According to the U.S. Census, over 33.3 million Americans claim Irish ancestry. Like most of those 33.3 million, I've always taken my Irish ancestry for granted. Other than one poorly attended Irish dance class in kindergarten, I never made much of an effort to connect to the Irish culture. However, when my choir went to [...]
Though we named her for her two grandmothers, Mary Jane and Margaret Joan, our Mary Margaret (called Molly) also shares her name with a fascinating figure in family lore whose heroism some 125 years ago continues to intrigue. Around 1890, Mary Margaret (called Molly) Mackey gave up her passenger ship ticket to her sister, Bridget [...]
In a misguided effort to stump my sister in-law, elderly Mr. Callahan stopped her at the door of their Manhattan apartment building on March 18 several years ago. "Guess what today is?" he asked. Having just received the annual reminder phone call from her fun-loving father, Nancy didn’t hesitate. "St. Cyril day," she said, "Of [...]