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Category Archives: Early Irish Catholics in Connecticut

Happy Saint Patrick’s Day, 2019!

17 Sunday Mar 2019

Posted by Janet Maher in Book Excerpt, Early Irish Catholics in Connecticut, Irish in Waterbury, Waterbury Irish: From the Emerald Isle to the Brass City

≈ 13 Comments

ManzoPhotoWaterburyIrish.sm.grn

In this time of world strife, let us remember the open hearts and hospitality of our Irish ancestors, who had initially been treated as poorly as all non-WASP immigrants that arrived in America in the early centuries. Let us not forget that the Native and Indigenous tribes had populated the world continents before colonization against their will and their genocides, much as the Irish had been disenfranchised of their ancient ancestral homelands through the process of religious discrimination. Even in Waterbury, Connecticut, the topic of my 2015 publication, Waterbury Irish: From the Emerald Isle to the Brass City, the arrival of Italians and other nationalities had been historically met with discrimination, including by the Irish.

My childhood friend, Dave Manzo, contributed this important photograph to Waterbury Irish that represents an evolved time when the Irish and Italians got along so well that Irish-Italian marriages had become quite common. Dave’s dad, of Italian descent, is included in the photo riding in a horse-drawn coach full of his Irish friends at a Saint Patrick’s Day parade circa 1937. Not only could Mr. Manzo quickly list every county in Ireland, but his very best life-long friend was Irish — the owner of Waterbury’s former Wacki Grill.

As I concluded in Waterbury Irish, “Irishness remains in Waterbury like the currents that flow beneath its Green, blended through the blood streams of many generations. Waterbury’s heart beats strongly in a community that continues to change and rebuild itself from hopes, dreams and hard work. May the stories continue, the dreams be realized and people of every nationality thrive there.”

I still have paperback copies of the first edition of Waterbury Irish, should anyone wish to purchase one. You can contact me through my website (troll safely typed here — janetmaher dot com), or please leave a comment, all of which are first approved by me before they are posted here.

All good wishes on this day and always, with special prayers on behalf of those suffering persecution of all kinds in New Zealand, North America and throughout this endangered planet.

©2019 Janet Maher / Sinéad Ni Mheachair

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Updates: Sean Ross, The Quakers and Irish Famine Relief

05 Monday Sep 2016

Posted by Janet Maher in Art in Ireland, Connecticut Irish, Early Irish Catholics in Connecticut, New Haven Irish Catholic Immigrants

≈ 1 Comment

• My friend, Caitriona, tells me that the Heritage Festival honoring the history of Sean Ross in Roscrea, Tipperary, was a success! The Midland Tribune published three photographs with an article in their section, Roscrea News (though the article appears not to be linked online). It explained, “The cradle of Christianity was honored at Sean Ross, now known as St. Annes, with a prayer service at the medieval abbey and a comprehensive presentation by George Cunningham on the heritage of Sean Ross demesne…During the presentation Caitriona Meagher showed the new O’Meachair crown, symbol of the chieftainship of the clan…young Gavin Meagher from Clonan was persuaded to show off the crown. Immediately afterwards Demesne Manager Barry Noyce and conservation architect Ivor McElveen explained the conservation process on the medieval ruins.”

Perhaps I’ll be able to add a photo from the event at a later date. A painting of Sean Ross Abbey by artist Caoimhe Arrigan may be found here.

• Bill Duffney has received great pre-talk coverage in Waterbury’s Republican-American. He was quoted as saying, “The real evil with which we have to contend…is not the physical evil of the famine but the moral evil of the selfish, perverse and turbulent character of the people [who were responsible for it].” The starvation, he said, was “an effective mechanism for reducing surplus population.”

Many prefer to think of Ireland’s 1845-1852 years as the “Great Hunger” rather than the more commonly used, “Famine.” Duffney explained, “The word famine is a misnomer because it wasn’t really a famine; it was actually politically imposed starvation, caused by the tenacious adherence to the economic theory of laissez-faire…It’s borderline genocide.”

Describing Bill’s lecture at 4 p.m. this Thursday at Quinnipiac University, Hamden, Connecticut, the article noted efforts of the prosperous merchant and shipbuilding Quakers in Ireland to spearhead the setting up of soup kitchens and donating fishing nets to help fishermen resume their work. “Quaker William Bennett moved to create more diverse farming methods [apart from potato crops, which were affiliated with disease], purchasing vegetable seeds that he distributed in Counties Mayo and Donegal. Later, Quakers helped to distribute a much larger government donation of seeds to 40 thousand small holders and helped to plant 9.6 thousand acres.”

Duffney’s lecture will feature information from letters he has collected for the past ten years. “Among the letters he found was a donation from Waterbury, [Connecticut] which arrived in New York’s Quaker Relief Committee on March 4, 1847. The relief committee in Waterbury donated $460 on May 4, 1847, at a time when the average annual income was $600 to $800, Duffney said. Northfield, population 250, sent in $249 in 1847.”

(See Quakers in the World.)
©2016 Janet Maher / Sinéad Ni Mheachair

Immigrant Prejudice in America

17 Sunday Apr 2016

Posted by Janet Maher in Connecticut Irish, Early Irish Catholics in Connecticut, Waterbury Irish: From the Emerald Isle to the Brass City

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Irish in Connecticut

Those who have enjoyed Waterbury Irish: From the Emerald Isle to the Brass City, will likely also enjoy the blog of Silas Bronson Library Director, Raechel Guest. Her recent essays on prejudice in nineteenth century Connecticut may be found from this link to her Waterbury Thoughts. Guest is deeply immersed in Connecticut history, with a focus upon Waterbury. I have been very impressed with her work.

In June I will be in Ireland on an artist residency. I hope that it will be possible to return attention to this blog when there is new excitement and topics to share here. Thank you to all who continue to find me, subscribe and purchase my recent book.

©2016 Janet Maher / Sinéad Ni Mheachair

Book Launches in Waterbury, Connecticut – Coming Soon!

28 Monday Sep 2015

Posted by Janet Maher in Connecticut Irish, Early Irish Catholics in Connecticut

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

9th Connecticut Infantry, American Mahers, AmericanCivilWar, Ancient Ireland, Book Signing

©2014 Janet Maher, Waterbury Civil War Monument

©2014 Janet Maher, Waterbury Civil War Monument

Waterbury Irish: From the Emerald Isle to the Brass City will be officially launched on Thursday, October 15, 6 p.m. at the Mattatuck Museum, Waterbury, Connecticut! I am currently preparing a Power Point of key images for the talk, and John Wiehn will join me in presenting some of the material included in the text.

Members of the Mattatuck will be admitted free. Otherwise there will be a charge of $7 at the door for adults, $6 for seniors. Many of the individuals whose family stories gave life to this work will be in attendance, and we all expect to have a “grand” time! After the event, we plan to visit The Shamrock Grill, where the owner has generously agreed to offer a 10% discount on food and drink to those who attended the talk and signing–and 20% for those who purchased the book at the Mattatuck!

On Saturday, the 17th, 10:30 a.m., the launch continues with a presentation and signing at the Silas Bronson Library. At 5 p.m. that day, the Waterbury Barnes & Noble will also host a signing. Looking forward to seeing everyone at whichever event is possible to attend, and to collectively celebrate a story that deserved to be told about this important place in history! Thank you, over and again, to all who helped to make this book a reality–and to all who will support the massive amount of work that went into producing it by purchasing a copy! Sláinte!

©2015 Janet Maher / Sinéad Ni Mheachair

All Rights Reserved

Waterbury Irish, Available for Order!

05 Saturday Sep 2015

Posted by Janet Maher in Book Signing, Connecticut Irish, Early Irish Catholics in Connecticut, Irish in Waterbury, New Haven Irish Catholic Immigrants, Old Saint Joseph Cemetery, Waterbury

≈ 1 Comment

Waterbury Irish Cover, History Press, 2015

Waterbury Irish Cover, History Press, 2015

Hooray! Waterbury Irish: From the Emerald Isle to the Brass City may be purchased directly from me through Etsy! There you will also find the book that led up to this one (From the Old Sod to the Naugatuck Valley), and will have the option of purchasing them together at a discount. Shipping prices will be determined during the Etsy check-out. Credit cards, debit cards and Etsy gift cards are accepted. In person, cash and checks are possible and there will be a way to pay with credit cards then without shipping added. Click “Custom” or email me if you would like the book signed for a particular person. For those who are near Connecticut, please note that book release events are scheduled in Waterbury for October and November. It would be wonderful to see you!

Thursday, October 15, Mattatuck Museum, 6 p.m. (PPT talk, signing)
Saturday, October 17, Silas Bronson Library, 10:30 a.m. (PPT talk, signing)
Saturday, October 17, Barnes & Noble Bookstore, 5 p.m.-ish
Saturday, November 14, John Bale Book Company, (2-3 p.m. discussion following High Tea at noon)

As an Etsy listing, the term “hand-made” is necessary. Although this is a mass-market book, much hand-work went into its production, beginning with a great deal of photo restoration and preparation. The book was researched and written by me, with content assistance from John Wiehn and several additional contributors. It includes six of my original photographs, and many more that were not included may eventually find their way to the Etsy shop to be available as digital images, suitable for framing.

When I began seriously to do family history research in 2006 my goal was to find the wave migration link between the earliest Irish families who entered the Greater Waterbury area and their correct location in Ireland. Since physical records in the Waterbury and Naugatuck city halls do not go back to the decades that I needed, I began to study entire communities and search all available records sideways, with a deep focus upon surnames that applied to my extended lines. This, my second book, completes the project. I hope it will serve as a helpful foundation for others who have Irish ancestral connections to the Greater Waterbury and New Haven County regions of Connecticut.

The History Press explained, “The hard work of nineteenth-century Irish immigrants in Waterbury helped place the city on the map as the Brass Capital of the World. In the early years of immigration, Irish Catholics held Mass in secret, but eventually beautiful churches were built, attracting the most revered clergy in Connecticut. Soon Irish and Irish Americans established themselves as city leaders and professionals in the community. Dr. Charles A. Monagan was a founding member of St. Mary’s Hospital, while his son John later became mayor. Some achieved fame through their excellence in sports, such as Roger Connor, who held a long-standing record for career home runs until it was broken by Babe Ruth. Detailed research and oral histories from living descendants bring to light the remarkable Waterbury Irish legacy.”

Please spread the word! http://www.etsy.com/shop/ConnecticutIrish/

 

©2015 Janet Maher / Sinéad Ni Mheachair

All Rights Reserved

Press Release for Waterbury Irish!

28 Tuesday Jul 2015

Posted by Janet Maher in Book Excerpt, Book Signing, Early Irish Catholics in Connecticut, Irish in Waterbury, Old Saint Joseph Cemetery, Waterbury

≈ 2 Comments

Published by the History Press

Coming Soon!

Waterbury Irish!

14 Sunday Jun 2015

Posted by Janet Maher in Connecticut Irish, Early Irish Catholics in Connecticut, Irish in Waterbury, New Haven Irish Catholic Immigrants, Uncategorized, Waterbury

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Early Irish History, Irish Catholic History, Irish in Connecticut, New Haven County Connecticut, Waterbury Irish

©2015 Janet Maher, Home Ec, photograph from personal collection

©2015 Janet Maher, Home Ec, photograph from personal collection

Waterbury Irish: From the Emerald Isle to the Brass City is scheduled to be published by the History Press in the first week of September! More details will appear, as well as a link to a Facebook page, in upcoming weeks. For those who are within driving distance to New Haven, Connecticut, please come to my talk-with-images on Tuesday night, June 16 for the Irish History Round Table at 7:30 p.m., Knights of Saint Patrick Hall, 1533 State Street, New Haven.

©2015 Janet Maher / Sinéad Ni Mheachair

All Rights Reserved

Happy Thanksgiving, and a New Blog

26 Wednesday Nov 2014

Posted by Janet Maher in Connecticut, Connecticut Irish, Early Irish Catholics in Connecticut, Ireland, Irish in Waterbury

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

Early Irish History, From the Old Sod to the Naugatuck Valley, Irish in Connecticut, Janet Maher, John Wiehn, Waterbury Irish

Love Letter ©2014 Janet Maher

Woolen Mill# 10: Love Letter ©2014 Janet Maher

It’s hard to believe that I have not written here since June of this year, and for that I apologize. I do still intend to complete the series of essays about my magical pilgrimage to Ireland, however, the rest of my life intervened and I had to shift gears.  For now, those who wish to continue to read my posts, please check out a new blog that I have just begun. It’s called “Trusting the Process: Getting There From Here,” and I hope it will be a means through which I can address more topics. Ireland is still at the top of my list and, especially so as I try to complete a new book by the end of the year. This one, to be titled, Waterbury Irish: From the Emerald Isle to the Brass City,” is in collaboration with a friend I made years back while researching “From the Old Sod to the Naugatuck Valley.” John Wiehn is the current president of Connecticut’s Ancient Order of Hibernians and is the director of the Prospect Library. With Mark Heiss, he produced the postcard series book, Waterbury, 1890-1930. He has been very helpful in finding some great old photographs and in gathering info on some of the topics that will be contained in Waterbury Irish, which should be published next May by the History Press. This book will not only condense and complete the work of “From the Old Sod,” but it will resurrect a history of Waterbury, Connecticut that has long been eclipsed and relatively few people recall or perhaps even know about. In my recent art exhibition I included the above image which is the last of a series from my earlier Naugatuck focus. This one evolved into what I felt to be a love letter to the ending of a project and an emotional nod to my hometown and my past.

Happy Thanksgiving to all, and thank you for all the attention you have paid this blog since it began in 2011!

©2014 Janet Maher / Sinéad Ni Mheachair

All Rights Reserved

Pilgrimage to Ireland, Part 1

30 Friday May 2014

Posted by Janet Maher in Early Irish Catholics in Connecticut, Mahers, Meaghers

≈ 10 Comments

Tags

Ancient Ireland, From the Old Sod to the Naugatuck Valley, Irish pilgrimage, Patrick Maher

©2014 Janet Maher, Leaving Ireland #1, Shannon Airport

©2014 Janet Maher, Leaving Ireland #1, Shannon Airport

I don’t know how the film “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” would have affected me if I had not seen it upon my return flight from Ireland. It seemed, however, to be somehow perfectly symbolic in that context. I did not cry this time as the plane rose into the air toward home, but I did at the end of the film, and smiled broadly at many points along the way. Thank you for the movie, U.S. Airlines. With it you redeemed yourselves from my three-day ordeal that was the trip over, filled with delayed and cancelled flights, and an entire day and a half in the Charlotte, NC, airport, only completed by my arrival in Ireland with my bag still in New York. (But that’s another story.)

©2014 Janet Maher, Secret Life of Walter Mitty

©2014 Janet Maher, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

A pilgrimage is associated with a long journey that the dictionary clarifies as “especially one undertaken as a quest or for a votive purpose, as to pay homage” or one “made to some sacred place as an act of religious devotion.” For untold millions of people who have lineage in Ireland it is possible, even at the most basic tourist level, to make a pilgrimage there. Ireland, indeed, is a sacred place. Ireland is about majestic beauty and ancient history, but it is equally about the people themselves who welcome us back, understanding our craving to psychically anchor ourselves from within our ancestors’ homeland.

This pilgrimage, my third journey there, was the culmination of eight years of serious, passionate, intentional research as I sought to learn about Ireland’s history and my own family lines. Traveling alone, this time was an even stronger and more focussed act of devotion in honor of my ancestors. My O’Sullivan, O’Mahony, O’Donovan, and Halloran (Ó Súileabháin, Ó Mathghamhna, Ó Donndubháin, Ó hAllmhuráin) relatives had pointed me to the general areas of Counties Kerry, Cork and Limerick. My Murphys, Ryans and Walshes (Ó Murchadha, Ó Riain/Mulryan, Middle English walsche “foreigner,” also Welch) might have been from almost anywhere in the areas in which I have traveled, so many were the instances in which those surnames appeared. But history itself and enough other clues made it possible for me to get very close to the home bases of my Meagher/Maher, Butler and Phalen/Whalen (O’ Faoláin) ancestors. It was especially for them that I drove my (ridiculously expensive) rental car 1,756 kilometers “keeping between ditches all the way,” with two additional trips, including to Dublin, in my friend Jane Lyon’s car—those times with her behind the wheel.

Over these couple of weeks I visited again with friends I had met three years previously, and met “in real time” new friends with whom I look forward to remaining in contact. The power of the Internet to forge these connections and make these meetings possible has never ceased to amaze me. I have felt even more strongly, however, that my ancestors themselves have been gradually parting the Red Seas for me over all these many years. That Jane and I are now as if in parallel universes across the Atlantic Ocean, that we are joined at the hip in this quest to bridge my Connecticut research with her Irish research for particular families, and that we are in the present together (whether physically, virtually or on the telephone) is nothing short of a miracle!

Irish Hospitality ruled the days of my journey. I often felt as if I was moving through a fairy tale in the place where fairies originated. Locations I had researched and sought to find were revealed to me clue after clue, person by person, each in a different way, with one detail often literally pointing to the next. As happened upon many occasions in Connecticut, I would sometimes be emotionally overcome and moved to tears right on the spot due to some revelation. It may indeed be that with this trip my great great Maher grandfather has been found! More research will be necessary, but my new friend, Oliver, seems to have pulled aside a curtain that had been drawn for decades.

I will attempt in a series of posts to share the highlights of this trip. Come back again to read them. Also, please have a look at my book’s Facebook page, and consider purchasing my book, which is still available on Amazon.com or from me via Paypal or by check (P.O. Box 40211, Baltimore, MD, 21212).

Remember, not all who wander are lost. The roads do rise up to meet us, the wind will be at our backs, the rains will fall softly upon our gardens, and God does—and our Ancestors do—hold us in the hollows of their hands.

©2014 Janet Maher, Leaving Ireland #2

©2014 Janet Maher, Leaving Ireland #2

©2014 Janet Maher / Sinéad Ni Mheachair

All Rights Reserved

Coming to Ireland!

12 Monday May 2014

Posted by Janet Maher in Connecticut Irish, Early Irish Catholics in Connecticut, Mahers, Meaghers, New Haven Irish Catholic Immigrants, Pilgrimage, Waterbury

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

Early Irish History, Irish Catholic History, Irish in Connecticut, New Haven County Connecticut, Patrick Maher

©2014 Janet Maher, St. Patrick's Church Window, Vox Hiber Hi Ocum

©2014 Janet Maher, St. Patrick’s Church Window, Vox Hiber Hi Ocum

When I speak with my friend, Jane Lyons, owner of the amazing web site, From Ireland, she reminds me what an unbelievable work of fate and luck our meeting is. That I have been studying a particular subset of Irish immigrants into New Haven County, Connecticut, and have found several of the specific places from which they arrived, and that Jane has been studying the same from her end is one phenomenon. That we have become friends, that she flew all the way from Ireland to attend my first book signing, and that I could bring her to the primary cemeteries in Waterbury and Naugatuck and point to the specific graves that link back to her neck of the woods is another. That I will be spending the last part of my huge Irish research trip with her and that we will be scouring together the area that I have honed in on is a true miracle! What were the odds back in 2006 when I was just learning how to do Irish research that I would be, essentially, collaborating across the ocean with the person who set me on my path and showed me the way? Although I am no longer on her massive listserv, Y-IRL, she has been at my home in America, we talk on the phone, and I will be at her home in another week! (Although I thanked them in my book, I thank again the members of Y-IRL who gave me so much welcome advice all those years ago.)

On this trip I am thrilled that I will also be meeting people I feel to be friends that I met “in real time” when my husband and I were in Ireland three years ago. I will also be lucky enough to meet some new friends that I have only conversed with through email. This is truly a dream! While it is a bit unnerving to anticipate driving on the left side and managing my way to and through so many places alone (until I get to Jane’s), I am grateful for my husband’s support in this “obsession” which is clearly not yet over. He’ll hold down the fort—and water my garden—while I proceed upon this once-in-a-lifetime experience. I am eternally lucky on so many fronts!

Last week several of us attended a visit to Waterbury Connecticut’s third Catholic Church — from 1880, St. Patrick’s. I’m including here a photo of a portion of one of its majestic windows, the bottoms of which include The Lorica of St. Patrick all the way around in Gaelic. This image illustrates Patrick’s dream in which an angel showed him a scroll upon which was written “The voice of the Irish call you.”

As the voice of the Irish is calling me loud and clear, I wish you all well in the big spirit of it all!

©2014 Janet Maher / Sinéad Ni Mheachair

All Rights Reserved

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From the Old Sod to the Naugatuck Valley

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