Irish Boston History & Heritage

On Sunday, May 24, 2009, Ireland's President Mary McAleese was the commencement speaker to the 172nd graduating class at Mt. Holyoke College in Holyoke, a small women's college in western Massachusetts. She spoke to 570 women graduates and an audience of 4,000 people. Tus maith is Leath na hoibre , she told the graduates in Irish, meaning: a good start is half the work.  "Here at Mount Holyoke College you’ve got a good start. You’ve given your very best here. You’ve been tested. You've been challenged. You know yourself a lot better now.”  The Daily Hampshire Gazette reported, "she said there is plenty of work ahead — especially in the advancement of women who in most parts of the world are still regarded as second class and second best." The announcement of President McAleese to address the graduating class was made by US Congressman Richard Neal , a trustee of the college and by Mount Holyoke College President Joanne Creighton, who said, “We are honored...

A number of Irish immigrants and Irish-American sculptors created some of the most distinctive Civil War Monuments of the 19th Century.   Here are three of their monuments in Boston and Cambridge worth visiting on Memorial Day Weekend: The Shaw Memorial , atop Boston Common and facing the Massachusetts State House, was officially unveiled on May 31, 1897, a homage to the 54th Black Infantry Regiment of Boston. It is considered one of America’s most significant Civil War memorials, and was the first public monument to accurately depict black soldiers in military uniform. The memorial was created by Augustus Saint-Gaudens (1848-1907), who was born in Dublin Ireland on March 1, 1848, to a French father and Irish mother. They landed in Boston in September 1848, fleeing the Irish famine, and later moved to New York. It took Augustus 14 years to complete the monument.  The Twin Lions  in the foyer of the Boston Public Library in Boston's Back Bay were unveiled in 1891, a tribut...

Image courtesy of Canadian-American Club On May 19, 1937, a group of Canadian expatriates living in Massachusetts came together to form the Canadian-American League. The Boston Globe reported that the group was "seeking 1,000 charter members....(and) more than 200 attended" the first meeting. Three weeks later, on June 16, 1937, the group met again at Intercolonial Hall on Dudley Street in Roxbury, which was a regular gathering spot of Canadian immigrants. Attorney Joseph S. O'Neill, the organizer and first president of the Canadian-American League, was originally from Charlotteville, Prince Edward Island, according to his obituary in The Boston Globe published on August 20, 1938. He worked at the Dolan, O'Neill and Balch law firm in Boston. Other officers included Alexander C. Chisholm, treasurer; Mrs Colin W. MacDonald, secretary and Jeannette C. Chisholm, assistant secretary. "The purpose of the organization is to unite the great number of Canadi...

Image Courtesy of Boston Public Library Special Collections On March 6, 1927 Eamon De Valera visited the United States after an absence of six and a half years. The purpose of his visit, according to the New York Times , was to testify in the Irish Republican bonds litigation being tried on March 9, 1927 before the Supreme Court of the State of New York. "The funds in question amount to more than $2,500,000 and represent the unexpended balance of the first and second external loans of the Irish Republican Government and were raised by me, in the capacity of the first President of the Irish Republic, and by my colleagues, during our visit to the United States in 1919 and 1921,” he said. During his trip, deValera visited New York City, Philadelphia, Washington, DC, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Kansas City, Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles among other places.   At the end of the 7-week tour, he returned to New York City for a final farewell, in which he declared, "The republic...

Photos Courtesy of The Music of Skuabh Luachra Ellen O'Byrne DeWitt (1875-1926), an Irish immigrant from Cloontumper, Co. Leitrim,  emigrated to New York City as a teenager and in her 20s, she opened an Irish music record shop that flourished for more than half a century in New York City and Boston's Roxbury neighborhood. Ellen and her husband, Dutch immigrant Justus DeWitt, had two sons, Justus Jr. (1899-1983) and James (b.1902).  They ran a small travel company for several years before Ellen decided to open the small Irish music shop at 1398 Third Avenue near 79th Street.   With the swift rise of the recording industry in the early 20th century, Ellen was among the first to recognize that the burgeoning Irish immigrant population would always be looking out for music from back home, and she convinced several record companies such as Columbia, Victor and Decca Records to add Irish artists to their catalogs. Eventually the company began seeking out New York-based immigr...

Portrait of James Sullivan, painted in 1807 by Gilbert Stuart James Sullivan (1744-1808), a heralded lawyer, orator and statesman during the American Revolution,  including two terms as Governor of Massachusetts, was born in Berwick, Maine on April 22, 1744.  He was the fourth of five sons born to Owen Sullivan of Limerick and Margery Browne of Cork, who were both indentured servants from Ireland. James and his brothers were home-schooled by their father, who had been a teacher in Ireland and spoke numerous languages. Sullivan worked for and studied law in his brother’s legal firm, and later served as a justice for the Massachusetts Supreme Court from 1776 to 1782, as well as serving as a probate judge for Suffolk County from 1788 to 1790.  Sullivan's brother John Sullivan was a general in the American Revolution and a close aide to George Washington.  His other brother,  Ebenezer Sullivan raised his own militia of soldiers and fought as a captain in the Battle ...