Irish Boston History & Heritage

Born in Boston on June 29, 1862, Mary Louise Gilmore was the daughter of famous bandleader Patrick S. Gilmore of Galway and his wife Ellen J. O’Neill of Lowell.  Minnie, as she was call throughout her life,  and her mother traveled extensively when the Gilmore Band was touring the United States and Europe between 1870 and 1892, and as a result she was inspired by the world at an early age.  In 1881, when still a teenager, she began publishing her poetry in The Boston Pilot , and was praised by editor John Boyle O'Reilly and others for her writing.  She also appeared in the Boston Evening Transcript , the Catholic World and other publications. Gilmore wrote two books of fiction and two volumes of poetry that were well-reviewed and popular in their time.  The books included: Pipes from Prairie Land and Other Places (1886), A Son of Esau (1892), The Woman Who Stood Between  (1892), and Songs from the Wing s (1897).  Speaking about her first book,   Pipes from Prairie Land and O

Several hundred  No Irish Need Apply advertisements appeared in Boston newspapers, starting in the early 1850s and continuing as late as 1912.   The ads revealed a distinctive xenophobia among people from Boston and parts of New England that dates back to the 17th century, when Puritans first settled in this region.  The region's anti-Irish bigotry became heightened during the second half of the 19th century, when thousands of Irish refugees landed in Boston, escaping from the Irish Famine.  A decade of Know Nothing hatred and violence ensued in the 1850s, and these ads were a manifestation of that hatred. Despite vigorous protests from the Irish community and from responsible leaders in the community, the ads persisted for some seven decades until they finally phased themselves out.   The  first No Irish Need Apply ad (NINA) in the Boston area appears to have run in the Boston Evening Transcript on March 30, 1852, when an ad seeking an experienced cook and chamber girl was repea

Garden of Remembrance, Springfield, MA. Courtesy of Springfield.gov The Garden of Remembrance commemorating Ireland's uprising of 1916 was officially unveiled at Forest Park in Springfield, MA on Sunday, May 15, 2016. It was the first memorial in the United States to recognize the 100th anniversary of Ireland's Easter Rising of April, 1916, where Irish rebels attempted to overthrow British forces occupying Ireland.   Congressman Richard E. Neal and Mayor Domenic J. Sarno presided over the event and were joined by officials from the Irish community, Garden of Remembrance, Springfield, MA. Courtesy of Springfield.gov "The Easter Rising was a seminal moment in Irish history and it helped transform cities like Springfield and Boston," said Congressman Neal. "The Garden of Remembrance is a direct call to Ireland's exiled children in America, and the Proclamation is one of the few declarations of independence in the world that references both men and women equally

  The Fruits of Arbitrary Power, or the Bloody Massacre by Henry Pelham Courtesy of Massachusetts Historical Society On March 28, 1770, following the now famous Boston Massacre that occurred on March 5, local engraver  Paul Revere released a depiction of the event that was quickly printed and distributed widely in the colonies, helping to fan the flames of rebellion.  Revere, famous for the midnight ride to Lexington and Concord in 1775, was a gifted engraver, but he didn’t do the actual drawing.  Instead, it was created by 21 year old Henry Pelham, a talented artist who was also the half-brother of colonial painter John Singleton Copley . Pelham was furious when he learned that his friend Revere had used his illustration without Pelham's permission.  He  wrote Revere a letter on March 29, 1770:   "When I heard that you was cutting a plate of the late Murder, I thought it was impossible, as I knew you was not capable of doing it unless you copied it from mine and as I thought

In February, 1924, the Irish National War Memorial Committee in Dublin donated eight beautifully decorated folio volumes, containing information on Irishmen who died in World War I to the Boston Public Library central branch in Copley Square. Published in 1923 by the Committee of the Irish National War Memorial, the the massive project was undertaken to ‘perpetuate the names and personalities of over 49,400 Irishmen w ho fell in the Great War.’ The book was illustrated by noted Irish illustrator and stain glass window artist  Harry Clarke , who did the artwork for various book authors including Edgar Alien Poe and Hans Christian Andersen.  The book was printed on handmade paper.  Only 100 sets were printed for distribution " among the principal libraries of Ireland," wrote  The Boston Globe,  "in carrying out the movement started in Dublin in June, 1919, by Field Marshal French, Earl of Ypres, then Governor General of Ireland, for a fitting memorial of Ireland's part

Illustration of Martha Foley, Courtesy of New York Times  Boston-born editor, writer and adventurer Martha Foley (1897-1977) led an eventful and exciting literary  life. The daughter of physician Dr. Walter James Foley and Margaret Mary McCarthy of Ohio, whose parents were Irish immigrants, she and her brother Walter were raised in Dorchester.  Martha attended Girls Latin School in the South End and Boston University.  Martha Foley is on the far right, wearing glasses.  Photo courtesy of Historic New England As a teenager and young woman, Martha was an ardent suffragist and was arrested on Boston Common in 1919 for protesting with a group of women during President Woodrow Wilson’s visit to Boston.  She married fellow writer Whit Barnet and they embarked on adventure, travel and writing, living in Greenwich Village, Vienna and Paris. She worked as a city copy desk for newspapers in New York and Los Angeles, one of the first women to hold that position. She managed the book review pag

John Barry, a naval hero in the American Revolution, was born on March 25, 1745 in Ballysampson in Tacumshane Parish, County Wexford. His parents were James Patrick john Barry and Mary Ellen Cullen. According to historian Martin I. J. Griffin, Barry was “born in the townland of Ballysampson and lived his boyhood in the townland of Rostoonstown, both in the parish of Tacumshane.” Some stories suggest that Barry’s father was a tenant farmer who was evicted by a British landlord and had to relocate to nearby Rosslare, about four miles away.  Griffin’s book, The Story of Commodore John Barry, Father of the American Navy , published in 1908, notes that “Tacumshane Parish covers 3,000 acres and is situated between two townland locked gulfs with very narrow openings - Lake Tacumshin and Lady's Island Lake. Possibly these lakes gave young Barry the inspiration for the sea and upon both he in youth oft pulled the oar,” Griffin writes.  Barry’s uncle Nicholas Barry was a ship master

  General Patrick A. Collins, described in the media as "the foremost Irish-American citizen of this country," was named US Consul-General to London by President Grover Cleveland. He held the post from May 6, 1893 to May 17, 1897. The Boston Post interviewed Collins on March 17, 1893 as he was preparing to make the move to London. Collins told the report he had not sought out the post, but was offered several positions in the Cleveland Administration. "I was given my choice, and selected London as my field of work, as I am very much at home there....The duties of the consul-general simply requires business ability, knowledge of commercial affairs, diligence, tact and judgment, and I think I have a little of all of them." According to the Irish Star in Minneapolis, Cleveland had also offered the Secretary of the Navy post to Collins, who turned it down because he didn't want to be in Washington, DC.   The appointment signified "a finishing touch of romance&q

The Boston Public Library owns a rare five-volume collection of Irish traditional music created in the 1840s by a medical doctor, editor and music lover in Dublin, Ireland.     The hand-written manuscripts belonged to Dr. Henry Philerin Hudson (1798-1889), a medical doctor who was also passionate about Irish music,  collecting tunes throughout his life.  In total, there are over 1,100 Irish tunes in the set, although some are duplicates.   Hudson died in 1887, and the five-volume manuscript was eventually donated to the Boston Public Library in 1902.  The collection is part of the Allen A. Browne Music Collection . A note in the frontmatter reads:    These volumes came to the library from Nassau Massey, 89 Patrick St., Cork.  He says in a letter (undated, written in late 1902) that he has books “from the library of Dr. Hudson” and “also his original collection of Irish airs in five volumes many of them collected by himself from the peasantry.”    Hudson was also a composer, and betwee

In March, 1989, the Boston Public Library's presented a month long exhibit entitled, Turas Go Tir (Journey of the Land of Youth): An Exhibition of 20th century Children's Books in Irish, March 1-31, 1989. The exhibition featured children's books in the Irish language published in the 20th century, and were part of the Alice M. Jordan Collection, named for the first supervisor of children's services at the Boston Public Library.  Jordan was described in a local paper as "one of a wave of female librarians who crusaded for more public access to children's books, as well as better children's books, with missionary zeal in the 1920s."     The collection contains "picture books, fiction, non-fiction, toy and moveable books from the infant to the teen level from the 19th century to the present day. Foreign language material from 80 countries is represented as well," according to the Library.  Here is a list of Irish titles in the collection .  The

  Journalist, social activist and Boston native Mary Boyle O'Reilly was the eldest of four sisters born in Charlestown to Irish patriot and poet John Boyle O'Reilly and his wife, writer Agnes Smiley Murphy. Mary was born died on May 18, 1873, and died in her home in Newton on October 21, 1939 at age 66. Her passion for protecting children and young women was a hallmark of her life.  In 1901 O’Reilly helped establish the Guild of St. Elizabeth, a Catholic settlement home for Children in Boston’s South End.  From 1907-1911 she was Massachusetts Prison Commissioner.   In 1910, she went undercover under an assumed name and uncovered the infamous baby farms that housed unwed mothers and their babies under inhumane conditions.  She helped create a law to prevent abuses at these facilities.  On the labor front, O'Reilly investigated conditions for women working in canneries and also wrote about the women garment strikers in New York in 1913.   During World War I, she wrote syndica

State Rep Marie Howe, Bernadette Devlin McAliskey and former State Rep Mel King, March 14, 1986 A ‘rainbow coalition’ of Massachusetts elected officials came together on Friday, March 14, 1986, to support activist Bernadette Devlin McAliskey in her campaign to end British violence in Northern Ireland. McAliskey was greeted at the state house by “two Black officials, a native American, a Jewish senator, and various Americans of Irish descent,” including state representatives Marie Howe, Byron Rushing and Thomas Gallagher, senator Francis D. Doris and Jack Blackman, and former state rep Mel King, wrote the Lynn Daily Item. Other leaders including Leo Cooney of the Irish National Caucus and Boston civil rights attorney William Homans.  McAliskey was presented with an official citation signed by Senate President William M. Bulger and Speaker of the House George Keverian.  She blasted ‘misconceptions’ about the conflict in Northern Ireland, which were the result of British Government p

  The Irish Echo Newspaper in New York published author Michael Quinlin's story, Patrick Collins: From Famine Refugee to Boston Mayor, in its March 13, 2024 edition of the paper.  Read more about Collins and his illustrious life in Boston.  His memorial is part of Boston's Irish Heritage Trail.  

Katharine O’Keeffe O’Mahoney (1852-1918)  moved with her family from County Kilkenny in Ireland to Massachusetts when she was 10 years old, living in Methuen and then settling in Lawrence.   Educated at St.Mary's School, she became a teacher  at  Lawrence High School  from 1873-92,  where one of her students was the poet Robert Frost and his future wife Elinor White.  Later Katharine made her living lecturing and writing books.   The American Catholic Directory wrote that " Mrs O Mahoney was one of the first Catholic women in New England if not in the country to speak in public from the platform, on topics including A Trip to Ireland, Religion and Patriotism in English and Irish History, An Evening with Milton and An Evening with Dante." She published several books that were popular in her life, including Catholicity in Lawrence (1882), Thomas Moore's Birthday, A Musical Allegory (1893) and   Famous Irish Women  (1907), a fascinating history of Irish women from Paga

On March 16, 1987, the Associated Press wrote the following review of the "Guide to the New England Irish," published by Quinlin Campbell Publishers of Boston. "While the Cabots and Lowells were speaking only to each other Boston's Irish were taking to the streets en masse to celebrate their heritage, according to a book that has hit the streets in time for St Patrick's Day. But “The Guide to the New England Irish" turns from the myth of the hard-drinking two-fisted Irishman and focuses on how the “Sons of Erin” worked to preserve their heritage in the six-state New England region.  "The book, an expanded version of the 1985 “Guide to the Boston Irish,” includes essays by local writers who give a historical look at Irish life. "A 1986 address by Massachusetts Senate President William M BuIger to the Irish American Heritage Society takes up “Ireland's Gift to America." Bulger, a student of history who holds one of the most raucous political