Neil Cosgrove

The following article appeared in Time Magazine in their Education Section   In the U. S., the Ancient Order of Hibernians is an association of Irish-born zealots, sensitive to the slightest slight to their kind. In a world preoccupied by other matters, for instance, it frequently appears to good Hibernians that the impact of the Irish on U. S. history is belittled or neglected. In Rochester last week, where the Hibernians of New York State were holding convention, fiery charges were heard that U. S. schoolbooks are unfair to the Irish. "We need a real American history!" shouted … [Read more...] about Time Magazine Article on Hibernians on History

Patrick Gallagher was born in Derrintogher, County Mayo, Ireland, on February 2, 1944. At the age of eighteen, like so many you Irish men and women before him, Patrick immigrated to the United States and the promise of a new life filled with opportunity. He quickly started on the immigrant dream: studying law while working in real estate, even getting involved in local politics as a campaign worker for Senator Robert Kennedy.  In 1966, Patrick was drafted for service in Viet Nam. Despite pleas from a heartsick sister living in the states to avoid the horrors of war by merely returning to … [Read more...] about Irish American Heritage Month: Patrick Gallagher, USMC

Kathleen Rita McNulty was born in the village of Creeslough on February 12, 1921, the third of six children of Anne Nelis and James McNulty.  Her father was Commandant of the Doe Battalion of the Irish Volunteers. On the night of her birth, he was arrested and imprisoned in Derry Gaol for two years for his republican activities. On his release, the family emigrated to the United States and settled in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where James worked as a stonemason and went on to establish a successful construction business, frequently working with Irish American John B Kelly, the father of … [Read more...] about Irish American Heritage Month: Kathleen McNulty, an Irish American “Hidden Figure”

The statue of Annie Moore and her brothers at Cobh, Ireland During its period of operation from 1892 till 1954, over 12 million immigrants entered through the immigration station at Ellis Island, a name that was to become synonymous with the “Golden Door” and the “American Dream”. It is estimated that today over forty percent of the United States population can trace their ancestry to an immigrant that entered Ellis Island. On New Year’s Day Morning 1892 on the deck of the steamship Nevada stood three adolescents, Annie Moore and her brothers Phillip and Anthony. They were perhaps … [Read more...] about Irish American Heritage Month: Annie Moore, First Trough the Golden Door

As an Army chaplain, Fr. Francis L. Sampson saw combat in two wars and earned the nickname of "the Parachuting Padre." His actions during the D-Day campaign would be adapted as part of two major motion pictures, though his actions would be attributed to others. Fr. Sampson was born in Cherokee, Iowa, the descendant of Immigrants from County Cork.  Fr. Sampson graduated from Notre Dame before entering St. Paul's Seminary in Minnesota.  He served briefly as a parish priest.  When the U.S. entered the war, Fr. Sampson sought and was granted permission to join the Chaplain Corps … [Read more...] about Irish American Heritage Month: The Parachuting Padre

Robert Emmet Thomas Emmet in Later Life On the surface, the brothers Thomas Addis Emmet and Robert Emmet were the most unlikely of revolutionaries. They were born (Thomas Addis 1764, Robert 1778) into an affluent family of Ireland's Protestant ascendency. Their father was the State Physician of Ireland; firmly positioning the family as members of the British establishment. Yet the spirit of the enlightenment ran strong in the Emmet family; they were sympathetic to the struggle for independence of the American Colonies during the Revolutionary War and critics of the disenfranchisement … [Read more...] about Irish American Heritage Month: The Emmets, an Irish and Irish American Story