A TV documentary on the St. Louis World Fair mentions how John Philip Sousa and his band dominated the entertainment, which included a young John McCormack singing at the Irish Pavilion. It brought to mind a forgotten era when American superstars were not individuals with a current hit record, but band leaders – people with the ability to not only play, but compose, arrange, and lead a musical organization. And, in the beginning, America’s first superstars were the leaders of America’s first bands – her marching Brass Bands and though Sousa was certainly one of them, he was not the … [Read more...] about Patrick Sarsfield Gilmore, America’s First Superstar
Irish American Heritage Month Committee
Archbishop “Dagger John” Hughes
John Joseph Hughes was born on 24 June 1797 in Annaloghan, Co. Tyrone, to a poor farmer. As a Catholic in English-ruled Ireland, he couldn’t even receive a Catholic education. When John was 15, his younger sister, Mary, died and British law barred a Catholic priest from presiding at her burial; the best he could do was to scoop up a handful of dirt, bless it, and hand it to John to sprinkle on her grave. Hughes never forgot that and dreamed of ‘a country in which no stigma of inferiority would be impressed on my brow, simply because I professed one creed or another.’ Fleeing poverty and … [Read more...] about Archbishop “Dagger John” Hughes
Irish American Heritage Month: Patrick Gallagher, USMC
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
The Irish Ferries That Turned The Tide At Trenton
A number of Irishmen were key to Washington’s success in crossing the Delaware River to take Trenton. Among them were two immigrants: Paddy Colvin and Sam McConkey, who ran two river ferries. In 1885, Rev A. Lambing wrote: when reading one of the Trenton papers, I saw the simple statement that the American forces under General Washington crossed the Delaware at Patrick Colvin's ferry into Pennsylvania. Struck by his name, which at once denoted his nationality, I resolved to know more about him. He did, and he found that Patrick Colvin of Co. Cavan, Ireland bought a ferry and land … [Read more...] about The Irish Ferries That Turned The Tide At Trenton
Irish American Heritage Month: The Most Dangerous Woman in America
Did You Know that a 72-year-old Irish woman, beloved by millions, was once called the most dangerous woman in America? Her name was Mary Harris Jones, and this feisty little Irish lady was also called the Mother of All Agitators. Born in Cork City, Ireland on 1 May 1837, her family fled the Great Hunger to Canada where she trained as a teacher and dressmaker. In 1861, she married George Jones, an iron molder and union organizer in Memphis, Tennessee. They had four children, but she lost all four and her husband in the 1867 yellow fever epidemic. Determined to survive, Mrs. Jones moved to … [Read more...] about Irish American Heritage Month: The Most Dangerous Woman in America