• About

Maher Matters

~ Ancestry Maher/Meagher/Meachair

Maher Matters

Tag Archives: American Mahers

Waterbury Irish Event on November 14!

28 Wednesday Oct 2015

Posted by Janet Maher in Uncategorized

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

American Mahers, AmericanCivilWar, Book Signing, Irish in Connecticut

PRESS RELEASE – For Immediate Attention

Further Info, Contact Bilal Tajildean, 203-757-2279

JOHN BALE BOOK COMPANY HOSTS WATERBURY IRISH BOOK DISCUSSION

On Saturday, November 14, 2015 John Bale Book Company will host author, Janet Maher, and the director of Prospect Library, John Wiehn, for a discussion about her recent History Press publication, Waterbury Irish: From the Emerald Isle to the Brass City from 2:00 to 3:30 pm. This is part of the Bale Lyceum Series, designed to provide interesting conversation after a High Tea lunch. The Lyceum and the lunch both take place in Bale’s second floor rare book room at 158 Grand Street, Waterbury, CT. It is a cozy and comfortable atmosphere, great for enjoying a lunch with a friend or for bringing several friends. There is a $10 charge for the High Tea Lunch (noon to 1:30), and a $10 charge for the book discussion.

Waterbury Irish is the second scholarly book that Waterbury native, Janet Maher, has obsessively researched and written about the history of the Irish immigrations into New Haven County, Connecticut. Exhaustive reading about Ireland and Irish-Americans and two research trips to Ireland have also informed her work, as has friendships she developed with others interested in exchanging information about Irish genealogy since 2006. She has produced and/or restored massive numbers of her own original photographs and historic photographs from her and others’ collections, and completely transcribed and re-mapped a Naugatuck cemetery. Throughout her long project her quest has been to find bridges between the early New Haven county Irish settlers and their specific origins in the “Old Sod,” then following their progress through generations. She has attempted to recreate a sense of the former communities on both sides of “the pond” such that all who share common ancestral origins may glean a beginning point for their own further research forwards, backwards and sideways.

Primarily an artist, Maher directs the Studio Arts program at Loyola University Maryland, where she is an associate professor. For Waterbury Irish she enlisted the help of John Wiehn to work with her in expanding her research with stories about local Waterbury residents into the modern era. Past state president of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, Wiehn has served in all elected offices and been involved with the AOH for more than 20 years. He reached out to his AOH friends to share some living knowledge of Waterbury Irish individuals and shared some information gleaned from newspaper clippings he saved through the years. He also created the index for the book.

As the two Irish-interested friends grew up in different eras and different parts of Waterbury–one having remained all his life there, the other having left Connecticut at 25 years old–each had a different base of contacts and family to bring into this part of the project. Maher also “cold called” the current mayor and city clerk for their stories and continued to research the included families and their times, weaving all into her text that came to include politics, sports, the famous (and infamous), enlivened with myriad family memories.

Come to John Bale Book Company with your own stories and photographs to share with all in attendance. Waterbury Irish may be purchased at this event. Start your Christmas shopping for ancestral Irish friends and family here!

Waterbury Irish, and Maher’s first book, From the Old Sod to the Naugatuck Valley, may also be purchased from her shop on Etsy: http://www.etsy.com/shop/ConnecticutIrish/

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

More on the Meaghers/Mahers

10 Wednesday Jul 2013

Posted by Janet Maher in Book Excerpt, Early Irish Catholics in Connecticut, History, Mahers, Meaghers, New Haven Irish Catholic Immigrants

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

American Mahers, Early Irish History, From the Old Sod to the Naugatuck Valley, Irish Catholic History, Irish in Connecticut, Joseph Casimir O'Meagher, Meagher, Milesian Genealogy, New Haven County Mahers

O'Meagher Coat of Arms from original 1890 text of Joseph Casmir O'Meagher's Some Historical Notices of the O'Meaghers of Ikerrin, digitized and colorized, ©2006 Janet Maher

O’Meagher Coat of Arms from original 1890 text of Joseph Casmir O’Meagher’s Some Historical Notices of the O’Meaghers of Ikerrin, digitized and colorized, ©2006 Janet Maher

Although my initial research was primarily about the Meaghers/Mahers, when it came time to edit information to include in my book (From the Old Sod to the Naugatuck Valley: Early Irish Catholics in New Haven County, Connecticut) I chose to keep the content more generally broad. Maher details are sprinkled throughout the history of Ireland and early Connecticut chapters, however, leading to a focus on the nineteenth century in America.

I find myself repeatedly refering to Joseph Casimir O’Meagher’s 1890 text, Some Historical Notices of the O’Meaghers of Ikerrin, which I consider essential for beginning research about the Mahers. It provided most of the earliest Maher details in my book, and I included several instances of historic Mahers from his book in a previous post here (August 20, 2012), Some Notable Meaghers/Mahers and other spellings, cited SHN.

Excerpts from O’Meagher’s text occur verbatum in many different places, and are, unfortunately, usually not attributed to him. I have been singing his praises online since at least 2006 and am happy to see that a Google search on him now brings up many hits, including his full text. Although not perfectly scanned, an inexpensive reprint of Some Historical Notices is also available from Amazon.

A member of the Royal Irish Academy and Fellow of the Royal Historical and Archaeological Association of Ireland, O’Meagher was able to cite his lineage directly from John O’Meagher, who with his mother, Anne, had been among those ordered to transplant to Connaught after the conquest of Oliver Cromwell. John O’Hart’s pedigree of O’Meagher drew Joseph Casimir’s Heber line out from Fionnachta, second son of Conla, “No. 88 on the O’Carroll (Ely) pedigree.” As noted in my previous post, (Our Mileasian Origins) Conla was son of Cian, who was a son of King Olliol Olum. O’Hart considered the O’Meagher pedigree in his book as the ancestral line of O’Meachair, chiefs of Ikerrin. From Fionnachta (No. 88) O’Hart listed Joseph Casimir O’Meagher, born 1831, living in Dublin in 1887, as the son of John T. O’Meagher (No. 127). The line then extended to Joseph’s children: Joseph Dermod (1864), John Kevin (1866), Donn Casimir (1872), Malachy Marie (1873), Fergal Thaddeus (1876) and Mary Nuala (no date given). Joseph Casimir O’Meagher himself, however, cited additional pedigrees that extended Meaghers from other points in the Cian branch, including Teige or Thaddeus (No. 38) and John (No. 39).

O’Meagher provided immense background that led to my further research about such pivotal events in Ireland as: the development of ancient Irish Catholicism and communities of ecclesiastical families, the arrival of the Vikings and Normans, the interest of the English monarchy in Irish lands and sequences of sanctions and acts of “land grabbing” over the centuries, the change in the official religion of England from Catholic to Protestant with Henry VIII, the Penal Laws, continual rebellion on the part of the native Irish and those aligned with Catholic subjects of England who became equally disenfranchised due to adherence to their religion, the Statutes of Kilkenny, the Flight of the Earls, Civil War, arrival of Oliver Cromwell, the Act of Settlement, Oath of Allegiance, Act of Union, Wild Geese, Catholic Relief Acts, Rebellion of 1798, various uprising groups and key figures among them, the Catholic Emancipation Act of 1829, Tithe Defaulters, Catholic middleman landlords, and mass emigrations before, during and after the Great Famine. Here, long before the Irish War of Independence and the formation of the Irish Free State in 1922, my story in From the Old Sod to the Naugatuck Valley shifts to the arrival of the first Irish Catholic settlers in particular sections of New Haven County, Connecticut.

O’Meagher explained that Ikerrin (Ui Cairin) “was anciently one of the eight tuathas in Ely, which got its name from Eile, one of its kings in the fifth century.” Ger Dunphy and Christy O’Shea, in their work, Ballinakill, A Journey Through Time, explained the formation of King and Queen’s Counties, carved from Ely O’Carroll, which was primarily the area known then as Offaly. Quoting from my own book: “Throughout the centuries clan jurisdictions changed many times as the ownership of the land was continually disputed and compromised. In 1556 Queen Mary I renamed Offaly as King’s County, and named Leix (Laoighois/Laois), which had been part of Offaly, as Queen’s County. These were the first of the Irish counties to be intentionally planted with Protestant English residents. In this region the plantation was an attempt to make it difficult for the major Irish clan of the area, the O’Moores, to easily connect with their nearby allies.”

“According to Irish authors Ger Dunphy and Christy O’Shea, the extensive area of Ballenekyll in Queen’s County was awarded in 1570 to the English couple Alexander Cosby and Dorcas Sydney and was incorporated by King James I in 1613…the royal charter tightened the Irish recusancy laws that fined anyone who did not attend mass at the Anglican church, the official Church of England and Ireland.”

In O’Meagher’s explanation, eventually Ely O’Carroll was comprised of the baronies Ballybritt and Clonlisk, which became King’s County. Ikerrin and Eliogarty were part of Tipperary.  He wrote, “for many centuries Ely O’Carroll is confined to that portion of it now in the Kings County, and at the time Ely O’Carroll was reduced to shire ground, the barony of Ikerrin was not considered part of it.”

For those of us who know that our families were among the many who had already dispersed from the ancient homeland before they emigrated it is interesting to note that even O’Meagher’s group, with several of his sons attending university in Dublin, were no longer based in the Roscrea (Ikerrin) area of Tipperary by the late 1800s. In 1659 Sir William Petty’s census had already showed Meaghers in several neighboring areas of Ireland (Our Mileasian Origins).

We do well to read the very helpful 1993 article by William J. Hayes, O Meagher, Meagher and Maher – and their dispersal in Tipperary, which can be purchased from the Tipperary Historical Society. He explained the tendency for many of the Meaghers to have aligned with the powerful Normans, particularly the Butlers who remained Catholic, and thus retain much of their property over centuries of struggle, at least into the seventeenth century. After Cromwell, however, all bets were off. Excerpts from this article are archived on RootsWeb. O’Meagher also chronicled the dispersion from northeast Tipperary through his accumulation of data, including details of many eighteenth and nineteenth century Meaghers/Mahers who left to join foreign military units or settle in America.

If we find that our relatives had traveled over the Slieve Bloom Mountains into Laois or Offaly, scattered throughout the rest of Tipperary or crossed the borders into Kilkenny and Carlow, we wonder what led them there and how many generations had roots in those places. Did they choose to leave as so many of us change locations throughout our own lives? Was survival through farming too difficult to maintain in their family? Did the inheritance laws make it impossible for most of the children to remain within their original neighborhoods? Did they marry someone from another county? Anciently, were at least some of them among those who had once taken to the hills to hide out and to fight? O’Meagher accounted multiple occurrances of Meagher/Maher rebel action and the need for pardons of one kind or another. He noted the caveat in King Henry VIII’s issuing of pardons, “Provided that if any of those persons be of the Nation or Sept of the O’Meaghers, who were proclaimed traitors and rebels, the pardons to be of no effect in favour of such.”

So many Irish came to America as outlaws, slaves, or indentured servants and worked in obscurity, likely experiencing life in conditions worse than those which they left. Before the Famine, however, some were affluent enough to choose to make the trip across the sea and begin anew on equal footing in the Protestant communities of America, long populated by those still aligned to British sentiments about the Irish, in general, and about Catholics in particular. Had these Catholic immigrants been middlemen or related to one in Ireland? Had they married into families that had somehow retained a semblance of wealth or at least maintained some financial stability? Had their families been merchants, one trade allowed to Catholics? Had those from Kilkenny worked in the Ormond factory? What must it have been like to try to blend into a new world and assimilate as quickly as possible and still manage to help bring others over and begin the forbidden first Catholic churches?

When we wish to play the record of Irish history and locate our families amid it, where we drop the needle matters. We need to consider every fact in light of what else was going on at that point in time in Ireland and in the location into which they would emigrate. Much of that, sadly, revolves around religion, in ways similar to the major struggles between countries that exist today. Then, as today, there were open minds seeking peace on both sides of each conflict, and the fundamentalists on either side began quickly to resemble each other. We must study what we find, however, in its own context. With the Meaghers, history seems to center around land and religion.

Catastrophic events make significant changes from one century to the next, but the seemingly small details in the decades surrounding someone’s departure from Ireland may help to shed the most light. Having thoroughly scoured the “ground zero” of the place to which my ancestors relocated and their presence within it, I hope to still learn more about the events surrounding the time and area that they left in the Old Sod.

©2013 Janet Maher / Sinéad Ní Mheachair

All Rights Reserved

References:

Dunphy, Ger and Christy O’Shea, Ballinakill, A Journey Through Time, Freshford, Co. Kilkenny, Ireland: Barnaville Print and Graphics, 2002.

Hayes, William J., “O Meagher, Meagher and Maher – and their dispersal in Tipperary,” Tipperary Historical Journal, Thurles, Co. Tipperary, Ireland: Leinster Leader, Ltd., 1993. Excerpts online.

Maher, Janet, From the Old Sod to the Naugatuck Valley: Early Irish Catholics in New Haven County, Connecticut, Baltimore, MD: Apprentice House, 2012 [This book is 400 pages and includes 336 images. It 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).]

O’Hart, John, Irish Pedigrees: or, The Origin and Stem of The Irish Nation, Fifth Edition in Two Volumes, Dublin, Ireland: James Duffy and Co., Ltd., 1892. Online.

O’Meagher, Joseph Casimir, Some Historical Notices of the O’Meaghers of Ikerrin,   Library of Congress, Washington, D.C., American Edition: NY, 1890. Online.

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

03 Sunday Mar 2013

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

≈ 8 Comments

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

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

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

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

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

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

©2013 Janet Maher / Sinéad Ní Mheachair

All Rights Reserved

Purchasing My Book

26 Thursday Jul 2012

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

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Amazon.com, American Mahers, Ancient Ireland, Early Irish History, Gaelic Ireland, Irish Catholic, Irish Catholic History, Irish Catholic Immigrants, Irish Genealogy, Irish History, Irish Meaghers, Naugatuck Connecticut, New Haven County Connecticut, New Haven County Mahers, Patrick Maher, Tombstone Transcriptions

Lynch’s Farm ©2010 Janet Maher, image from our family collection, digitized, restored and hand-colored by the author (pigmented ink on archival paper, 12 1/6″ x 18 3/4″, framed 18″ x 25″) included in From the Old Sod to the Naugatuck Valley: Early Irish Catholics in New Haven County, Connecticut. 

After a bit of editing for unexpected typos that I found, I have reordered my book, From the Old Sod, Early Irish Catholics of New Haven County, Connecticut, which is now in its First Edition, revised, version. It is 399 pages and includes 336 images. It is now back in stock and available for sale. How to purchase my book:

1. From the author! The price is $65.95. I will pay for packing and shipping in the U.S. and will sign it if you’d like. I am offering a price break at three/four ($62) and five/six ($58) copies. You can order my book securely through this blog using PayPal (click below on correct number of copies to activate this feature) or send me a U.S. drawn check at this address: Janet Maher, Department of Fine Arts, Loyola University Maryland, 4501 North Charles Street, Baltimore, MD, 21210.

Purchase One Copy Here;  Purchase Two Copies Here;   Purchase Three Copies Here;   Purchase Four Copies Here;   Purchase Five Copies Here;   Purchase Six Copies Here.

2. From Amazon.com. If you have purchased it this way and would like for me to sign it, you can mail it to me at the above address and include a self addressed stamped padded envelope for its return.

3. If you live outside the United States, it is possible to purchase my book here: Amazon.com Canada; Amazon.com UK; Waterstones.com. If you would like for me to sign it, please mail it to me at the above address and include a self addressed stamped padded envelope for its return.

I welcome reviews of my book. You can include yours in comment sections on this blog, and/or on the spaces for reviews on Amazon or Barnes and Noble sites.

To see the Table of Contents, please refer to my May 24, 2012 post here.

I hope that everyone who reads my book will enjoy it and will have found it helpful in their own quest to learn more about the earliest Irish Catholics of New Haven County and the Catholic history of Ireland. Thank you for your interest in my labor of love and thank you in advance for purchasing it!

©2012 Janet Maher/Sinéad Ní Mheachair

All Rights Reserved

From the Old Sod to the Naugatuck Valley: Early Irish Catholics In New Haven County, Connecticut

11 Monday Jun 2012

Posted by Janet Maher in Connecticut Irish, History, Kilkenny Mahers, New Haven Irish Catholic Immigrants, Origins, Pilgrimage, Thoughts, Tombstone Transcriptions

≈ 14 Comments

Tags

American Mahers, Ancient Ireland, Brennan, Early Irish History, Irish Catholic History, Irish in Connecticut, Irish in the Civil War, Irish Meaghers, Irish pilgrimage, Milesian Genealogy, Naugatuck Connecticut, New Haven County Mahers, Patrick Maher, Saint Bernard Cemetery, Tombstone Transcriptions

©2012 Janet Maher, From the Old Sod to the Naugatuck Valley, books at home; image: Katherine Maher Martin and Eliza Maher, ca 1850s

©2012 Janet Maher, From the Old Sod to the Naugatuck Valley, books at home; image: Katherine Maher Martin and Eliza Maher, ca 1850s

First thing I did when I got the proof was to take pictures of it, then bring it into my department and show it to my colleagues, who then immediately got to hold it. Not exactly like having a baby, but pretty exciting, nonetheless.

The first mention in the press is out, on the Naugatuck Patch! The book is in the process of being offered on the Amazon website, and will also be available through Amazon.uk.

Hope to see some of you on June 21. Huge news is that Jane Lyons is flying all the way over from Ireland to be there! We’ll be going to the Irish Festival in New Haven that weekend too!

Wishing you all well,

Janet

©2012 Janet Maher/Sinéad Ní Mheachair

All Rights Reserved

Happy Saint Patrick’s Day!

17 Saturday Mar 2012

Posted by Janet Maher in Connecticut Irish, History, Kilkenny Mahers, New Haven Irish Catholic Immigrants, Origins, Pilgrimage, Tombstone Transcriptions

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

American Mahers, Ancient Ireland, Ancient Irish Art & Artifacts, Catholicism, Connecticut, Ireland, Irish diaspora, Naugatuck Connecticut, Tombstone Transcriptions

Coming Soon!

Beginning from an interest in her own family’s history, with From the Old Sod to the Naugatuck Valley Janet Maher shares a deeply textured journey through a fascinating corner of the Irish Catholic diaspora. She explores the history of Ireland through the perspective of Catholicism, bridging it to the origins of Catholicism in Connecticut generally, then to several Irish families whose personal stories extend to the present.

Mapping and thoroughly transcribing the oldest Catholic cemetery in Naugatuck, Saint Francis, Maher has made connections between generations of families and friends. The book includes selected marriage, baptism and death records throughout the nineteenth century and excerpts from rare letters between Irish immigrants and individuals still in Ireland. It is replete with photographs from Ireland and Connecticut, and restored personal photographs selected from families’ collections, including her own, from materials safeguarded in scrapbooks and albums for years. In many ways Maher has made the people whose graves she encountered in cemeteries come alive again.

Creatively overcoming the limited existence of early genealogical records, From the Old Sod to the Naugatuck Valley draws a colorful, intimate multi-layered vision of a generation of immigrants and their descendants who shaped the character of southern Connecticut. Its fusion with family histories brings to the foreground a captivating thread in the tapestry called America.

Janet Maher has been a professional artist for more than thirty years. Her drawings, prints, artist books, mixed media works and collaborative projects have been exhibited widely and are in numerous private and public collections. A native of Connecticut, she also lived and worked in New Mexico before settling in Baltimore, where she is an Associate Professor of Visual Arts at Loyola University Maryland. This is her first scholarly book.

©2011 Janet Maher/Sinéad Ní Mheachair

All Rights Reserved

Welcome Josephine!

03 Wednesday Aug 2011

Posted by Janet Maher in Welcome

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

American Mahers

Welcome to the World, Josephine Jane Lewis, the newest member of our extended Maher clan!

May the roads rise up to meet you, may the wind be always at your back, may the sun shine warm upon your face and the rain fall soft upon your fields and may God hold you in the hollow of His hand!

©2011 Janet Ní Mheachair (Janet Maher)

All Rights Reserved

Pages

  • About

Blog Stats

  • 80,136 hits

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 262 other followers

Archives

Recent Posts

  • Addendum and Transition
  • Earth Day in a Pandemic
  • Shine A Light
  • It’s Mask-Making Time
  • Time Out

Top Posts & Pages

  • O'Meagher Castles
  • About
  • Some Notable Mahers/Meaghers (and other spellings)
  • More on the Meaghers/Mahers
  • Pilgrimage to Ireland, Part 4: Roscrea & Ikerrin, Tipperary

From the Old Sod to the Naugatuck Valley

From the Old Sod to the Naugatuck Valley

Blog at WordPress.com.