Irish Boston History & Heritage

Photo couresty of NPS / Claire Hassler A bronze statue in Washington, DC honoring Robert Emmet was created in 1916 by Irish sculptor Jerome Connor (1874–1943), who used Emmet's own desk mask to model the face.  Emmet was an Irish nationalist and rebel who was hanged and beheaded at age 25 on September 20, 1803 on Thomas Street in Dublin, Ireland, after being convicted of high treason by the British government. Connor made three original castings of the Emmet statue.  The first casting was unveiled in June 28, 1917, at the main rotunda of the Smithsonian national museum in Washington DC.  US President Woodrow Wilson and his wife attended the event, along with and numerous dignitaries from the United States and Ireland and leaders of the Irish-American community. US Supreme Court Chief Justice Edward Douglass White accepted the statue on behalf of the American people.  "About the statue will be draped the Stars and Stripes, and on the base will rest the Gaelic flag, so...

   On September 12, 1953, Jacqueline Lee Bouvier and US Senator John F. Kennedy from Massachusetts were married at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Newport, RI. More than eight hundred guests attended the wedding. The bride's stepfather, Hugh D. Auchincloss, walked her up the aisle. The ceremony was performed by Boston's Archbishop Richard Cushing , a friend of the Kennedy family, and he was assisted by four other priests, including the former president of Notre Dame and the head of the Christopher Society. Before the mass, a special blessing from Pope Pius XII was read, according to the John F. Kennedy Library archives. Tenor soloist Luigi Vena from Boston sang Gounod’s Ave Maria. The reception was held on the terrace of the 300 acre Auchincloss oceanfront estate, Hammersmith Farm, for more than 1,200 guests. The wedding cake, four feet tall, was ordered by Joseph P. Kennedy.  Meyer Davis and his orchestra played at the reception under a huge canopy.  St. Mary’s Chur...

  Photo Courtesy of National Museum of the U.S. Navy Photograph Collection In 1956, the heroic-sized statue of Commodore John Barry,"Father of the American Navy,"designed by American sculptor Wheeler Williams of Madison, CT was cast at the T.F. McCann & Sons Foundry in Somerville, MA before being shipped to Wexford, Ireland, where Barry was born in 1745. The statue was a gift of the people of the United States to the people of Ireland. US Congressman and Speaker of the House John McCormack from South Boston introduced the idea of selecting John Barry as the most suitable Irish-born hero in the American Revolution. He instructed Congressman John Rooney of Brooklyn, NY, to introduce a resolution for $30,000 for the memorial. Williams was selected by the American Battle Memorials Commission and President Harry S. Truman convened a national John Barry Commission, which included Robert Fitzgerald from Milton, MA. Williams began making sketches in 1954, and after the commission...

In fall 1926, Ellen O'Byrne DeWitt (1875-1926), an Irish immigrant who ran a successful Irish music store and record company in New York City, opened a new store called E. O'Bryne Dewitt's Sons: House of Irish Music, at 51 Warren Street in Roxbury. Located right in the heart of Dudley Square, the new shop was run by her son Justus O'Byrne DeWitt (1899-1983). The Boston store was an extension of a successful Irish music company in New York City that had flourished for a quarter century. It was run by Ellen and her husband, Dutch immigrant Justus DeWitt. Together they had run 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 su...

Hugh O'Brien of County Cork, the first Irish-born person to be elected as mayor of the city of Boston, died on August 1, 1895 in Somerville after a brief illness.   His funeral was held at  Holy Cross Cathedral , and "thousands of people thronged the cathedral to pay their last tribute of love and respect" to O'Brien, a local newspaper wrote. The Charitable Irish Society sent a five-foot high Irish harp, made of roses, orchards and lilys. "The largest and most conspicuous delegation was that from the St. Vincent's Orphan Asylum, 200 little children dressed alike, who sat immediately behind the family," Republic Newspaper reported. Born in Ireland on July 13, 1827, O'Brien emigrated with his family to Boston in 1832 when he was five years old. He attended a public school in Boston’s Fort Hill neighborhood, and at age 12 joined the Boston Courier newspaper as an apprentice. By the age of 15, he had become foreman of a printing office, before starting h...

  Jacqueline Lee Bouvier Kennedy was born on July 28, 1929 in Southampton, NY, the daughter of John and Janet.  She was an accomplished rider as a child, and attended Vassar College, University of Grenoble before transferring to George Washington University, where she earned a degree in French literature in 1951.  While working as a roving photo journalist for the Washington Times-Herald , she met her husband, John F. Kennedy, when he was a U.S. Congressman, soon to be U.S. Senator, according to the John F. Kennedy Library .  On September 12, 1953, Jackie and Jack married at St. Mary's Church in Newport, RI. She became First Lady at age 31 on January 20, 1961, when her husband took the oath of office to become the nation's 35th president. "With her gracious personal style and her passion for history and the arts, she worked hard to be worthy of her new role," notes the JFK Library. While she had a deep sense of obligation to her country, her first priorities were ...