Irish Boston History & Heritage

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. ...