TIARA NEWSLETTER Volume 36 Number 4 Winter 2019

The Irish Ancestral Research Association

Winter 2019 Volume 36, Number 4

121 Boston Post Road Sudbury, MA 01776

Irish Musical Instruments

INSIDE THIS ISSUE The President’s Message Music in the Air A Musical Heritage Chief Francis O’Neill TIARA’s 2019 Research and Heritage Tour The TIARA Banquet Short Takes Theme for Next Issue Grenham Book Review Index for Newsletter 2019 Library Notes for Issue 3 Blog Watch Library Notes for Issue 4 Digging Deeper for Databases Upcoming Events (Back Cover)

62 63 65 68 70 72 73 73 74 76 77 78 79 79

CLICK ON THE URLs TO HEAR THE INSTRUMENTS PLAYED Bodhran http://www.facebook.com/aircdamhsa/videos/848903595189558/ Irish Harp https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTe6t6eyUQ4 Uillean Pipes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voNw0g1rDMU Mouth Organ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pn9HJp0x258 Tin Whistle https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpN36I9xr-o&list=RDmpN36I9xr-o&start_radio=1&t=0 Fiddle https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-Tv8B6e6HQ

TIARA NEWSLETTER Volume 36 Number 4 Winter 2019

The Irish Ancestral Research Association 121 Boston Post Road Sudbury, MA 01776

www.tiara.ie

OFFICERS Co-Presidents Joanne Delaney Pamela Holland Vice President Kathleen Sullivan Co-recording Secretaries Mary Glover Anne Patriquin Corresponding Secretary Pat Deal Financial Director Gary Sutherland

COMMITTEE CHAIRS

Membership Janis Duffy Webmasters Pat Landry Allison Doane Foresters Susan Steele Library Barbara Brooker Volunteers Allison Doane

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MEETINGS: TIARA meets monthly except July & August at locations throughout the New England area.

THE TIARA NEWSLETTER The TIARA newsletter is published quarterly and distributed to members in good standing. Editor Mary Coyne Assistant Editor Marie Ahearn Layout Editor Don Ahearn Submit all correspondence to the above address or email to newsletter@tiara.ie.

The President’s Message

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COPYRIGHT All material in this publication is protected by copyright. Permission must be obtained for use of any material and credit given, including Title, Author, Volume, and Issue number.

On the Cover

Hello, and “Seasons’ Greetings”! As new Co-President, with Pam Holland, I am happy to have been elected, and I am looking forward to serving TIARA and our members in a new capacity. Having just returned from Ireland, I am newly fired up to research my Irish ancestors more deeply. As many of you know, I have been lucky enough to meet several cousins, who are descended from the one sibling of a maternal great-grandmother who remained in Ireland. This has been a life-altering experience, and one I wish for all of you to have. It was, in fact, the reason for this latest trip to Ireland: my 3rd cousin 1x removed invited us to her wedding! Irish weddings can be 2-3 day events, and this was no exception! I met another whole collection of welcoming Irish cousins, and we had a great time. More research to do, and hopefully, more relatives to meet one day! Turning to TIARA matters: We all want to see TIARA grow and flourish in the 21st century, and the Board will be working to make that a reality. Our new Strategic Planning Committee will be assessing and formulat-ing ways to move TIARA successfully into the future, provide additional member benefits, and position TIARA for continued growth. We wel-come non-Board members to participate, and I urge you to contact a Board member if you are interested (or if you just want to throw an idea into the mix!). Planning a survey of member needs is at the top of our agenda. One of the items that has come to our attention is fine tuning of our website in order to make some areas more user friendly. Please help the Board and the Strategic Planning Committee with this important task. Any and all new ideas are welcome. Meanwhile, there are interesting speakers lined up for our meetings for the 2020 season and another Celtic Connections Conference in July, this time in Chicago. I encourage you to take a look at the list of eminent speakers, and besides…Chicago! This looks to be another fabulous con-ference, so do consider joining us and firing up your own research plans! May you all enjoy the Christmas and New Year Holidays, or, in Irish: Nollaig Shona Duit! And may you have a genealogically productive 2020!

Joanne Delaney president@tiara.ie

Online sources for Irish instrument photos Uilleann pipes https://www.pinterest.com/pin/374502525233540201/ Tin Whistle https://www.celticmusicinstruments.com/tin-whistle-page/ Irish Harp https://www.adverts.ie/other-string/22-string-trinity-harp-walnut-celtic-irish-harp-lever-harp/15371350 Fiddle https://wikiepedia.wordpress.com/2015/04/13/6-popular-trad-irish-musical-instruments/ Mouth Organ (Harmonica) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harmonica Bodhran https://www.ebay.com/p/598246611

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When I picked Irish music as the theme for this issue of the newsletter, I had no idea what would surface. I have no mu-sical talent, know little about music and even less about Irish music. Even though my mother was born in Ireland and emigrated as a young woman our household was definitely locally focused. My father’s parents were born in Ireland, but he always looked toward the future and not the past and so considered himself only an American and that’s how we lived. There was no Irish music, no Gaelic, no Irish culture. TIARA has given me an Irish connection that I needed and has connected me to many relatives in Ireland. And so, on my journey in search of Irish music, I tapped into those relatives and learned a lot. I remember my mother talking about her first cousin, Dominic Broaders, who played the tin whistle. When she visited her sister in Ireland, Dominic would arrive to welcome her and entertain them with his whistle repertoire. Dominic’s son, Patrick, is an Irish musi-cian and I decided to contact him to ask how his father came to play the tin whistle. This meant going back to my gene-alogy tree to find a relative I knew who knew him. I found Tricia and she connected me to Patrick via Facebook (a little

challenge for someone who thought she was a savvy tech person). Patrick, who now lives in Chi-cago, was very gracious and when I began to ask him about Irish music, he hesitated a bit and then commented, “You don’t know much about Irish music, do you?” He got that right! I had thought there must be a standard ‘classical’ repertoire of music that every-one played and that musicians would buy a book of sheet mu-sic titled “Most Loved Irish Songs” or something like that. Not so! He explained that Irish music was passed down au-rally. Musicians picked up the tunes and embellished them as they wished. Or just made something up. As Pat said, “when you grew up in it, you picked it up by osmosis.” Pat’s father, Dominic not only played the tin whistle and the fiddle; he also sang. Most of his performances were for family and local friends that gathered in homes in Dublin or at the local pub, Colfer’s, in his native parish of Carrig-on-Bannow, Co Wexford. The love of music was passed down from Domi-nic’s father who also played the fiddle and sang. Patrick1 plays in an Irish trio named “ Open the Door for Three “. He primarily plays the bouzouki, a Greek relative of

the mandolin, introduced to Irish music in the late 1960s2. The other members play a fid-dle and Uilleann pipes, the characteristic national bagpipes of Ireland3. Patrick himself was schooled on the Uilleann pipes and this is what he loves. Then came a music lesson for me on Scottish bagpipes, Irish bag-pipes, Uilleann pipes, Galician pipes, etc. Just Google “type of bagpipes” and you will see what I mean. Here is Wikipe-dia’s description of the Uilleann pipes. To hear the pipes played g o t o h t t p s : / /www.youtube.com/watch?v=voNw0g1rDMU

The bag of the uilleann pipes is inflated by means of a small set of bellows strapped around the waist and the right arm (in the case of a right-handed player; [everything reversed for left-handed players]). The bellows not only relieve the player from the effort needed to blow into a bag to maintain pressure, they also allow relatively dry air to power the reeds, reducing the adverse effects of moisture on tuning and longevity. Some pipers can converse or sing while playing. The uilleann pipes are distin-guished from many other forms of bagpipes by their tone and wide range of notes – the chanter has a range of two full octaves, including sharps and flats – together with the

Music in the Air: Note from the Editor Mary Downey Coyne #3777

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unique blend of chanter, drones, and regulators. The regulators are equipped with closed keys that can be opened by the piper's wrist action ena-bling the piper to play simple chords, giving a rhythmic and harmonic accompaniment as needed. There are also many ornaments based on mul-tiple or single grace notes. The chanter can also be played staccato by resting the bottom of the chanter on the piper's thigh to close off the bottom hole and then open and close only the tone holes required. If one tone hole is closed be-fore the next one is opened, a staccato effect can be created because the sound stops com-pletely when no air can escape at all.

The uilleann pipes have a differ-ent harmonic structure, sounding sweeter and quieter than many other bagpipes, such as the Great Irish War pipes, Great Highland B a g p i p e s o r t h e I t a l -ian Zampognas. The uilleann pipes are often played indoors and are almost always played sitting down4.

I was very grateful to Patrick for his help, so I sent him a short version of his Irish ances-tors. I received an immediate response with a question that jumped out at him when he

saw that his great-great grandfa-ther was named Philip Murphy. “Thank you, Mary. Is the Phillip Murphy related to the Murphy’s who play the mouth organs from Wexford? Pat. “ Well, back to the internet. Much to my surprise, Philip Murphy, a maestro on the mouth organ (harmonica), came from the same area as my mother and played in the pub in her town,

Carrig-on-Bannow. Phil grew up in the townland of Ballygow and his life was redirected when his mother presented him with a mouth organ in the 1920’s when he was eight years old. He had an agile mind and a good ear for listening to music. He played in the Royal Albert Hall in London in the 1960s and became a leg-end5. He has two classic songs of his own – The Ballygow Reel and Trip to Cullenstown. You can hear his son, John, play a stunning rendition of the song at Colfer’s Pub in Carrig-on-Bannow that he now owns and where his father often played. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAbBikBBkII. John Murphy and friends have instituted an annual festival in memory of Phil Murphy which is held in the same pub in Carrig-on-Bannow. The 28th Phil Murphy Weekend was just

held from 30 August to 1 Sep-tember in Bannow. As for my cousin Pat’s genealogy – well – if they connect, it is many gen-erations back. I did learn that Phil Murphy’s mother was An-nie Brothers (Broaders) and traced back to Phil’s grandfa-ther, another Philip Murphy. Pat could be related on either his Broaders side or his Mur-phy side. At any rate, the mu-sic genes seem to have been passed down to Pat Broaders one way or the other. 1http://www.patbroaders.com/bio.html 2Instruments in a Traditional Irish Music Group. https://

www.liveabout.com/instruments‐used‐in‐traditional‐irish‐

music‐3552966

3https://www.openthedoorforthree.com, www.bohola.com 4https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uilleann_pipes

5Philip Murphy the Ballygow Man Documentary from 2006 Phil

Murphy Weekend. https://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=tUEao2FXFo8

Phil Murphy, Mouth Organ Impresario

Uilleann Pipes, Wikipedia

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In 1183 a well-traveled Norman scribe known as Gerald of Wales visited Ireland for the first time. Later, about 1188, Gerald wrote a book about Ire-land and the Irish people. He had little good to say about the Irish, but he was very im-pressed with their musical skills. Gerald wrote, “…they are incomparably more skillful than any other nation…” Throughout history music has been an important force for the unity of the Irish people. In an-cient times bards were greatly admired and honored for their musical abilities. In more recent times, before electronic media, a fiddler was often the only source of skilled music in a vil-lage and was highly valued. Everyone in a family or village joined in by singing, playing and dancing as best they could. When the Irish emigrated to America, they brought these traditions and skills with them. Many of the first immigrants were Scotch/Irish who were followers of William of Orange. These “Billyboys” often moved to the hills and the Yanks la-beled them “Hillbillys.” The Irish music they played and sang eventually evolved into American country music. Later Irish immigrants who came here in the 19th Century escaped from a land that was beset with famine and death. The laments of keening women over the many graves haunted

their musical memories. Many of them wanted to leave behind all that was Irish and quickly as-similate into American culture. Most of them stayed in cities and looked for jobs that offered a steady pay and an opportunity for advancement for their fami-lies. During this time, it wasn’t easy being Irish-American. The “Know Nothing” party sought to diminish the influence of the Irish in America. I’m sure that some immigrants sang the old songs, but they and their children were attracted to a new style of music that offered a sentimental view of the Irish and Ireland. Songs like – “When Irish Eyes Are Smiling”, “I’ll Ta-ke You Home Again Kathleen” and My Wild Irish Rose” beca-me very popular in the Irish American community. Many Irish immigrants could not read or write but their children could, and they went on to good mid-dle-class jobs. They enjoyed being Irish but also wanted to be identified as Americans. Maureen Dezell has described this phenomenon well in her book Irish America: Coming Into Clover. On page 24 she wrote, “…sentimentality became Irish America’s signature style…[It] represented a welcome change for the socially ascendant Irish middle class.” Irish American performers like Mickey Rooney, James Cagney and George M. Cohan became big stars singing these songs.

Cohan was especially careful to balance Irish themed songs with American ones. He was just as famous for singing “I’m a Yankee Doodle Dandy” and “You’re a Grand Old Flag” as “Harrigan”. A physical metaphor for this change in style could be Co-han’s “soft shoe” style of dance. George took the Irish steps that his immigrant father taught him and performed them in a more genteel manner in soft leather shoes rather than wooden clogs. When Irish Americans became established and they had money to spend on instruments and sheet music they began performing these music hall songs in their homes. My par-ents were both accomplished musicians. My mother played the piano and my father was a violinist. At every holiday our extended family would come to our house and they would play while the rest of the family would sing. As we got older my brother and sister and I would join them as instrumentalists and singers. Our répertoire changed somew-hat with the seasons. We per-formed carols at Christmas and patriotic songs on the 4th of Ju-ly but Irish American songs we-re always part of the mix. Until I was well into adulthood, I be-lieved that the song “When Irish Eyes Are Smiling” was an Irish song from Ireland! In

A Musical Heritage Thomas Toohey, #2705

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retrospect about the only truly Irish song we ever performed was “Danny Boy”. As the second generation Irish in my family passed away and members of my generation left home there were fewer family sing alongs. With advanced education and more worldly experiences our tastes changed, and we stopped performing the songs that our parents loved. Because we no longer lived near our cousins, we also had fewer family get-togethers. Our tradi-tion of family musicales died out but our commitment to mu-sic was strong. My sister sang with the Springfield Symphony Chorus, my brother played with an army band and I was a con-ductor and teacher. Our children grew up listening to rock music and wanted to perform in that style. Today when we get together with them, they are apt to play re-cordings of the newest songs that they have written. Our chil-dren are professional musicians. Meg plays on Broadway and Sean is a lawyer by day and a rocker by night. Our grand-daughter Ariel has carried the music tradition into the next generation as principle cellist with the Vermont Youth Phil-harmonic Orchestra. One of the great joys of my old age is to play classical duets with her whenever we get together. Evidently some of the skills that Gerald of Wales admired have continued on today. May they continue into future generations as well.

When my wife Barbara and I first went to Ireland in 1994 we went directly to the village of Ballyporeen in south Tipperary, the ancestral home of Thomas Meaney, my mother’s father. My cousin Denis Meaney kept a pub there and he entertained us royally. One evening he took us to the Brú Ború Heritage Center in Cashel where we enjoyed a concert of traditional Irish mu-sic and dance. I was 53 years old at the time and this was the first time I had ever seen and heard a live performance of skilled performers in the “trad” style. I’ve seen many more Irish music performances since that time. Epilogue Whenever I meet a new friend at an Irish genealogy event, and they find out that I am a musi-cian they ask if I play Irish mu-sic. My stock answer is, “I’m Irish and I’m a musician but I’m not an Irish musician.” That said, I’ve had some fantastic experiences with Irish music and Irish musicians. Three come to mind as special. The first occurred about 2001 when I attended a master class given by Sir James Galway at Harvard University. It was one of the best experiences of my adult life. The class was made up of 4 graduate woodwind players from the New England Conservatory and about 20 “observers” including myself. The student performers were very high-level musicians who were on track to join major symphony orchestras, but

Galway was an excellent teacher and was able to offer each student positive sugges-tions to enhance their playing. At the end of the class the stu-dents asked the Maestro to play and he performed two pieces. One piece was a movement from a concerto that was writ-ten to be played on his plati-num flute. The second was an extremely difficult and florid piece that he performed on tin whistle. Galway was very hum-ble about his playing, but his skill made the student musi-cians seem like rank beginners. I was blown away by the ex-perience. The second event occurred in the home of my Irish cousin Paddy Tuffy in Sligo about 2007. Before going to Sligo I called Paddy to tell him about our Irish trip plans. While on the call he told me that Marcus Ó Murchú, a distant relative and a famous Irish flutist would also be visiting while we were there. I told Paddy that I would love to meet Marcus and that I would bring him a gift. The next day Paddy emailed me photos of his fields by the shore of Killala Bay.

James Galway

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Loftus who lives in Ballybeg Kilgarvan Co. Mayo. John farms the land where my great grandmother Catherine Mul-Rooney Tuffy was born but he doesn’t live there, and it took me 5 trips to Mayo to find him. When I eventually found his home, he invited me into his kitchen and we talked for some time. He asked me a lot of ques-tions and when he found that I

was a mu-

sician he reached into a cabinet, pulled out a button accordion and began to play. After a couple of songs, he produced a tin whistle and in-vited me to join him. I had never played a tin whistle be-fore but after playing a few notes on it I could see that the fingering was something like flute fingering. With some stumbling and fumbling I was able join him on his tune. We attempted a couple of other songs. One went pretty well while the other was a disaster.

One of the photos was labeled, “By Chris and Paddy’s Shore.” I took that label for a title and wrote a piece for flute. My computer has a program called Finale on it and I made my rough sketch of the tune into a polished manuscript and dedicated the composition to Marcus. When I was done, I also made an audio file of it and

brought it with me to Sligo on a flash drive. Marcus and the Tuffys were very pleased with the results and Marcus said that he would learn to play it. In 2013 Marcus was named “The Chief Bard of Irish Music” by Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann, an organization dedicated to the preservation of Irish cul-ture. I hope to return to Ireland again and hear him play my tune. My third encounter with Irish music involved my cousin John

John had to go off to a job and I had something to do as well so we agreed to meet the next night in the bar at the Ocean Sands Hotel in Enniscrone where we had a great time drinking and telling stories. When I got home I wrote John a tune that I called, “John’s Jig.” I made an audio file of it and sent him the manuscript and the audio file by post. I am told that he loves the tune and plays it often. The Irish are always honored when someone writes a poem or a song for them. It harkens back to “The Olden Days” when bards wrote songs in praise of kings. Click on the URL below to hear Tom Toohey play his two compositions and follow on the sheet music. https://tiara.ie/membership/recorded-lectures/audio-related/ The URL will direct you to the TIARA website. After you log in, you will be connected directly to the audio files. The music is copyrighted and if you wish to use them elsewhere please contact the edi tor to make arrangements: newsletter@tiara.ie Your User Name is your email address that you provided to TIARA. The TIARA website sent a password to that email address. If you were not successful logging in or do not have the password that was sent, try the following: On the TIARA website, select MEM-

BERS ONLY tab then select "Log In"

Under EXISTING USER LOGIN, click on "Forgot Password"

A "password reset" message should show up in your e-mail with a new password.

Check that the email did not end up as "spam" if you do not receive it.

Marcus O’Murchú

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Chicago in the late 1800s and early 1900s was a city that tested the metal of its police force. A time of vicious strikes in railroad yards (1877), assassi-nation of its mayor along with an Olmstead-designed extrava-gant World’s Fair (1893), anar-chist riots (1894), the meatpack-ing strike (1902), comingled with rampant prostitution, gambling, bootlegging and po-litical corruption. In 1873, Francis O’Neill entered the melee as a newly minted member of the Chicago Police Force. He immediately rose to patrolman after being shot while arresting a notorious rob-ber and his career advanced steadily, becoming chief of po-lice in 1901. His career was even more amazing to have oc-curred in such a charged envi-ronment since he was consid-ered “spikily honest, and unco-operative in doing favours for local ward politicians”. As Chief, he ran a “tight ship”, maintained his integrity and was well-respected by officers, politicians, newsmen and the public. He was re-appointed twice, then a third time under a new mayor. O’Neill resigned in 1905 of his own accord. The Chief was an Irish immi-grant, born in Tralibane, Co Cork, near Bantry in 1848 dur-ing the Great Famine. His fam-ily line goes back to 1779 when

his mother’s family held open houses for traveling musicians. Irish music, especially singing was a family trait. As Chi-cago’s Police Chief he discov-ered that 2,000 of the 3,500 men in the police force were Irish and many of them were talented musicians. He was often accused unjustly of pack-ing the police force with Irish musicians such as when he enlisted an excellent piper to

join the force. While O’Neill was employed to organize the Chicago police, he was also entranced with music. He was a virtuoso on the flute, and also played the fiddle, the Scottish Highland pipes, and the uilleann pipes. The Chief sang beautifully and was an impressive whistler. He was not known to dance but his musical interests lay in the

Chief Francis O’Neill; An American Chronicler of Irish Music Mary Downey Coyne #3777

Chief Francis O’Neill Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_O%27Neill

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connection between Irish music and dancing. Chicago was the perfect place for a person interested not only in the repertoire of Irish music, but also the nuances of local Irish regions and influence of American music on the genre. Chicago’s population included musicians from all thirty-two counties in Ireland, first genera-tion Irish American and itiner-ant Irish professional musi-cians. While there were some written scores for Irish musical tunes, there was much that was passed from player to player along with many unnamed tunes composed by individual musicians. O’Neill was on a mission to document these un-recorded tunes and fortunately for Irish music he was the right person in the right place at the right time. In that era, there were dance-halls, music saloons, and vaudeville shows where music was played weekly. When he was a policeman on the beat, Officer O’Neill would hesitate outside the halls, listen to the tunes and memorize the mel-ody. In one instance he navi-gated the slum area of Chicago to visit the home of an un-known street musician to listen to him play the fiddle. The fid-dler was taken aback at first that he was being visited by the Chief of Police. His most important discovery, however, was meeting James O’Neill, a young man living near a local police station and

an accomplished fiddle player. James had the ability to write accurately tunes that were played or sung, a talent the Chief lacked. In the beginning, they collaborated to collect and put into musical notation the tunes Francis O’Neill knew from his childhood, but it soon evolved into documenting the music they heard around them. As word of their work spread, musicians arrived to play for them. The O’Neills visited others in their homes; sisters and wives added childhood tunes; and they documented melodies overheard in barber shops, trolley cars and railway crossings. After documenting 2000 tunes the two O’Neills decided to publish their work. In the proc-ess of pre-publication editing, they named unnamed tunes, and changed dance music into keys suitable for the fiddle, flute and uilleann pipes. This was not just a collection of melodies for historical pur-poses, but a piece of work for performers. There were no ex-tra notations in the printed copy, just the series of single notes basic to the tune. In 1903 Francis O’Neill published 2,000 copies of O’Neill’s Music of Ireland, containing 1,850 pieces of Irish music ‘collected from all available sources’ with over half obtained from the singing or playing of residents of Chicago. After leaving the police force in 1905, he continued his musical ethnological career publishing

The Dance Music of Ireland in 1907 in which he compiled a collection of jigs, reels, horn-pipes and special dance tunes. This publication was more suc-cessful than the first. Since it was less expensive, it was pur-chased widely and used exten-sively, eventually being called “The Book” by traditional mu-sicians. In 1908 O’Neill must have been trying to attract mu-sicians who played other in-struments into learning Irish music by publishing O’Neill’s Irish Music. 250 Choice Selections Arranged for Piano and Violin. This was less successful since left hand accompaniment was not always in harmony and re-flected his lack of formal musi-cal training. After this, he struck out on his own without James O’Neill and published Irish Folk Music: A Fascinating Hobby. For the remaining years until his death in 1936, O’Neill continued his intense involve-ment into Irish music and watched as it evolved knowing he had captured its essence at a critical time in history. Carolan, Nicholas, A Harvest Saved: Francis O’Neill and Irish Music in Chicago. Ossian Publica-tions, Cor, 1997. O’Neill, Francis, National Encyclo-pedia of American Biography, Vol 17, James T. White, New York, 1921 p. 280; Google Books.

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TIARA's 2019 Research and Heritage Tour Mary Choppa #1791

This year was TIARA's first joint effort for a research/sightseeing tour with Ancestry and EF/ GoAhead Heritage Tours. Ancestry, through Kyle Betit, approached us to see if TIARA might be interested in working with them. GoAhead Tours was willing to adapt one of their heritage tours to accommodate the needs and interests of our members. TIARA members and their guests traveled from Dublin to Counties Cork, Kerry and Galway in comfort with tour director, Patricia O’Donnell, who provided a running commentary on local color and history. We appreciated Pat’s flexibility in responding to requests. Her thoughtfulness and good humor made her an instant favorite with the group. Personal research was an im-portant aspect of the trip for our members and arrange-ments were made for visits to the research facilities in Dub-lin as well as time set aside for research in Counties Cork and Galway. Kyle Betit, the re-search leader, connected with each TIARA researcher before the tour and spent time with each individual during the trip. Kyle was available for consultation at meals, on the bus - at all hours! He also gave talks on Griffith's Valua-tion in Dublin, Church Re-cords while travelling on the bus, and Landed Estate Re-cords at Muckross House.

EF/Go Ahead Tours: Oct 6- Oct 16, 2019 Dublin, Counties Cork, Kerry, and Galway

Choctaw Memorial, Middleton, Co Cork. Monument thanking the Native American Choctaw Tribe for their assistance sent during the great famine. Front row: Judy Francesconi, Carolyn South, Jane Gordon Miller, Joyce Morrison, Mary Glover, Jane Moloney Back row: Mary McGreal, Rose Rabinowitz, Ross Weaver, Drew Bartley, Paul Barton, Kyle Betit

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For those tour members more interested in touring, high-lights included EPIC , the in-ter-active Irish Emigration Museum, The Choctaw Na-tion Memorial, a tribute to the native American tribe's dona-tion during the Great Famine, and the Dunbrody Famine Ship, a living history of emi-gration from 1st class to steer-age. Our participants also en-joyed the natural wonders of the country including the Bur-ren and the Cliffs of Moher. A tour that combines beautiful scenery of Ireland with im-portant historical and re-search sites, what's not to love?

Despite some personal limitations, I found the tour to be well-planned and I totally enjoyed the com-pany of my fellow travelers. Great group of folks! Our leaders, Patricia O’Donnell and Kyle Betit, were fantastic! We are currently surveying the 14 participants of the TIARA tour. If the feedback is positive, look for future collaboration with Ancestry and EF/GoAhead tours. Maybe even a tour of Northern Ireland!

Kyle explaining the Landed Estate Records as resources Carolyn South, Janis Duffy, Jane Moloney, Paul Barton, Linda Weaver, Roz Rabinowitz, Mary Glover (Standing Ross Weaver, Jim Cook.

Last night at Cassidy’s - Dublin Seated: Carolyn South, Roz Rabinowitz, Jane Moloney, Linda Cook, Mary Choppa Standing: Janis Duffy, Linda Weaver, Jane Gordon Miller, Judy Francesconi, Paul Barton, Joyce Morri-son, Ross Weaver, Drew Bartley, Jim Cook, Mary Glover, Mary McGreal, Kyle Betit, Patricia O’Donnell.

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The TIARA Banquet The TIARA banquet was re-cently held at the Wayside Inn on Saturday November 9th. Members smiled and laughed at the wonderful personal sto-ries related by the speaker, Mary Pat Kelly. Mary Pat was introducing her recent novel, Irish Above All, a continuing saga of the Kelly family begun in her best-selling novels: Gal-way Bay and Of Irish Blood. In Irish Above All she traces the rise of an Irish American politi-cian through the story of Chi-cago Mayor Kelly, Honora's grandson, who helped influ-ence the history of the 20th Century.

In addition, two members, Mi-chael Melanson and Susan Steele, received a TIARA pin and certificate recognizing their 25-year membership in TIARA. Five other members who could not be present will also receive TIARA 25-year pins and

recognition. These include Paul Geary, Nancy Hall Loughlin, Francis and Wendy Martin, and Eileen O’Duill. The An Capall Bán Award was given to Greg Atkinson for his significant contributions to TIARA for his work with TIARA and the Celtic Connections Conference. His name was added to a new plaque to be hung in the TIARA office, which will include the names of all prior and future awardees. As noted in the description of the award, An Capall Bán was instituted by TIARA, to honor those members who have

served the association with out-standing dedication and who have contributed singularly to its mission. An capall bán trans-lates from the Irish as, the white horse. The white horse of Irish mythology is seen as something

truly special, with great powers and the ability to cross between worlds. The image is one of beauty and strength, full of purpose and meaning.

There are today no magical white horses to help us in our genealogical pursuits but there are those who have dedicated themselves quite singularly to building and growing a TIARA organization committed to helping family researchers con-nect with their roots. TIARA’s present international renown and highly regarded stature within the genealogical com-munity are in no small part due to the dedicated service of the outstanding TIARA members chosen to receive this award.

Susan Steele and Michael Melanson on the right received TIARA 25-year pins and were congratulated by the co-presidents, Pam Holland and Joanne Delaney on the left.

Greg Atkinson says a few words after being presented with the An Cappal Bán award from TIARA.

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Theme for Next Issue For the first issue of 2020 we are opening the newsletter to a mix of article from members. If you have an interesting family story or an unusual research find, share the experience with colleagues in the next newsletter. In addition, we are trying an experiment called “Short Takes”. Any member who has had a notable genealogical experience or event that they want to share in one or two paragraphs, this is for you. We are looking forward to hearing from members who may not be regular contributors but who have something to share. If you are hesitant, contact the Editor and she will be glad to work with you. Send all contributions to newsletter@tiara.ie or to our Sudbury address: TIARA, 121 Boston Post Road, Sudbury, MA 01776.

As a second generation Irish American, my mother would play Dennis Day and Bing Crosby albums around St. Patrick's Day, or whenever the mood hit her. I have many happy memories of her singing at the top of her lungs over the roar of the vacuum cleaner. In high school and college, I started to become interested in "real" Irish music as performed by the Wolfe Tones, Tommy Makem and The Clancy Brothers. Yes, I became a bit of an Irish music snob, relegating those Tin Pan Alley songs out of my playlists. I started memorizing a lot of Irish songs and simultaneously discovered that my mother knew how to play guitar. She had learned it as part of her love for American Western music. Mom taught me how to accompany myself and explained that the voice is an instrument while she coached me in song. We learned from each other as she recognized that some of the Irish songs I was learning had been developed into American songs. As I went on to study history in college, I was able to combine my love of Irish music with the history that surrounded my Irish ancestors. My musical ability increased as I made some extra spending money performing with like-minded folks. During my musical journey, I also started to understand and, yes, appreciate the Tin Pan Alley songs. They hold both an historic and sentimental value that I can see clearly now....that would make a good line for a song...

SHORT TAKES Memories of Mom and Music Mary Choppa #1701

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John Grenham. Tracing Your Irish Ancestors. Baltimore, MD: Genealogy Publishing Com-pany by arrangement with Gill Books of Dublin, 2019, 650 pages, $38.50. € 22.11. “Start with what you know,“ John Grenham advises those searching for answers to genealogy’s basic question, “Where did I come from?” If luck is the most important ingredient in Irish research, as the author claims, then surely the first stroke of luck is researchers having in hand Grenham’s fifth edition of his comprehensive guide. Re-searchers who are beginning and those who are continuing will be inspirited with Gren-ham’s promise that ahead are “pleasures and insights that are unique” (p. xviii). In keeping with any historical research, genealogical inquiry is never finished. There is al-ways a chance that a document will be discovered that throws a sharp new light on “proofs” already established. Then there are valuable records that are still to be made public, such as Irish children’s school re-cords. Only recently the re-search process itself underwent “extraordinary changes” when Ireland fully realized how much the diaspora cherished their Irish connection (p.xv). With that insight came the de-cision to make the search for ancestors as easy as possible. Almost all the resources were

made accessible online. Even better, publicly funded sites are free. (www.irishgenealogy.ie; https://databases.dublincity.ie; www.genealogy.nationalarchives.ie; www.askaboutireland.ie; www.nli.ie). Talk about luck!

As a result, Tracing Your Irish Ancestors has been reorganized to reflect this revo-lutionary change in accessing Irish records. The first four chapters are relevant to all researchers. Topics are: General Register Office Records, Census Records, Church Records and

Property and Valuation Records. Chapter 5 focuses on the internet with a list of online resources (pp. 77-82) and special mention of archive.org that retrieves sources no longer online. Ge-netic genealogy is included in this chapter. The next six chap-ters deal with more specific is-

sues: Wills, the Genealogical Of-fice, Deeds, Emigration and the Irish Abroad (with 50 pages of bibliography, The Registry of Deeds and Newspapers. TI-ARA’s Marie E. Daly’s Grave-stone Inscriptions for Mount Auburn Catholic Cemetery, Water-town, Massachusetts (1983) is listed in the bibliography

Book Review Mary Ellen Doona #1629

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(p.146). The remaining chap-ters feature: Directories, Occu-pational Records, County Source Lists [County by County], Roman Catholic Par-ish Records [County by County and with maps]. The last chap-ter includes: Research Ser-vices, Societies, Repositories and Publishers. (TIARA is listed under Irish Family His-tory Societies Abroad with its former Waltham address but its current online addresses (p. 630). The chapter on County Source List has general information under subheadings: Census Returns and Substitutes [Griffiths and Tithe Books], The Internet, Local History, Local Journals, Gravestone In-scription, Local History [again], Estate Records, Place names. Then information spe-cific to each County follows. Cork, to give an example, is organized around Census Re-turns and Substitutes, Online Sources, Publications [bibliography], Local Journals, Directories, Gravestone In-scriptions and Estate Records. Here and throughout the book, each chapter is complete in it-self, its topics cross-referenced and bibliography, when appro-priate, included within the chapter. Similarly, visuals ac-company the text for added clarification. So thorough is Grenham’s Tracing Your Irish Genealogy that it is highly doubtful that anything that must be known about Irish genealogy is not in it. To be sure, room had to be

made for the new material on online and genetic research but Grenham refers researchers to johngrenham.com where ex-cised material is still available. Researchers can feel assured that they have a text on Irish genealogy that is as complete as it can be. Then they are sure to appreciate a layout that is clean and sharp facilitating reading free of eyestrain. The language is crisp and clear providing un-obstructed access to content. Best of all, the wonder of this book is the sense of Grenham’s presence in it as a mentoring colleague. As expected, he is an expert in Irish research and from that expertise he is sensi-tive to questions and difficul-ties that researchers may have. He provides direction, offers caveats and cautions care. Most emphatically he advises skepticism especially when us-ing the internet saying, “I found it on the internet” equals “I don’t know where I found it” (p. xix). He emphasizes rigor in documenting sources and warns that online resources are not the records-the originals are offline. What is online is “more-or-less complete” with the possibility of human error corrupting the data (p. xix, 69). The variations of Irish sur-names evoke from him “the wonders of Irish surnames” and “the slipperiness of sur-names and place names” that researchers probably have also sighed about (p.22). So, too, when researchers are getting bleary-eyed trying to decipher handwriting it will be a comfort

to read that Grenham has also been there and labels his exas-peration with an almost illegible scrawl in parish records as a clergyman’s “revenge on poster-ity” (p.44). Trawling through records is nec-essary and time consuming, but Grenham draws researcher’s at-tention to golden moments. Not to be missed among them is see-ing an ancestor’s handwriting on Census forms that provides a “vivid immediacy that can be very poignant” (p. 22). Another is learning that Irish women gained a snippet of independ-ence in arranged marriages when their dowries were put in a trust and not given to the hus-band (p. 170). Final wishes stated in wills are still other mo-ments that “vividly evoke the way of life” (p. 83). With Grenham as their partner, researchers are more apt to find answers to “Where did I come from?” as well as have unique moments of pleasure and flashes of insight. Tracing Your Irish An-cestors has little chance of gather-ing dust on a reference shelf. Instead it will be the family re-searcher’s constant companion.

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TIARA 2019 Newsletter Index

Author Title Pag

e Spring 2019 v 36 #1

Ancestral Homes and Land in Ireland

Fortada, Janice Kenney Walking in the Footsteps of my Early Irish Family 3

Melanson, Michael B. Homes of Our Ancestors in Rural Ireland 6

Tyrell, Mary L. The O'Sullivan Shearig Family from the Townland of Reentrisk, West Cork 9 Flaherty, Maryann Secrets in the Closet 11 Toohey, Thomas M. What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life? 15 Sullivan, Kathy Blog Watch 18

Brooker, Barbara TIARA Library Notes 19 Pironti, Eileen Curley Digging Deeper for Databases 19 Summer 2019 v 36 #2

The Meaning of 'Value' in Griffiths Valuations Kenney, Maureen Our Cotter Homestead: from Bantry to Boston 23

Schnelle, John The Meaning of 'Value' in Griffith's Valuations 28 Coyne, Mary Downey Finding a Townland and Family 30 Cassidy, Kevin Searching for Place of Origin 35 Sullivan, Kathy Blog Watch 38 Pironti, Eileen Curley Digging Deeper for Databases 39 Fall 2019 v 36 #3

The Irish Who Went West

Benedict, Sheila Irish and Irish-Americans: Their Impact in the Western United States 43

Doona, Mary Ellen & Helen Doona Caudill Standing at Seven Heads 45 Coyne, Mary Downey The Irish Immigrant Who Went West 47 Ahearn, Marie Stories from the American Cousins Project 51

Letter to Editor, Yuba, CO St. Patrick's Day in California: Ireland at the Diggins 54

Steele, Susan What Keeps Us Going? - A Foresters Project Update 56

Sullivan, Kathy Blog Watch 58 Pironti, Eileen Curley Digging Deeper for Databases 59 Winter, 2019 v 36 #4

Irish Musical Instruments Coyne, Mary Downey Music in the Air 63 Toohey, Thomas A Musical Heritage 65 Coyne, Mary Downey Chief Francis O’Neill 68 Choppa, Mary TIARA’a 2019 Ireland Tour 70 Choppa, Mary Short Takes: Mom & Music 73 Doona, Mary Ellen Review John Grenham 2019 Book 74 2019 Newsletter Index 76 Sullivan, Kathy Blog Watch 78 Brooker, Barbara Library Notes 79 Pironti, Eileen Curley Digging Deeper for Databases 79

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TIARA Library Notes Barbara Brooker #3807

Immigration and Passage to the West

James P. Delgado, To California by Sea: a Maritime His-tory of the California Gold Rush (Columbia, SC: Univer-sity of South Carolina Press, 1990). 237 pgs. [BPL, BC, MLN (Belmont)] Passenger Lists, etc.

https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/California_Emigration_and_Immigration

http://www.sfgenealogy.org/sf/sfdata.htm#sfpassengers

Gold Rush-California Genealogy

Charles W. Haskins, Argonauts* of California (New York: Fords, Howard & Hulbert, 1890). 520 pgs. plus name index https://sites.rootsweb.com/~cagha/argonauts/argonauts-index.htm Pioneer Lists, etc

*49ers https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/2137266

http://www.sfgenealogy.org/sf/sfdata.htm BPL = Boston Public Library (open to public) BC = Boston College Library (open to public) MLN = Minuteman Library Network [specific library] (open to public)

These notes were omitted by accident from the last issue of the TIARA newsletter. Access for resource sources are noted. Irish in the West

Robert A. Burchell, The San Francisco Irish, 1848-1880 (Berkeley, CA: Univ. of California Press, 1980). 227 pgs. https://books.google.com/books?id=EQ4ux4RENdgC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false [BPL, BC, MLN (Acton)] Michael C. O’Laughlin, Irish Families on the California Trail: Pioneers & 49ers From the Earliest Days Including Gold Rush and San Francisco Vol. II (Kansas City, MO: Irish Genealogical Foundation, 2003). https://books.google.com/books?id=vpJWCR_Mv4QC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false David M. Emmons, Beyond the American Pale: the Irish in the West, 1845-1910 (Norman, OK: University of Okla-homa Press, 2010). 472 pgs. https://books.google.com/books?id=N5xIbZ5r6OcC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false [BPL, BC, MLN (Concord)]

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Blog Watch Kathy Sullivan #3009

TIARA NEWSLETTER Volume 36 Number 3 Fall 2019

Family History

Family Sleuther made this short (5.5 minutes) video documenting his visit to his ancestors home town of Potenza, Italy. https://www.familysleuther.com/2019/09/walking-in-footsteps-of-italian.html

Pauleen Cass finds that when family stories are handed down, verification can be found in the most unlikely places .https://cassmobfamilyhistory.com/2019/10/11/serendipity-meets-genea-generosity/

Methodology

Ireland Reaching Out has a great article on Irish Naming and Baptism Traditions. I almost passed this one over as I knew I was familiar with the naming patterns. But I would have missed making a new connection through a bap-tismal sponsor: https://irelandxo.com/ireland-xo/news/irelandxo-insight-irish-naming-and-baptism-traditions

Records and Databases

Claire Santry announces Ancestry’s next World Archives Project that will be of interest to Irish family historians. https://www.irishgenealogynews.com/2019/10/dobsons-irish-emigrants-to-north.html?m=1

If you have Irish ancestors who settled in Ohio, Find My Past has released new Cincinnati Roman Catholic Parish records cover the years 1800 through 1979 https://blog.eogn.com/2019/08/02/new-cincinnati-roman-catholic-parish-records-available-to-search-this-findmypast-friday/

Many Irish immigrants passed through Canada on their way to the United States. Ken McKinlay has an excellent guide on how to lo-cate your ancestors in the “Quebec Vital & Church Records” within The Drouin Church and Vital Records collection on Ancestry.com if you do not read French. https://familytreeknots.blogspot.com/2019/08/anglophones-tips-for-ancestrys-drouin.html

New records coming on line from PRONI

http://britishgenes.blogspot.com/2019/09/proni-to-release-new-digitised-records.html

Research Resources

Accessing digital books on line for genealogical research: https://emptybranchesonthefamilytree.com/2019/10/accessing-digital-books-online-for-genealogical-research/

Technology

Family History Daily has tips on how to turn old negatives and slides into photos: https://familyhistorydaily.com/genealogy-help-and-how-to/negative-film-scanner-apps/

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Online Resources

Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann The largest group involved in the preservation and promotion of Irish traditional music. https://comhaltas.ie/ Irish Traditional Music Archive A comprehensive collection of materials for the appre-ciation and study of Irish traditional music, song and dance. https://www.itma.ie/ The Journal of Music An online music magazine based in Ireland and read worldwide. https://journalofmusic.com/ Boston College: Guide to Listening to Irish Music Online https://LIBGUIDES.bc.edu/irishmusic/listen TL = TIARA Library BPL = Boston Public Library (open to public) BC = Boston College Library (open to public) MLN = Minuteman Library Network [specific library] (open to public)

Digging Deeper for Databases Eileen Curley Pironti #2788

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Books

Susan Gedutis, See You at the Hall: Boston’s Golden Era of Irish Dance and Music (Northeastern University Press, 2004). 252 pgs. [TL, BPL, BC, MLN (Natick, Newton, Waltham, Needham)] Breandan Breathnach, Folk Music and Dance of Ire-land (Cork: Mercier Press, 1996). 159 pgs. [TL, BPL, BC] Mick Moloney, Far From the Shamrock Shore: the Story of Irish-American Immigration Through Song (New York: Crown Books, 2002). 39 pgs. + CD [TL, BPL (streaming through Hoopla), BC, MLN (Needham, Winchester, Westwood)] Georges Denis Zimmerman, Songs of Irish Rebellion: Political Street Ballads and Rebel Songs, 1790-1900 (Dublin: Four Court Press, 2002). 342 pgs. [BPL, BC]

TIARA Library Notes Barbara Brooker #3807

Irish Traditional Music Archive The Irish Traditional Music Archive, located in Dub-lin, Ireland, has the largest known collection of au-dio, video and printed material related to Irish tradi-tional music. Searchable databases containing digi-tized sound recordings, videos, images, and manu-scripts from its collections are available at https://www.itma.ie/digital-library. The Doegen Records Web Project The Doegen Records Web Project is comprised of audio recordings of Irish folklore and songs collected between 1928 and 1931 by Dr. Wilhelm Doegen for the Irish government. Doegen, who founded the Lautarchiv (sound archive) at Humboldt University in Berlin, chose speakers from seventeen Irish counties for this project. A database of these recordings is available online at

https://www.Doegen.ie and may be searched by title, speaker, or county where the speaker resided. Included with each audio clip is an Irish language transcription of the piece and an English translation, background information about the song or story, the name of the speaker and the date it was recorded. Ward Irish Music Archives – Sheet Music Collection The Irish Sheet Music Collection, part of the Ward Irish Music Archives, contains sheet music of over 5,000 Irish and Irish American songs. A database containing details about the sheet music in the col-lection is searchable by title, artist, and even the in-struments used for a particular piece of music. Im-ages of sheet music published before 1923 are in-cluded in the database. https://irishsheetmusicarchives.com/sheet-music.htm

TIARA NEWSLETTER Volume 36 Number 4 Winter 2019

The Irish Ancestral Research Association 121 Boston Post Road Sudbury, MA 01776

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DATED MATERIAL

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Upcoming Conferences, Workshops, and Events

Celtic Connections Conference Wheeling, IL July 31 – August 1, 2020 New York State Family History Conference Albany, NY September 10-12, 2020

TIARA Monthly Meetings Friday, January 10, 2020 Friday, February 14, 2020 Brandeis University Saturday, March 7, 2020 9:30 am-12:30 pm NEHGS, Boston