Irish Boston History & Heritage

      Patrick Carr was the last man shot at the Boston Massacre on March 5, 1770, the last to die on March 14, and the last to be buried at the Old Granary Burying Ground on St. Patrick's Day, March 17.  The other four victims were Crispus Attucks, Samuel Maverick, James Caldwell and Samuel Gray. Carr was also the only Irish Catholic immigrant among the five victims. His very presence in Boston had to have been circumspect, because of the longstanding prejudice that Bostonians had against Catholics that dated back to the first Puritans who arrived here in 1630.  Religious liberty was not a strong suit of 18th century Massachusetts, and Catholics were despised more than any other religious group.   There are several anti-Catholic themes in the Boston Massacre and subsequent trial. Attorney John Adams , who defended the accused soldiers of firing into the crowd at the famous trial, characterized the Bostonians that night as a mob, stating in court,...

I rish poet, lyricist and musician Thomas Moore, who wrote compelling lyrics to many of Ireland's ancient melodies, died on this day of February 25, 1852.  His ten-volume collection of  Moore's Melodies , published between 1808 and 1834, helped revitalize interest in Irish music that was in danger of being marginalized and forgotten.    For a full story on Moore's achievements, read  Ireland's Minstrel Boy Gets His Encore  in the Irish Echo. In Boston, Moore's Melodies quickly found their way into the city's musical community; with several of his songs published as early as 1811.  His songs, particularly  Last Rose of Summer , were performed as part of Boston's musical repertoire by famous visiting performers like singer  Jenny Lind  and violinist  Ole Bull .   Upon learning of his death in 1852,  Boston Pilot  publisher Patrick Donahoe and other leaders formed a Thomas Moore Club to perpetuate his music.  In 186...

  Eunice Kennedy, a leader in the field of intellectual disability, was born at the Kennedy family home on Abbotsford Road in Brookline, MA on July 20, 1921. She was the fifth child of Rose and Joseph Kennedy’s nine children and their third daughter. Read full biography of Eunice Kennedy Shriver and watch the video, Eunice Kennedy Shriver 100: A Legacy of Inclusion , produced on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of her birth by the National Park Service and Brookline Interactive Group. Eunice began her career as a social worker for women prisoners and juvenile offenders. In 1957 she headed up the Joseph P. Kennedy Foundation, dedicated to improving the way society deals with mental retardation. Her camp for children and adults with intellectual disabilities inspired her to create the Special Olympics, which spread to 150+ countries. In 1984, President Ronald Reagan presented Eunice with the Medal of Honor for her life's work. Read about the Special Olympics . John, Jean and Eu...

  During the American Revolution, Irish and Scots-Irish immigrants from New England played a pivotal role in helping to win the Revolutionary War. The Boston Irish Heritage Trail gives a glimpse of these Revolutionary Irish heroes through landmarks on Boston Common, the Massachusetts State House, Granary Burying Ground, Copley Square Park, Bunker Hill Monument and Dorchester Heights. Many of these landmarks intersect with Boston's Freedom Trail, a unique collection of museums, churches, meeting houses, burying grounds, parks, a ship, and historic markers that tell the story of the American Revolution and beyond. These are the Revolutionary Irish sites along the Irish Heritage Trail. Boston Common A memorial plaque to Commodore John Barry was unveiled along Tremont Street in December, 1949 by Mayor James Michael Curley. Barry was a naval hero in the Revolutionary War. He was commander of the USS Lexington and later chosen by George Washington to create the first U.S. Navy. Barr...

Roxbury Soldier at Forest Hills Cemetery A notice in the Boston Evening Transcript, dated February 18, 1869, reported that Martin Milmore 's Roxbury Soldier bronze statue was on temporary display at Boston City Hall on School Street, across from the statue of Ben Franklin. The piece had just been cast at Ames Works in Chicopee, MA and had been commissioned by the Town of Roxbury for placement in Forest Hills Cemetery. "It deservedly attracts much attention from the throngs of people who are constantly passing through that thoroughfare," BET reported.  Clay Model of Roxbury Soldier in Milmore's Studio on Tremont Street Image Courtesy of Library of Congres s The Town of Roxbury commissioned the statue which it "purchased a lot in the Forest Hills Cemetery upon recovering the bodies of 8 local soldiers from the Antietam Battlefield in 1862," according to a National Portrait Galley exhibit in 2006.  "We have spoken heretofore of this fine work when in the c...

General John Sullivan, a hero in the War for Independence and a key figure in ending the Siege of Boston, was born in Somersworth, NH on February 17, 1740.    Sullivan was the third of five sons born to Owen Sullivan of Limerick and Margery Browne of Cork, both indentured servants from Ireland. He and his brothers were home-schooled by their father, who had been a teacher in Ireland.  His brother  James Sullivan  was governor of Massachusetts and his brothers Daniel and Ebenezer also fought in the American Revolution.  John became a lawyer, served in the New Hampshire legislature, and was chosen as a member of the First Continental Congress in 1774 and the Second Continental Congress in 1775.  As the Revolutionary War escalated, Sullivan was selected as one of General George Washington’s eight Brigadier Generals in the Colonial Army.  When  Henry Knox  delivered the cannons from Fort Ticonderoga in New York to Massachusetts in the w...

  Image Courtesy of Mass Moments Thursday, February 4, 1993 was Larry Bird Night at the old Boston Garden, when the Boston Celtics officially retired Larry Bird '33 jersey and hoisted it to the rafters. It was an event for the ages, with Larry's former teammates and coaches returning en masse to honor one of the most consequential basketball players in NBA history, and certainly one of the Celtics' most legendary players.  During his 13 year career with the Boston Celtics Bird led the team to NBA championships in 1981, 1984, and 1986. He is also the only person in NBA history to win MVP, Coach of the Year, and Executive of the Year.  At the Larry Bird Night, Magic Johnson was there, and so were teammates Cedric Maxwell, Rick Robey and M.L.Carr, along with Kevin McHale and Robert Parish. Bird's wife Dinah and son Connor were on the parquet, along with Bird's mother Georgia, his sister Linda and brothers, Mike, Mark, Jeff and Eddie.  The Garden itself was packed to...

  Louise Bogan photo, courtesy of Library of Congress Acclaimed American poet Louise Bogan (1897-1970) was born in Livermore Falls, Maine on August 11, 1897, the daughter of Irish Catholic parents whose own parents had emigrated from Donegal and Derry in the 19th century.  A story in the Livermore Advertiser in September 2023 reveals more about her ancestry. “Bogan was the granddaughter of a sea captain who emigrated from Ireland to Portland, Maine, before the potato famine of the 1840s. The couple had 12 children and built a home on Captain’s Hill in Portland. The eldest, Daniel Bogan, was Louise Bogan’s father, who married Mary Murphy Shields in 1882. ” Because her father worked in paper mills and bottling plants, the family moved around often, in Maine, New Hampshire and finally to Andover, Massachusetts.  Image courtesy of Beltway Poetry Louise began writing poetry at age 14, attending both the Girls Latin School in Boston and then Boston University for one year. ...

Jeremiah Cohan, circa 1915 Jeremiah Cohan, a traveling minstrel who toured the country with his wife and two children in the late 19th century until they became vaudeville stars on Broadway, was born on Blackstone Street in Boston's North End on January 31, 1848.   He was one of 10 children born to Michael Keohane and Jane Scott, both emigrants from Bantry Bay, County Cork who had moved to Boston in the 1840s. Michael worked as a tailor and died when Jeremiah was 11.  At the time, the North End was a heavily Irish neighborhood due to the number of immigrants who came here to escape the Irish Famine between 1945-49. As a boy, Jeremiah worked as a saddle and harness maker and became a Surgeon orderly during the Civl War, before turning to music, dancing and acting.  "From a boy he was an expert dancer," wrote the New Britain Herald.  "It is said that he had inherited some talent for the stage from an Irish minstrel among his forebears."  He married Nellie Cos...

On January 24, 1776, Bostonian Henry Knox (1750-1806) arrived at General George Washington's Colonial Army headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with news that some 60 tons of weapons, including 58 cannons and assorted artillery, had been successfully transported from Fort Ticonderoga in New York to the outskirts of Boston.  The weapons were being used to fortify American defenses against the British occupying forces during the Siege of Boston. Historian J.L. Bell suggests that the bulk of the weaponry may have been held at Framingham, MA, and that Knox was simply reporting to General Washington about the successful mission on January 24. Knox was the mastermind and commander of what became known as the Noble Train of Artillery, a 300 mile trek across a frozen landscape in the dead of winter. Knox and his men dragged the arsenal across hills and mountains, frozen lakes and fields, on boats and sleds, with horse and oxen, through dozens of small villages in eastern New York and...

  Tip O'Neill Bust in Buncrana, photo courtesy of Visit Donegal Legendary politician Thomas P. 'Tip' O’Neill, one of the most impactful politicians of American politics in the 20th century, died on January 5, 1994 at his home in Harwichport, Cape Cod.  He was 81. Born in North Cambridge on December 9, 1912, he was the son of Thomas Philip O'Neill, Sr. and Rose Ann Tolan. His grandfather, from Mallow, County Cork, had emigrated to Massachusetts in the 1840s during the Irish Famine.  O’Neill based his entire political career on the mantra, ‘All Politics is Local,’ a phrase that bespoke the need for politicians to communicate directly with constituents and to serve the people rather than oneself.  He entered the Massachusetts state Legislature in 1936 and in 1952 was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, winning the seat held by John F. Kennedy. He became the 47th Speaker of the House in 1977 and held the post until 1987 when he retired.  In the 1970s throu...

Portrait of Louis St. Gaudens,  photo courtesy of Saint Gaudens National Historical Park  Louis St. Gaudens (1854-1913), whose iconic sculptures grace the American landscape today, was born in New York City on January 8, 1854. He was the son of Bernard Saint-Gaudens from France and Mary McGuinness from Ireland, and the brother and protégé of his older brother Augustus, considered the preeminent American sculptor of his generation.   The family had emigrated from Dublin to Boston in September 1848, fleeing the Irish Famine.  They stayed in Boston for about six months before moving to New York City, where they settled. Among the most revered works of Louis are the twin lion statues in the foyer of the Boston Public Library; a statue of Greek poet Homer in the Main Reading Room Rotunda of the Library of Congress; six allegorical figures encircling Union Station in Washington, DC, and 46 Roman legionnaire statues inside the station. Louis was schooled in the art of scul...