Meagher/Maher Women, Some New Connections

13 Monday May 2013

Posted by Janet in Carlow Mahers, Early Irish Catholics in Connecticut, History, Kilkenny Mahers

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From the Old Sod to the Naugatuck Valley, Irish nuns, Sisters of Mercy

Freshford Cemetery, Kilkenny, Ireland, ©July 2011

After publishing an almost 400 page book summarizing more than six years of extensively detailed research, I still have many questions. However, I am thrilled to have recently discovered the names of three Maher-related women and, through them, to reveal here some important connections! One is related to Waterbury, Connecticut’s beloved parish priest, Reverend Thomas Francis Hendricken (Ann), one, to the founding of the Sisters of Mercy in America (Frances), and another, to the founding of the Sisters of Mercy in New Zealand (Ellen/Cecilia).

Bishop Thomas Francis Hendricken

Although the first Irish Catholic settlements in New Haven County, Connecticut began to take hold in the mid 1820s, it was not until 1847 that Waterbury received its first resident priest, Reverend Michael O’Neil. In 1855 he was replaced by Father Hendricken, a native of Dunmore, Kilkenny, Ireland. Thomas Francis Hendricken was the son of John Hendricken and Ann Maher. He was leader of the Waterbury Catholic community through complex decades of history, including during the Civil War, until his consecration as bishop of Rhode Island in 1872. He was credited with the completion of Naugatuck’s Saint Anne’s Church (the first Catholic church there), the purchasing of land for Naugatuck’s first Catholic cemetery, Saint Francis, and the building of the first Immaculate Conception Church in Waterbury’s downtown. Had Ann Maher Hendricken’s son been related to the Mahers of New Haven county, I wonder? Had he requested placement in New Haven county, Connecticut due to such possible familial connections that had already become interwoven there by the 1850s, after Ireland’s Great Famine?

Mother Mary Frances Warde, daughter of Jane Maher, courtesy of Mercyworld.org

In Ireland, Carlow’s Father James Maher, nephew of Cardinal Cullen (head of the Irish College in Rome) had mentioned that the nuns in Carlow were needed in America, thus serving as the catalyst for the entrance of the Sisters of Mercy order into areas across the sea. America’s part of this story began with the birth of Frances (Fanny) Warde, in 1810, youngest child of Jane Maher, wife of John Warde, in Mountrath, Queen’s County/Laois, Ireland, eight miles from the town of Abbeyleix. Jane died shortly after Fanny’s birth, leaving Fanny’s siblings Daniel, William, John, Helen, and Sarah.

The Warde family residence, Bellbrook House, had been “situated in the most beautiful part of the country.” Due to his willingness to voice his controversial political opinions, however, John Warde’s home and leases were taken by Lord de Vesci, Viscount of Abbeyleix, and transferred in trust for himself to Sir Robert Staples. With their father subsequently needing to relocate to Dublin in order to find work, the motherless children went to live with their uncle William Maher in Killeany, also in Laois.

Fanny Warde, later Reverend Mother Mary Francis Xavier, was the first Sister of Mercy professed by Foundress of the Irish order, Catherine McAuley, and she became Superior and Novice Mistress of Saint Leo’s Convent of Mercy in Carlow. Mother Frances’ sister, Sarah (Mother Mary Josephine Warde), also became a nun. In 1838 Mother Frances’ cousins, Ellen Maher (professed as Sr. Mary Cecelia) and Ellen’s half-sister Eliza, also joined the order in Carlow.

In 1843, Sister Cecelia succeeded Mother Frances Warde as Superior in Carlow when Mother Frances and six other sisters were chosen to emigrate to America to establish the Sisters of Mercy order in Philadelphia. Included in this first group were: Sr. M. Josephine Cullen, Sr. M. Elizabeth Strange, Sr. M. Aloysia Strange, Sr. M. Philomena Reid, Sr. Veronica McDarby, and Sr. Margaret O’Brien, under the direction of newly-ordained Bishop Michael O’Connor. Mother Frances and the other nuns worked as teachers, and eighteen more convents were established before her death in Manchester, NH, in 1884. [Note: Sisters Strange and Reid may have been relatives of the Stephen and Catherine Maher family of New Haven, as I understand Mother Cecilia to have been.]

Mother Cecelia Maher, courtesy of Mercyworld

Mother Cecilia Maher, daughter of John and Alicia Maher, courtesy of Mercyworld.org

In 1849 Mother Cecilia, along with six other members of the community in Carlow, one from Dublin, and one from Sydney, Australia, left Ireland to work in a New Zealand mission. Mother Cecelia established the Sisters of Mercy in Auckland, built convents and schools throughout the area, was the Superior General of her community and remained deeply involved in New Zealand as a teacher and social worker, caring for the sick and the orphaned until her death in 1878. Her grave is behind Saint Mary’s Convent, which she built in Poonsonby.

According to her Mercy International Association biography, Mother Cecilia (Ellen) had been the daughter of John and Alicia (or Adelaide) Maher, born September, 1799 in Freshford, Kilkenny. Her mother, like Mother Frances’, also died young, and her wealthy father was said to have remarried a woman named Ellen. Joseph Casimir O’Meagher’s data pertaining to the Mahers of Kilkenny aligned with this information in relation to one William Meagher, whose son, John, lived in Freshford (Some Historical Notices of the O’Meaghers of Ikerrin, 1890). O’Meagher, however, noted the name of John’s second wife to have been Jane Harold. Might one or the other, Jane or Ellen, have been a middle name that the woman was known by? Might O’Meagher or the biographer have made a mistake in this first name? Otherwise, the combined children’s information brings the story of Mother Cecilia into further focus. John’s daughter was said to have helped in the rearing of her five step-siblings to whom she was very close, and due to that choice, deferred her entry into the religious order until she was 39 years old.

According to O’Meagher, John Maher’s family was: John Maher (1769-1836), of Freshford, brother of William Maher of Killeany, married Alicia Murray, of Kilkenny, in 1792. Their children: William J. (1800-1875, married Anne Maher, no children); Emanuel Murray (born 1802, died unmarried); Mary, Ellen (a nun), Adelaide, and Michael (who died in America). John Maher married a second time to Jane Harold (Limerick). Their children were Kate, Margaret (a nun), Elizabeth (a nun), Jane (a nun), and Fanny (a nun). [See my posting of August 8, 2011, The Mahers of Kilkenny.]

Four of Mother Cecilia’s step-sisters also became Sisters of Mercy. Jane professed as Sr. Mary Pauline, and both she and Fanny emigrated to America. Eliza, as mentioned above, entered the Carlow convent under the direction of Mother Frances Warde. [Notable here was the existence of an orphanage/school in Hartford, Connecticut, headed up by one Sr. Jane Maher in 1860, and one Frances Maher, born in the early 1800s, who was buried among a family of a different surname in Waterbury's Old Saint Joseph Cemetery. Might they have been the two sisters who went to America? According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, "In 1852 Mother Warde opened houses in Hartford and New Haven to which free schools were attached."]

Since O’Meaghers’ research noted John Maher as the brother of William, of Killeany, it seems likely that Ann Maher Hendricken was also from this family, since her children (explained above) went to live with their uncle William there after the family’s estate had been seized. This would mean that Bishop Hendricken, of Waterbury and Rhode Island, was related to both Mother Cecilia Maher and Mother Frances Warde and their families!

I believe ever more strongly that Adelaide Maher, wife of John Quigley, buried in the main section of Saint Francis Cemetery among the primary early Irish Catholic residents of Naugatuck, was a daughter from John Maher’s first marriage. She, among others, are discussed more fully in my book, From the Old Sod to the Naugatuck Valley: Early Irish Catholics of New Haven County, Connecticut. If I am correct, she would have been Mother Cecilia’s sister! The existence in this small borough of someone related to her would have likely driven her choice to emigrate with her children to this fairly remote place in 1864, apparently after the death of her husband. That connection would likely have been my great great grandfather, Patrick Maher, born in 1811, from Queen’s County, head of the only Maher family in town at that time. He and my great great grandmother, Anne Butler, were said to have been the first Irish Catholics to settle there in 1842.

Since so much family history research has to do with studying surnames that are predominantly male-based, I find it especially satisfying to have found connections among women, who so often become “lost in the crowd” due to the changing of their original surnames through secular or spiritual marriages.

This post is dedicated to the memory of a contemporary Anne Butler, for whose kindness and project-related friendship I am forever grateful. I will never forget our serendipitous meeting one miraculous day at Saint Francis Cemetery during our separate routines of tending the graves. May her soul rest in peace.

Resources:

Carlow County – Ireland Genealogical Projects, Prof. Donal McCartney, Rev. James Maher P.P., 1793-1874; http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~irlcar2/Fr_James_Maher.htm

Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, Maher, Mary Cecelia, 1799-1878; http://www.mercyworld.org/heritage/tmplt-foundressstory.cfm?loadref=180

IrishHeritageTowns.com, Abbeleix, Rev. Mother Mary Frances Ward; http://abbeyleix.irishheritagetowns.com/rev-mother-mary-frances-ward/

Memoirs of the Sisters of Mercy, Pittsburgh, PA; http://archive.org/stream/memoirsofpittsbu00john#page/4/mode/2up

Mercy International Association, Mother Cecelia Maher; http://www.mercyworld.org/heritage/tmplt-foundressstory.cfm?loadref=180

Mercy International Association, Frances Warde, Joan Freney, RSM; http://www.mercyworld.org/heritage/tmplt-foundressstory.cfm?loadref=176

Mercy International Association, Heritage; http://www.mercyworld.org/heritage/landing.cfm?loadref=201

Mercy Parklands Hospital, Our Mercy Story; http://www.mercyparklands.co.nz/?page_id=10

New Advent, Catholic Encyclopedia, Mary Frances Xavier Warde; http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15553a.htm

Quigley Genealogy Page (Maher relatives of Cardinal Cullen); http://homepage.eircom.net/~johnbquigley/Maher040502.htm

Sisters of Mercy, New Zealand, Auckland 1850, A Voyage Made ‘Only For God;’ http://www.sistersofmercy.org.nz/who-we-are/dsp-default.cfm?loadref=6

Some Historical Notices of the O’Meaghers of Ikerrin, Joseph Casimir O’Meagher; http://archive.org/stream/somehistoricaln00meagoog/somehistoricaln00meagoog_djvu.txt

From the Old Sod to the Naugatuck Valley: Early Irish Catholics in New Haven County, Connecticut may be obtained at: Mattatuck Museum, Waterbury, CT; Naugatuck Historical Society, Naugatuck, CT; and Quinnipiac University Bookstore, Mount Carmel Branch, Hamden, CT. In Baltimore it may be purchased from Loyola University Bookstore and The Ivy Bookshop. Online it may be purchased from Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, Amazon UK, and from me via Paypal or by check (P.O. Box 40211, Baltimore, MD, 21212).

Peace to All Who Run or Walk Here

16 Tuesday Apr 2013

Posted by Janet in Early Irish Catholics in Connecticut, Thoughts

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Tags

117th Boston Marathon, Native American wisdom

This sequence of thoughts begins with some excerpts from the introduction to my book:

“When a country seeks to colonize or conquer another, peoples choose or are forced to relocate and put down roots in uncharted territories or in areas that had been established by others before them. These settlers and their descendants come to identify with their new home and feel that their claim over time is as legitimate as anyone else’s. We see this phenomenon being played out today in wars surrounding the concept of a Holy Land, as Muslims, Jews and Christians share the physical origins of their religions within the same relatively small location in the Middle East. If we get back far enough in historical research it becomes possible to discern who was somewhere first. Over centuries and an exponentially increased number of families the issues and claims become much more complex. It is impossible to return to simpler times, when fewer people existed, when implications of social status were part of a lived tradition, and conflicts were between different tribes that had more similarities than differences…”

“One’s spiritual beliefs became the means by which a new class structure in a country could be formed, affecting the quality of life of the native people over multiple centuries. Whomever had the means to survive famine, the ability to rise up against their oppressors or to emigrate was determined in a socioeconomic balance. As for that of the Jews, the Tibetans, Native Americans, African Americans and others, the Irish diaspora was a story that may not be fully known and that some may feel is best to forget. While the Irish, ever adaptable, have moved on and largely put the pain behind them, some of us “across the pond” may feel the need first to know and understand the history in context, then, likewise, to intentionally put it aside, rather than remain entirely ignorant about it.”

“As a pacifist myself, the irony of studying polarizing conflicts, armed rebellions, persecutions and their ethical complexities in Ireland is not lost on me. No matter what one’s own spiritual beliefs (or non-beliefs) and practices may be, if one researches Irish ancestry and attempts to understand the cultural history of those who lived in previous centuries, religious issues and the social status associated with them are inescapable. They also effect the ease with which it may be possible to actually find records…”

My husband and I have begun to watch the remarkable Public Broadcast production, “We Shall Remain.” This television series, available on Netflix, ”shows how Native peoples valiantly resisted expulsion from their lands and fought the extinction of their culture — from the Wampanoags of New England in the 1600s who used their alliance with the English to weaken rival tribes, to the bold new leaders of the 1970s who harnessed the momentum of the civil rights movement to forge a pan-Indian identity.” Having lived for a long while in New Mexico I feel a natural connection to and appreciation for Native American culture. Throughout my study of the history of Ireland, the colonization of America repeatedly came to mind. While watching this series about the Native American tragedy I must continually try to prevent myself from exclaiming out loud, “That’s exactly what happened to the Irish!” (now that I’ve done that once too many times).

All these centuries later, in a global economy interconnected by the Internet, with an unprecedented mingling of heritages, a growing awareness of the need for peace seems to have re-emerged. A rising concern for the welfare of all peoples who inhabit this planet is accompanied by alarm regarding the planet’s own environmental health. Many of us believe the words of the Abenaki Indian, Alainis Obomsawin, who said, “When the last tree is cut, the last fish is caught, and the last river is polluted; when to breathe the air is sickening, you will realize, too late, that wealth is not in bank accounts and that you can’t eat money.” Still, economic greed runs rampant, genetically modified foods threaten all, professional politicos seek to thwart human-centered legislations, and repeated random acts of violence continue to occur. (And sometimes the wrong people are accused and sentenced.)

Yesterday’s explosions at the Boston Marathon killed three people, including an eight year old boy, and severely injured 170 more. It is difficult not to feel helpless as we are continually reminded that we live in a world that seems to have gone insane. Hairstyles and fashions have changed throughout the centuries, but the same problems continually repeat in ever new guises and places.

The lessons of history and the teachings of the wise in every culture urge us to strive for balance between good and evil, between that which is and is not achievable. This balance is at the heart of what it means to be human. We wake each morning amid possibilities of polar opposites in a vast and extenuating gray area that we call Life. What will occur before the day’s end is an open question. Indomitable spirit miraculously seems to replenish itself, arising above each disaster, propelling us collectively forward toward the generation of hope and attempts to create a better future.

Students at Boston College provided a beautiful example of hopeful action as they began today to organize a walk from their campus to stand together in Boston, symbolically completing the 117th Boston Marathon for those who were prevented from doing so yesterday. With a vision of sharing the higher road in solidarity, they wrote, “For anyone who did not get to finish, For anyone who was injured, and For anyone who lost their life…we will walk. We will walk to show that we decide when our marathon ends.”

May they empower each other and themselves as they generate balance in the universe to energetically counter the suffering of those who were brutally attacked during yesterday’s joyful event. Sadly, that was yet another in a long line of attacks against innocents around the globe and throughout the ages. May we all someday know in our hearts and through the expression of our lives, as Black Elk did, that “There can never be peace between nations until there is first known that true peace which is within the souls of men.”

Saint Francis Church Fundraiser

30 Saturday Mar 2013

Posted by Janet in Connecticut Irish, Fundraiser, Ordering From the Old Sod to the Naugatuck Valley, Saint Francis Church

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From the Old Sod to the Naugatuck Valley, Irish Catholic History, Saint Francis Church

Tombstone Detail, Saint Bernard's Cemetery, New Haven, CT ©2011 Janet Maher

In early August, 2012, southern Connecticut was hit by a severely damaging rainstorm. Among the losses was the devastation of the basement and contents of Saint Francis of Assisi Church in Naugatuck. The space until then had been actively used by the parishioners and the Naugatuck community for events of all kinds, including a regular bingo night. Tickets from the bingo players had been one source of weekly revenue for the church. Although the extensive repairs required are gradually being made, it is unlikely that the hall will be usable until at least next September.

Videos of the flooding that destroyed at minimum a new furnance and a piano at Saint Francis Church may be seen here (1. 2).

On April 20 a fundraiser night of comedy will be held for the church at Grand Oak Villa, Watertown. In the silent auction will be a signed copy of my book and three matted artworks from my project about the first Irish Catholic community who began Naugatuck’s Saint Anne’s Church. This mission church on Water Street was the precursor to the present Saint Francis Church.

Our Lady of 1798, Monesterevin, Kildare, Ireland ©2011 Janet Maher (color is not accurate here)

From the semi-monthly masses at Nichol’s Hall, house masses, the first mass in 1857 at Saint Anne’s, through the church’s dedication in 1860 and installation of its first resident priest in 1866, the predominantly Irish parish of Naugatuck grew significantly with every year. By 1877 the need for a larger structure was acted upon with the purchase of property on Church Street. Ground was broken in 1882 for a beautiful Gothic structure with magnificent stained glass windows, many imported from France. The windows “form one of the handsomest collections of art stained glass to be found in any parish in America.”*

The last mass at Saint Annes’ Church was celebrated on August 19, 1883. The building was torn down fifty-six years later. Saint Francis Church, on 318 Church Street, was dedicated in 1890 and has been in continuous operation ever since. The church’s elementary school, begun in 1900, is now combined with the former Saint Hedwig School, which had been in existence since the 1920s.

I encourage all who can to attend and support the Saint Francis Church fundraiser on April 20!

Saint Brigid's Tree, Kildare, Ireland ©2011 Janet Maher (color is not accurate here)

[From the Old Sod to the Naugatuck Valley: Early Irish Catholics in New Haven County, Connecticut may be purchased in Connecticut at the Naugatuck Historical Society, the Mattatuck Museum and Quinnipiac University (Mount Carmel branch). In Baltimore it may be purchased at Loyola University Maryland and The Ivy Bookshop. Online it may be purchased from Amazon.com, Amazon UK, Barnes and Nobel, and from me via Paypal or by check (P.O. Box 40211, Baltimore, MD, 21212).]

*Souvenir of the Dedication of Saint Francis Church, Naugatuck, Conn., November 30th 1890, Waterbury, Conn.: Malone & Cooley, Printers, 1890, pg. 16.

Happy Easter and Happy Spring to all!

Who You Are is Where You Come From

09 Saturday Mar 2013

Posted by Janet in Early Irish Catholics in Connecticut, Exhibition, Thoughts

≈ 12 Comments

Tags

Early Irish History, From the Old Sod to the Naugatuck Valley, New Haven County Connecticut

Coming Into Ireland, 2011

Felicity Hayes-McCoy’s memoir, The House on an Irish Hillside, contains such poetic chapter headings as this one, and “Enough is Plenty,” “Nothing is Unimportant,” “Dancing Through Darkness,” and “The Music of What Happens.” Each of these phrases resonate for me. For most of my life I’ve been fascinated in probing where I came from, having always felt my present reality to be a great mystery. I intentionally left what I knew as home, ran as far as possible within my limited means, and eventually delved deeply into historic roots trying to truly find a literal and metaphoric right place.

Hayes-McCoy explained the importance of identity in Ireland. “When people meet,” she wrote, “they try to place each other and they’re not happy till they find links that join their story to yours. They want to know where you come from. If they can, they’ll find they’re related to you. But they’ll settle for knowing you were born a couple of roads from their mother’s cousin, or that you use the same broadband provider, or your best friend owns a a caravan near a beach where they once caught a cold.” Some part of me continually longs for this kind of community and mourns the impossibility of being in touch with those who make up the web of my emotional life, flung far between states and countries. I like to believe in reincarnation in order to trust that one day my spirit will know a simpler, more rooted way of existence, somewhere beautiful and slow-moving.

My early dreams of being a gardener in Vermont making my living supplying restaurants or having one of my own disappeared into a reality where decades later I avoid cooking at all. Perhaps we are made up of opposite tendencies or are forced into extreme contrasts in order to continue to grow. Maybe some other incarnation of mine knew that country life. Certainly my many Irish ancestors did. This incarnation, however, began with a different set of conditions. Maybe it’s in order to keep the big game moving forward that different entities live out the evolving stages, bringing the lessons from each into the next one. I may garden now, but only as a hobby and without real time for it, though the yearning to work in the land remains from many generations and incarnations past.

The journey of researching ancestry and finding a bridge between Connecticut and Ireland was fascinating for me and, thankfully, for others in Connecticut, Ireland and Australia. Finding the identities of so many interrelated individuals and placing them in time and in other countries kept my brain firing on many levels for half a dozen years. In another time this quest would not have needed to stop. It might have been the role that I played in the community. Here, in America, however, it did have to end. A book is out, a show is up, but it’s the big next thing that others anticipate — the artwork expected to return that must make up for all the time I spent wandering elsewhere. Much hangs on the fact that it must also be good.

Tolkien believed that not all who wander are lost, and so do I. The wandering is the best part! I resist arriving, especially when that simply leads to the questions, so, where will you go now, what will you do? I’d like to be still. I’d like to write another book, the one I already have going on the back burner. I’d like to find a better way to bring these stories to light and keep expanding the web of connections. I don’t want to pack my Irish library away and store my boxes of notes and folders. I’m not ready for it all to be over. But I am ready for the music of what happens when time opens up this summer.

Something has ended and something else must begin. What to keep, to reference, to enlarge, to layer, how to arrange it in the present is all about choice. I am lucky to have that. The layers of where I come from have become clear. That I have these hands, this mind, and a certain range of skills has also been expanded. This feels a bit like graduating, having earned an invisible degree. Like my students I’ll venture out to discover what lies ahead, bringing all of my recent experience into the foundation. Perhaps when I leave Ireland after another visit this summer I will not cry. Maybe it now and will always also belong to me.

From the Old Sod to the Naugatuck Valley – Janet Maher Exhibition

03 Sunday Mar 2013

Posted by Janet in Book Signing, Early Irish Catholics in Connecticut, Exhibition, Pilgrimage

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Tags

American Mahers, Ancient Ireland, Baltimore, Connecticut, Creative Alliance, Early Irish History, Irish Catholic History, Irish in Connecticut, Irish in the Civil War, Meagher, New Haven County Connecticut

Thank you to all who came out for the book signing/opening Friday night! I was so happy about the turnout and for the experience of working with Ade Tugbiyele, who so generously did the hanging of the work. Please spread the word that the show will be up and the book available at the Creative Alliance, Baltimore, through March 23. Titles are listed below; pigment prints (2013) on Hahnamuhle Photo Rag Matte paper, R1800 Epson printer, sizes are of images. Canvas and wood pieces priced separately. Our governor and his Irish band will be playing there next weekend and we’ll be back for that. Happy Saint Patrick’s Day to all!

Wall #1, Book and Selected Ireland Photographs

Saint Brigid’s Tree, Kildare, 9 ^1/8″ x 12 ^1/8″
Ballinakill Cemetery, Laois, 7 ^7/8″ x 9 ^1/4″
Saint Patrick, Maynooth, 11 ^3/8″ x 8 ^5/8″
Rebel Monument, Shronell Cemetery, Tipperary, 13″ x 10 ^1/2″
Shronell Cemetery, Tipperary, 9 ^1/4″ x 13″
Tullaroan Cemetery, Kilkenny, 8 ^11/16″ x 11 ^1/8″
Glenadlough Cemetery, Wicklow, 8 ^5/8″ x 10 ^15/16″
Our Lady of 1798, Monasterevin, 13 ^3/8″ x 8 ^9/16″
Dunamase Castle Ruin, Laois, 8 ^15/16″ x 11 ^7/8″
Black Abbey, Kilkenny, 9 ^1/16″ x 11 ^5/8″
Donaghmore Workhouse, Laois, 9 ^7/8″ x 15 ^1/2″
Wall of Legends, Tipperary, 8 ^5/8″ x 8 ^11/16″
McCarthy’s Grave, Saint Patrick Cemetery, Thurles, Tipperary, 9 ^1/4″ x 11 ^11/16″

Wall #2 People Photos

Mystery Child, 8 ^14/16″ x 8 ^3/4″
Alice Whalen and Friends, 10 ^1/8″ x 11 ^3/16″
Frank’s Hack, 5 ^{7/ 16″} x 16 ^1/2″
Dennis Whalen and Friends, 10″ x 16 ^1/16″
Woolen Mill, Naugatuck, ca. 1870, 10 ^1/8″ x 15 ^7/8″
Three Women, 8 ^1/2″ x 10 ^7/16″
Katherine and Eliza Maher, ca. 1860, 11″ x 8″
Mystery Relatives, 13″ x 9 ^1/4″
Joseph Martin and Grandfathers, 7 ^1/8″ x 12 ^3/8″
Comrades, 8 ^1/4″ x 11 ^5/8″
Cousins, 8 ^1/4″ x 11 ^9/16″
Eliza, 9 ^7/16″ x 12 ^3/8″
The Boys, Naugatuck, 9 ^1/4″ x 13 ^3/8″
Fuel Ledger, 9″ x 12 ^15/16″
Actor, 8 ^13/16″ x 15 ^7/16″

Mixed media collage paintings; pigment prints w/colored pencil and/or paint on wood or canvas, painted edges, sealed with gel medium

Weavers #2, 2011, 8″ diameter
Cousins, 2009, 8″ diameter
Irregulars #6, 2009, 8″ diameter
Gem Theatre, 2010, 10″ diameter
Debating Team, 2009, 8″ diameter
Irregulars #2, 2009, 12″ x 9″ oval
Celebration, 2009, 10″ diameter
Imagined Ancestors #5, 2011, 8″ diameter
Lynch’s Farm #2, 2010, 8″ diameter
Weavers, 2010, 8″ diameter

Second half of wall #3, Connecticut

Fahy Grave, Saint Francis Cemetery, Naugatuck, 11 ^3/4″ x 8 ^11/16″
Saint Francis Cemetery, Naugatuck, Section H, 8 ^3/16″ x 12 ^3/8″
Veterans’ Monument, Saint Bernard Cemetery, New Haven, 10 ^1/4″ x 11 ^1/8″
Irish Priests’ Graves, Saint Mary’s Cemetery, Ansonia, 13″ x 8 ^15/16″
Visitation, 10 ^3/4″ x 10 ^1/4″
Harp, Tombstone Detail, Saint Bernard Cemetery, New Haven, 9 ^1/16″ x 10″
Grand Army of the Republic Medalion, Saint Francis Cemetery, Naugatuck, 10 ^1/8″ x 8 ^5/8″
Bronson Stones, Library Park Wall, Waterbury, 7 ^3/4″ x 11 ^3/4″

Ade and me at opening, Creative Alliance, Baltimore, MD

An Exhibition of Digital Prints in the Month of Saint Patrick’s Day!

09 Saturday Feb 2013

Posted by Janet in Book Signing, Early Irish Catholics in Connecticut, Exhibition, Ordering From the Old Sod to the Naugatuck Valley

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arts, Irish Catholic History, Irish in Connecticut, Janet Maher Exhibition, Naugatuck Connecticut

Photography made me wonder deeply about our family’s motley archive that had survived more than a century. As a result, it drove me to an extreme side turn in my work as an artist. Almost seven years ago I chose to allow a pursuit in scholarly and genealogical study take precedence over my studio work. The cumulative effort resulted in a book, From the Old Sod to the Naugatuck Valley: Early Irish Catholics of New Haven County, Connecticut.

To make and work with photographs was not new to me. This has factored in myriad ways into my artwork for decades. But to remain literal and to study photographs as if they would eventually begin to speak aloud to me in revelation was a different approach. Over time many images did overtly reveal themselves, and some seemed to serve as helpmates, guiding and supporting my research. The identities of a few individuals depicted in our family albums have remained elusive, although I know their visages by heart. The entire collection has become significant to me, and I hold out the hope that I may yet identify more.

I am currently preparing to show my favorite images from this project at Amalie Rothschild Gallery, Creative Alliance, Baltimore, Maryland, from March 1 to 23. The opening reception, Friday night, March 1, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., will also be a book signing. I welcome all who might be near enough to drop by. During this show my book will be available for $60.

When a body of artwork wraps itself up, it is natural for an artist to review it somewhat dispassionately in order to attempt to determine which pieces are the strongest and gauge the success of the whole. This project produced more distinct images than I can possibly count. Beyond the existence of so many new and preserved photographs was added the exponential capacity for digital altering of any one source and for the saving of each in multiple ways.

Some of these works were renewed from originals that had almost entirely disappeared from their supports. Some depict tombstones from several Connecticut and Ireland cemeteries. Most served as illustrations for the content of my book. For individual talks at the Naugatuck Historical Society and the Mattatuck Museum I included particular ones in Power Point presentations. Throughout most of this project I have remained on the side of the archivist and chronicler. When I have altered images it has been done with a reverence that limited my ability to be too adventurous in the service of art, although I feel that some images have succeeded in transcending illustration.

For the Creative Alliance show I have chosen what I consider to be the most artful images, aiming to present them as the final statement of this project. It remains to be seen how many will be included after the on-site installation process in two weeks. The result, no doubt, will be as much a surprise to me as to any other viewer. I hope the show will be happily received by all.

St Bridget reaching across the generations

09 Saturday Feb 2013

Posted by Janet in Uncategorized

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Reblogged from A SILVER VOICE FROM IRELAND:

My last post was in celebration of the Feast of St Bridget, (or Brigid, Brigit, Brighid, Bríd, Bride). Bridget is known as 'Mary of the Gael' and also as a pre-Christian pagan goddess.

I am very fortunate to know Dr Louise Nugent, a friend of family, who was awarded a Ph.D for her study of the archaeology of Medieval Pilgrimage in Ireland.

Thank You

23 Sunday Dec 2012

Posted by Janet in Book Review, Connecticut Irish, New Haven Irish Catholic Immigrants

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From the Old Sod to the Naugatuck Valley

With this final post for 2012 I wish relaxing, soul-nourishing holidays and peace in the new year for all. Thank you to everyone who purchased my book, wrote about it, attended my talks and signings, sent me letters, made comments on and became followers of my blog. I am grateful to you all!

John O’Donohue wrote that the air around us is filled with the souls of all who have left the earthly plane before us. There are times that I sense this link with the deep past, but I also sense the cosmos as being filled with a web of connections invisibly darting about, like a psychic interpersonal internet.

Perhaps that energy from “the other side” plays a role in making disparate factors align, piercing its way through time and space to leave its mark on our lives. We wander through our daily realities, falling forward, and once in a while we’re redirected as if someone had been watching, seeing us flounder, and decided to shoot some new insight or spotlight out to guide our way. We wake into a new awareness or are steadied along. That strangers can become important members of our present continues to strike me as miraculous. It reminds me how vast and extensive a single life is and what actually matters in the long run.

Physical remembrances of my great great Aunt Josephine arrived not long after meeting a dear and formerly unknown relative. A silver serving bowl from 1847, silver bread plate and butter knife, were among things that Josephine and her niece had used and saved throughout the decades of their lives. “Auntie’s” Beleek porcelain pitcher and the Maher pin that she always wore became my treasures too. These were gifts I could never have imagined existed, much less having come into my own presence. Sequences of small miracles built upon each other and led to the discovering of people I was meant to know before I die. The gifts of the people themselves extended forward as if manifesting through myriad unexpected connections from a time long before us that now enfolds us.

Recently I was surprised with a gift from someone who shares my roots in Connecticut’s Naugatuck Valley. I am so grateful to Charles, a reader of my book, who took the time not only to send me a beautiful letter, but to make me an elegant framed tinwork that he had carefully punched with the Maher motto. He has allowed me to include his words here:

“Please accept the enclosed as a thank you for the effort you expended for your readers. I am actually into my second reading. It seems as though you had me in mind as you wrote, since I arrived “on the scene” just at the end of your chronology. Every child grows hearing stories and references to people with whom they have no personal contact although the family obviously exhibits great reverence and respect. For me two such people were Josephine Maher and Peter J. Foley.

These two were the stuff of legends in my family. A week did not pass without a sentence prefaced with “Miss Maher always said” or “Pete Foley would do it this way” being pointed in my direction as a guidepost for life. As time when on I surely integrated a lot of what I heard but the sources dimmed, mixed in with the volume of other influencing events. When I read your book, Josephine Maher and Pete Foley were back and with them memories which I had long ago stored on a distant back shelf of my mind…”

I thank Charles again for his generosity, which means so much to me. The journey I’ve been on has renewed my appreciation for my home town area and its history that had long been lost to me. I am eternally grateful for all the people from this place who have influenced and shaped me in life, and for all the recent others whom I have been lucky enough to meet both virtually and in real time through the course of this project. That many of these new friends are now part of my current life is the greatest gift.

I’ve often wished that my friends in New England, New Mexico, Maryland and other areas could all be in the same place at the same time and that it wasn’t so difficult to keep in touch due to the busyness of our lives. The thought of a psychic network reassures me that we remain interconnected nonetheless as our thoughts and wishes for each other reach across the miles and throughout time.

May the new year deepen and sustain vital emotional connections for all and bring moments of joy and renewing stillness, healing for those who have suffered great losses this year, and blessings wherever they are needed.

Janet

Studying Stones

09 Sunday Dec 2012

Posted by Janet in Connecticut Irish, Early Irish Catholics in Connecticut, History, New Haven Irish Catholic Immigrants, Ordering From the Old Sod to the Naugatuck Valley, Tombstone Transcriptions

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Connecticut, Early Irish History, Irish in Connecticut, Irish in the Civil War, Naugatuck Connecticut, New Haven County Connecticut, Saint Francis Cemetery

©1997 Janet Maher, Naugatuck, Connecticut

For those doing family history research it is particularly helpful (and gratifying) to find the grave of someone whose life you have been studying. Research may, thankfully, lead one to the correct cemetery where an official government soldier or sailor’s stone may be found. Someone killed in a war may have been buried in the state where he died. Those who survived a war were usually buried where they later settled and managed to continue on with their lives. Some with notable distinction in American wars were buried in the United States’ Arlington Cemetery. In Ireland, noted individuals are buried in Dublin’s Glasnevin Cemetery.

In some instances veterans who could have been included in either of these cemeteries might, instead, have been buried with family. One of The Forgotten Ten, Irishman Patrick Maher, of Limerick, who was convicted of helping to rescue Sean Hogan in 1921, was one of these. He was among the ten executed IRA Volunteers who had been buried in the grounds of Mountjoy Prison since Ireland’s final war for independence from Great Britain. In 2001 these men were exhumed and honored with a public motorcade-led funeral and the reburial of nine of them in Glasnevin Cemetery. Maher was brought home to his family’s plot in Limerick. The nine men buried at Glasnevin were Kevin Barry, Thomas Whelan, Patrick Moran, Frank Flood, Patrick Doyle, Bernard Ryan, Thomas Bryan, Thomas Traynor and Edmond Foley.

Since data is readily available about veterans, it becomes an important means of learning about some individuals. Those who may not wish to study war or issues about religion may nonetheless need to delve into these aspects of someone’s life. Nineteenth century or earlier “brick walls” in Irish family history research might well have had something to do with religious conflict that led to death or emigration, and emigration often went hand in hand with serving in the military in some regard.

There is a great deal of interest in the phenomenon of the overly large number Irish who served in the American Civil War. Irishman Damian Shiels has been researching this topic for many years and maintaining an excellent blog (see posting below). He has announced that he will soon be publishing a book on the subject, titled after his blog, Irish In the American Civil War. In Connecticut, Bob Larkin has a special Facebook site about the notable Ninth Regiment Connecticut Volunteers in the Civil War, also worth the visit for those interested.

When I studied the graves of Saint Francis Cemetery in Naugatuck, Connecticut, I wondered if the soldiers or the native Irish buried there might have been individuals sought currently by families out of town. Might a relative not be aware of their person’s final resting place in this small borough? Complete transcriptions and many photographs from this cemetery are included in my book, From the Old Sod to the Naugatuck Valley: Early Irish Catholics of New Haven County, Connecticut. For this posting I have excerpted the names of those veterans and native Irish whose graves are in this cemetery:

Naugatuck Veterans in Saint Francis Cemetery

Flags are replaced each year on known veteran graves in Saint Francis Cemetery, although no list exists for the original set of names. Those whose tombstones cited their war involvement included:

James Adamson, Civil War, Co. B, 20th Regt., Connecticut Volunteers
George T. Anderson, WW I, EM3C, U.S. Navy
Edmund P. Belletti, WW II, Cpl., U.S. Army Air Corps
Frank B. Buckmiller, WW II, M Sgt., U.S. Army
James J. Claffey, WW I, Co. B, 113th Inf.
John P. Coen, Civil War, Co. F, 9th Regiment, Connecticut Volunteers
Michael Coen, Civil War, Co. K, 20th Regiment, Connecticut Volunteers
Lionell H. Cote, WW II, S2, U.S. Navy
Daniel Cullinane, Grand Army of the Republic insignia
James R. Dalton, WWII, Sgt., Field Artillery Rep. Dep.
John R. Deegan, WW II, PFC, U.S. Army
William M. Dolan, WW I,1st Cook, U. S. Army
James Duffin, Civil War, Co. D, 158 Inf., New York Volunteers
Thomas Ford, Civil War, Co. H, 15th Regiment, Connecticut Volunteers
Michael Fruin, Civil War, Co. H,15th Regiment, Connecticut Volunteers
Thomas P. Harper, WW I, 152D Dep. Brig.
Horace E. Jones, Civil War, Co. H, Second Connecticut Volunteers, Heavy Artillery
Arthur Keefe, Civil War, Co. E 2 Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteers
Bernard J. Leahy, WW II, RDSN, U.S. Navy
Thomas Maher, Civil War, Co. E, U.S. Artillery
John A. Martin, WW I, U.S. Navy
John William McCarthy, WW I, MM1, U.S. Navy
Terrence McLaughlin, WW I., Co K, 53rd Inf.
William J. Neary, Jr., WW I
John O’Donnell, Civil War, Co. E [7th], Connecticut Volunteers
James Thomas Patterson, WW II, Maj., U.S. Marine Corps.
Peter A. Reilly, WW I, 301st M.T. Co.
Patrick Ruth, Civil War, Capt., Co. B8, Connecticut Volunteers I

Irish Citations in Saint Francis Cemetery

While there are many more native Irish buried in Saint Francis Cemetery than those whose tombstones cite their original home, these are the stones that do:

From County Cork: James Walsh
From County Kerry: James Carroll, Cornelius Shea
From County Kilkenny: Nicholas Brennan, John Cuddy, Roland Dalton, John Doolan, Martin Gibbons [likely], Julia Lannen, Patrick McCarthy, William Purcell, Charles Talbot
From County Laois: Michael Coen (elder), Eliza Grant, Matthew Maher
From County Leitrim: Elizabeth Mulvey, Cornelius Splann
From County Limerick: Margaret Burke, Mary Hanley, Julia Quirk, Robert Reardon
From County Meath: Ann Murray
From County Monaghan: Michael Martin
From County Tipperary: William Fruin, Mary Kiely, James Kirwin, William Powers, Maurice Quinlan
From County Waterford: Johannah Foley

Looking for a Christmas present for someone interested in Irish history, Connecticut Irish, New Haven County, Waterbury and/or Naugatuck? My book may be obtained locally at: Mattatuck Museum, Waterbury, CT; Naugatuck Historical Society, Naugatuck, CT; and Quinnipiac University Bookstore, Mount Carmel Branch, Hamden, CT. Online it may be purchased from Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, and from me via Paypal or by check (P.O. Box 40211, Baltimore, MD, 21212).

I wish everyone much happiness throughout the holiday season and offer prayers for peace throughout the world in the new year!

Irish Relief Fund: The Remarkable Contribution of Union Soldiers & Sailors, Part 1

08 Saturday Dec 2012

Posted by Janet in Uncategorized

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Reblogged from Irish in the American Civil War:

In 1863, Ireland was on the brink of famine. Poor harvests for three consecutive years had left many destitute, and disaster loomed. In response to the threat, relief committees that had previously been established to channel funds to assist the worst afflicted areas were reactivated. The large Irish population in the United States, many of whom were Famine victims themselves, were not to be found wanting in coming to the assistance of those at home.

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~ Ancestry Maher/Meagher/Meachair

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Peace to All Who Run or Walk Here

Saint Francis Church Fundraiser

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From the Old Sod to the Naugatuck Valley – Janet Maher Exhibition

An Exhibition of Digital Prints in the Month of Saint Patrick’s Day!

St Bridget reaching across the generations

Thank You

Studying Stones

Irish Relief Fund: The Remarkable Contribution of Union Soldiers & Sailors, Part 1

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