.jpg (402.21 KiB) Viewed 8537 times

Thanks for the interesting biography of Thomas Considine of Buchanan County. Sheila, I don't think you should compare the pioneer experience of the Considine's with those Irish who settled in Dubuque. Dubuque was a city on the Mississippi River where Irish would have been living since at least the 1830's and its main industry was the mining of lead, not farming. Buchanan County, two counties to the west of Dubuque, had 958 Irish born in 1870, the highest number compared to other foreign born groups. Whether or not a pioneer like Thomas Considine was included in the History of Buchanan County would be helped that he was still "hale and hearty" in 1914 when the book was published (and also if the Considine family paid the publisher for an advanced copy of the book).

Thanks also for the Little House on the Prairie connection to Winneshiek County where the family of Martin Maley of Glandree was living. On the Iowa map, Winneshiek is two counties north of Buchanan County, on the northern border with Minnesota. In 1870, there were 731 Irish born, ranked #3 of foreign born groups per "Irish in Iowa".

I find it interesting that by immigrating to America we often know far more about the individuals than if they had remained in Ireland. The 1870 Agriculture Census that accompanied the federal population census provides far greater detail than the 1855 Griffiths Valuation. Martin Maleagh of Winneshiek County had a 120 acre farm with a cash value of $2,000, farming implements valued at $40, two horses, three cows, and six swine. Compared to his Irish neighbors, Martin was not the most productive farmer. Of his 120 acres, 40 acres were still woodland, and 40 acres were "other unimproved". His spring wheat crop in 1870 was only 100 bushels (Patrick Nolan had 600 bushels), and, unlike his neighbors, he planted no Indian corn, oats, or barley that year. Martin also harvested 60 bushels of Irish potatoes; produced 350 pounds of butter; 15 tons of hay; and 40 pounds of wool. He sold farm animals for slaughter, valued at $290, which may have included all of his sheep.

Looking at the map of Iowa in 1870, the northwest of the state had the least population of Irish (as well as total settlers overall). This reflects overall western migration trends, but also the northwestern part of Iowa had greater risk in the 1850's. In the winter of 1857, the same year the Patrick Considine family arrived in Iowa, a band of 150 to 200 Sioux, from whom about 15 warriors killed about 40 white settlers and took four young women captive in what is known as the "Spirit Lake Massacre". From reading accounts of the massacre, none of the victims appear to have been Irish. Although within 40 miles of Spirit Lake, and half the distance to Fort Dodge, was an "Irish Colony" (later named Emmetsburg after Robert Emmet) that was the staging area for the troops sent from Fort Dodge as well as survivors from Spirit Lake. The troops and survivors "had eaten up all the provisions the poor Irish people at the Colony had, they sharing to the last with us, so I [Major Williams] concluded it would be prudent to push forward for home [Fort Dodge] and as soon as possible send back provisions to the Irish Colony as they must have some relief some way. (The History of Early Fort Dodge & Webster County, by Major Wm. Williams).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirit_Lake_Massacre

Sheila, with regards to the Irish in Minnesota we had previously discussed "Bishop Ireland's Connemara Experiment" in the Quinlivan of Kilrush thread (page 3):
http://www.ourlibrary.ca/phpbb2/viewtop ... 3&start=30

Unfortunately, the link to the "On This Day" segment that mentioned the Connemara Experiment on Drivetime on RTÉ Radio 1 that Paddy Waldron provided is no longer working.

Edit: reload Iowa map that went missing; edit numbers of Sioux involved in Spirit Lake, the entire group was 150 to 200, this included men, women and children — from which about 15 men were involved in the fighting.

Re: McInerney 1898 postcard from Killawinna to Belgium

Posted: Mon May 25, 2020 10:48 am
by Sduddy
Hi Jimbo

Thanks for that interesting posting. Thanks for the map of Iowa. I did virtual drive into the town of Boone, in Boone county, Iowa, and drove down Story Street, where Patrick O’Malley lived for most of his life. It’s a very long street, with residences, then shops and businesses, then more residences, and trees on either side making a lovely colonnade. I also went to Burr Oak, but google maps did not allow me to go in, so I drove out to Bluffton, where the scenery is quite dramatic. Then I did a virtual drive from De Smet, South Dakota, where the Ingalls settled, to Huron, where Cornelius Malley lived for a while in 1900. Again the scenery is dramatic but in a different way. Laura Ingalls Wilder describes it well in her books and I can see why she sat on the doorstep looking at the sunset and at the stars. I passed through Manchester, which I gather was levelled by a tornado in 2003. In Huron I drove past the public library and the Lutheran Church and all around.

About the "Connemaras" – it seems a good many went to St. Paul where they lived in a place often called “the Connemara Patch”. At least one family returned home – the Burkes (De Búrca). Éamon a Búrc, who was in Graceville as a child, became a well-known story teller afterwards, but I don’t know if he ever spoke of his time in Graceville: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Éamon_a_Búrc

Getting back to the main topic, I notice that there were obits for some members of the McInerny family, Killawinna, published in the Clare Champion. There’s one for Cornelius McInerney (published 17 Mar 1917), which might mention his sons in America. Usually it’s only the chief mourners who attended the funeral who get a mention in Irish obituaries - relatives abroad are omitted, which is a great pity - but I think that Fr. John McInerney would have been mentioned in this obit., and maybe James also. Some day I will look it up.

Sheila

Re: McInerney 1898 postcard from Killawinna to Belgium

Posted: Thu Jun 04, 2020 8:21 am
by Jimbo
Hi Sheila,

Yes, getting back to the main topic, my last posting neglected to thank you for your further research into the children of Cornelius McInerney and Mary Hogan of Killawinna. The Bernadette McInerney who contributed so many entries with the School's Collection as a student at Knockanean School was most certainly the daughter of Patrick McInerney. For most of Bernadette's contributions, it will state "Told by father of Bernadette McInerney, Killawinna, Quin, age 67 years (Patrick McInerney)". One story entitled "Tramps" contributed by Bernadette states "Told by Mrs. Brennan, age 56 years, Aunt of Bernadette McI., Quin", so as you suspected, Bernadette was the niece of National School Teacher, Mary Margaret McInerney Brennan. This story runs four pages and Mary Margaret tells her niece about the "tramps" living in her community when she was a child, most likely about the same time period when the 1898 postcard was written:

https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/5177638/5175058

The "Tramps" story contributed by Bernadette McInerney is the first of nine stories on the same topic submitted by other students at Knockanean School. The other stories submitted are much shorter and, generally, not that positive. On the other hand, the story told by Mary Margaret emphasizes "great respect" and the "great welcome" they received. While her classmates' submissions have the vocabulary and grammar of young students, Bernadette writes like a National School teacher. I reckon Mary Margaret obtained the other "Tramp" submissions and wanted to leave a different record for posterity and used her niece to do so:
About forty of fifty years ago a great many beggars and tramps used to go from house to house in each district. A certain number came to each district and these poor people never begged in any other district but their own.

Very often the names of these people was not known except for by nicknames. They included traveling musicians, beggar women and beggar men, pedlars and tramps. Among the travelling musicians there were two who visited my father's house, one was named Jimmy Shea. He used to say he was born in Ballycotton. Jimmy travelled on an ass car and usually brought a tick of feathers, a quilt, a blanket, a fiddle, a musical instrument which he called a hurdy-gurdy and a small black box which contained his personal belongings such as collars, shirts, socks, money and many other valuable things. He travelled generally between Doora, Crusheen, Lahinch and even on to Ballyvaughan but he only visited certain houses. The people of these houses were generally related, so Jimmy was a welcome visitor because he brought news of cousins who were rarely seen or met, since they lived great distances from each other. Jimmy was a cripple and when he arrived a chair was brought to the ass-car. Jimmy slided off the ass-car on to the chair and he worked the chair in to the fire. The bed used be brought in and be put in the corner and all his boxes. When Jimmy arrived all the neighbours used gather in for a dance. Jimmy was proud and everybody had great respect for him. He generally stayed a fortnight in each house and then travelled off in his ass and car to the other cousins who received him with a great welcome.

Excerpt from The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0594, Page 182 - 185
Looking on a map, Doora is a considerable distance from Lahinch and Ballyvaughan especially for Jimmy Shea traveling by ass cart. But still, when Mary Margaret told this story to her niece she had brothers in Kansas and Iowa which are truly "great distances" from County Clare.

Jimmy Shea played many musical instruments, including the hurdy-gurdy. I had never heard of this instrument, but found a short clip on youtube of a County Clare man playing the hurdy-gurdy with the Cliffs of Moher as a backdrop:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPyIwZFRkhA

Mary Margaret continues by telling the funny story of the "bitter enemies" Miss Burke and "Jack the Tank" and how her "Uncle James" appears to have stirred the pot by asking Jack the Tank if his new boot laces were a present from Miss Burke.

Burke is a common name in Ireland, but "Miss Burke" must be the single 70 year old Mary Bourke living in House 8 in Monanoe Townland in Doora in the 1901 Irish census. Monanoe and Killawinna townlands are adjacent. Mary Bourke's occupation was reported as "Mendicent"; a mendicant is a fancy word for a beggar.

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/p ... e/1070606/

"Uncle James" must be the James McInerney born in 1833 in Cloondorney More in Tulla Parish to parents Nash McInerney and Mary Melehan. James McInerney, son of Ignatius McInerney, of Tulla, married Anne McGrath, son of Patrick McGrath, of Glen, on 19 October 1867 at the RC Chapel at O'Gonelloe (Scariff registration district). Their first born son in 1869 was named Ignatius. In 1901, Mary McGrath McInerney was a 70 year old widow living at House 5 in Clondorney More in Kiltannon living with Ignatius (age 32) and two other children:

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/p ... e/1087698/

Mary Margaret continued with her "Tramps" story:
Another little woman used [to] go around, she was so old that she used [to] be called "98". She wore a white muslin cap trimmed with lace, a white apron, and a little black cloak. She could not climb the walls. Often my grandfather took her over the walls in his arms. These poor people were very welcome. Everybody had great respect for them. Little "98" used [to] bring a bag for flour, tea and sugar. They came in, sat down, and usually got a cup of tea before they left ,and tea and sugar when they were going.
Mary Margaret's grandfather who would carry "Little 98" over the walls in his arms, must be her maternal grandfather, James Hogan. James Hogan of Ballaghboy, married, died on 2 February 1900 at the age of 100 years old; informant Bridget Hogan, widow of deceased (Ennis registration). Mary Margaret was born in January 1884 so was definitely old enough to have memories of her grandfather James Hogan. In the 1901 Irish census, the widow Bridget Hogan (age 70) was living in House 8 in Ballaghboy, Doora with her son Michael Hogan (age 40) and his wife and nine children:

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/p ... y/1070517/

In the Doora Kilraghtis baptism register, James Hogan and Bridget Moylan had two daughters named Mary baptized in 1846 and 1847. I suspect that the younger daughter might be the Margaret (Marg) Hogan who was living with her sister, Mary Hogan McInerney, in the 1901 Irish census, and who went to Kansas with her nephew, the Reverend John J. McInerney in 1902. Michael Hogan, who was age 40, living with his mother in 1901, I reckon was recorded in the Doora baptism register, but incorrectly by the parish priest. Michael Hogan (father) and Bridget Moylan (mother) had a son transcribed as "John?", but more likely "James", baptized in August 1849. The priest appears to have swapped the names of father and son in the baptism register. Michael Hogan was age 40 in the 1901 Irish census, which would indicate a birth about 1861. However, in the 1911 census, Michael Hogan was in House 9 in Ballaghoy, Doora and his age was more accurately reported as age 62, so indeed born about 1849:

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/p ... oy/354296/

Also living in the Michael Hogan household of Ballaghoy in 1911 was a lodger by the name of James O'Shea, single, age 86. James Shea, from Ballaghboy, bachelor, laborer, age 99, died at Ennis workhouse (hospital) on 16 April 1915. So it appears that Jimmy O'Shea who according to Mary Margaret travelled by ass cart from house to house and never spending more than a fortnight in one place, in old age would settle down with the Michael Hogan family.

Researching the 1901 Irish Census, we find James O'Shea, age 72, reported as a "Visitor" and "Musicner" in the Michael McNamara (age 52) household in House 6 in Ballyscanlan, Rathclooney:

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/p ... n/1087131/

Michael McNamara, age 27, of Ballyscanlan, son of Francis McNamara, married Catherine Clancy, age 22, of Drumbonniv, daughter of Patt Clancy, on 16 February 1881 at the Roman Catholic chapel at Crusheen. Francis McNamara, of Ballyscanlan, farmer, widower, age 72 years, died on 5 June 1885; informant daughter-in-law Catherine McNamara of Ballyscanlan.

Mary Margaret stated that the musician Jimmy O'Shea would travel between Doora and Crusheen and other more distant places and stay about a fortnight with different cousins. So perhaps the McInerney's of Doora are related to the McNamara's of Ballyscanlan. The Crusheen baptism register doesn't start until 1860, so Michael McNamara's baptism about 1854 would not be in the register.

Sheila, you will remember when searching for the missing Thomas McNamara of Glandree, you discussed whether or not Francis was a popular name with the McNamara's. There was a Thomas McNamara (age 32) living in Steuben County, NY in the 1875 census, having gone there from Tulla/Crusheen with his wife Judy/Julia O’Neil and four Irish born children a few years previously. We found two baptism records, one for Francis born in Tyreda (Tulla Parish) in 1867 and another for Anne in 1869 in Scalpnagown in Crusheen Parish.

This McNamara family would later settle in Pennsylvania. Thomas McNamara died on 12 December 1925 in Erie, Pennsylvania; his parents were reported as Thomas McNamara and "Mary ?"; birth date as "Feb 1839". There is a possibility that the PA death record reporting his father as "Thomas" was incorrect as the McNamara grandchildren would never have known their Irish grandfather. Thus, possible that Francis McNamara (≈1813 - 1885) of Crusheen Parish was the father of Thomas McNamara (≈1839 - 1925), who did name his first born son Francis.

Mary Margaret in her story told to her niece Bernadette goes on to tell about a pedlar named "Big Kate". Sheila, should you feel the need for any further atonement, or perhaps just the challenge of a difficult puzzle, it would be interesting to know more information about the tambourine playing "Jack the Tank", "Little 98", as well as "Big Kate". Since Mary Margaret McInerney was born in 1884, these characters are likely in the 1901 Irish census or perhaps in the death records of the 1890's.

Re: McInerney 1898 postcard from Killawinna to Belgium

Posted: Thu Jun 04, 2020 4:18 pm
by Sduddy
Hi Jimbo

I really enjoyed reading all that, and there was quite a bit of reading in it. You have done well finding Jimmy O’Shea, who travelled around visiting friends and relations, and who died in 1915, and also finding the Hogans and their daughter, Margaret Hogan, who went to Kansas in 1902.

Yes, I remember well the Thomas McNamara and Judy/Julia O’Neil, who went to Steuben County, NY, and later to Pennsylvania. Judy was from Scalpnagoun (Crusheen parish) – she was probably a cousin of Ellen O’Neill whose letters are among the information on Crusheen parish: http://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/coclar ... ronane.htm

You mention that on the night of the census, 1901, Jimmy O’Shea was visiting the house of Michael McNamara in Ballyscanlan (in the parish of Crusheen), but I think Michael McNamara and Catherine Clancy may be just friends of Jimmy and not related – at least not through the McNamaras. I thought at first that Michael’s father, Francis McNamara, might have married a Hogan, but, no, I found a Frank McNamara (from Crusheen) who married Anne Burke from Moyriesk on 02 Feb 1845 (in Quin-Clooney marriages 1833–1855). Two of the witnesses are Michael and Dan Hogan, but I think they were probably just neighbours of Frank, from Ballyscanlan. Of course Jimmy O’Shea may have been related to Catherine Clancy, rather than to her husband. Catherine’s father was Pat Clancy (according to the record of her marriage to Michael McNamara). A John Clancy who was living in Drumbanniff in 1901 (aged 45) must have been a brother of Catherine. The record of John's marriage to Ellen Hehir in 1894 gives his father as Pat Clancy. But what was his mother’s name? She might have been a Hogan, but I have no way of finding out, I’m sorry to say. I think I have enough atonement done now!

Sheila

Re: McInerney 1898 postcard from Killawinna to Belgium

Posted: Sat Jun 06, 2020 10:26 am
by Sduddy
Hi Jimbo

This is a just small digression from the main topic, prompted by the glimpse we got of the McNamara household in Ballyscanlon as they were on census night, 1901. One boy, aged 13, is called Francis after his grandfather. He became a member of the Crusheen Volunteers, one of the companies of men that formed the Irish Volunteers (prior to the 1916 Rising). There is a brief piece on Francis McNamara in The Crusheen Volunteers and their role during 1916, by Gerry Kennedy (published 2016) – it is one one of about 18 such pieces in the chapter entitled: ‘The Crusheen Volunteers – Pen Pictures’ (p.33). Of course we know that these men did not take part in the rising, but Gerry Kennedy explains that they were in readiness for a rising from the time they got the first order on Sun 16 April. This was followed by the order on Thur 20 that they were to hold the railway line between Ennis and Gort to enable a shipment of arms to be transported from Kerry to Galway, and then another order on Sat 22 saying that they were to mobilise that night and each carry arms and a couple of days rations. On Sunday morning the countermanding order came that the rising had been called off, that they should disperse, but continue hold themselves in readiness. In a list of 15 men, who were among those who got that final order to mobilise, is Francis McNamara, but his address is Drumsallagh, Crusheen – not Ballyscanlan. The short piece on him, however, clarifies that Francis was from Ballyscanlon, a son of Michael McNamara and Kate Clancy “originally from Derrycalliff”. Francis inherited a farm in Drumsallagh from his aunt Eliza Fogarty née Clancy. He and his sister were already living with that aunt in 1911, as the census of that year shows.

Jimbo, here’s a digression within a digression: Gerry Kennedy quotes one of Crusheen Volunteers, Séan McNamara, as saying that their instructor “was a man named John Connell, an ex-British soldier, originally from the Turnpike road in Ennis. He was an ex-Connaught Ranger, a Boer War veteran, and was a very good man at the job’. Kennedy goes on to say that in 1909 John Connell married Maria O’Shea. In 1915 he joined the Connaught Rangers in Cork as a gunner. He was on active service in France from 29th September 1915 until 10th October 1917. He was discharged from the army on the 26th March 1918. I looked to see where John Connell and Maria (O’Shea) were living in 1911. They were living in Ballaghboy (John’s occupation: Railway Porter) and they had two children. But I am certainly not trying to make a connection between Maria and Jimmy O’Shea on the basis that they were living in the same townland in April 1911. In the record of her marriage to John Connell, Maria gives her father’s name as Patrick O’Shea, Labourer, and her addess as Clooney (I assume that’s Clooney, Bunratty, not Clooney, Corcomroe). The Clooney-Quin register of baptisms shows a great many Sheas, but they do not seem to have prospered there and have all gone away by 1901 – at least there is practically no evidence of them in the censuses. However the GenMap shows that there were plenty of Sheas and O’Sheas all over Co. Clare, so trying to find Jimmy O’Sheas origins would be like trying to find a needle in a haystack.

Well, It took a bit of twisting and turning, Jimbo, but I can now say that I’ve returned to the topic.

Sheila

Re: McInerney 1898 postcard from Killawinna to Belgium

Posted: Tue Jun 09, 2020 12:57 am
by Jimbo
Hi Sheila,

Thanks for that interesting feedback. The "Tramps" story told by Mary Margaret Brennan to her niece Bernadine McInerney stated, "The people of these houses were generally related". I take this comment to mean that they were related to each other, but not necessarily to the musician Jimmy O'Shea.

And we know this to be true in the case of Jimmy O'Shea staying with the McInerney's of Killawinna and the Hogans of Ballaghboy since Mary Hogan McInerney and Michael Hogan were siblings.

Mary Margaret stated that Jimmy O'Shea "used to say he was born in Ballycotton". She never states that he was a relation and her comment about his origins leads me further to believe that they were not related.

In searching google maps, Ballycotton is north of Lahinch in the northwest of County Clare. Not to be confused with Ballycotton, County Cork, where in 1995 the movie trailer "Divine Rapture" starring Marlon Brando, Johnny Depp, Debra Winger, and John Hurt was filmed:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRbUC-D_JkU

Sheila, good work finding the marriage of Frank McNamara of Crusheen to Anne Burke of Moyriesk in February 1845 in the Quin Clooney marriage records. Since Frank McNamara married Anne Burke in 1845, they cannot be the parents of the Thomas McNamara who went to Steuben County, New York because he was born prior to 1845. It is more probable that the 1925 death record was accurate for Thomas McNamara of Steuben County and later Pennsylvania. And as previously speculated in the search for the missing Thomas McNamara (page 9), that he was the son of Thomas McNamara and Mary / Anne Donnellan of Tyredagh born in 1840. This family also had a son named Francis born in 1843.

http://www.ourlibrary.ca/phpbb2/viewtop ... &start=120

Sheila, still possible, of course, that Francis McNamara (1813 - 1885) of Ballyscanlan was a cousin of either the Hogans of Ballaghboy, Doora, or the McInerney's of Killawinna and Cloondorney More, but this would be difficult to prove. And thank you for the interesting story about his grandson, also named Francis McNamara, who was a member of the Crusheen Volunteers.

On 1855 Griffith Valuation, Francis McNamara of Ballyscanlan leased Plot 5, a little over 19 acres valued at about £15. Michael McNamara, son of Francis McNamara of Ballyscanlan, married Kate Clancy of Drumbonniv in 1881. Drumbonniv townland is just to the east of Ballyscanlan; in 1855 GV there is a Dennis Clancy leasing Plot 3 in Drumbonniv which is separated from the McNamara plot by only one other plot of land, although a rather large plot.

What I found most fascinating about Plot 5 in Ballyscanlan townland on the GV map was the ringfort to the west of the home. On the Clare Library site there are lists of ringforts and cashels in the Archaeology section, but the Ballyscanlan fort on the McNamara property does not appear to be included. I checked the google maps satellite view, and the fort is still clearly visible:

Ballyscanlan GV and satellite view Plot 5.jpg
Ballyscanlan GV and satellite view Plot 5.jpg (102.42 KiB) Viewed 8462 times

Mary Margaret stated that when the musician Jimmy O'Shea would come to the McInerney home in Killawinna, all the people in the neighborhood would come together for a dance. In Ballyscanlan, if the weather was fine, the ringfort seems like it would have been an ideal place for Jimmy O'Shea to play his fiddle or hurdy-gurdy and the neighbors to gather for a dance. However, there are lots of stories if you search "fort" or "lios" in the School's Collection for County Clare (see links below). The general theme is that the ringforts were places inhabited by the fairies, and frequently of unexplained deaths for those who went inside, and thus places to be avoided. I doubt very much that any dances were held inside the ringfort when Jimmy O'Shea came to visit the McNamara's of Ballyscanlan.

https://www.duchas.ie/en/src?q=fort&t=CbesStory&ct=CL
https://www.duchas.ie/en/src?q=lios&t=CbesStory&ct=CL

It is interesting to compare the lives of Francis McNamara of Ballyscanlan with those Irish who left Ireland and became pioneers in Iowa in the 1850's. In the case of the Irish in northwestern Iowa, they also lived nearby forts, and during the 1857 Spirit Lake Massacre sought shelter at Fort Dodge. Francis McNamara, whose farm was located on a public road, would have to deal with what one could only describe as petty harassment by the authorities. The petty sessions reveal that Francis McNamara, a farmer of Ballyscanlan, was fined in 1855 for "defendants pigs wandering on the public road", in 1857 for "defendants dog wandering on the public road at Ballyscanlan without a muzzle", and in 1864 for "defendants ass wandering on the public road near O'Brien's Castle", a neighboring townland. In comparison, the Irish in northwestern Iowa in the 1850's were in danger of getting scalped by the Sioux.

In reviewing the petty sessions results for Francis McNamara, I realized that perhaps Miss Mary Bourke of Monanoe Townland filed a petty complaint against "Jack the Tank", since, according to Mary Margaret, the two were "bitter enemies". If so, this complaint would reveal the true name of "Jack the Tank", the tambourine playing musician.

Re: McInerney 1898 postcard from Killawinna to Belgium

Posted: Tue Jun 09, 2020 10:52 am
by Sduddy
Hi Jimbo

I should have read Bernadette’s story more carefully and noted that Jimmy was born in Ballycotton.

About the fort behind Francis McNamara’s house: when you look at the full 1842 map, you will see that there are several more forts not very far away. I looked at Thomas Coffey’s book, The Parish of Inchicronan (Crusheen), and, on page 10, he has a piece on the forts in the parish: “Westropp, writing in 1901, stated that there were no fewer than thirty-six forts in the Parish of Inchicronan, but on a close examination of the relevant ordnancesurvey maps there are forty-four. Forts are the most common of all our field monuments and there are about 40, 000 of them throughout Ireland. They were not forts in the military sense, but were the protected dwellings of early farmers.”
Thomas Coffey was very interested in Archaeology, and and this is reflected in his book. He gives much more space to the four megalithic tombs in the parish, and goes into quite a bit of detail on these; the forts are much less important – they date from the Bronze age to the 16th century – most of those that have survived are thought to have been built between the 6th and 16th centuries. Coffey says that there is a very interesting Iron Age fort (earthwork) in the townland of Gortnamearacaun, which is protected by a preservation order. It sounds as if the other forts are not protected, but Coffey was writing in 1993, so maybe that’s changed now. It also sounds as if there is a hierarchy among forts, so maybe that’s why the list in the Archeology section doesn’t name all of them.

I love your juxtaposed Griffith’s map and satellite view, which I looked at for ages marvelling, as I always do, at how many fields have remained intact. I don’t have the skills to present map together with satellite view, and even if you explained how to do it, I would still not be able I’m sure.

You are right about the dancing – dances were not held in those enclosures.

At the moment, I’m reading Pioneer Women: voices from the Kansas Frontier, by Joanna L. Stratton, (1981). I’m at page 121, where Stratton says, “At this time, Mitchell County was in full agitation. Officially established in February, 1867, the county was first settled by pioneers in the fall of that year. By the following spring, the white settlement of the area had enlarged and the first clusters of cabins were erected along the banks of the Solomon River. The hostilities in Mitchell County reached a climax during the Summer of 1868 as restless bands of Cheyenne and Sioux looted homes and terrorized the settlers. In August, the tribesmen gathered near the mouth of Plum and Asher Creeks to plot their offensive. After a long parley, they swept down through Solomon River Valley, forcing the local residents to hastily congregate for protection.” I don’t know very much about either American or Australian history, but it’s generally accepted, regarding the Irish, that the irony of settling on lands that did not belong to them, while at the same time greatly resenting British rule at home, was lost on them.

Sheila

Re: McInerney 1898 postcard from Killawinna to Belgium

Posted: Thu Jun 11, 2020 10:20 am
by Sduddy
Hi Jimbo

Ther is a passing mention of Fr. John McInerney in this clipping from The Iola Register of 05 May 1955: https://www.newspapers.com/clip/1122591 ... y-in-iola/
St John’s Grows Fast: The Catholic Church, oldest in the Christian world, was one of the latest to be established in Iola. This is a little surprising because the first Holy Mass celebrated in Humboldt was in the year 1857, and Humboldt had a Catholic Church building by 1867. It was not until 1892, however, that the first mass was held in Iola. As a matter of fact, there was precisely one Catholic family in or near Iola at that time – the James McCann family. But Father Wickman from Humboldt arranged to come to the McCann home, first on a farm outside Iola, then at 101 E. Spruce. He offered Mass there regularly until 1900. But if the congregation was small in the beginning and late getting startred, it grew rapidly. In 1900 it became necessary to rent the Woodmen’s Hall on the south side of the square for services. In 1903 the present St. John’s Church was built on the site of the old Methodist Church. This was done during the pastorate of Father MacInnerney. Father McGuire became the first resident past of St. John’s in 1906 and since that time priests have regularly been in charge of the parish. Father John Cody enlarged the church in the late 1930’s and Father Hertel built the St. John’s Parochial School in 1950.
At the present time, the parish has about 550 members, a grade and junior hight school with an enrolment of 150 students. The school is staffed by the Sister of St. Joseph, the same order, which operated St. John’s Hospital here for almost half a century. Fr. F. R. O’Donoghue is in charge of the parish at the present time. He points out that Charlie McCann, son of James McCann in whose house the first Mass was held, still is a member of the church and has therefore lived through and been part of the entire history of the parish.
Sheila

Re: McInerney 1898 postcard from Killawinna to Belgium

Posted: Sun Dec 13, 2020 10:10 am
by Jimbo
Hi Sheila,

A very belated thanks for the 1955 article on the Rev. John J. McInerney. I've resurrected this thread to resolve the mystery how the Rev. John J. McInerney made it to America.

In the 1910 USA census for Humboldt, Kansas both the Rev. John J. McInerney and his aunt Margaret Hogan stated their arrival in the USA as 1902. While it was easy to find the 1903 passenger listing for his brother James McInerney, I struggled to find their reported 1902 arrival on a passenger listing. However, after taking a fresh approach to this research, I was able to find them on the UK Outward Passenger Lists, departing Queenstown, Ireland on 24 November 1901 on the SS Umbria, see below:

SS Umbria leaving Queenstown Ireland on 24 Nov 1901 (UK Outward Passenger Lists).jpg
SS Umbria leaving Queenstown Ireland on 24 Nov 1901 (UK Outward Passenger Lists).jpg (55.44 KiB) Viewed 8732 times

On the UK outward bound passenger listings, no country of birth was reported for the passengers. John J. McInerney, clergyman, had his age reported as "a", which might stand for "adult". His aunt Margaret Hogan, servant, was reported as age 36 years old, when, in fact, she would have been closer to 55 years old. In this search, it was necessary not to limit the search by country of birth or age to make the discovery. The SS Umbria did arrive in New York in December 1901, but the passenger listing has been torn to shreds and the page listing Rev. John J. McInerney appears to have been destroyed.

Traveling with the Rev. John J. McInerney on the SS Umbria were Catherine J. Cunneen (age 20) and Margaret Cunneen (age 18), both servants. They appear to be traveling as a group based upon their ticket numbers. Two young and single women traveling with a Catholic priest who is on his way to Kansas? Surely they must have been heading to the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth.

Most of the novitiates of the Sisters of Charity were sent from the "mother house" of Leavenworth to a "mission" in the mountain west states of Montana, Wyoming, Colorado and New Mexico. After WWI, there was a resurgence of the KKK in the United States, including Leavenworth and other towns where the Sisters of Charity were located. The KKK was very anti-Catholic and this brought a big push for the foreign born Sisters of Charity to become U.S. citizens to be able to vote in local elections. For most Irish born immigrant women, they became U.S. citizens based upon marriage to a U.S. citizen or when their foreign husband became a citizen — obviously not the case for a Catholic nun. So to test my theory that Margaret Cunneen and Catherine Cunneen came to America in December 1901 to join the Sisters of Charity, the first place I looked were the U.S. naturalization records.

Margaret Teresa Cunneen declared to become a U.S. citizen in Lewis and Clark County in Montana. Margaret reported that she was born on 2 June 1883, in "Six-Mile-Bridge, Ireland". Her reported arrival date was 1 December 1901 on the SS Campania (should have been the SS Umbria). A second naturalization page states her family name as "Florence" and given name as "Sister Mary". This was an attempt to state that in religion, Margaret Cunneen was Sister Mary Florena.

Here is Margaret Cunneen, age 17, living with her parents and five siblings in Mount Cashel, Rossroe, Clare:
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/p ... l/1086648/

Sister Mary Florina (age 36) in the 1920 census was living at the Sacred Heart Convent and working as a teacher in Butte, Montana. "Sister Mary Florena Cunneen" (age 56) in the 1940 census was living in a convent at Denver, Colorado; occupation school teacher.
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M8QQ-RTR

Catherine Cunneen first applied for U.S. citizenship in Leavenworth in January 1924, but this was denied as she had left Kansas for Montana. Catherine Cunneen applied for citizenship in Butte, Montana on 27 December 1924. Her reported birth in Ireland (no location given) was on 18 February 1878 and U.S. arrival was on 9 December 1901 in New York. Her address was "St. Lawrence Convent Walkerville, Montana".

Catherine Cunneen in the Irish 1901 census was not living with her parents and siblings in Mount Cashel, but was a 22 year old pupil living at the Sisters of Mercy convent at Arthurs Row in Ennis:
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/p ... w/1070011/

The naturalization papers for Catherine Cunneen did not provide her name in religion. Catherine Cunneen was living at a convent in Kansas City, Kansas in 1920; and at St Mary's convent in Silver Bow county, Montana in 1930; working as a parochial school teacher. The census taker reported only her name as "Catherine Cunneen", so unclear what her name was as a Sister of Charity.

I checked the index for the book "We Came North, Centennial story of the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth" by Sister Julia Gilmore written in 1961; their centennial was 1858 to 1958. There was a Sister M. Brigida Cunneen, and initially I thought that this had to be Catherine Cunneen. But this was a mistake since there were three Cunneen sisters from the same Mount Cashel family who joined the Sisters of Charity.

Catherine Cunneen was Sister Mary Prudentia.
Mining City Nun Taken by Death

Sister Mary Prudential Cunneen, a member of the Sisters of Charity staff at St. James Hospital, died in the hospital Monday evening following an illness.

She had been in Butte about nine years, working in the hospital pharmacy. She was one of three sisters who became Catholic nuns. The others are Sisters M. Brigida and M. Florena of Xavier, Kansas.

Requiem mass will be celebrated in Sacred Heart Church Wednesday morning at 9:30 and interment will be in St. Patrick cemetery.

The Montana Standard, 27 September 1960
Sister M. Brigida Cunneen was the Bridget Cunneen who was part of a group of 45 young Irish women who went to America in 1895 along with Sister M. Ancaleta who had gone back to Ireland on a recruiting drive, as mentioned on the thread "Recruitment to religious orders abroad":
http://www.ourlibrary.ca/phpbb2/viewtop ... 48f3b8177b

Bridget Cunneen, Sister M. Brigida, would go to Butte, Montana for her "mission".
By the twentieth century, the Butte that had begun as a mining camp of tents and log cabins had expanded into a city. The increasingly large Catholic population necessitated establishment of more parishes that of the Sacred Heart was formed, in 1901, on the east side. With the formation of a parish came a request from Bishop Brondel for Sisters to staff a school. In an old drugstore, furnished only with camp chairs, Sisters Mary Angelina Buckley, Mary Brigida Cunneen, and Mary Cecilia Lawless with pioneers' courage organized 147 pupils into classes. (The Sisters' initials gave this venture the name "ABC School.")
"We Came North", chapter 8 "And Gladly Teach", page 143
"Brigida Cunneen" (age 32) in the 1910 census was living in Helena, Montana. She applied for U.S. citizenship in Leavenworth in January 1923 when she was living at St. Mary's Academy. Her reported birth was on 18 February 1877; and arrival in New York on 8 December 1895.

Bridget Cunneen was baptized in Six Mile Bridge on 28 January 1877, her parents were Michael Cunneen and Margaret McGrath; baptism sponsors were John and Margaret McNamara.

Michael Cunneen, of Mount Cashel, farmer, son of Michael Cunneen (deceased), married Margaret McGrath, of Scoobagh, daughter of Cornelius McGrath (deceased) on 21 November 1874 at the RC Chapel at Tulla; witnesses Dennis McNamara and Margaret Reddan.

Margaret McGrath was born in 1852, she was the daughter of Cornelius McGrath and Mary McNamara. Mary McNamara of Uggoon married Cornelius McGrath of Liskennee in February 1836. While searching for the missing Thomas McNamara of Glandree (see family outline of page 13 and updated on page 18), I had come to the conclusion that Mary McNamara of Uggoon was the daughter of Andrew McNamara (1780 - 1869) and Bridget McNamara (1793 - 1883) of Uggoon.

Amazing that a postcard written in 1898 to John J. McInerney, that was randomly purchased on ebay, would lead to three Sisters of Charity, Sister M. Brigida, Sister M. Perpetua, Sister M. Florena, who, I believe with increasing confidence, were the great-grandchildren of Andrew McNamara and Bridget McNamara of Uggoon. Thus, these three nuns, I reckon, would have been second cousins of Sister M. Ita, of the Sisters of Mercy, who was also discussed later in the search for the missing Thomas McNamara (pages 25-26).

I'll update the McGrath family tree on the search for Thomas McNamara thread as other McGrath children have interesting McNamara connections, but would like to make one point on the importance of class in Ireland. Michael McNamara (1826 - 1889), the son of Andrew McNamara (1780 - 1869), or likely son as baptism was on a missing page in 1826, was a very prosperous farmer at plot 60 of Glandree townland in Griffith Valuation. In looking at the Griffith Valuation for Ballyblood townland, Cornelius McGrath held plots 11a and 12a, a total of 79 acres, valuation of over £47, the most prosperous farmer in the townland. He also held a small adjacent plot in Derrymore West. In looking at the GV map, plot 12 in Ballyblood was named "Drumbonniv" which is nearby "Scoobagh Fort" and "Liskenny", all three locations were used by the McGrath family in church records.

The fact that the prosperous Cornelius McGrath married Mary McNamara of Uggoon in 1836, would lead me to believe that she was the daughter of a prosperous farmer. While Mary McNamara was born prior to the start of the Tulla baptism register in 1819, the growing evidence is that she was the daughter of Andrew McNamara and Bridget McNamara of Uggoon.

Using the Ask About Ireland website and looking at the map view for Cornelius McGrath at GV plot 11 in Ballyblood townland, when you switch from the historical map to the modern map, the "Ballyblood Lodge" shows up as accommodation. Below is a link to their website. The lodge looks to be a great place to "Enjoy luxury self-catering accommodation in a beautifully restored 19th century lodge".
http://www.ballybloodlodge.com/index.php

Patrick McGrath (born 1837), the eldest son of Cornelius McGrath and Mary McNamara, was living at the same house in 1901. House #21 was reported as "4" in the census column for rooms which equates to 7, 8, or 9 rooms — the largest house in Ballyblood townland. The "Ballyblood Lodge" also has a "Granny Cottage" that can be rented out. Mary McNamara McGrath, who was an 84 year old grandmother in the 1901 census, could have possibly lived in the "Granny Cottage".

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/p ... d/1086153/

Getting back to Sister Mary Brigida, Sister Mary Prudentia, and Sister Mary Florena who left their native Ireland to join the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth. A common misconception would be that Irish born nuns were never able to return to Ireland to visit their family. But this was not the case for the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth.
Another noteworthy occasion came in 1949 when Mother Mary Francesca [O'Shea] offered the privilege of a visit to Ireland to those Sisters whose mothers were still living there: Sisters Mary Francis Derben, Margaret Alacoque Crowley, and Margaret Angela O'Rourke. During the four summers following, all Sisters native to Ireland were permitted to visit their homeland if they so wished.

We Came North, Chapter 22 Memorable Data, page 421
The grandmother of the three sister nuns, Mary McNamara McGrath, died on 11 December 1902. — one year after Margaret and Catherine Cunneen had left for America with the Rev. John J. McInerney. Their mother, Margaret McGrath Cunneen, died in Mount Cashel on 5 January 1935 (their father Michael Cunneen died in 1927). Although the three Cunneen sisters were not eligible to return to Ireland in 1949 they did make it back the following year:
Sisters who returned to Ireland to visit: 1950—Mother Mary Francesca O'Shea, Sisters Mary Baptista Ward, Mary Logan Degan, Mary Vida Hayes, Mary Ita and Mary Annunciata O'Brien; Mary Brigida, Mary Prudentia, and Mary Florena Cunneen. 1951 . . . 1952 . . . 1953 . . .
We Came North, Appendix
1950 was a Holy Year in Rome. Mother Mary Francesca O'Shea, who retired as "Mother" in July 1950 (one year after instituting the return to Ireland policy), was reported to have visited Rome after her Ireland trip home. The three Cunneen Sisters of Charity may have also gone to Rome as part of the Holy Year celebration. Sister M. Perpetua (Alice Quigley), who was listed as returning in 1951 in We Came North, departed Shannon Airport on a flight to New York in August 1951 according to a passenger listing. I suspect that in 1950 the Cunneen sisters in their home visit to Ireland also went by plane and not by ship.

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/107 ... na-cunneen
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/817 ... da-cunneen
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/506 ... ia-cunneen

Re: McInerney 1898 postcard from Killawinna to Belgium

Posted: Mon Dec 14, 2020 7:27 am
by Jimbo
IOLAN SAW THE POPE
FATHER M'INERNEY OF CATHOLIC CHURCH PRESENTED MAY 1ST.
PRESENTED TO BISHOP LILLIS
WERE INTRODUCED TO HIS HOLINESS AT THE VATICAN
Father McInerney Was Formerly Pastor of the Iola Catholic Church


The people of Iola will be interested in a dispatch from Rome, stating that Father McInerney and Father Burke, of Kansas, have been presented to the Pope. Fathers Burke and McInerney are well known here. Father McInerney was formerly pastor of the Catholic church here, and is present in charge of the Humboldt Catholic church. The presentation occurred May 1st.

The following dispatch from Rome tells of the presentation:

The Pope today granted and audience to Bishop Lillis, of Leavenworth, Kansas, U.S.A. His Holiness expressed gratification with the growth of the church in America, which he hoped would prove a power for the welfare of a great and promising country. Consolation was offered him by the manifestation of sympathy of the American people in the French crisis.

The Bishop presented to the Pope the Rev. Father McInerney and Burke of Kansas, Augustin of Missouri, Clarke and Menan of Rhode Island and Jenkins of Kentucky. He also presented Peter's purse to the amount of $12,000 to the Pope. He then visited Cardinal Merry del Val, who said he hoped in the future to visit the western and middle towns of America.

Iola Daily Register and Evening News, Iola, Kansas, 3 May 1907, page 7

Re: McInerney 1898 postcard from Killawinna to Belgium

Posted: Mon Dec 14, 2020 11:17 am
by Sduddy
Hi Jimbo

That second last posting of yours on the Cunneen sisters is wonderful. It took quite a bit of work to connect those three girls, beginning with your suspicion that the two who went in 1901 were going to Leavenworth, and then building up so much from that one little suspicion.

I forgot to mention to you that I read that book, We Came North, (online) at the time that I made my first posting. You see, nobody in that book captured my heart like Sr. Pius (Mary Black), who preferred not to encounter any Vicars General when she went begging. Sr. Pius was my reason for choosing the earlier history for my quotations. I must say I never dreamt that anyone would take much notice of those nuns in Leavenworth, and I never thought of checking the ancestry of any of them myself. What had interested me, mainly, was that there were so many Irish girls in Kansas as early as 1858, some of them having already lived in Nashville, Tennessee. My interest began when I read that book that I mentioned earlier in this thread, Pioneer Women: Voices from the Kansas Frontier, by Joanna L. Stratton (1981). Along with describing the lives of pioneering women, it gives very helpful background history – just enough for the general reader (and there are lots of pictures). The author bases her account on notes kept by her great grandmother Lilla Day Monroe: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lilla_Day_Monroe, and gives a warning at the outset that her great grandmother’s notes would have been collected from a particular set of women – not from the general population. I would add that the reader must also bear with various presumptions, e.g. that civilization is something the settlers brought with them. Anyway, while there are some Irish-sounding names (O’Loughlin, O’Rourke, Murphy) in the book, it is rarely that anyone is described as being Irish. And it was that which prompted me to look at the 1860 Kansas census, where I came upon the Sisters of Charity in Leavenworth.

Now to return to the Cunneen girls: I was very impressed at your finding them despite the use of their names in religion and the poor condition of the ship’s manifest, plus the fact that Bridget had left home prior to the 1901 census. And then your finding that their mother was the daughter of Cornelius McGrath, and that her mother was Mary McNamara. I think you are right in thinking that Mary is a daughter of Andrew McNamara and Bridget McNamara, although we have no record to confirm that.
I think, though, that you should hold back on deciding that the Cunneen sisters are second cousins of Sr. Ita, since we both share some doubts that Ita’s grandfather, Michael McNamara, was a son of the same Andrew and Bridget. Bear in mind that when you discovered the Creamer cousins from County Cavan you were no longer so sure that Michael McNamara, who married Margaret Halpin, must be a brother of Matthew who married Anne Halpin:
Sheila, the Creamer sisters of County Cavan will now surely raise substantial doubt about our assumptions of two sisters marrying two brothers.

We had assumed that (the presumed) sisters Margaret Halpin and Anne Halpin of Ballyoughtra who married Michael McNamara and Matthew McNamara, respectively, indicated a brother relationship between the two McNamara's of Glandree (see page 13). But why couldn't Michael and Matthew have just as likely been first cousins? or for that matter second cousins?
(page 24 of “Re: Information is wanted of Thomas McNamara, of Glandree”: http://www.ourlibrary.ca/phpbb2/viewtop ... f=1&t=6965).
The biggest factor in deciding that Michael was the son of Andrew and Bridget, was, of course, not that he was married to a sister of Matthew’s wife, but that the parish record of his marriage gives his address as Uggoon. At least, for me, that was the biggest factor. But more recently I have been thinking, that, despite that address, he might be a son of that vanished couple, Michael McNamara and Bridget McNamara. Why? Well, the farm that he has in Griffith’s Valuation is a bit of a distance from Andrew’s farm - and why did Andrew himself not live on it? Of course it’s possible that Michael’s marriage to Margaret Halpin was a second marriage and that he had previously “married into” the farm in question. Anyway, I don’t really want to get back into all that. I’m happy that you say that you reckon that Sr. Ita and the Cunneen girls are second cousins, and that you don’t state it as a certainty.

I was very impressed at your finding that the Cunneen sisters returned to Ireland in 1950, and I’m sure you are right in thinking that it was part of a journey to Rome for the Holy Year.

The story of the Cunneens reminded me of an article in The Other Clare, Vol 19, (1995), “My Mother taught me how to pray: The Nine Murphys of Newmarket-on-Fergus”, by Caitriona Clear (who went on to write Social change and everyday life in Ireland, 1850-1922 (2007). The article begins with Teresa Murphy - Mother Xavier of the Presentation Order in India, whose career shows great “business acumen and administrative flair and a willingness to take risks”. She was born 1866, the fifth of thirteen children (twelve girls and one boy):
The tremendous amount of research which has been done in the past thirty years or so on land and society in nineteenth-century Ireland means that we are not very surprised anymore at a farmer’s daughter having had the confidence and social skills to become such a successful and powerful person. Patrick and Bridget Murphy’s children were born in an era when big farmers were enjoying a measure of prosperity with the rising prices and stable rents of the years between the Famine and the Land War, and they would have recovered fairly quickly from the hardships of the years 1879-82, benefitting from the Land Acts to a far greater extent than smaller farmers. What might surprise the modern reader about the Murphy family is that Teresa was one of nine daughters of the same family who became nuns in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Caitriona Clear goes on to say, “The nineteenth century saw a growth and development in the Catholic Church in Ireland, but the growth in the number of female religious was out of all proportion to that of the number of priests and brothers".

She mentions the matter of dowries, which, she says, ranged from £200 to £500, and she wonders if there was a cut-rate dowry requirement for women who were prepared to go abroad. If there was such an arrangement, it might apply to those who indicated a willingness to go abroad when they entered the order in Ireland.

She also mentions that, as time went on, relaxation of rules meant that nuns could visit home, and says that a McInerney nephew of the Murphy sisters, has a memory of the nuns coming home in the early part of the century (20th century): “straw had to be put down on the drive so that the nuns’ long habits would not catch the mud”.

Sheila

Edited to amend "Margaret" to "Mary" (McNamara) in the paragraph beginning "Now to return to the Cunneen girls"

Re: McInerney 1898 postcard from Killawinna to Belgium

Posted: Wed Dec 16, 2020 3:40 am
by Jimbo
Hi Sheila,

Thanks for the feedback, your discussion on dowries for postulants in religious orders / convents was very interesting and new to me. Googled the topic and there were several forums discussing how a dowry is still paid for many religious orders today. An amount of $500 was stated by one ex-postulant who received a refund when she left the order. A modern issue that was discussed was that these days many American young people owe a large amount of student debt — this must be paid off prior to being accepted as a postulant. So apparently you are not able to pay your dowry by putting it on your credit card! Still wonder about the range of £200 to £500 for a dowry as it seems very high. From the excerpts you provided from the Other Clare article, I believe the timeframe was late 19th century / early 20th century. For comparison, are you aware of how much the average marriage dowry would have been?

Regarding the Cunneen and McNamara connection. Just so we are on the same page: your sentences ". . . and that her mother was Margaret McNamara. I think you are right in thinking that Margaret is a daughter of Andrew McNamara and Bridget McNamara", if you could please edit your post by replacing "Margaret" with "Mary" that would lead to less confusion.

Regarding Michael McNamara, who died on 29 March 1889 at the reported age of 64, which places his baptism in one of the missing Tulla baptism pages of March 1822 through August 1825, or else June 1826 through May 1827. Yes, the reason why I believe Michael McNamara was the son of Andrew McNamara and Bridget McNamara of Uggoon was (1) his 1853 marriage to Margaret Halpin states that he was from Uggoon (not a large townland like Glandree), but also (2) he named his first born son Andrew in 1857 after his own father (3) Matthew McNamara (per his 2nd marriage in 1867, a known son of Andrew McNamara) and Michael McNamara both married Halpin sisters.

Your suggestion is that Michael McNamara (who died in 1889 at the reported age of 64) could be the son of Michael McNamara and Bridget McNamara of Glandree. This couple and their many children appear to have vanished from Tulla Parish; their last known record is a baptism in 1848. With missing baptism pages, I suppose that Michael could have been a son born around 1824 or 1825 to Michael McNamara and Bridget McNamara. However, this couple went on to have another son named Michael in 1835 (the family trees outlined on page 13 are very useful). I think it unlikely that the Michael McNamara born in January 1835 married Margaret Halpin in January 1853, he would have just turned 18 years old. A bit young. Margaret Halpin was born in 1832 — would she have married a young boy three years her junior? Plus, this scenario would require the death record of 1889 to be considerably off. But your theory does raise a good question, if Michael McNamara of Uggoon was not the son of Andrew McNamara and Bridget McNamara of Uggoon, who were his parents?

Regarding Michael McNamara and Bridget McNamara, they had at least six sons between 1827 and 1848 living in Glandree. To provide land for their children, I reckon this family immigrated to Canada, the USA or Australia about 1850 or so. Michael McNamara, the son of Andrew McNamara and Bridget McNamara of Uggoon, could have then taken over their Glandree holding when he got married in January 1853— if not from this family then another one of the many that left Glandree during this time period.

The fact that Cornelius McGrath and Mary McNamara as well as Michael McNamara and Margaret Halpin both had grand-daughters who became nuns is consistent with both being from the well-off farming class. Especially if a dowry of £200 to £500 was required to join a religious order.

In "We Came North", there was only one McNamara listed in the index as a Sister of Charity, Sister Mary Evelyn McNamara, although there most likely other McNamara's not included in the centennial history. "Winifred Evelyn McNamara" declared to become a US citizen on 28 August 1918 in Silver Bow, Montana. She stated that she was born in Six Mile Bridge, County Clare on 4 November 1888. And she reported her USA arrival to be at New York on 24 September 1907 on the SS Umbria.

I expected to find a Winifred McNamara on the SS Umbria, which arrived in New York on 22 September 1907. But for some reason she went by "Frederica McNamara", age 17, student; Irish contact her father Pat McNamara, Kilkishen; going to brother Rev. P. McNamara, at the Cathedral, Leavenworth, Kansas.
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JXL5-2YC

Here is Winifred McNamara, age 12, in the 1901 Irish census with her parents in Snaty Cooper, Kilseily, County Clare:
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/p ... r/1083158/

Sister Mary Evelyn McNamara died in 1951 and is buried at Mt. Olivet cemetery in Leavenworth, Kansas. Her biography on findagrave includes links to her brothers: Msgr. Thomas J. McNamara, Chancellor of the Diocese of San Francisco.; and Rev. Patrick R. McNamara, Pastor of St. Rose of Lima Church, Kansas City, Kansas.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/188 ... n-mcnamara

Also arriving in New York on the SS Umbria on 22 September 1907 was a Patrick McInerney, age 31, clergyman, US citizen returning to Olathe, Kansas; his Irish contact was his brother Martin McInerney in Ballymacahill, Ennis.
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JXL5-LMF

With so many Irish priests named McInerney in Kansas it must have been very difficult keeping track of who was who when referring to a "Rev. McInerney".
WAS ANOTHER M'INERNY
Not Father J.J. McInerney of Humboldt
Who Went to Rome and Was Presented to Pope


The Register recently printed a story to the effect that Father J.J. McInerney, formerly of this city, was in Rome and had been presented to the Pope on May 1st. The story was all right except in initials. Father McInerney was presented to the Pope on that date but it was not Father J.J. McInerney, present rector of the Humboldt Catholic church, who is so well known here. The priest who really went to Rome was Father McInerney of Leavenworth.

Iola Daily Register and Evening News, Iola, 11 May 1907, page 6
A good reminder not to trust every old newspaper report! The Father McInerney who was presented to the Pope in May 1907, was the Rev. Patrick McInerney who was on the SS Umbria arriving in New York on 22 September 1907, along with Winifred "Frederica" McNamara, the future Sister Mary Evelyn of the Sisters of Charity.
Received By The Pope

Bishop Lillis of Kansas City, who in company with Rev. Father Patrick McInerney [of Olathe per other newspapers] and Rev. Father Burk of Paola, sailed for Rome some three weeks ago were granted an audience by the Pope, Wednesday, May 1. The Pope expressed gratification at the growth of the church in America. Bishop Lillis presented Peter's pence to the amount of $12,000 to the Pope.

The Edgerton Journal, Edgerton, Kansas, 3 May 1907, page 1
One newspaper article from 1921 provides a nice family history for this McInerney family with their strong connection to the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth:
FATHER M'INERNEY COMES FROM RELIGIOUS FAMILY
Two Brothers Are Priests; Five Sisters Are Nuns
All Born in Ireland But Now Live in America—Sisters Educated at Leavenworth


When Sister Mary Senan takes her first vows at the mother house of the Sisters of Charity at Leavenworth on August 21 she will be the last of five sisters of the family of Father McInerney to take the veil in this historic religious order.

Father McInerney, pastor of the Church of the Assumption, comes of a family that has contributed, in all, seven members to a life work of religion. These include the five Sisters of Charity. Father McInerney and his brother, the Rev. Thomas J. McInerney, pastor of the Catholic church at Garnett, Kansas. All of them were born in County Clare, Ireland.

Father McInerney yesterday enumerated, according to their ages, his own sisters who had taken the religious vows. There is Sister Mida, the first to join the Leavenworth sisters; then Sister Mary Ethna, Sister Mary Patricia [Patrice], Sister Mary Patrick and lastly, Sister Mary Senan. Sister Mary Patrick, next to the youngest, is to take her final vows in Butte, Montana, on September 6, next.

Adopted by Bishop Lillis

The pastor of the Church of the Assumption mayn't look it or act it when one calls on him casually at the parish house, but he has an academic training that is perhaps not surpassed by any priest in the Leavenworth diocese. Like his brother, Father Tom, he gathered his collegiate education at St. Flannan's college, in Ennis, County Clare, and while there was adopted by the Rt. Rev. Thomas F. Lillis, the bishop of the Leavenworth diocese.

From St. Flannan's he went to St. Trond, Belgium, where he got his philosophy at the famous University of Louvain. He was ordained at Liege, and soon after came to America for his first assignment.

Bishop Lillis, soon after the young priest's arrival, made him assistant pastor at the cathedral in Leavenworth. Later he was made pastor of the Catholic church in Olathe and then, in order, he served as pastor of the Church of the Blessed Sacrament, St. Peter's, and St. Thomas', all in Kansas City, Kansas. He was made pastor of the Church of the Assumption [Topeka] in this city in 1914.

Founded High School

Father McInerney's greatest work in Kansas City was in connection with the establishment of the Catholic high school. He virtually was the founder of this institution and was its director from 1908 to 1914.

In 1919 St. Marys college, St Marys, Kansas, conferred the honorary degree of doctor of law upon Father McInerney and he has been honored in many other ways. He is a fluent writer on church topics and one of the most forceful orators in the diocese.

Father Thomas J. McInerney, the Garnett pastor, the Garnet pastor, after finishing a collegiate course at St. Flannan's, came to this country and studied philosophy at St. Francis college, Milwaukee. He completed his theology at Kenrick seminary, St. Louis, and was ordained there.

John McInerney, a brother of Father McInerney, is a resident of Kansas City, Missouri, while Peter McInerney, another brother, is a resident of the Chelsea section, in Kansas City, Kansas. Mrs. Ellen Clune, a sister, and the only sister to remain out of the religious life, also is a resident of Kansas City, Kansas.

The Topeka Daily Capital, Topeka, Kansas, 7 August 1921, page 7
So both John J. McInerney and Patrick J. McInerney first studied in St. Trond, Belgium, and later at the University of Louvain. John J. McInerney, baptized 17 March 1878, was in St. Trond in 1898 (as per postcard) and ordained at the American College at Louvain in 1901. Patrick McInerney, baptized 7 March 1876, was ordained at Liege, Belgium, but does not state when. In the 1900 USA census for Olathe, Kansas, the Rev. Patrick McInerney was reported to have arrived in the USA in 1898. The Rev. Patrick J. McInerney was born two years prior to the Rev. John J. McInerney, and arrived in the USA about three years earlier. Most likely the two scholars from County Clare were not at St. Trond or at Louvain at the same time.

Patrick J. McInerney lost his father in 1895 when he was 19 years old. His mother died in 1900 when he was in Olathe, Kansas. When the 1921 newspaper article stated that Bishop Thomas Lillis of Leavenworth, Kansas had "adopted" him, I reckon that this meant Bishop Lillis had paid for Patrick McInerney's studies in Belgium. Most likely with the understanding that upon ordination, Patrick would go to Kansas and be a priest in his Leavenworth archdiocese.

This relationship does make me wonder if John J. McInerney, who studied at St. Trond in 1898, and graduated from the American College at Louvain University in 1901, had a similar sponsorship by the American bishops. "The circumstances of his enrollment there leave me curious" was brought up by Matthew McNamara earlier in this story with the conclusion that the "farming family must have been relatively well off". Or, similar to Patrick McInerney, did John J. McInerney have an American sponsor?

Patrick McInerney and Bridget Purcell of Ballymacahill had a total of eleven children. Baptism records were recorded in Doora Kilraghtis Parish; civil records in Ennis. Ten children would immigrate to Kansas, only one son remained in County Clare. I created the below family tree to match the Sister of Charity with their birth names and provide a brief story where the nuns ended up . The five McInerny nuns were not included in the "We Came North" history, except for a brief mention that four of them returned to Ireland for a home visit in 1952. Some information I've quoted from a biography of the Rev. Thomas J. McInerney in "A Standard History of Kansas and Kansans, Vol. 3". On google books and transcribed below:
http://www.ksgenweb.org/archives/1918ks ... nertj.html

Patrick J. McInerney, of Ballymacahill, labourer, age 27, son of Martin McInerney (and Catherine Hurley per 19 January 1847 baptism record), married Bridget Purcell, of Ballymaly, age 17, on 29 January 1875 at the Roman Catholic chapel at Barefield; witnesses Patt Ryan and Catherine McInerney. Patrick McInerney, farmer, married, age 46, died on 20 April 1895 at Ballymacahill; informant wife Mary McInerney (incorrect s/b Bridget or eldest daughter Mary). Bridget McInerney, widow of a farmer, age 42, died on 22 February 1900 at Ballymacahill; informant Ellie McInerney (eldest daughter remaining in Ireland in 1900).

1.0 Patrick McInerney, baptized 7 March 1876, Ballymacahill; sponsors John Purcell and Ellen McInerney. Per civil record, father Patrick McInerney was reported as "farmer", not a "labourer" as in 1875 marriage. For Rev. Patrick McInerney of Kansas biography through the year 1921, see above newspaper article.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/109 ... -mcinerney

2.0 Mary McInerney, baptized 8 September 1877, Ballymacahill; sponsor Catherine McInerney. Arrived in New York on the Teutonic on 28 August 1899 per USA citizenship declaration in 1918 at Lewis and Clark, Montana. Sister Mida was a teacher at St. Vincent Academy in Helena, Montana. Died in 1949, so the only one of the five McInerney Sisters of Charity not to return to Ireland in 1952.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/216 ... -mcinerney

3.0 Martin McInerney, baptized 4 August 1879, Ballymacahill; sponsor Eliza McInerney. <Ballymacahill, Spancilhill, House 7, House 2> "Martin lives in Ireland, a farmer" per Rev. Thomas McInerney biography. No mention in 1921 above newspaper article, but living in Ennis per 1950 obituary of sister Ellen McInerney Clune.

4.0 Ellen McInerney, (age 20 in 1901). <Ballymacahill, Spancilhill, House 7, x> "Married John Clune, a foreman for an implement house at Kansas City, Missouri" per Rev. Thomas McInerney biography. 1950 obituary included in below link:
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/166 ... llen-clune

5.0 John McInerney, (age 18 in 1901). <Ballymacahill, Spancilhill, House 7, x> John McInerney, age 19, left Queenstown on the SS Umbria arriving in New York on 31 Mary 1903 with sisters Delia and Katie; going to brother Rev. P. McInerney, Olathe, Kansas. "Street railway conductor in Kansas City, Missouri" per Rev. Thomas McInerney biography.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/192 ... -mcinerney

6.0 Delia McInerney, (age 16 in 1901). <Ballymacahill, Spancilhill, House 7, x> Delia McInerney, age 17, left Queenstown on the SS Umbria arriving in New York on 31 Mary 1903 with brother John and sister Katie; going to brother Rev. P. McInerney, Olathe, Kansas. In 1920 census, Sister Mary Ethna was a teacher at St. Vincent Academy in Helena, Montana. In 1930 census, in Kansas City, Kansas. Trip to Ireland in 1952 with three of her sisters.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/103 ... -mcinerney

7.0 Thomas J. McInerney, (age 14 in 1901). <Ballymacahill, Spancilhill, House 7, x> According to his own biography, Thomas secured his preliminary education in a national school at Barefield, and took a Latin and Greek classical course in St. Flannan's College at Ennis. Arrived in USA in 1909, and entered St. Francis Seminary at Milwaukee. Went to Kendrick Seminary in St. Louis and ordained 12 June 1913.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/109 ... -mcinerney

8.0 Peter McInerney, (age 12 in 1901). <Ballymacahill, Spancilhill, House 7, x> Peter McInerney, age 21, left Queenstown on the SS Baltic arriving in New York on 28 August 1910 with sister Elizabeth; going to brother Rev. Patrick McInerney, Kansas. Married Mary Margaret Wall in June 1922; marriage performed by Rev. Patrick McInerney. "Foreman in an implement house at Kansas City."
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/192 ... -mcinerney

9.0 Catherine McInerney, (age 10 in 1901). <Ballymacahill, Spancilhill, House 7, x> Katie McInerney, age 11, left Queenstown on the SS Umbria arriving in New York on 31 Mary 1903 with brother John and sister Delia; going to brother Rev. P. McInerney, Olathe, Kansas. Sister Mary Patrice "in the Academy at Helena, Montana". Trip to Ireland in 1952 with three of her sisters.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/102 ... -mcinerney

10.0 Elizabeth McInerney, (age 8 in 1901). <Ballymacahill, Spancilhill, House 7, x> Elizabeth McInerney, age 21, left Queenstown on the SS Baltic arriving in New York on 28 August 1910 with brother Peter; going to brother Rev. Patrick McInerney, Kansas. Sister Mary Patrick, "in St. Mary's School at Butte, Montana". Trip to Ireland in 1952 with three of her sisters.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/806 ... -mcinerney

11.0 Frances McInerney, (age 6 in 1901). Frances McInerney, age 24, left Ireland on the SS Haverford arriving in Philadelphia on 9 November 1919; going to Sister Mida, St Mary's Academy, Leavenworth, Kansas. <Ballymacahill, Spancilhill, House 7, House 2> Sister Mary Senan took first vows at the mother house of the Sisters of Charity at Leavenworth on 21 August 1921. Trip to Ireland in 1952 with three of her sisters.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/107 ... -mcinerney

Re: McInerney 1898 postcard from Killawinna to Belgium

Posted: Wed Dec 16, 2020 6:41 pm
by Sduddy
Hi Jimbo

Thanks for yet another great posting. Five McInerney sisters from Co. Clare joined the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth – quite amazing. The first girl, Mary, who went in 1899, must have sent a very glowing report.

I’ve changed “Margaret” to “Mary” – thanks for pointing out that mistake.

I accept the points that you make about Michael McNamara – you are right, of course, when you say that, since he died in 1889, aged 64, he can’t be the son of Michael McNamara and Bridget McNamara, whose son Michael was baptised in 1835.

About sponsorship enabling students to train for the priesthood: I have heard of it, and I think that such an arrangement might explain a cousin of my father's becoming a priest, but I can’t quote any particular instance that would provide evidence. And I’m afraid I know very little about amounts given as dowries for girls, either upon marriage or upon entering a religious order. Here is a jumble of thoughts on the subject: Like the author of the article I quoted above, I suspect that there was a cut-price dowry for girls who were willing to go abroad. One thing that is never mentioned about going abroad, or hardly ever, is that the people at home rarely know just exactly what the emigrant was working at, and this was one of the great advantages of going abroad. Being a “respectable” family was hugely important in Ireland (just like everywhere else), but many “respectable” families struggled to keep up appearances. The sons and daughters of “respectable” families, who went abroad, found themselves free at last to work at jobs which would have been considered beneath them if they had remained at home. They were free to make a living, marry and have a family.
I’ve mentioned my grandaunt, who entered the Holy Cross Sisters at South Bend, Indiana. What little I heard about her contained no mention of her working as a launderess. That was something I discovered when I found her in the US census. I strongly suspect that her family did not know that she was a launderess. Even if they did, it would have been enough to say to people that she was “in the nuns”. Nuns were nuns and the very mention of one was enough to convey respectability – only an ignoramus would inquire as to her occupation. I also suspect that she had no dowry, or very little, to bring to the order. The only letter of hers that has survived is a little note written upon the birth of her niece: "Loving Greetings to darling baby Marie from Auntie Anna Mary. Mama will put this Gratus Agnus Dei* with the medal on you, and she is to have the white one for herself and the yellow one for Grandmother. Give them a lot of kisses baby to send to me. I know I love you better than all the babies in the world.” The note, written in flowing cursive, suggests to me that she was well educated (in the National School, and also by reading). But what options were open to her in Ireland, if she had no dowry? There were many girls and boys in Ireland who could not marry for the want of a dowry. Because of the necessity of “clearing the house” for the boy who was getting the farm, only a very limited number of siblings (one or two) could remain with him in the homeplace. If he had several brothers and sisters still living at home, his chances of attracting a bride were greatly diminished. The clearing of the house was often done in a very short space of time. Anyone engaged in genealogy will notice that a houseful in 1901 is reduced to one couple and their newborn babies by 1911.
This brings me to dowries at marriage, and I’m afraid I can’t say what the amounts were – there must have been a range that accommodated most people. The big difference between a dowry given at marriage and a dowry given to an order was that the former could be used several times, while the latter could be used only once. I remember hearing about one dowry that facilitated five marriages. When a bridegroom received a dowry, he could use it to facilitate the marriage of his sister (this use of the dowry would have been well understood by both parties, or else mentioned by the matchmaker in the course of negotiations). That sister then brought the dowry to her bridegroom, and so it went on. The effect of all this was to keep marriages within a particular social set. But sometimes other factors came into play; my great grandmother quietly gave ten shillings to the matchmaker to promote the man she wanted to the top of the list of eligible men. She must have had to sell a lot of eggs in order to make up that 10 shillings (in 1861).

That family of McInerneys, with five daughters and two sons in religious life, is probably a bit exceptional, but there’s another Clare family, that comes quite close behind them: the Cahill family of Deerpark, Doora parish. Michael Cahill and Bridget Neylon had 10 children between 1862 and 1882. Bridget (Delia) died on 26 Jun 1930, aged 88. Her obituary was published in the Clare Champion on 7 Jul 1830. I remember reading it in the Local Studies Centre in Ennis when I was trying to figure out the Neylans (how foolish was that!). I didn’t print it, unfortunately, but I remember there was a list of her children who had entered the religious life. What really astonished me at the time was that there was nothing about Delia – the whole of the obituary was about her children. As time went on, I realized that this was the usual practice. By coincidence, I found Delia mentioned in Mapping the Past, by Charles Drazin (2016):
Gathering together the last loose ends, I wondered whether Michael Lynch had enjoyed as perfect a day when he married Ellen Josephine Cahill in Limerick on 27 July 1915. The circumstances suggested a hasty wartime marriage. From Cork Harbour, where Michael was serving with the 33rd Fortress Company, County Clare was just a short train journey away. During one of his visits to Deerpark, he would have found that Ellen, the youngest of the Cahill children, was back home from Scotland, where she had been working as a schoolteacher in a Catholic school in Kilsyth near Glasgow. There was every incentive for both of them to make the most of a swift romance. Cork Harbour was a lucky wartime posting, but Michael knew that there was no reason why he shouldn’t be posted to France like his brother Thomas…. Of [Ellen’s] nine siblings, six were missionaries in New South Wales; Minnie, Susan and Tillie as nuns in the Order of Mercy, and Thomas, John and William as ordained priests.
Nuns who visited home in the 1950s would have found their married sisters working hard at managing a home, rearing large families, feeding pigs and calves, and milking cows – most of them with no running water, or electricity, or cars. Whatever misgivings they might have had about their choice of the religious life would have quickly vanished.

*Nuns made teeny tiny satin cushions, edged in crochet or lacework, with “Agnus Dei” (Lamb of God), or some other holy words written on them. They could be pinned to a pillow, or baby’s cot, but were usually kept safely in a box – at least the ones that have survived were kept in a box.

Sheila

Re: McInerney 1898 postcard from Killawinna to Belgium

Posted: Fri Dec 18, 2020 9:01 am
by Jimbo
Hi Sheila,

Bishop Thomas F. Lillis made quite a splash on his 1907 visit to Rome.
They are impressed at Rome with Bishop Lillis of Leavenworth, Kansas, who is six feet, three inches tall, and is making a first visit to the Eternal City. "He is quite the most majestic figure seen in a Roman church for many a day," says the Roman correspondent of The London Tablet.

The Catholic Advance, Wichita, Kansas, 1 June 1907
From reading We Came North, the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth were quite sad to lose him in 1910 when he became Bishop of Kansas City (Missouri). Here is a photo of Bishop Lillis when he was the third Bishop of Leavenworth (1905 - 1910):
Rev Thomas F Lillis, Bishop of Leavenworth (1905 - 1910).jpg
Rev Thomas F Lillis, Bishop of Leavenworth (1905 - 1910).jpg (63.42 KiB) Viewed 8594 times

The career of Bishop Thomas F. Lillis is nicely summarized in his wikipedia page:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Fr ... catholic-5

Upon reading the career timeline for the Rev. Lillis, the short biography for the Rev. Patrick J. McInerney written in the 1921 newspaper article (my last posting) doesn't make much sense about being "adopted":
Like his brother, Father Tom, he [Father Patrick McInerney] gathered his collegiate education at St. Flannan's college, in Ennis, County Clare, and while there was adopted by the Rt. Rev. Thomas F. Lillis, the bishop of the Leavenworth diocese.
Patrick McInerney was born in 1876. St. Flannan's college in Ennis operated both as a diocesan seminary and as a day and boarding school for Catholic boys. Not sure when Patrick McInerney would have attended St. Flannan's, but let's say ages 16 through 19, or 1892 through 1894. And then he spent three or four years in Belgium at St. Trond, Louvain and Liege university and seminary where he was ordained, before going to Kansas in 1897 / 1898.

The Rev. Thomas F. Lillis, born in Missouri in 1861, was a rector of St. Patrick's Church in Kansas City from 1888 to 1904. He was not Bishop of Leavenworth until 1905. How or why would the Rev. Lillis, an American priest in his 30's, adopt / sponsor Patrick McInerney at St. Flannan's? Patrick McInerney (1847 - 1895) was still alive when his son Patrick McInerney (1876 - 1940) would have been attending St. Flannan's.
Bishop Lillis, soon after the young priest's arrival, made him assistant pastor at the cathedral in Leavenworth. Later he was made pastor of the Catholic church in Olathe and then . . . .

Again, when the newly ordained Patrick McInerney arrived in the United States in 1897 or 1898, the Rev. Thomas Lillis was not bishop of Leavenworth. Thus, he was not responsible for making Father McInerney the assistant pastor at the cathedral in Leavenworth.

When Rev. Thomas Lillis was made Bishop of Leavenworth in 1905, I could see him becoming a mentor of the Rev. Patrick McInerney, and responsible for his being included in the Rome visit in 1907, but the 1921 newspaper article comment about being "adopted" by Bishop Lillis in the 1890's does not ring of truth. Therefore, I also now have doubts that John J. McInerney required a sponsor to attend St. Trond and Louvain university in Belgium between 1898 and 1901 other than parental support. The simplest explanation is always most likely.

The father of Bishop Lillis was James Lillis (1836 - 1898) born in County Clare. When James Lillis died in 1898, Bishop Lillis had built a large mausoleum that would include both parents, his maternal grandmother, as well as brothers & sisters — all reported in relationship to the bishop.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/10 ... mes-lillis
DEATH OF MR. JAMES LILLIS

James Lillis, one of the best known railway contractors in the West, and one of the most respected and substantial citizens of Kansas City, died yesterday morning . . . (above link on findagrave has complete obituary as last attachment)

Mr. Lillis was born in County Clare, Ireland, in 1836. While a boy he was cast upon his own resources, and in 1848 he came to the United States. He began business as a contractor, coming West about the time the civil war began. His first contract in Kansas City was that of grading the Chicago & Alton railroad bed. He lived in Lexington, Mo, even when his business interests were largely centered in Kansas City. He was a contractor on the . . .

Kansas City Journal, 18 January 1898
If the obituary was accurate, James Lillis would have arrived in the USA at the young age of twelve. "Cast upon his own resources" would lead a reader to believe that he arrived in the USA alone. Possible, but unlikely. I'd think James Lillis either arrived with other family members in 1848 or else was born in County Clare closer to 1830.

There are over 20 family trees on ancestry.com for James Lillis (1836 -1898). Only four family trees made an attempt to find James Lillis in the Irish baptism records, linking him to a James Lillis baptized on 14 January 1838 in Miltown Malbay to parents Michael Lillis and Mary Hasset. But I reckon this was a complete guess as there is no other supporting evidence. Under this assumption, James Lillis would have arrived in the USA at the age of 10. There was no information on where was James Lillis in 1850 or 1860 or even 1870. Most importantly, not one of the family trees had any knowledge that James Lillis (1836 - 1898) had any brothers or sisters.

James Lillis (≈1836 - 1898) was a railway contractor who died a very wealthy man. One newspaper report estimated his estate at $300,000 to $400,000. The 1901 obituary for his wife, Margaret Jordan Lillis, stated that she was an only child. It would be pretty typical that James Lillis had other relatives in Missouri or thereabouts, and as a railway contractor could have provided them employment.

I searched the newspaper.com archive for "Bishop Lillis" and "cousin".
TRIBUTE BY BISHOP

Bishop Thomas F. Lillis lost not only a relative in the death of his cousin, James F. Houlehan, but he lost a friend who had been cherished many years. Moreover, the Catholic people in Kansas City will mourn Mr. Houlehan's death as the passing of a devout church leader. . . (another three paragraphs) . . .

The Kansas City Star, Kansas City, Missouri, 28 November 1931
The death certificate for James F. Houlehan states his father was Patrick Houlehan born in Ireland; and mother was Catherine Lillis born in Lexington, Missouri. This would indicate that the parents of James Lillis likely also immigrated to America. But, in fact, according to all other records for Catherine Lillis, she was indeed born in Ireland. The death record was completed by his wife who likely had never met her mother-in-law if Catherine Lillis had died many years prior. The death record states that James F. Houlehan was born on 3 April 1865 in Crawfordsville, Indiana:

https://www.sos.mo.gov/images/archives/ ... 038780.PDF

The family of Patrick Houlehan and Catherine Lillis lived in Union Township, Montgomery County, Indiana in the census years 1860 through 1880. Newspaper reports consistently report the family as "Houlehan"; census reports on the other hand were very inconsistent.

1860 (Holahan): https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M4FY-N83
1870 (Hulihan): https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MX67-XSV
1880 (Haulehan): https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MH9B-DTP

In 1860, Catherine Houlehan (age 30) has a twin daughter named "Kate Ellen" (three months). In 1870, the mother was known as "Ellen" (age 46) as was their twin daughter, "Ellen" (age 10) — clearly, they are the same people as in 1860. In 1880, Mrs. Houlehan also went by "Ellen", she was reported as age 50.

Patrick Houlehan (≈1820 - 1903 in Kansas City) and Catherine "Ellen" Lillis (born ≈1830; died between 1880 and 1900) were the parents of eight children:

1) Thomas F. Houlehan (age 6 in 1860), remained in Crawfordville, Montgomery County, Indiana. Death certificate states mother as Catherine Lillis, born in Ireland.
2) Michael Houlehan (age 5 in 1860), moved from Crawfordsville to high altitude Denver due to wife's tuberculosis. Both died within three hours in Denver in 1890. "He was nephew of ex-Police Commissioner James F. Lillis" per obituary.
3) John Houlehan (age 4 in 1860), Kansas City policeman, murdered while on patrol in December 1916. Death certificate reports mother as Catherine Lillis, born in Ireland:
https://www.sos.mo.gov/images/archives/ ... 042103.PDF
4) Mary A Houlehan (age 1 in 1860), Mrs. J.P. Stouts of Aurora, Illinois.
5) James F. Houlehan (twin, 3 months in 1860), prominent in Kansas City real estate; killed by a car in Kansas City in 1931, "cousin of Bishop Lillis" per obituary tribute.
6) Kate Ellen Houlehan (twin, 3 months in 1860), Mrs. William Lowry of Terre Haute, Indiana.
7) Charles Houlehan (age 8 in 1870), family moved to Paola, Kansas. Charles was killed on his farm by a horse's kick in 1919. The funeral was held in Kansas City, Missouri, "the Right Reverend Bishop Thomas F. Lillis officiating".
8 ) Elizabeth Houlehan (age 6 in 1870), presumably, she was one of "seven children survive him" as noted in 1903 obituary of father. Not reported as surviving sister in the 1916 obituary of brother John Houlehan.

Also, from Montgomery County records:

John Lillis and Margaret Crimens married on 5 May 1864 in Montgomery County, Indiana; Charles J. Mangin, Catholic priest, officiating; witness Patrick Hoolahan.

Montgomery County in Indiana was not highly populated in the 1860's, and with Patrick Houlehan (≈1820 - 1903) as the witness, the odds are excellent that John Lillis was a brother to Catherine Lillis Houlehan (≈1830 - prior to 1900) and James Lillis (≈1836 - 1898).

Based upon their first born, Catherine Lillis of Indiana would have married around 1853; her brother James Lillis would have married around 1858. So, I reckon, that John Lillis who married in 1864 might be considerably younger. Irish baptism records might not be available for either Catherine Lillis or James Lillis born in the 1830's (or prior), but more likely for their (presumed) brother John Lillis if he was indeed younger.

Unfortunately, was not successful in finding out what happened to John Lillis and Margaret Crimens who married in 1864. So not sure of his age, other than born prior to say 1846, but likely much earlier, since married in 1864. This failure was only after a cursory search with a focus on Indiana, Missouri and Kansas.

There is a good possibility that John Lillis in May 1864 had just finished his three year service in the American Civil War, but have no evidence of this. James Lillis (1836 - 1898) of Kansas City was sometimes called a "Colonel" in local newspaper reporting and also in his findagrave page (link way above). But I reckon this would only have been a nickname for a prominent citizen. Civil War records of colonels are fairly well-documented by the National Archives.

Looking back at the theory on several ancestry.com family trees that James Lillis was baptized in Miltown Malbay parish on 14 January 1838, parents Michael Lillis and Mary Hasset. In the Miltown Malbay baptism records for 1831 - 1855, the 1838 baptism is the only one for the Lillis surname for the entire period. And there are zero Lillis baptisms from 1855 to 1881. Thank you, Sheila for these transcriptions!

I reckon it would be far more likely that the siblings James and Catherine Lillis, as well as their presumed sibling John, would have been from Kilrush parish. The Kilrush baptism records start in 1827. Between 1827 and 1863, there were over 50 baptisms with a Lillis father, and 100 with a Lillis mother.

This Kilrush record is more promising than the Miltown Malbay record:

James Lillis baptized on 22 May 1837 to Michael Lillis and Peggy Carey, sponsors George Blake and Mary Quinlivan. And this couple had a son named John baptized in 1828.

Catherine Lillis of Indiana, the brother of James Lillis of Kansas City, stated that she was born in 1830 in the 1860 and 1880 census reports. But in the 1870 census, she stated she was age 36, so born in 1824 (her husband was born around 1820). This would be prior to the start of the 1827 Kilrush baptism register.

James Lillis consistently stated that he was born about 1836, so would have arrived in the USA at only age 12 or so. What if this was an exaggeration and he arrived as a young adult? And perhaps, like his sister Catherine, was also born prior to the start of the Kilrush baptism register. That leaves only their presumed brother John Lillis, who was married in Indiana in 1864, to possibly be recorded in the Kilrush baptism records. Under this scenario, there is another Kilrush couple that were possible parents:

John Lillis and Mary Quinlivan had five children recorded in the Kilrush baptism register, including two sets of twins, between 1828 and 1834. I reckon it is very likely there were other children born prior to 1828.

Possibly even a daughter named Catherine about 1824? In 1860 in Indiana, Catherine Lillis Houlehan gave birth to twins, similar to Mary Quinlivan Lillis in 1828 and 1834.

John Lillis and Mary Quinlivan had a son named John in 1828 and another John in 1830 recorded in the Kilrush parish records. Could this be the John Lillis who married Margaret Crimens in 1864 in Indiana? Further information on where John and Margaret Lillis ended up in the USA would be very useful to determine his year of birth.

Bishop Thomas F. Lillis was very tall at six feet, three inches as noted during his visit to Rome in 1907 and other newspaper accounts. The Quinlivan family were known to be giants as discussed in the thread "Grogan and Quinlivan of Kilrush and Limerick".
http://www.ourlibrary.ca/phpbb2/viewtop ... f=1&t=6623

Thomas F. Lillis was born in Missouri in 1861 and became a bishop. America is known to be a very egalitarian country, but I reckon in 1900 it was likely that an Irish-American bishop would have come from a "priestly" family and a long line of priests back in Ireland. Although not from Kilrush, a few Quinlivan priests were noted in another thread by Paddy Waldron, "Quinlivan of Ballybroughan":
http://www.ourlibrary.ca/phpbb2/viewtop ... f=1&t=3873

Was Bishop Thomas Francis Lillis (1861 - 1938) the grandson of John Lillis and Mary Quinlivan of Kilrush? Or descendant from a different Lillis family of Kilrush?

Re: McInerney 1898 postcard from Killawinna to Belgium

Posted: Sun Dec 20, 2020 8:18 am
by Jimbo
Father M.C. Galvin of County Clare Ireland, arrived in Olathe Wednesday of last week to assume charge of the Catholic parish here during the absence of Father [Patrick] McInerney who is soon to leave on an extended trip abroad. Father Galvin came to this country direct from Ireland, having landed in New York City on Sunday, January 13. He is a young man of high standing and will be well received by the citizens of Olathe.

The Olathe Register, Kansas, 24 January 1907, page 3
Michael Galvin, age 24, clergyman, from Ennis, arrived in New York City on 14 January 1907 on the SS Carmania on his way to "Kansas Mo" to "friend Most Rev. Dr. Lillis" at the Cathedral, Kansas City, Mo.
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JX6Y-42X

Michael Galvin, age 21, was boarding at St. Patrick's College at Maynooth in County Kildare at the 1901 Irish census.
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/p ... d/1437813/

Father Patrick McInerney of Olathe and Bishop Lillis didn't leave for their Rome trip until April 1907, so there was a few months overlap with Father McInerney and Father Galvin.
Miss Nellie Galvin arrived in Olathe Friday from Ennis, County Clare, Ireland and expects to spend the summer here with her brother, Father Galvin.
The Olathe Mirror, Kansas, 23 May 1907
Nellie Galvin, age 21, housekeeper, from Ennis, arrived in New York City on the 17 May 1907 on the SS Carmania on her way to brother Rev. M. Galvin in Olathe, Kansas.
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JXNP-TMF

Here is Ellen Galvin, age 16, living with her parents Thomas Galvin (age 51) and Margaret Molony Galvin (age 56), as well as two older brothers and servants, at Caherbanna, Dysert, County Clare in the 1901 census:
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/p ... a/1071176/

There is a possibility that Miss Nelle may have been tricked into coming to Kansas for what she thought was just a summer holiday.
Miss Gertrude McCarthy, who has been keeping house for Father Galvin for the past few months, returned to her home in Edgerton, last week. Miss Nelle Galvin, who has lately arrived from Ireland is now keeping house for her brother.
The Olathe Register, Kansas, 13 June 1907
The Rev. Patrick McInerney returned from the trip to Rome and a home visit to Ireland on the 22 September 1907 on the SS Umbria. But the Rev. Michael Galvin who had replaced him temporarily did not return to Ireland.
Father M.C. Galvin, who has had charge of St. Paul's Catholic church in Olathe for the past six months, has been ordered to Beattie, Kansas, where he will have charge of the Catholic church of that place. Father Galvin's sister, Miss Nelle, will accompany her brother to this new location. The transfer will become effective this week.
The Olathe Register, Kansas, 3 October 1907

Miss Nelle Galvin left Wednesday for her new home in Beattie, Kansas.
The Olathe Register, Kansas, 17 October 1907, Thursday
Olathe had a population of around 3,300 in 1910; Beattie was a much smaller rural parish with only 500 people. Olathe is fairly close to Kansas City, Missouri and today is included in the Kansas City metropolitan area. Beattie is about 150 miles to the northwest of Olathe and in Marshall County on the Nebraska border. St. Malachy's Catholic Church in Beattie has a nice website and video tour of their church. According to their history page, the current church was built in 1924 after the Galvin's had left Beattie. The video narrator really emphasizes that the parish has a strong rural German heritage, although St. Malachy was an Irish saint and there is a statue of St. Patrick on the altar?
https://www.stgregorychurch.org/st-malachy-s
https://legendsofkansas.com/beattie-kansas/





I have never been to Kansas but I tend to picture the prairie landscape in brown sepia tones for some reason. Miss Nelle would surely have missed Ireland with its 40 shades of green and at times wanted to go home. Fortunately, she made many new American friends and also had a old friend from County Clare who lived nearby:
Miss Rose Fitzgerald and Miss Galvin arrived in Maryville from Beattie Monday for a few days visit at the home of William Dougherty.
The Marysville Advocate, Kansas, 4 June 1908

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/596 ... fitzgerald
Miss Winifred McNamara returned to her home at St. Bridget, Tuesday after a visit with her friend, Miss Nell Galvin.
The Beattie Eagle, Beattie, Kansas, 23 July 1908
Miss Winifred McNamara had arrived in Kansas on the same ship that the Rev. Patrick McInerney returned from his Rome/Ireland trip in 1907. She was a student at St. Mary's Academy in Leavenworth but appears to have spent a lot of time with her brother, the Rev. Patrick McNamara at Saint Bridget, a town only 15 miles from Beattie. She would eventually take her vows as Sister Mary Evelyn of the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth (see posting a few back).

Sermons and letters home to Ireland could now be typed:
Rev. Fr. Galvin is the possessor of a new American typewriter. It is a very nice machine.
The Beattie Eagle, 1 October 1908
In August 1909, the Crowe children from Kansas City would stay for nearly two weeks. Their parents were Martin J. Crowe and Susan Roughan from Ireland. Martin Crowe was born in 1871 in Corofin, not too far from where the Galvin's were from. Loretta was a very popular name in America around 1900, not sure why.
Misses Loretta and Theresa Crowe, of Kansas City, are here visiting with Miss Galvin.
The Beattie Eagle, 19 August 1909

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/464 ... n-j.-crowe
Miss Nell had loads of friends in Kansas. She could not leave her house without getting a mention in the local newspaper.
Miss Galvin was an Axtell visitor, between trains, Saturday.
The Beattie Eagle, Kansas, 10 June 1909
James Cain and family and Miss Nellie Galvin were among the visitors at the country seat Monday from Beattie.
The Marysville Advocate, Marysville, Kansas, 30 September 1909

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/596 ... es-h.-cain
Mrs. D.C. Zercher (Anna J McNulty) left on Monday for a week's visit with the Rev. Father Galvin and his sister Nelle Galvin, in Beattie, Kansas
The Olathe Mirror, Kansas, 10 February 1910

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/114 ... -j-zercher
Misses Nellie Galvin and Irene O'Neill of Beattie, were in the city [Frankfort] yesterday, the guests of Miss Agnes Orr.
The Frankfort Index, Frankfort, Kansas, 18 March 1910

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/589 ... nna-o'neil
The Rev. Michael C Galvin (age 30) and his sister Nell (age 25) in the 1910 census taken on 21 April 1910, living in Guittard just outside of Beattie:
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M2CP-CHZ

Beattie doesn't appear to have had any local Catholic schools, but Father Galvin was involved in the Beattie public school and library:
The baccalaureate sermon was delivered by Rev. Father Galvin at the opera house, Sunday night. A large crowd was present regardless of the weather. Rev. Galvin delivered a good sermon, which contained some good advise that could be taken by others as well as the graduating class.
The Beattie Eagle, Kansas, 19 May 1910

Rev. Fr. Galvin presented six volumes of pen pictures of a geographical series to the public school library through the class of 1910. Rev. Galvin, during his stay in Beattie, has won the esteem and highest regards of the people of this entire community. His remembrance of the public schools, in this gift, is highly appreciated.
The Beattie Eagle, Kansas, 26 May 1910
Miss Nelle had many friends in Beattie, but there was no place like home, and Kansas would never be "home" for Miss Nelle. I reckon what may have made her extremely homesick was reading "The Wizard of Oz". Published by L. Frank Baum in 1900, the book was serialized in the weekly Beattie Eagle newspaper (and all Kansas newspapers) between September 1909 and 27 January 1910. Every week, Miss Nelle would have read about Dorothy wanting to go home to Kansas to her Auntie Em and Uncle Henry. It would be enough to make anyone homesick.




Fortunately, she didn't have to wait too much longer, as both Father Galvin and Miss Nelle would leave Kansas for Ireland in late June 1910.
A farewell reception was given last night at the opera house by the members of the Catholic church in honor of Rev. Fr. Galvin and sister, Miss Nell, who leave the latter part of the week for their home in Ireland. A nice supper was served by the ladies and a very enjoyable evening was spent by the large crowd, which was present. A purse [gold watch?] was given Fr. Galvin and a gold watch [purse?] given to Miss Nell. These two people certainly leave a host of friends here, who wish them sincere welfare.
The Beattie Eagle, Kansas, 23 June 1910

Rev. Fr. Galvin and sister, Miss Nell left Saturday noon for their trip across the sea to their native home, Ireland. A large crowd of friends were at the depot to bid them goodbye and wish them Godspeed on their journey.
The Beattie Eagle, Kansas, 30 June 1910




Michael Galvin and Nelle Galvin arrived in Liverpool on 5 July 1910 on the SS Lusitania (per UK incoming passenger listings).
J.V. Schleigh received a letter last week from Rev. M.C. Galvin, who recently returned to his home in Ireland. He says the weather in Ireland is nice and cool and that his health is greatly improved.
The Beattie Eagle, Kansas, 29 September 1910

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/644 ... e-schleigh
Nellie Galvin (age 21) was back home with her parents and siblings in Caherbannagh in County Clare in the 1911 census:
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/p ... gh/354941/
The Rev. Michael C. Galvin (age 31) was in Portroe Town in Tipperary in 1911:
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/p ... wn/822710/

After being in Kansas for three years, when Nelle Galvin returned to Clare she told her mother that she would never leave home again. But of course she did. Miss Nelle became a nurse and worked in a field hospital in France during the Great War where she would use her brains, and her heart, but mostly her courage. Her bravery would once again get her name in the Kansas newspapers, as well as newspapers around the world:
ALMOST A HUNDRED ENGLISH WOMEN HAVE WON
THE MILITARY MEDAL FOR BRAVERY IN FIELD


(By United Press)
London, Aug. 18, (By Mail)—The highest honor English war women have won is the Military medal.

The soldier's silver medal "for bravery in the field" has now been conferred on nearly a hundred plucky British women.

Among the wonderful examples of courage recorded in the official citations are these [several listed, including]:

Sister Nellie Galvin.
"For bravery and devotion to duty during an enemy air raid when four enemy bombs were dropped on the building occupied by a hospital, causing much damage to the ward in which Sister Galvin was on night duty. She remained in the ward attending to the sick, several of whom were wounded, and carried on her work as if nothing had happened. She displayed the greatest coolness and devotion to duty."

Pratt Daily Tribune, Pratt, Kansas, 14 September 1918
Nellie Galvin, third nurse from the left, on the day she was presented with her Military Medal by General Plumer in France in 1918.

Nellie Galvin medal presentation in 1918.jpg
Nellie Galvin medal presentation in 1918.jpg (80.28 KiB) Viewed 8536 times

The British use "Sister" as a title for a nurse, Nellie Galvin was not a nun. Unfortunately, due to the newspaper reports stating that she was English, her old neighbors and friends in Kansas would not recognize that Nellie was their very own Miss Nelle Galvin of Beattie Kansas.

John Galvin, the great nephew of Nellie Galvin, tells of his research into the military medal in "A Champion Nurse of the Great War" in the Clare Champion newspaper of 18 December 2014:
https://clarechampion.ie/world-war-one- ... ary-medal/

It is a very interesting article, as Mr. Galvin goes to the UK National Archives at Kew to research her war record, and also tells of his great aunt's post WWI career as a nurse, and later as the editor of the Clare Champion. It includes a nice photo of Nellie's military medal. But he "knew nothing of Nellie's early life" prior to starting his research and appears not to have discovered that Miss Nell and her brother Michael spent three years in Beattie, Kansas.

Beattie in Kansas is practically the geographic center of the continental United States. As far as becoming an American, they reckon that three years in Kansas would be the equivalent of ten years living in a big American city like New York or Chicago full of Irish immigrants.

The descriptions of nurse Nellie Galvin in the Clare Champion article, I reckon, really point to her experience having lived three years in Kansas in the Great Plains of America. Everything makes perfect sense.

"Her wards always look smart and clean" according to one annual report. I don't want to insult any Irish readers, other than to say that the women of the Great Plains are known for their cleanliness, when Dorothy (spoiler alert) kills the Wicked Witch of the West by inadvertently pouring water on her, the first thing she wants is a mop to clean up the mess.

"She stockpiled newsprint in the months before the Second World War with the result that The Clare Champion never missed an issue throughout the Emergency". Nellie Galvin would have learned the necessity of stockpiling food and supplies through three long winters in Kansas and the frequent blizzards that cross the Great Plains leaving the Galvin's snowbound in their home.

"She took over the reins of The Clare Champion and guided it expertly for many years". Sounds like a very independent woman of the Great Plains. The newspapers of a small town in Kansas have a very different style than an Irish newspaper in County Clare. As documented by the many clippings for Miss Nell, The Beattie Eagle newspaper would report on the comings and goings of the everyday townspeople and not just the wealthy classes. It would be interesting to see what changes in style were reflected in The Clare Champion after Nellie Galvin took charge.

"And we still don’t have a great picture so if you knew Nellie Galvin at any point in her life, or have a picture of her, please get in touch as I’d love to hear from you".

I reckon any pictures would be in Kansas. Nearly all Catholic parishes in the Midwest should have a 50th, or 75th, or centennial history book for which the parishioners submitted photos. The order of each centennial book is strictly as follows: the current Pope, the local bishop, a photo of every priest of the parish over the years, any local boys who became priests (naming his parents), the nuns who taught at the local Catholic school (maybe none in Beattie), the local girls who became nuns (naming her parents), the military veterans by order of war, the oldest living parishioners at time of publishing, followed by a family photo and two line history for all other parishioners either in alphabetical order or else year of arrival in the parish. A photo of Father Michael Galvin as the parish priest would definitely be included in the centennial book, if one was made, and the photo might include the very popular Miss Nell.

Hopefully, the descendants of the many friends of Miss Nell Galvin in Beattie will someday read this story and be able to post a few photos.

Will end with a song as a final tribute to Miss Nell Galvin of Beattie, Kansas. Based upon the overriding theme of this story, you should be able to guess what song, but as a clue the first two notes are a perfect octave:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSZxmZmBfnU

Edit 1 on 2 Dec. 2023 deleted photos of Opera House in Beattie; Oz advert Beattie Train Depot to save space.