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.

"September Surprise": Hurricanes in history

I was amazed to hear that the remnants of Hurricane Ike (which devastated much of Galveston and Houston, Texas and surrounding areas last week and is still causing havoc), had also caused deaths, damage and power outages as far as Ohio.

Then, I read about the "September Surprise" hurricane of 1938 which buffeted New England, bringing 121 mile an hour winds to the Boston area and causing at least 600 deaths. It seems not too many Americans are safe from hurricanes.

To all those who suffered loss from Hurricane Ike and/or are still dealing with frustrations caused by lack of electrical power, here's a reminder that you are not alone. It is startling to learn how many have suffered greatly from hurricanes over the course of history, particularly before the advent of modern forecasting methods. Here's hoping that you will all be moving swiftly on the road to recovery very soon.

To read more about the hurricane of 1938, see Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities' Mass Moments Hurricane Devastates New England: September 21, 1938, PBS American Experience's The Hurricane of '38, or The Long Island Express: The Great Hurricane of 1938. Midge Frazel also has a webpage of resources for educators entitled Failure to Predict: The Lessons of the Great Hurricane of 1938.

For an interesting look at the Galveston Hurricane of 1900, see Isaac's Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History. You might also be interested in the Galveston County Daily News' website The 1900 Storm.

For map lovers: New England historic maps online

I am a lover of maps, so you can imagine my excitement when I learned of the University of New Hampshire Library website's Historic USGS Maps of New England and New York. Dating from the late 19th-century to 1950, this topographical collection is a treasure for anyone researching the New England area. According to the website, "This online collection of over 1,500 USGS topographic maps includes complete geographical coverage of New England and New York from the 1890s to 1950s." The digital collection was placed on the internet because of the difficulty that researchers experienced trying to access historic maps of the area. In particular, one map enthusiast interested in locating abandoned railroad right of ways in New Hampshire began the project after finding that no single New Hampshire library had a complete collection of historic maps of the state.

The digital map collection now includes images from many research repositories in New Hampshire covering various areas of New England and New York. Digital maps from the Harvard University Map Collection are also included.

I found a gem in this 1941 survey of the Quincy, Massachusetts area which includes a view of the Fore River shipyard where many of my Tierney family ancestors worked.

Also researching Massachusetts? You might want to start with the Historic USGS Maps of Massachusetts Alphabetic Town Listing.

Thanks to Dick Hillenbrand of Upstate New York Genealogy for mentioning the map collection at Old Maps of New York Towns Online and to Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings for spreading the news about the Historic USGS Maps of New England and New York.

Spoken like a native!

I've been reading with interest Bill West's series of posts entitled "Speak Like a Native New Englander" over at West in New England. Bill, who hails from the Boston area, is giving us an introduction to interesting pronunciations of names around New England.

Thought you knew how to pronounce "ham"? Think again.

You've heard of Milan and Berlin, I'm sure, but you may not know that they have namesakes in New Hampshire. And guess what: they are not pronounced Mil-AHN and Bur-LIN.

Leominster looks easy enough to say, but you might be surprised how the locals pronounce it.

So far Bill has posted three editions of his series with more to come. You might also be interested in a few other posts he has written about New England names. Take the one on the lake called Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg, for instance. Now that's a name only a native could love!