Great summertime read by North Dakota writer, Tim Doyle who is a retired railroad engineer. The inside knowledge Doyle brings to the book makes it come alive with the lingo and atmosphere gained from a career of running trains. The book outlines the Fenian’s, a secret Irish society’s conspiracy to arrange drug shipments by train….
Category: History
Committing to the Cloth
By Monica Nilsson Editor’s note: The author Monica Nilsson is Executive Director of Haven Housing, St. Paul’s 2012 Distinguished Irish Woman and proud daughter of Mary Gallagher Nilsson. You’ll see Gallaghers, Kanes, Egans, Treacys, McGraths, McCarthys and O’Phelans, Sheas, Harrises, Ryans, Galligans, Faricys, Murphys and McMahons. And because the Irish are a welcoming…
Bloody Sunday Anniversary
January 30, 2022 marks the 50th anniversary of that tragic day in Derry known as “Bloody Sunday” when 26 peaceful civic rights demonstrators were shot in 1972 with 14 of them killed by British soldiers. The demonstrators were protesting the British policy of Internment without trail, giving the British Government the power to arrest anyone…
Father James Nugent – A Connemara Hero of the 1880 Assisted Emigration Scheme
by Dr. Maxine Keoghan It was with great interest that I read the articles in the Irish Gazette of Minnesota’s Connemara immigrants who settled there in the 1880’s. I attended university in the west of Ireland in the city of Galway and have always been fascinated by Connemara – its landscape and its people. I…
Tylenol Poisoning Case in Chicago
By Dan Ganley Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity Mark Twain In the fall of 1982 the Tylenol poisoning murders terrorized the Chicagoland area. One result was the changing of packaging in America and around the world. “Irish” Charlie Ford was the lead homicide detective for the City of…
Séamus Reports
A great St. Patrick’s tradition that has been held next to the Landmark Center in downtown St. Paul since 2010 and hosted by Larson King LLP, the largest law firm headquartered in the saintly city, has been put on hold for two years. The invitation-only tent party will resume next year according to Patrick O’Neill,…
Who is St Patrick?
Important historical figures are frequently shadowed by the myths and legends attributed to them over the course of centuries, and St. Patrick is no exception. He is believed to have been born in the late fourth century, and is often confused with Palladius, a bishop who was sent by Pope Celestine in 431 to be…
The History of the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in the U.S.
The first St. Patrick’s Day parade took place not in Ireland but in the United States. Irish soldiers serving in the English military marched through New York City on March 17, 1762. Along with their music the parade helped the soldiers reconnect with their Irish roots as well as fellow Irishmen serving in the English…
Saint Patrick’s Days of Yore
By Mattie Lennon Saint Patrick was a gentleman, he came from decent people, In Dublin town he built a church and on it put a steeple His father was a Callahan, his mother was a Grady, His aunt was an O’Shaughnessy and uncle he was Brady. So says Christy Moore. At this time of year…
John Ireland’s Graceville Experiment
by Dan Ganley Image Oil-on-canvas painting of Connemara Patch by Wilbur Hausenur, ca. 1935. Courtesy of the Minnesota Historical Society Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote: The poor Irishman, the wheelbarrow is his country. [I love this statement] This phrase might have been on Archbishop John Ireland’s mind back in the 1870s when he began efforts to…