A light shining for two years... and more!

That is my hope for this humble little blog about the Boston-Irish side of my family tree. Begun two years ago tomorrow, it has been and continues to be the "shy younger sibling" to my other two more active and better known blogs 100 Years in America and Small-leaved Shamrock.

A heartfelt thanks to all of those that have read, commented, offered assistance in my research, or otherwise supported my efforts here at A light that shines again. The humble, long-suffering lives of my famine-immigrant, hard-working Boston Irish laborer ancestors have begun to be memorialized here, where I hope their stories will provide inspiration to those of us that live today in better and more hopeful times.

I truly believe the poetic words written by Christopher Pearce Cranch that I've included on the banner above which provided inspiration for the title of this blog:

"Yet not in vain,
Fathers and mothers, were your humble lives;
Each in its turn an influence that survives,
A light that shines again
In sacred memories, and in hearths and homes,
Vital as greater names that gild historic tomes…”

Taking the time to learn about the lives of my ancestors, particularly those that may not have been valued so much by the world around them at the time that they lived, has given me new insight into my own life and times. I am aware that, no matter how homely and "common" they were, these family members who came before me have passed on to me a great gift, and I hope to remember their humble lives and share their stories for many years to come.

As George Bernard Shaw stated,

"This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one... I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work, the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no 'brief candle' to me. It is sort of a splendid torch which I have a hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it over to future generations."

Please join with me in celebrating two years of A light that shines again! If you'd like to read some of my favorite articles within this blog, take some time to stop by The best of 2008: A light that shines again - iGene Awards or this blog's one-year-anniversary wrap-up: Happy Anniversary, A light that shines again! You might also enjoy stopping by the two-year-anniversary celebrations over at 100 Years in America and Small-leaved Shamrock.

Irish names carnival submissions due this weekend

If you have an Irish name or surname in your family tree, or a good story about one in someone else's, come join us for the 13th edition of the Carnival of Irish Heritage & Culture. It will feature Irish names: both surnames and given names.


Share with us the surnames in your Irish family tree, but don't just stop there. Do a little research and tell us the origin of one or more of those surnames, the stories of how they might have changed over the years, or tales of how they've been mixed up and mispelled, etc.

Want to focus on your family's given names instead? Share with us the story of your ancestors' Irish first names (given at birth or nicknamed later), the "grandparent" nicknames in your Irish family tree, or any other Irish name stories that you'd like to share.

Deadline for submissions to the Irish names edition of the carnival is this Sunday, May 24, 2009. This edition will be published over at Small-leaved Shamrock next Wednesday, May 27, 2009 .

Looking forward to calling you by name (and by your Irish names and surnames) at our next carnival!

Wordless Wednesday: Quincy, Massachusetts Railroad Station

This Quincy station photograph is posted in memory of George William McCue, one-time station master in Quincy.

Image of the postcard courtesy of USGenWeb's Penny Postcards website.

Spring cleaning at A light that shines again

I've been focusing lately on doing some projects that have taken me away from blogging - you could say I've caught the spring cleaning bug. It has been so long since I've written a post here that I thought I would just let readers know that yes, I am still alive and well.

I realize that this is one of the longest gaps in blog posts that I've had since I began blogging. I'm hoping to get my "house in order" and get back to spending some more time here at A light that shines again.

In the meantime, happy spring, everyone!

A blessed Good Friday

For an interesting article on the way that the Irish have traditionally kept Good Friday see Bridget Haggerty's article Good Friday Haircuts and Seaweed for Dinner on the Irish Culture and Customs website.

Wooden Penal Cross c. 1799. For more information about the crucifixes and other devotional objects that were made in Ireland during the period before the penal laws were enforced against Roman Catholics, see this Rosary Workshop webpage or Limerick's Hunt Museum website.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Take some time to celebrate by stopping over at the 2nd Annual St. Patrick's Day Parade of Posts hosted by Small-leaved Shamrock.

Whether you're Irish or Irish-for-the-day, I hope to see you there wearing your green!

"A light in the window": The sign of welcome for 70 million cousins

The title of this blog, A light that shines again, was inspired by a poem by Christopher Pearce Cranch, a 19th-century American preacher, artist and poet. Thought not Irish, and certainly more well-off than the 19th-century Irish-American immigrants on whom this blog focuses, Pearce's words describe well the poor and often forgotten lives of my ancestors and that of many of their contemporaries, and remind me of an old Irish tradition.

Here is an excerpt from Cranch's poem that was read at the 250th anniversary of the first church in Quincy, Massachusetts:

“…Nor less should we forget the worthy sons
And daughters who through centuries lived and died
Unknown to fame. The muse of history shuns
Their buried records. Gathered side by side
In yonder burial ground, they leave no signs
Save in half-obliterated lines
That tell their birth, their death. Yet not in vain,
Fathers and mothers, were your humble lives;
Each in its turn an influence that survives,
A light that shines again
In sacred memories, and in hearths and homes,
Vital as greater names that gild historic tomes…”

History does so often "shun the buried records" of those who "lived and died unknown to fame". Yet, the "humble lives" of my Irish ancestors, particularly those that I celebrate here on this blog and on Small-leaved Shamrock, are a saga of survival: survival out of the great Irish famine, survival out of the American industrial age, survival into the modern age in the lives of myself and others of my generation who have sprung from their seed. I hope that in some small way this blog will enable their stories to be passed on to at least one more generation.

I found the words of another poet thought-provoking, this one a modern Irishwoman of the 20th-century. Here is Eavan Boland's The Emigrant Irish:

"Like oil lamps, we put them out the back —

of our houses, of our minds. We had lights
better than, newer than and then

a time came, this time and now
we need them. Their dread, makeshift example:

they would have thrived on our necessities.
What they survived we could not even live.
By their lights now it is time to
imagine how they stood there, what they stood with,
that their possessions may become our power:
Cardboard. Iron. Their hardships parceled in them.
Patience. Fortitude. Long-suffering
in the bruise-colored dusk of the New World.

And all the old songs. And nothing to lose."

My own ancestors represent only a small number of the many Irish people of the 19th-century who beat incredible odds to survive the largest humanitarian disaster of their century and emigrate from their native land to a new country. Many of you reading this have similar family stories to tell: stories of survival, stories of courage, and tales of odds that were overcome by your ancestors as they struggled to make a life in a new land.

Today the descendants of many brave Irish emigrants number in the millions. There are approximately seventy million people of Irish descent living throughout the world.

Former President of Ireland Mary Robinson sent a special message to the great Irish diaspora during a speech on February 2, 1995. Her words, recalling the simple Irish tradition of placing a candle in the window to welcome visitors, are heart-warming to those of us who long to keep alive our Irish roots. Here are the words of Mary Robinson:

"At my inauguration I spoke of the seventy million people worldwide who can claim Irish descent. I also committed my Presidency to cherishing them - even though at the time I was thinking of doing so in a purely symbolic way. Nevertheless the simple emblem of a light in the window, for me, and I hope for them, signifies the inextinguishable nature of our love and remembrance on this island those who leave it behind."

As we approach St. Patrick's Day this year, plans are in order for a family celebration in my home. There will be green decorations, shamrocks, Celtic music, traditional Irish dance, and images of St. Patrick. There will also be a candle in the window: a symbol of thankfulness for the heritage that our struggling Irish ancestors passed down to us, and a symbol of welcome to any of our seventy million "cousins" who might want to join us in celebration.

~

If you have Irish descent, then you are a member of the worldwide Irish diaspora of which Mary Robinson spoke, and you and I are part of a group of seventy million "cousins"! If that is the case, take a few moments to visit the Seventy Million Project. It is "a social project to find, map and connect the Irish diaspora worldwide". It is "not about Ireland, but about Irishness and all that it means to people of Irish heritage worldwide." Visit the website today and put yourself on the map as either a first, second, third, fourth or fifth-plus-generation Irishman or woman.

You might also enjoy visiting the new Irish Central which is being unveiled March 15. Billing itself as an "Irish website and social networking community", it plans to "use the power of the Internet to create a home for the more than 70 million people around the world who identify themselves as Irish". Irish Central plans to be a hub for Irish news, the home of Irish America magazine and the Irish Voice newspaper, a source for editiorial and video coverage of travel in Ireland, a Gaelic translator, a resource for Irish family history, and more.

Coffin ships to Canada, 1847

It was the year 1847: the darkest year during the most infamous famine in recent Irish history. It was to become the greatest humanitarian disaster of the 19th-century. The Irish people were starving in numbers that are hard for us to fathom today. One million died and one million more, seeing little hope for a future in their native land, emigrated from their home country. Many of these people made plans to leave on what came to be known as "coffin ships". Traveling to North America in the cargo holds of ships, both ill and well faced a true trial.

The story of these famine immigrants and their journey to Canada is told in the new documentary/dramatic film produced by Summer of Sorrow Productions and Tile Films entitled Death or Canada and its companion book by Mark McGowan, Death or Canada: The Irish Famine Migration to Toronto, 1847. Told using the true story of the Willis family who migrated from the West of Ireland, this film and companion book tell the heart-rending story of the Irish people as they faced the dreadful year of "black '47", and the story of the Canadian people that received and gave aid to the Irish that came to North America.

The award-winning Death or Canada (the film) will air in Canada on March 16 and be released for distribution shortly after that. Death or Canada (the book) by Mark McGowan is available now for purchase.

Thanks to Earline Hines Bradt of Ancestral Notes for bringing "Death or Canada" to my attention.

Wordless Wednesday: A wee bit of Irish sod in the Big Apple

The Irish Hunger Memorial is located at the corner of Vesey Street and North End Avenue in the Battery Park City neighborhood of Manhattan. It was dedicated in 2002.

For more images of the site, view this virtual New York City Walk through the Irish Hunger Memorial.

Images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Wordless Wednesday: Boston by neighborhood

Boston neighborhood map from Ork Design's City Neighborhood Poster Series.

Massachusetts Archives works to put Boston passenger manifests online

Researchers looking for information about their immigrant ancestors' arrival in Boston have access to a free online resource that is currently a work in progress: Boston Passenger manifests from 1848-1891. This is the period during which many of the Irish immigrated to the United States, including many of my ancestors.

The huge collection of these passenger lists are currently being placed online thanks to the Massachusetts Archives. According to their website, "Massachusetts officials started recording the names of immigrants who arrived by ship in 1848, a procedure that continued until 1891, when federal record-keeping programs superseded those of the state." Passenger lists for ships arriving into the port of Boston are being added to this online database in stages. The completed database will eventually include the over one-million immigrants who arrived through this port during these four decades.

I haven't yet found an ancestor there, but I plan to keep searching the database as more lists are added.

Thanks to Jerry Reeds' Free Genealogy blog for highlighting this online resource.

The best of 2008: A light that shines again - iGene Awards

It's that time of year again...time for the second annual Academy of Genealogy and Family History iGene Awards at the Carnival of Genealogy! Chosen by the author from the blog articles published over the past year, I have awarded "prizes" for the following categories:

Best Picture - Best old family photo that appeared on this blog

Best Screen Play - The family story that would make the best movie

Best Documentary - The best informational article about a place, thing, or event involving my family's history
Best Biography - The best biographical article

Best Comedy - The best funny story, poem, joke, photo, or video

Special Mention - Other articles of note

Best Picture

Margaret’s missing middle name

Not a photograph of a person, but the image of my great-grandparents' wedding announcement in the newspaper gets the award for Best Picture here at A light that shines again for 2008. Long in search of the full meaning of Margaret Tierney's oft-appearing middle initial, I finally found it listed right there in the newspaper! I love this announcement for this reason, but also because of the details it provided me about this couple's wedding and honeymoon.

Best Screen Play

The poverty-stricken Irish: Why did they pick Boston?
(also see “The city where a century ago he came unwanted, he has made his own…”)

"Interesting post, Lisa. It is curious how our ancestors ended up in certain places. I love reading about your Tierney family." ~ Lori Thornton, Smoky Mountain Family Historian

"Very good post. As well, I am just finding out more about my Irish ancestors and the places where they arrived in America." ~ Thomas MacEntee, Destination Austin Family

Studying the social history of the times and places where our ancestors lived can give such a wonderful perspective on their lives, illuminating the documents and family treasures that we have collected. In these articles I've taken a look back at Boston of the 19th-century: the foreign city where my Irish immigrant ancestors sought haven after fleeing the poverty of their homeland.

Best Documentary

“Denying famine a future”: Blog Action Day 2008

Studying the struggles of the Irish people who have often fought famine throughout their history has given me a new perspective on the plight of the millions of people that face starvation even today. I wrote a series of articles for Blog Action Day 2008's focus on poverty. In this article, I've begun with a look back at Ireland's struggles (particularly during the Great Famine of 1845-1849) and then moved on to a focus on the sufferings of many throughout the world today. Read this article for a look at famine and poverty - and to learn what you can personally do about it.

Best Biography

Shared by: From “hard knocks” to Harvard and
My grandfather’s memory: Alzheimer’s in the family

"A great post - and thanks for listing some great resources." ~ Thomas MacEntee, Destination Austin Family

These two articles provide a look at two separate times in the life of one man: his early struggles and eventual success as a Harvard graduate and businessman, and his later sufferings from the disease of Alzheimer's. George McCue's story is one of triumph over adversity, and I personally draw from his inspiration often. I hope you'll enjoy reading about one of my personal heroes.

Best Comedy

Sad news: There is "no Irish at me"

"I never thought about the way the Irish speak English. You drove it home with 'County Cork' and 'River Shannon' examples. You had me laughing. Brilliant." ~ Colleen Johnson, CMJ Office Blog

"As an Irish person I have to say that I really enjoy reading blogs and articles that discuss Ireland from the outside because for me all this just seems as normal as saying the grass is green and the sky is blue. You have some good examples there of Irish speech. Good work on the blog-article!" ~ Colm Doyle, Corcaighist

The more I learn about my ancestors, the more I want to learn about their homelands, cultures and languages. In honor of my Irish ancestry, I would love to learn how to speak Irish Gaelic - especially since the language is facing a decline in modern times. Unfortunately, this language is more challenging than most to an English-speaker, and I have few friends around me with whom I could practice my newly-acquired language skills. Enter Hiberno-English. You may not realize that there is actually a version of English spoken throughout parts of Ireland that has been so heavily influenced by Irish Gaelic that it could be considered its own dialect. In this article I've taken a light-hearted look at the Hiberno-English way of speaking, some of which I had incorporated into my own vocabulary without my knowledge!

Special Mention

The death of memory

"Wonderful blog entry Lisa. My father's side of the family suffers from this as well. I didn't know anything about my great grandparents. I thank God for the census, military, naturalization, ship and other important records." ~ Colleen Johnson, CMJ Office Blog

As I stated in this article, "There is a Mexican saying that we die three deaths: the first when our bodies die, the second when they are lowered into the earth, and the third when we no longer remain in the memory of any of the living." Here I have told the story of the "death" of my family's memory with regard to one of its patriarchs: Patrick Tierney, the very man who brought the family from Ireland to the United States in the mid-19th-century.

Special thanks to Jasia of Creative Gene for hosting the iGene Awards at the Carnival of Genealogy. Also, thank you to footnoteMaven for a the awards poster and a little inspiration in my presentation. See you at next year's event!

Here's looking at Quin-zee: Postcards that bring history to life

I've long been a fan of Arcadia Publishing's local history books. Annotated collections of historical photographs compiled by local authors, these books are a treasure for readers wanting to gain an understanding of social history in the times and places of their ancestors' lives.

I was happy to recently discover a title in their Postcard History Series that brings my Tierney family's hometown to life: William and Elaine Pepe's Quincy (Postcard History: Massachusetts). View an introduction to the book including a sampling of its postcard images online in this short video presentation uploaded by Quincy's Patriot Ledger. The images in the book focus particularly on the early 20th-century - just the time period I am particularly interested in since my Tierney ancestors moved to Quincy from Boston's North End just before the turn of the century.

Irish roots and the American presidency

John F. Kennedy, famous son of Boston, stands alone when most people think of an Irish-American serving as an American president. However, there have been many commanders in chief with Irish roots, including our newest and most recent president, inaugurated yesterday. For a list of those with Irish blood (in some quantity, at least) visit Irish Presidents on the American Presidents blog. It includes a list of all presidents with Irish heritage and a link to an article detailing former President George Bush's roots.

In search of Irish roots: A long and winding road

I have known that I was Irish for as long as I can remember. As an American kid who enjoyed "dressing the part" on holidays in school (red and pink for Valentine's Day, red and green for the Christmas season, a special dress for my birthday...), I looked forward to St. Patrick's Day. I proudly wore my green. At one point I received a T-shirt that boldly proclaimed, "Proud to be Irish". It was only the beginning of my collection of "greenwear". Today I have many more appropriate St. Patrick's Day articles of clothing and accessories, particularly because St. Patrick's Day celebrations go on for such a long time for Irish dancing families such as mine.

Having a knowledge of my Irish heritage was one thing. Having specific information about it was another thing entirely. I began seeking details about my Irish ancestry as a young lady in the form of questions to my grandparents. Later my research became more formal and serious - I wanted to learn the details about my family's history.

One particular piece of information that I sought was the specific locality in Ireland of my ancestral villages. Where in Ireland was I from? I wasn't content just to continue researching my family on this side of the Atlantic, I wanted to know where in Ireland I would need to visit when I finally planned my long-awaited trip.

It was many years after my initial queries to my grandparents that I finally learned the county of origin of one of the branches of my family. My great-great-grandfather Patrick Tierney's name had been lost to our family for at least two generations. After discovering his name and piecing together data from census records, city directories, vital records and newspaper clippings, I was able to gain an overview of his life - from young boy living through the Great Famine, to Irish immigrant, to husband, father and laborer in Boston's North End. It was the Declaration of Intent within his naturalization papers, which I received from the National Archives in Boston, that gave me the clue to his Irish county of origin. Handwritten clearly on this document was the phrase "County Tipperary, Ireland".

Learning this news was very exciting to me - now I could at least hone in on one county in Ireland. No matter that it was a very large county: it was my family's ancestral home.

After learning this exciting news our family had a little celebration of sorts, complete with the singing of a round of the favorite: "It's a long way to Tipperary". It certainly had been a long way to Tipperary. I had been in search of specific knowledge about my family's origins in Ireland for so long, and now I was finally able to hone in on one county. Well, for at least one branch, that is. Now to narrow down my roots within Tipperary, and start working to confirm the Cowhey family's roots in Cork and/or Limerick, starting with my immigrant ancestor Patrick Cowhey. Then I've got work to do on my Donnelly, Foley, McGonigle/McGonigal, Graham, McCue, Rogers, Kennedy and O'Neill lines. I detailed my research plans for a few of my family's branches during an earlier edition of the Carnival of Irish Heritage & Culture.

So many avenues for this one Irish genealogist to pursue! Now to find some cousins interested in working along with me. Just imagine once I find all of these ancestral villages, what a long and wonderful trip I'll be taking to the homeland of my ancestors!

Humor in the parish records

I enjoyed reading Rachel Murphy's The Joy of Parish Registers over at the Irish Family History blog. Just as much fun was the comment left by a reader regarding a poor fellow who died in the midst of a card game and a woman who had difficulty "settling" properly after she passed away.

For a light look at some interesting and personal comments in otherwise dry record logs, take a few minutes to visit Rachel's article.

Take us back to Ireland: share your family's story

You have five days left to submit your article for the next edition of the Carnival of Irish Heritage & Culture. This edition will focus on the theme: My key to Ireland and will be dedicated to the stories of genealogists tracing their Irish family trees.

If you have found your ancestral county or village in Ireland, just how did you find your way there? What resources led you to learn the original county or townland or your ancestors? Tell us how you did it and what your feelings were when you made the exciting discovery.

If you have not yet found the area where your ancestors made their homes in Ireland, tell us about the resources that you hope to use to find out. What records and documents do you hope will lead you to that information? How do you plan to go about the search?

If you have always known the place or places where your family hailed from, tell us about them. What draws you there and what else have you learned throughout your search for family history?

Share with us your Irish genealogy success story or your plans to "get back to Ireland" within the upcoming 11th edition of the Carnival of Irish Heritage & Culture.

Deadline for submissions to the My key to Ireland edition is Sunday, January 18, 2009. This edition will be published over at Small-leaved Shamrock on Tuesday, January 20, 2009. See you there!

Never participated in a blog carnival before? For a step-by-step tutorial, see Miriam Robbins Midkiff's How to Submit a Post to a Carnival on the Bootcamp for Genea-Bloggers blog.

Image thanks to kaboodle.

Son of Ireland makes it big in Boston, 1885

One-hundred and twenty-three years ago today my great-great-grandparents were living in Boston, Massachusetts raising their young family when the city's first Irish mayor was sworn in to his first of four terms in office. It must have been a happy time for this young immigrant couple and other Boston Irish.

Hugh O'Brien, the city's new mayor in 1885, was the first of many Irish politicians to lead the Boston area in the coming years. It was a turning point for Boston, which had already seen Roman Catholic Irish outnumber native Boston Protestants for several decades by 1885. Mayor O'Brien, according to Mass Moments, was "a well-spoken, mild mannered, successful businessman... [who] defied all the Yankee stereotypes of Irishmen. During four terms as Mayor, he widened streets, planned the Emerald Necklace park system, and built the new Boston Public Library in Copley Square, all the while cutting taxes. Popular among both native- and Irish-born Bostonians, Hugh O'Brien paved the way for the better known Irish mayors who would follow him— 'HoneyFitz' Fitzgerald and James Michael Curley."

For more on this turning point in Boston's history and the coming of the Irish into local politics, visit the Mass Moments website or read Thomas O'Connor's The Boston Irish: A Political History.

Image of Mayor Hugh O'Brien from Celebrate Boston website.