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The Irish Ancestral Research Association Fall 2019 Volume 36, Number 3 121 Boston Post Road Sudbury, MA 01776 The Irish Who Went West INSIDE THIS ISSUE The President’s Message Irish and Irish-Americans Standing at Seven Heads The Irish Immigrant Who Went West Theme for Next Issue Stories from the American Cousin Project St. Patrick’s Day in California What Keeps Us Going? Blog Watch Digging Deeper for Databases Upcoming Events (Back Cover) 42 43 45 47 50 51 54 56 58 59

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Page 1: The Irish Ancestral Research Association...TIARA NEWSLETTER Volume 36 Number 3 Fall 2019 The Irish Ancestral Research Association 121 Boston Post Road Sudbury, MA 01776 OFFICERS Co-Presidents

TIARA NEWSLETTER Volume 36 Number 3 Fall 2019

The Irish Ancestral Research Association

Fall 2019 Volume 36, Number 3

121 Boston Post Road Sudbury, MA 01776

The Irish Who Went West

INSIDE THIS ISSUE The President’s Message Irish and Irish-Americans Standing at Seven Heads The Irish Immigrant Who Went West Theme for Next Issue Stories from the American Cousin Project St. Patrick’s Day in California What Keeps Us Going? Blog Watch Digging Deeper for Databases Upcoming Events (Back Cover)

42 43 45 47 50 51 54 56 58 59

Page 2: The Irish Ancestral Research Association...TIARA NEWSLETTER Volume 36 Number 3 Fall 2019 The Irish Ancestral Research Association 121 Boston Post Road Sudbury, MA 01776 OFFICERS Co-Presidents

TIARA NEWSLETTER Volume 36 Number 3 Fall 2019

The Irish Ancestral Research Association 121 Boston Post Road Sudbury, MA 01776

www.tiara.ie

OFFICERS Co-Presidents Joanne Delaney Pamela Holland Vice President Kathleen Sullivan Co-recording Secretaries Mary Glover Anne Patriquin Corresponding Secretary Pat Deal Financial Director Gary Sutherland

COMMITTEE CHAIRS

Membership Janis Duffy Webmasters Pat Landry Allison Doane Foresters Susan Steele Library Barbara Brooker Volunteers Allison Doane

DUES: Calendar year membership is (U.S.) $25 per individual & $35 per family for Newsletters sent as a PDF file via email. An additional $5/yr is charged to mail paper copies of the newsletters. Canadian and overseas memberships are charged an additional (US) $10/yr for paper copies of the newsletter.

MEETINGS: TIARA meets monthly except July & August at locations throughout the New England area.

THE TIARA NEWSLETTER The TIARA newsletter is published quarterly and distributed to members in good standing. Editor Mary Coyne Assistant Editors Marie Ahearn Anne Patriquin Layout Editor Don Ahearn Submit all correspondence to the above address or email to [email protected].

The President’s Message

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COPYRIGHT All material in this publication is protected by copyright. Permission must be obtained for use of any material and credit given, including Title, Author, Volume, and Issue number.

On the Cover

(See President Page 50)

Hi! I’m Pam Holland and I’m proud to be one of your new co-presidents. Along with my co-president, Joanne Delaney, I look forward to serving TIARA over the next couple of years. TIARA is such a welcoming or-ganization and I love all the wonderful people who are involved. In case you are wondering about my Irish heritage, I thought I’d share some of my background. I was born in Ohio, grew up in West Virginia and moved to Boston after college. My husband, Ian Holland, was born in Cork City and we met in Boston while we were both in graduate school. When I started researching my family tree, I also tried to make sense of my husband’s Irish genealogy. Realizing I needed help, I joined TIARA to learn more. My background is almost all German and English and for years I searched for a bit of Irish in me. Finally, about a year ago, I found it. One of my 5th great grandparents was named William Jack and he was born somewhere in Ulster around 1745. That means I’m at least 1/128th Irish! I’ve still got lots of research I need to do on William Jack, but some sources say he was born in Belfast. However, that may not be where he was from but rather where he left from. If William followed a typical Scotch-Irish migration path he probably landed at Philadelphia and may have been an indentured servant. However he arrived, by 1775 he was living in Butler County, Pennsylvania. According to the Daughters of the American Revolution he served as a private in the Revolutionary War and was taken prisoner by the Hessians. After the war he married Lucretia Geer. Her parents, born in in Connecticut, were of English ancestry. Later William and Lucretia’s descendants moved to Ohio and that is where I came into the picture. On my husband’s side, I’ve been able to find more. His Holland ancestors were all from around Butlerstown in County Cork. They were the typical farmer types that tended to stay put and marry someone from just down the road. It wasn’t until the 1930’s that anyone ventured very far afield. That is when my husband’s grandfather went to Cork City for work. My husband’s maternal side weren’t quite as straight forward. Without the stories passed down through his family I’m sure I would have been scratching my head trying to sort them all out. The main Kearney family was from Skibbereen, County Cork. However, about 1915 a Patrick Kear-ney trained as a butter maker and was sent to Castletown Conyers, County Limerick, for work.

Photo and text extracted from - Irish History:Irish Railroad Workers. New Jersey Ancient Order of Hibernians, Fair Haven, NH http://njaohdiv1.org/irish-history/irish-railroad-workers/ (Additional information on page 46)

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Long before 1916, 1922, and other important Irish dates, Irish men and women fought for their rights, their children’s rights, and the right to freedom. However, it was not easy and many battles were lost. That is what made im-migration to America, and other places, so attractive in spite of the hardships. In his book, Ireland Before The Famine, 1798-18481, Gearóid Ó Tuathaigh, writes ex-tensively about the origins of Irish nationalism that kept Ireland go-ing through much strife and tur-moil. That strength over decades gave the immigrants the courage to brave the hardships of travel to America, then move west as the country grew in hopes of seeking a better life. Most novice researchers assume that the largest Irish settlements in America were New York, Bos-ton, and Chicago. Of course, that is the logical assumption because there is no question when search-ing for ancestors, most of the time that is where they went. How-ever, many did not necessarily stay in these cities but moved to other parts of the country.

For example, Ed Gleeson tells about his Irish Tennessee ances-tors who served as Confederate soldiers in the Civil War in his book Erin Go Gray: An Irish Rebel Trilogy2. Controversial as that might be, there is also the St. Pat-rick’s Battalion, known more as Battalion de San Patricios, led by Captain John Riley (some writ-ings say Brigadier General) from Clifden, County Galway, who fought against the USA in the 1847 battle during the Mexican-

American War3. A plaque in Mex-ico City lists names, such as Fitz-patrick, Murphy, Cassidy, Kelly, Casey, Brown, McKee, and others. Most, if not all, who are active in the Irish community, are aware of the Irish Genealogical Society In-ternational, based in Saint Paul, Minnesota4. IGSI co-hosts the bien-nial Celtics Conference with TI-ARA, keeps a surname database, and has a research library. On their website, there is a Mission State-ment that explains that they work toward the teaching of Irish history: “IGSI's mission is to pro-vide genealogical education and assistance to its members and to assist the community at large to discover Irish history, culture and heritage.”

Thousands of Irish and others trav-eled to gold country in California, Montana, Arizona, and other parts of the West and Southwest. They often came with the land rush be-cause the west and economic op-portunities were something the land-poor Irish tenant farmer wanted and rightfully so. Many entrepreneurs saw the move to San Francisco and other areas of the west as business opportunities, where they could sell goods to would-be miners, purchase land, or just find a free life.

There are approximately seven hundred men buried in Los Ange-les County who served in the Civil War and who are identified as born in Ireland5. According to his file, Charles Alley was born about 1832 in Coolrain, Offerlane,

County Queens (now Leix/Laois), died 28 June 1910, was buried at the Los Angeles National Ceme-tery in West Los Angeles, Califor-nia (also known as Sawtelle Veter-ans Cemetery). Alley served in Co. C, 5th Iowa Cavalry and Co C, 1st Battalion Nebraska Cavalry from 08 October 1861 to 11 August 1865, and was discharged in Nashville Tennessee. His death certificate is at the Los Angeles County Regis-trar’s Office6. He was given a pen-sion, was married, and had eight children. In addition to Nebraska, he lived in Texas, Colorado, and California7. His FindAGrave memorial8 gives his birthdate, 08 July 1832 in Mountrath, which is about 5 miles from Coolrain, as well as a wealth of other informa-tion.

Patrick Dowling did an extensive study of the Irish in California. His book, Irish Californians: Historic, Benevolent, Romantic9, was his sec-ond book about the Irish in Califor-nia. His first book, California: the Irish Dream, focused on northern California, whereas this next one covered the Irish statewide. Dowling’s Forward is lengthy but worth reading and states “…this new book is more than just an en-gaging history of the Irish in the Golden State…Because the Irish were so extensively involved in California’s economic, social, cul-tural and political development, their history is, to a remarkable extent, the history of the state itself during the nineteenth and twenti-eth centuries10.” The American Irish Historical Soci-ety (AIHS), www.aihs.org in New York City, has one branch in Santa

IRISH AND IRISH-AMERICANS: THEIR IMPACT IN THE WESTERN UNITED STATES Sheila Benedict # 2122

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Barbara, California. An article by reporter Nick Walsh, who in 2015 interviewed Frank McGinity, Chairperson of the West Coast branch of AIHS, tells the story: “How Irish Immigrants Saved Santa Barbara: A Look at the Legacy of the brothers, Nicholas and Richard Den11”. The brothers are a credit to their Irish ancestry. AIHS has periodic programs dedicated to Irish culture and music. Books about California pioneers inevitably had many Irish names: Donovan Lewis’ Pioneers of Cali-fornia12, Bancroft’s California Pio-neer Register and Index13, and Ras-mussen’s three volume set of San Francisco Ship Passenger Lists and California Wagon Train Lists14 are but a few. There is a large Irish settlement in Montana; George Everett’s article calls it “Ireland’s Fifth Province.” He states: “Butte, Montana is the city the Irish would have built if the English had said build a city of your own design and consider money to be no object.” Many familiar Irish names, Sullivan, Lynch, Shea, Dolan, and others still have relatives there. Each year, there is a huge St. Patrick’s Day celebration and one of the Irish pubs even has a door im-ported from County Clare. Each August, there is the annual An Ri Ra, [a fun, exciting time] which celebrates Irish culture and music15.

In Phoenix, Arizona, the Irish Cultural Center is located in the McClennand Library. There are many Irish celebrations, espe-cially St. Patrick’s Day and a com-memoration of the 1916 Easter Rising. They have an online gene-alogy program to assist with Celtic Family History research.

Their website has details to assist the visitor with hours, location, and much more: [email protected].

In the 19th Century, it is estimated the Irish were the second largest foreign-born ethnic group in Colorado. You can read about the Culture Village by signing up through the Colorado United Irish Societies, in Littleton, Colorado at http://coloradoirishfestival.com/cultural-village/. Most of the Irish settled in Denver but miners were located in Leadville and Cripple Creek. Besides mining, the Irish worked on the railroad, were soldiers, and domestics.

From an article called “Irish Immi-gration” by Robert Donnelly and Joshua Binus, they speak of historian, Mary Jane Sorber, who studied Irish immigration to Oregon, especially those who traveled the Oregon Trail. Her study shows that in the 1840-1850 era, Oregon Donation Land Claims had 139 Irish held claims there. In addition, the article reminds us of the railroad where, in 1869, the tracks joined together in Utah. Many of the workers on the project were Irish immigrants. They also worked on farms and ranches, built roads, and many went on to become lawyers, politicians, and more. Sorber estimates almost 12% of Oregon’s population had some Irish Ancestry16. It is fair to say, the Irish assimilated beautifully nationwide, big city or small town, and brought their culture with them. “Ádh mór ort agus go néirí do bother leat” Best of good luck to you and may your journey be successful – [Translation by Sean Ó’Duill, Irish language expert in Dublin, Ireland]. [email protected] https://benedictprogenealogy.com Copyright ©2019, All Rights Reserved

1Gearóid Ó Tuathaigh, Ireland Before The Famine 1798-1848, Dublin, Ireland: Gil & MacMillan, Inc., 2007. [The original printing was 1972 and another 1990] 2Ed Gleeson, Erin Go Gray: An Irish Rebel Trilogy, [Maps by Richard Day], Carmel, Indiana: Guild Press of Indiana, 1997. 3“During the Mexican-American War, Irish-Americans Fought for Mexico in the ‘Saint Patrick’s Battalion,’” Smithsonian, online article, Smithsonian https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/mexican-american-war-irish-immigrants-deserted-us-army-fight-against-america-180971713/ “4Irish Genealogical Society International,” https://irishgenealogical.org/index.php : 5Sheila Benedict, Civil War Burials in California, database [work in progress]. Information taken from 58 California historical and genealogical societies, death certificates, pen-sion files, FindAGrave listings, and private family papers; https://benedictprogenealogy.com. 6Los Angeles County, California death certificate. 1910, for Charles Alley, State File No. 15301, Sacramento. 7Charles Alley, (Pvt. Co. C, 5th IA Cav. and Co. C, 1st Bttn, NE Cav., Civil War), pension file Invalid app 258646, Certificate 157961 issued 27 July 1867, Record Group 15, Department of Veterans Affairs, NARA, Washington, DC. 8FindAGrave.com, database with images https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/3684930/charles-c-alley memorial for Charles C. Alley, 3684930, maintained by JKK. 9Patrick J. Dowling, Irish Californians: Historic, Benevolent, Romantic, San Francisco, California: Scottwall Associates, 1998. 10Ibid [Forward, p xiii] 11How Irish Immigrants Saved Santa Barbara,” article by Nick Walsh, contributor Frank McGinity, Santa Barbara Independent Newspaper, Santa Barbara, California, 12 March 2015, cover story. https://www.independent.com/2015/03/12/how-irish-immigrants-saved-santa-barbara/ 12Donovan Lewis, Pioneers of California: True Stories of Early Settler in The Golden State. San Francisco, California: Scottwall Associates, 1993. 13Hubert Howe Bancroft, California Pioneer Register and Index 1542-1848: Including Inhabitants of California 1769-1800 and List of Pioneers. Extract from Bancroft’s “The History of California,” Baltimore, Maryland: Clearfield Company, 1964. 14Louis J. Rasmussen, San Francisco Ship Passen-ger Lists, three volumes. Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Company/Clearfield, vI, 1978, vII Reprint, 2002, vIII Reprint 2003; California Wagon Train Lists, vol 1, Santa Maria, California, Janaway Publishing, Inc, 2015. 15George Everett, Butte, Montana, Ireland’s Fifth Province. Online article, http://www.butteamerica.com/birish.htm 16“Irish Immigration,” online article by Robert Donnelly and Joshua Binus, Oregon Historical Society, 2004‐2005. https://oregonhistoryproject.org/articles/historical‐records/irish‐immigration/#.XRZnli2ZNsM

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STANDING AT SEVEN HEADS Mary Ellen Doona #1629 and Helen Doona Caudill #3492

We took the well-traveled road to the ancestral home in Cork-heading south from Ti-moleague, and further south to Butlerstown. There we drove past the barracks where the Royal Irish Constabulary once maintained order over the na-tive Irish and past Sea Court where Henry Longfield, Esq., the English landlord, once col-lected their rents at Christmas. There at the crest of the town, we gazed on fertile field after fertile field rolling down to the sea. Ireland’s edge at the At-lantic Ocean was our destina-tion as we continued south down through Ballymacshon-een and took a left at Carri-geen Cross and then a right into Ballinlúig, the townland next to Shanagh where Sean Cahalane and Mary Madden Cahalane raised their family of nine. On her first visit home five years after emigrating from

Ireland in 1923, Katie, their youngest daughter said it was not until she stood at the south door of the thatched house that she was “home.” She of-ten said, “The ocean was right in front of our door,” adding: Our place was at Seven Heads. The Galley Head was a way west from us, and the Old Head of Kin-sale was the other way. And at night, when it was a rainy night, the light would be going at both Heads showing the boats going along. We knew every steamer going down to Queenstown Har-bor [later Cobh] in Cork. We knew them. Oh my God! You never saw anything nicer in this world than the liners going at night, all lighted up, you know, beautiful to the world, going down to Queenstown. Oh, God, they were beautiful. Dear God Almighty when I think of it. You wouldn’t hear anything at all, of course. The only time you’d hear anything was S.O.S. [foghorn] that would be booing out in the ocean looking for help. O Dia! Go Dialinn (O God! God be with us). Oh, God, I don’t know dear. It was a very, very beautiful sight, at night. At night in the dark all lighted up. Ah, God help us, yes. And then the Galley Head and the Old Head of Kinsale, the two lights, would be lighting. Snap-ping back and forth, on and off, guiding the boats in. Long after Katie recalled those memories of her childhood and her first visit home, the thatched house was under dif-ferent ownership and had

added a second floor to serve as a storage building. A con-crete skin had been spread over the stones and tin had replaced thatch for a roof. By 2018 the building had been abandoned with only the empty shapes of windows and doors-north and south-giving a hint of the original house. With our backs to the house and the ocean we could spot the graveyard at Lislee not far off in the distance where the Cahalane’s who remained in Ballinlúig rest for all eternity. These small pieces of Ireland -a home and a grave- remain sites of the Cahalane story as does the Atlantic Ocean. Sean Cahalane, known as Sean Bhat (Bartholomew’s son), was a farmer, though this was not his sole occupation. He thatched roofs, made his own seine nets and trammels, wove twigs into baskets and rowed the boat he owned with two neighbors from Seven Heads out into the Atlantic Ocean in pursuit of fish. This was the location that we knew well from family stories but had no experience of until 2018. Even as the Cahalane spirits hovered around us at the home and the grave, they ac-companied us as we retraced Sean’s steps down to the ocean. So steep was the path, we had to zig-zag our descent to prevent toppling over onto our heads. We knew the names of six of the coves: Cuas Katie and Timmy Cahalane

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Sometimes you’d get a hell of a haul. Sometimes you wouldn’t.” Not least of her stories was Ka-tie’s account of leaving Ireland for the United States. After she had said good-bye to those in Ballinlúig, she and her sister Mary traveled north to Ti-moleague and got the train south to Queenstown. There Katie said goodbye to her sister and boarded the Samaria, a far cry from the graceful liners she had seen so often in her child-hood. Nonetheless the liners and the Samaria were alike in sailing past her home in Ballinlúig on their way to the United States. We thought not only of Katie’s remembrance of her leave tak-ing but also of the family mem-bers she left behind as we stood at Seven Heads looking out at the Atlantic Ocean. Her narra-tives sprung from actual experi-ence whereas our knowledge would ever be distant from that reality. All the same standing at Seven Heads, our feet wet and our backs to the cliff satis-fied a longing to appreciate Ka-tie’s story as fully as we could. We brought home to Boston a small stone we picked up at Seven Heads that figuratively lessens the distance between the two places with only the vast Atlantic Ocean between there and here.

Loingeas, Ship’s Cove; Cuas a Bhad, Boat’s Cove; Cuas a Bean Uasal, Lady’s Cove; Cuas Gorm, Blue Cove; Cuasín Duine Bhuartha, Small Cove of the Drowned Person, and Cuas na gase, perhaps Twisted Cove. But unlike Sean and his family who knew the names and could pinpoint each cove’s precise location one hundred years ago, we lacked their ac-tual experience. Perhaps Cuas a Bhad is where Sean kept his boat, but which cove was Cuas a Bhad we could not tell. Nor was there anyone nearby who might confirm or refute our guess. As disappointing as it was not to be able to match family story with actual reality, it was more important that at last we were standing on land as it met the ocean and where Sean and his neighbors might have stepped from land into their boat. We knew from family stories that Sean would row with the tide from Seven Heads to the Old Head of Kin-sale for bait. He would stay for the night with his sister, Aunt Kit-in-the-Old-Head, and the next morning with the boat full of bait, he would row back with the tide to Seven Heads. Once back in Ballinlúig he and his family would set the spillers, remembered Katie, describing the spillers as “a thing with a whole lot of lines on it. Bait it. That was a job. And I used to do it with him. My mother could do it to help him, too, see. They’d have to take that… [and] throw that out in the ocean for to catch the fish.

Transcontinental Railroad Work on the Transcontinental Railroad began after the Civil War. Irish who migrated to California worked on the west-ern half of the railroad track which originated in Sacramento. Conditions were less than ideal. Although food (boiled beef and potatoes) with water and alco-hol were available, the laborers lived in tents and worked for $35 a month. It was the ava-lanches that destroyed their tents and rampant dysentery that drove the Irish away to be replaced by Chinese workers. The railroad companies on the eastern side of the route em-ployed demobilized Irish Civil War veterans and living condi-tions were similarly squalid. Lack of water and personal hy-giene with resulting bug infesta-tions were endemic. Coupled with these irritating living con-ditions were raids by Native Americans who not only at-tacked the workers but scalped them as well. In spite of the conditions, the railroad was completed when the western and eastern divi-sions met at Promontory Point in Utah on May 10, 1869. Re-leased workers increased the Irish populations of nearby cit-ies such as Chicago, St Louis, San Francisco and Seattle. Photo and text extracted from - Irish His-tory:Irish Railroad Workers. New Jersey Ancient Order of Hibernians, Fair Haven, NJ http://njaohdiv1.org/irish-history/irish-railroad-workers/

(Cover information)

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feasible that he enlisted as a teen-ager out of boredom or the pro-posed excitement of war. The Civil War ended in 1865. The Arizona Historical Society3 has a collection of the papers of Patrick Coyne as well as an oral interview taken 1928 as a member of the Ari-zona Pioneers. In that interview he states that he enlisted in the Union Army while in Washington, D.C. and fought in the Battle of Bull Run and in other engage-ments. The idea of quick riches and a life of freedom had great appeal for many men who ‘went West’. Pat-rick seemed to have caught the bug. After the war, Patrick wan-dered westward trapping and hunting in Minnesota and the sur-rounding area. For another seven years, he switched to prospecting and mining and in Colorado he met Mace Greenley for whom Greenley County, Colorado is named. Greenley enticed Patrick and his friends, Henry Schoemaker and Alonzo and William Reed, to travel to Arizona where he claimed there were some rich placer dig-gings. As Patrick told the story “There were no settlements between Clifton and Silver City. It was a dry year. We were all afraid of Indians although we all had guns.” From Clifton the group composed of a dog, four burros and four men traveled in very hot June weather. Patrick claims they ran out of wa-ter around 10 o’clock in the morn-ing. At noon they quit walking and made shade with their blankets and waited for the cool of the eve-ning.

Great uncle Patrick Coyne had many stories to tell - from fighting in the Civil War at Bull Run to be-ing right hand man to Buffalo Bill Cody. He was self-educated, a pio-neer, hunter, miner, postmaster, justice of the peace, and school-master. He kept personal notes on the weather, blooming of fruit trees and plants, copied passages from the classics and wrote a diary of his travels. His letters reveal a broad knowledge of the world. A Renaissance man living in the mid-dle of nowhere. In census records and voting lists he always claimed he was born in Portland Maine in 1845. The most plausible place, however, was in County Galway, Ireland. Baptis-mal records document the birth of his two brother’s as Knockranny, Co Galway in 1838 and 18471. Port-land Maine was the place where the family first settled temporarily and his oldest sister, Julia was married there in 18562. Most likely they emigrated soon after the fam-ine between 1850 and 1856. Within a short time, the family split into different directions – sisters to Lancaster NH, Guildhall Vt, Phila-delphia PA, and Roxbury MA and one never found. His baby brother, mother and stepfather went to Is-land Pond VT and his other brother to Lancaster NH. Where did Patrick go? Although he claimed he fought in the Civil War he could not be found in any available sources. The Civil War began in April 1861; he would have been around 16 years old at the time of the First Battle of Bull Run and 17 at the second and suc-cessful battle. Patrick most likely arrived in the US around 1855 at the age of 10, so it might have been

“Shoemaker was ahead when we saw an antelope and wondered why he did not shoot it. Finally we hollered to him but he did not answer. When we got to him we found that his tongue was so swol-len that he could not talk. We made him as comfortable as possi-ble and told him not to move until we came back. Then we started on and kept going until we just had to stop and rest. The next morning we reached Shakespeare. We tried to get horses to go back to get Schoemaker but I guess people were afraid we were trying to make a get-away for they would not listen to us, so we walked back. When we got there Schoemaker was gone. He was out all that night and all the next day and night, but the next morning we saw him coming into camp. I ran out to meet him and he just fell into my arms. He seemed all dried up and I do not believe that he weighed more that 60 or 70 pounds. We cared for him and he came out of it OK but later went to live in Phoenix.” After that experience, the men con-tinued on. “We went 50 miles with burros to Colonel Greenley’s hold-ings. He sold a mine up there and had some money so he went to San Francisco. I sold a mining claim for $500 and went to Georgetown, NM, which was a silver camp and later went with wagons to Fort Huachuca and then on to Greaterville4.”

The Irish Immigrant Who Went West Mary Downey Coyne #3777

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Greaterville, Arizona is about 50 miles from the Mexican border and was the site of the discovery of placer gold in 1874. This was the gold fever era (1848-1896) and miners rushed into the area and the town of Greaterville devel-oped. By 1881 the gold had played out and along with increased In-dian attacks, the town slowly went downhill. Patrick had arrived by 1878 when he first appeared in the voter rolls5. He said “When I got there it was a lively camp of about 500 Mexicans. There were two or three dance halls, many saloons and several stores. Tom Hughes ran a store. Now there are about fifty people there and about 19 school children. I was interested in a shallow placer claim, and made about $50 a day for some time. I used a dry washer and had to pack water about two miles.” There was no natural water in Greaterville.

“I was justice of the peace for a good many years and also taught a night school for a year. My pu-pils were Mexicans – there were only five or six of them – and they all turned out well. “Greaterville was a great place for smugglers, and sometimes they would bring ten or twelve burro loads of mescal a day. John Young kept the store and would buy it and put it in barrels. “We had a round hole dug in the ground for a jail and would lower the prisoner down with a rope. Our deputy sheriff was Bob Kerker from New Mexico. Even though Patrick was isolated geographically from his family he kept in touch with his cousins, niece and nephews. His nephew, Jim Coyne, from Waterville, Maine kept many of the letters he received from him and Patrick

paints an interesting picture of daily life in Greaterville and the surrounding area. He enticed his nephew in 1928 with statements such as “All the boys like to swim, hunt, fish and trap and to explore new places. If you move out here you could hunt coyotes, jack rabbits, cotton tails, prairie dogs, Gila monsters and all kinds of lizards but no fish, no crabs, lobsters and not many mos-quitoes.6” In another letter he gave a sense of cowboy life – “Each boy has a big hat, a pair of leather britches and a pair of high heel boots so he can stick them in the ground when he has a wild cow on the end of a 40 foot rope.7”

“Every spring a man who has 15 or 20 thousand head of cattle and horses notifies his neighbors he is going to round up and cut out all the stray cattle on his range on a certain day. He has a cook and wagon to carry the blankets. They work in a circuit of about five miles and gather in all the cows and horses, put them in a bunch near the rack. They are all hud-dled up as close as they can get them. Then they begin to cut out all the strays. Another driver then on the outside of this bunch where they have fires to heat up the branding irons. Two boys throw a lasso on the heads of the cows, throw them down as quick as one sits on its head and the other brands her with a red hot iron with letters or figures and then lets it loose. And they go through the whole herd that way. The cut all the bull calfs (sic). The next day they go about 5 miles further and keep it up till they go all the way sometimes twenty miles. “

Rockers were used to separate placer gold from sand and gravel at Greaterville, AZ. Water was in short supply but it had one of the most sought-after placer deposits. In all, the Greaterville placers yielded $680,000 in gold, according to a 1929 report. https://tucson.com/news/local/mine-tales-the-ghost-towns -of-greaterville-and-kentucky-camp/article_5027b9be-71dc-5951-b11d-665737ef5309.html

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Information gathered on James P. Coyne from Voter Registration Records and US Census

Year Source Location Occupation

1878 Voter Registration Pima Co, AZ Born in US

1882 Voter Registration Pima Co, AZ Born in US

1906 Voter Registration Greaterville, AZ

1908 Voter Registration Greaterville, AZ

1910 USCensus Greaterville, AZ Placer miner

1910 Voter Registration Greaterville, AZ Born in US

1912 Voter Registration Greaterville, AZ Born in US

1919 US Postmaster Greaterville, AZ

1920 USCensus Greaterville, AZ Mine owner

Year Source Location Occupation

1878 Voter Registration Pima Co, AZ Born in US

1882 Voter Registration Pima Co, AZ Born in US

1906 Voter Registration Greaterville, AZ

1908 Voter Registration Greaterville, AZ

1910 USCensus Greaterville, AZ Placer miner

1910 Voter Registration Greaterville, AZ Born in US

1912 Voter Registration Greaterville, AZ Born in US

1919 US Postmaster Greaterville, AZ

1920 USCensus Greaterville, AZ Mine owner

A gold miner digging a dry gulch in Greaterville, AZ. There was good gold here, but the limited water made mining very challenging. http://raregoldnuggets.com/?=5269

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“The cowboys work is not over yet. We have a fly out here they call screwfly. He lays his eggs on any wound of a cow, calf or horse where they are branded. They commence to bore right away and in 3 or 4 days they are about an inch long and the animal begins to swell and sometimes they kill the calf. The cowboys have to throw them down and clean out the wound and put medicine on there and sometimes they have to go through the same process sev-eral times. A cowboy has to ride from 5 to 20 miles every day. They get 48 and 50 dollars a month. They have fresh horses every day and they have to live on wild grass. They have the best riding horses in the world. They will jump off anywhere and their horses will stand there.” Pat’s eyesight slowly failed which he often mentioned in his letters and could be seen in the transi-tion from beautiful cursive writ-ing to illegible markings. Greaterville, AZ also faded as mining turned from an individual pursuit to a business enterprise. Eventually in 1928, Patrick moved to Field, Oregon to live with his nephew, James McDade, a cattle rancher. He passed away in Au-gust 1929 and an extensive obitu-ary was published in the Arizona Daily Star8. 1John Kyne 20 Dec, 1838 and Peter Kyne 14

March, 1847, Diocese of Tuam, Catholic Parish

of Moycullen, Co Galway, Ireland 2Maine Marriage Records, 1705‐1922, Julia

Coin and Matthew Smith, 27 June, 1856, Port‐

land, Cumberland Co, Maine 3Arizona Historical Society – founded by pio‐

neers in 1884, 949 East Second Street, Tuc‐

son, AZ 85719.

https://www.arizonahistoricalsociety.org/wp‐

content/upLoads/library_Coyne‐Patrick.pdf

4From transcription of oral history given to

Arizona Historical Society in 1928 by Patrick J.

Coyne. 5Arizona Voter Registration 1866‐1955 on An‐

cestry.com. Patrick J Coyne or PJ Coyne,

Greaterville, Pima County, AZ. Placer miner in

1910; mine owner in 1920. Born in US. 6Personal letter to nephew, James Coyne, Wa‐

terville, ME, dated August 15, 1928 7Personal letter to nephew, James Coyne, Wa‐

terville, ME, dated May 15, 1926. 8“Patrick Coyne, Greaterville Pioneer, Dies in Oregon Home” Arizona Daily Star, Tucson, AZ, August 30, 1929. Personal clipping – not online.

(President) There he met and married Marga-ret Moroney. However, Margaret was not from Castletown Conyers. She was working in that village because her sister had married into a family there. The Moroney fam-ily was actually from the Glenroe and Ballynacourty area in County Limerick. Years ago, I wrote about how Patrick Kearney and Margaret Moroney met. You can read all about it in the Autumn 2010 TI-ARA newsletter (vol. 27, issue 3), in the article “The Holy Well of Castletown Conyers.” I hope everyone has had a great summer and has gotten to spend some time on genealogical re-search. And I look forward to hear-ing all about it at our next meeting!

Pam Holland [email protected]

Theme for Next Issue

Irish Music The Irish are fortunate to have native musical instruments such as the Irish harp, the bodhran, Irish bagpipes and the tin whistle. The fiddle is always present but not endemic to Ire-land alone. Did you have relatives who played any of these characteristic instruments? Did they entertain the family or perhaps join a group at the local pub? How was this musical tradition carried down to their descendants? Share your mu-sical heritage by writing an article for the next newsletter. If you need help or have an article written contact the editor at [email protected] We are always interested in any research articles or stories. Please submit to [email protected]

Mary Coyne, Editor

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Stories from the American Cousins Project Marie Ahearn #0097

In October 2012 TIARA made its first appearance at Dublin's BACK TO OUR PAST genealogy event. Part of the materials brought to Dublin for that event included the American Cousins project. During the summer of 2012, TIARA members had been invited to submit photos and brief biographies of im-migrant ancestors as part of the American Cousins project. Contributions from the membership filled five binders. Ancestors' information was categorized according to county and the binders were based on the four provinces of Ireland. Munster immigrant stories were split between two binders; the other three provinces had one binder each. The stories of the “binder ancestors” are familiar to all who descend from 19th and early 20th century Irish immigrants. The ancestors of TIARA members left Ireland for America looking for opportunities to improve their lives in a young, rapidly expanding nation. Many of the new immigrants settled in areas near their ports of entry or in states not far from the Atlantic seaboard. Others looked west to begin their lives in their adopted country. By the end of the 19th century over half of the Irish immi-grants were single women. Marie Shields, Ellen Mescall and Ellen Clohesey, were three such Irish immigrants. Marie Shiel(d)s daughter of Michael Sheals and Catherine Carolan, was born January 19, 1882. Her birth was registered at Tullyvin, Cootehill in County Cavan; her baptism was at Tullyinchin. When Marie emigrated to America in the fall of 1904, she left siblings Michael, Patrick, Bridget and Rose Ann behind. Upon her arrival at Ellis Island on October 15, 1904, she listed her sponsors as cousins Mary Riley and Patrick Carolan of Chicago. Marie headed west to join her cousins and, like so many young, single Irish women in the 19th century, went into domestic service until her marriage, July 4, 1911, at Chicago to Heinrich Winterberg. Marie died at Chicago on July 8, 1957.

Marie Shields

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Ellen Mescall was born October 19, 1873 to Dennis Mescall and Mary Murphy at Kilpatrick, Kilpatrick, Cork. She arrived in Boston circa 1893 and married Jeremiah Sullivan on July 1, 1895 at Charlestown, MA. The couple moved to Butte, Montana where Jeremiah worked in the mines until he developed coal workers' pneumoconiosis also known as black lung. He then bought one of the 300 saloons in Butte (population of Butte at the time: 39,000) shortly before his death. By 1910, Ellen Mes-call Sullivan, a widow, was supporting her children by running Sullivan's Shamrock Saloon in Butte Montana. Ellen died on January 17, 1968 at Butte, Montana. (photos and information submitted in 2012 by David Collins)

Marie Shields and Heinrich Winterberg (photos and information submitted in 2012 by Joyce Bischoff)

Ellen Mescall Sullivan with children at right near back of Sullivan's Shamrock Saloon

Ellen Mescall Sullivan

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Ellen Clohesey was born September 18, 1830 in County Limerick to Timothy Clohesey and Mary Car-roll. At about age 20 she left Ireland accompanied by two brothers and a sister. Ellen arrived at the port of New Orleans, Louisiana sometime around 1850. On Christmas Day, 1853 Ellen Clohesey mar-ried William J Cannedy at New Orleans. In 1855, Ellen and William sailed to Panama, traveled over-land across the Isthmus of Panama and boarded a ship heading north to San Francisco, California. Eventually the couple settled on a large parcel of land in Yolo County, California. Ellen spent the rest of her life as a farmer's wife. On August 17, 1912, Ellen Clohesey Cannedy died on the family farm at Yolo, CA (photo and information submitted in 2012 by Sheila Thoman) Three young woman from rural Cavan, Cork and Limerick boarded vessels taking them west to America. The stories of their move across the continent and the diverse lives they led in their adopted country have been faithfully preserved by their descendants. The American Cousins binders contain-ing well over one hundred images and biographies of TIARA members' Irish immigrant ancestors are available at the TIARA office in Sudbury, MA.

Ellen Clohesey Cannedy

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Mr. Editor – By the request of some of the sons of Erin, who have located themselves tempo-rarily in this part of California, I embrace the first leisure I have had to give you some account of a St. Patrick’s Day in California. This duty would undoubtedly have been performed by an Irish-man, but from the fact that none of them have the same leisure that, on account of the nature of my business, I can command. But though I am an American born, such a task will not be unpleasant to me if I can succeed in doing such justice to the occasion as will satisfy the gentlemen who re-lieved the monotony of life in the gold mines, by kindly permitting me to share with them the conviv-ialities of the 17th inst. And if I fail in this, it will not be from any want of sympathy with the occa-sion, or with the nation to whom that day is sacred. Yes—sacred. The temptation is strong, for men who know that the loss of a mining day is the loss of no small quantity of gold, to pass by the present observance of such an occasion, and leave the celebration of “St. Patrick’s Day” to the expected future, which will permit them to enjoy it among the friends and kindred so many of them have left to make their for-tunes out of the golden sands of California rivers. I imagined that the principal difference between St. Patrick’s Day on Bullard’s Bar, and other days, would be that some would have better dinners on that day than usual, and per-haps an additional glass or two of liquor. But I was underrating

Irish hearts. On the morning of the 17th inst., we were awakened by the early discharge of fire arms, and the tune “St. Patrick’s Day in the morning” played upon every in-strument procurable among us. At an early hour those Irishmen who having entire control of “the claims” upon which they work, could do as they chose, might be seen reveling in the luxury of clean shirts (an article somewhat more rare here than with you) and wearing bunches of shamrocks in their hatbands, intent upon the enjoyment of their traditionary holiday. The day passed off quietly and pleasantly. Everywhere the frank good-humored countenances of Irishmen were seen, and their voices were heard in such a way as not only proved their apprecia-tion of fun, but also that the popu-lar faith in Irish wit is no illusion. So quickly had all the arrange-ments for the evening been made, that but few were aware that any-

thing unusual was to take place, and none suspected that it was to prove quite an era in the social history of our little community. But soon after the usual time for supper, notice was given that the anniversary was to be observed in the house of Messrs. McKeon (from the State of Vermont) where men of all lands would find open doors and warm hearts to receive them. A majority of the popula-tions of our little place eagerly availed themselves of this general invitation, and soon, in a small room, were assembled the repre-sentatives of many countries. Germans, Danes, Norwegians, English, and native-born Ameri-cans – united by a common citi-zenship, forgot, if they had ever known such, all former preju-dices, and heartily joined with their generous Irish hosts in eve-rything which was done to make the occasion what it should be. I wish that I could describe that room so vividly that your readers might see it as in a daguerreotype. I have said that it was small. Its

St. Patrick’s Day in California: Ireland at the Diggins

To the Editor of the Irish-American Bullard’s Bar, Yuba Co., Cal., 21st March 1853

Gold Miners in El Dorado, California, during the Gold Rush Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA https://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/cph.3a10813/

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actual dimensions had better not be given, lest it should seem im-possible to your city readers that it could contain so may as thirty or thirty-five men, and yet afford spare room for what remains to be described. But the benches around the sides were crowded, the bunks in the corner afforded perching places for more than one would believe – even the large fire-place allowed two or three breathing room, and now and then they would change places with some one more fortunately located. One corner of the room was occupied by a table, upon which was a large supply of eat-ables and drinkables, free for all to use as they chose. When I en-tered the room, all of the floor not occupied by what I have named was covered by dancers, who enter into the thing with a spirit which more than atoned for all incon-veniences and want of elegance in the room itself. A gayer, happier set of men were never met. (There are no women here.) After a little dancing, glasses were filled and toasts were given which did credit to Irish heads and re-ceived in a manner worthy of Irish or of any hearts. I regret that it is impossible for me to repeat these toasts. I have spoken of the contrast between a ball in “high life” and the dancing on Ballard’s Bar, on that evening. I must also speak of the contrast between the sentiments given and the spirit in which they were received, and the same thing as it is “got up” for the great dinners, first heralded, and afterward, ably reported in the newspapers. …. Here every toast came gushing from a warm and manly heart – the simple expres-sion of a real feeling which throbbed in the heart, and it

would be received in such a way that proved that other hearts were warm and true – full of all manli-ness. So beautifully was Ireland remembered – so delicately and touchingly spoken of – that he who could listen without feeling sympathy and admiration for Irish character, must have been made of strange material. And our America was toasted. It made my heart beat with grati-tude that I was born in a country which had such love from such a people, and such must have been the feeling which dictated a toast offered with evident sincerity from a native American, who gave “The native American Party – let us thank God that it is dead and buried, and pray that it may know no resurrections.” – This toast would scarcely have been relished by the Irish, I think, if it had been given by an Irishman, so carefully did they refrain from anything which by possibility could injure any man’s feelings. But coming from a native it was received with three times three and cheered as well by natives as by others. Then came a song – Mr. Thomas Dronnan sang the adven-tures of himself and his “beautiful stick” in a glorious style, which made every man laugh until his ribs ached. Again, came dancing, better, gayer, livelier than ever. Jigs and waltzes and polkas and cotillions, as the dancers happened to be of one or another nation. An old gentleman, Mr. Sullivan, senior, who had looked quietly on, though evidently enjoying the scene, now rose and claimed a young Irishman for a partner, and fairly outdid him in an Irish dance. It was good to see that

venerable old man retaining the enthusiasm of his youth and for-getting the weight of years under the impulse of patriotism. Mr. Dronnan suddenly made it the point of some complimentary re-marks, and hoped the company would express some thanks for the kindness and attention which Dr. Lippincott – an Illinoian -- had shown. This called forth a burst of applause in the way of cheers for the Dr. which must have gratified any man. Dr. Lippincott hastily threw his cap under a table, and said that he had expected no such tribute, and was unconscious of having deserved it. If he had been able in any degree to contribute to the evening’s en-joyment, he was glad and proud of it – for he would desire to ren-der some small return for the pleasure he had enjoyed. “If” said he, “I were in Ireland with a com-pany of American, and if, instead of St. Patrick’s Day, it was the Fourth of July, and our little com-pany would (as they certainly would) try to celebrate that day, it was not credible that we should call in vain for aid or sympathy with Irishmen around us. Believ-ing this, it would indeed by shameful to stand about when Irishmen who have become my countrymen, attempt to observe a day so dear to every Irish heart. No gentlemen, when on the 17th day of March an exiled Irishman stops from his customary pursuits to remember the home of his birth, the sadness which must mingle with his memories, shall not, if I am by, be deepened for want of American sympathy.

(See St. Pat’s Day, Page 59)

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The Foresters Project volunteers have been doing data entry for thirteen years! What keeps us going? A sense of accomplishment ranks high among our motivating factors. We have just completed entries for death claims from the year 1936 through 1945 and a scattering of deaths in 1946. This brings the total entries in the UMass Boston database to 37,761. The staff at the University Archives & Special Collections, Healey Library has fielded 387 requests for records and of course TIARA fulfilled over 700 requests in the five years that we ran the request program. That's over 1,000 requests in thirteen years! We volunteers can easily imagine the excitement a recipient must feel receiving these records that are so rich in family history detail. I know that many record recipients learned something new about their Forester ancestors. This could be a confirmation of where an ancestor was during a certain time period or something that opens up a whole new area of research. One card in the recent series of death claims is a tantalizing example. The card was for Forester Tho-mas McHugh who joined the St. Philip Court in Roxbury in 1916. He died in 1942 and a note on the back of his death claim index card (finding aid to the collection) named his son, as beneficiary. The address given for son, Thomas Francis McHugh, was Irvinestown, County Fermanagh, Ireland. Why was the son in Ireland when the father was in Massachusetts? I requested the complete record from UMass Boston and learned the possible answer to that question as well as many other intriguing facts about Forester Thomas McHugh’s life. I’ll save that story for a future article. Be sure to check the updated index to the Foresters collection at the University Archives & Special Collections, Healey Library, UMass Boston http://blogs.umb.edu/archives/collections/foresters/ This website contains the index to the Foresters records, an explanation of what the records contain and instructions on how to order a pdf of a record. The staff at Archives & Special Collections are in-vestigating the possibility of adding digital images of death claim records from 1880 – 1935 onto the UMass website. In the meantime these digital images are available at familysearch.org. Search the catalogue for Massachusetts, Forester Mortuary Records, 1880 – 1935 and a guide to browsing the images will appear. You can use the Death Claim number from the UMass website to locate a digital image of the record. Forester Project volunteers will be continuing to add new death claims from the 1940s. Take a peek at the websites and see what keeps us going!

What Keeps Us Going? - A Foresters Project Update Susan Steele #1025

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TIME TO RENEW Consider Your Options

It’s time to renew your membership in TIARA. Everyone who has an email address receives a digital copy of the newsletter; please reconsider digital only and choose paper. We have a non-profit bulk mailing permit and can save about 65% of the mailing costs; but we need a minimum of 200 pieces for each mailing. Because more and more of you are choosing digital only, we are falling very close to that minimum figure. If you do not wish to keep the paper copy, pass it on to your local library or historical society, or pass it on to a friend or relative who may be interested. This is a simple way for you to contribute to TIARA. For those of you who receive the paper copy, be aware that the post office has three weeks to deliver bulk mail. If you do not receive it in a timely man-ner, contact your local post office. It may be sitting in the post office for a few days until the "regular” carrier is back on the route.

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Blog Watch Kathy Sullivan #3009

TIARA NEWSLETTER Volume 36 Number 3 Fall 2019

Culture, Context & Background DiAnn Iamarino demonstrates how to use news-papers to research your ancestors, even if they are recent, illiterate and/or not particularly newsworthy! https://family-tree-advice.blogspot.com/2019/07/free-newspapers.html Irish Workhouse drawings available online http://britishgenes.blogspot.com/2019/07/irish-workhouse-drawings-online-and.html Current Issues The site of the former Magdalene Laundry in inner city Dublin will become a “site of con-science”: https://www.irishgenealogynews.com/2019/06/former-magdalene-laundry-to-be-site-of.html DNA The Genealogy Girl’s 6 part story of Tracing Her Ancestor John Costello through name changes and abandoned families https://thegenealogygirl.blog/2019/06/19/finding-john-costello-a-dna-journey-the-fried-family-johns-family-part-1/ Irish in America Using NYPL resources to research your Irish ancestors from home: https://www.nypl.org/blog/2019/06/22/genealogy-tips-research-ancestors-home Damian Shiels reveals what may be the largest Irish diaspora: https://irishamericancivilwar.com/2019/06/13/a-walk-among-storied-tombstones-revealing-washington-d-c-s-most-significant-irish-diaspora-site/

Methodology Barbara J Starmans looks at finding the “Why” in your research: https://www.outofmytreegenealogy.com/why-the-hardest-question-to-answer-in-genealogy/ Finding your Irish relatives in the 1939 Register of England and Wales : https://familytreeknots.blogspot.com/2019/07/researching-in-1939-register-of-england.html Records and Databases NEHGS has indexed Volume II of Riobard O’D-wyer’s Annals of Beara https://dbnews.americanancestors.org/2019/07/10/update-the-annals-of-beara-volume-2/ Bird’s Eye maps available for many towns at the State Library of Massachusetts: http://mastatelibrary.blogspot.com/2019/06/birds-eye-view-maps-are-now-online.html From Claire Santry, more Limerick Board of Guardians Minute Books available online: https://www.irishgenealogynews.com/2019/06/more-limerick-board-of-guardians-minute.html Research Resouces Kilkenny County Library has joined the Digital Repository of Ireland: https://blog.eogn.com/2019/06/18/kilkennys-rich-history-is-now-available-on-national-archive-database/ Volunteer Opportunities A chance to transcribe WWI letters for the Na-tional Archives project Tales from the Trenches https://narations.blogs.archives.gov/2019/06/05/transcriptions-reveal-life-in-the-trenches/

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and as soldiers, they have proved themselves equal to the best, and so may God send millions more of them to this country!” In reply to this came new cheers, and then once more the dancing began. It would be an outrage to protract my letter so long as the festivities were, for day was peeping over the mountain-top before the party separated. When that time came every man was as gay and happy apparently, as in the early part of the evening. Though all night liquors of all kinds were plenty as water, not one man was drunk, and nothing appeared to corroborate the general opinion in regard Irish combativeness. I reckon St Patrick’s Day, 1853, as one of the bright days of my life, and indulge the hope that on some return of it I may again be permitted to partake of Irish hospitality. Yuba, California Exerpted from ”‘Ireland at the Diggings’: The Irish of the California Gold Rush Celebrate Home, 1853” https://irishamericancivilwar.com/2016/09/01/ireland-at-the-diggings-the-irish-of-the-california-gold-rush-celebrate-home-1853/

Digging Deeper for Databases Eileen Curley Pironti #2788

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I have read, from my childhood, something of Ire-land’s story, and can honor the great men she has produced, whether they have died upon the scaffold like Emmet, or been exiled like Meagher. Let the world remember Ireland, if only in gratitude for the glorious men she has borne – men whose influence could not be confined to Ireland, but extends to every warm, free heart that beats upon the world. There are others here who are far from their native land, and before, all and to all, I say, thank God that you have come. As an American I am more than proud that my native land can cherish the oppressed of all other lands. As an American I rejoice in the belief that from the mingling of so many races will be produced a future generation of American men which will surpass any race which the sun ever shone upon. But to Ireland does this occasion be-long and only Ireland, would I now speak of. American has willingly received her exiled sons – but all over our land are the evidences that they were worthy to become American citizens. Every canal and railroad, every bridge and turnpike is a trophy of Irish industry and monument of Irish worth. The Irish – like all men have their faults, but everywhere, as laborers, as citizens, as congressmen,

(St. Pat’s Day)

Gold Rush Names Database The Gold Rush Names Database available on the Valdez (Alaska) Museum website, contains the names of individuals who participated in the gold and copper rushes of the 1890s in Prince William Sound, Valdez and Copper River. Using a variety of sources, including diaries, government documents, and newspaper articles, this database can prove to be helpful for those attempting to research participants of these gold and copper rushes, but having difficulty tracking these individuals once they arrive in the area. https://www.valdezmuseum.org/gold-rush-names-database/ California, Pioneer and Immigrant Files, 1790-1950 The California, Pioneer and Immigrant Files, 1790-1950 database (Ancestry.com), contains details about ap-proximately 10,000 people who settled in California

prior to 1860. The information was first compiled in the early 1900s and is currently in the possession of the California State Library. Typically the individual or a descendant provided the biographical information. These files are a wonderful resource. For example, Frank J. Sullivan provided information about his father, John Sullivan, born 1824 in Askeaton, County Limerick, Ireland, son of Patrick and Mary (Pigott) Sullivan. John arrived in California in December of 1844. Prior to California he lived near St. Joseph, Mis-souri. He married 1st Katherine Farrelly in 1851, and 2nd Ada Eugenia Kenna in 1860. Both marriages took place in San Francisco. John died in August of 1882. These cards also contain details such as the subject’s education, occupation, and political affiliation. Editor's Note: also on Familysearch.org

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Upcoming Conferences, Workshops, and Events

Annual TIARA Banquet November 9 at 12:00 PM Longfellow's Wayside Inn 72 Wayside Inn Rd. Sudbury, MA

TIARA Meeting September 13 at 7:00 PM Linda MacIver will speak on Genealogical Resources and Services and the Boston Public Library Brandeis University Mandel Center for the Humanities Waltham, MA TIARA Meeting October 11 at 7:00 PM TBD Brandeis University Mandel Center for the Humanities Waltham, MA