Thomas Henry Hassett (1841-1893)

Thomas Hassett was born in Doneraile, County Cork. Little is known of his early life, but we can safely assume he saw firsthand the evictions and state-imposed starvation in the “Famine” years. He was a carpenter by trade. He joined the Young Irelanders’ Phoenix Literary Society in 1859 and left Ireland to serve in the Irish Papal Brigade in 1860; he was wounded at the Battle of Perugia. Upon returning, he joined the British Army in 1861 and was sworn into the Irish Republican Brotherhood in 1864.

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Brigadier General Stephen Moylan (1734 - 1811)

Irish-born American patriot, Aide-de-Camp to General Washington, Muster-Master General and Quartermaster General of the Continental Army

 and Commander of the Cavalry of the Continental Army.

Stephen Moylan was born in Cork City, Co. Cork, Ireland in 1734, the first of four children born to John Moylan and his first wife Mary Ann Doran. John Moylan had four other children with his second wife, Alicia Joyce.

The Moylan's were prosperous merchants as were the Doran's. Under normal circumstances that would have afforded their children access to the best schools in Ireland except for the fact that the British backed Penal Laws enacted by the parliament of the Protestant Ascendency in Ireland barred Catholics from participation in all aspects of civil life including education.

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Paddy Landers  (1881 - 1944)

On an autumn day in 1924, the platform at Listowel's railway station was crowded by those who wished to bid farewell to yet another departing emigrant. There were no bands or banners, no speeches or dignitaries, but still they came to wish Paddy Landers well as he boarded a train to leave Listowel on his journey to Boston. Throughout the previous decade he had been a hero on the football field, in the council chamber, in prison cells and on the field of battle. A journalist who was present on that railway platform wrote that two years previously, 'any position that he wished for could be his, but still Paddy Landers, true to his position as a soldier and as a man preferred to become a "Soldier of the Rear Guard". Now, as he boarded the train, the price of defeat in the Civil War was to be paid in full.

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Mary Harris "Mother" Jones (1837 - 1930)

Labor Activist and Organizer, Speaker, Teacher

Mary Harris Jones, an unremarkable Irish emigrant to America in the early 1840s, nonetheless went on to leave her footprint in the history of the American labor movement and, also in the history of the Irish-American diaspora.  

She was once described as the most dangerous woman in America by a member of the economic elite for her advocacy of economic justice for the working class. She was also mocked as the "grandmother of all agitators" on the floor of the U.S. Senate, a characterization she wholeheartedly agree with.

She helped shape a spirit of disobedience in the cause of justice, the type of disobedience that the late U.S. congressman John Lewis would refer to as "good trouble". She was, and still is, a role model for women crusaders for social justice, gender equality, femicide and a slew of other injustices levied at women around the world.  --- continue


Ella Young (1867 - 1956)

Irish Literary Revivalist, Irish Republican, Teacher, Poet, Writer and Mystic. 

 

Ella Young was born on December 25, 1867, in Fenagh, Co. Antrim, Ireland to James Bristow Young, a corn broker, and Matilda Ann Russell Young, She was the oldest of six children, five girls and one boy. Although the Young's were middle class Presbyterians, they were not members of the ruling Protestant Ascendency, a predatory institution consisting solely of members of the Established Protestant Churches of England and Ireland.  Presbyterians were not trusted by the British or their vassals in Ireland, consequently they were also victims of the Penal Laws, albeit, to a lesser extent than the native Irish.

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Dr. Gertrude B. Kelly (1862-1934)

Surgeon, Irish Republican, Suffragette, Writer, Social Activist and Philanthropist

 

Gertrude Brice Kelly was one of twelve children born to Jeremiah and Kate Kelly (nee Forrest) near Carrick-on-Suir, Co. Waterford on February 10, 1862, Both of Gertrude's parents were teachers who, according to some accounts, were supporters of the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB), a movement dedicated to overthrowing British rule in Ireland.  Possible because of Jeremiah support for or involvement in the IRB, he left Ireland for the United States in 1868 taking up residence in Hoboken, New Jersey. His family joined him there in 1873. After settling in Hoboken, Jeremiah secured a teaching position in the public school system where Gertrude and her siblings received their education. Eventually, Jeremiah became superintendent of Hoboken's school system.

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Marguerite Moore (1846 - 1933)

Irish Land League activist and prisoner, Writer, Orator, Social Activist and Suffragette

Early Years.

Marguerite Nagle, the oldest of two daughters, was born to Garret and Mary Jane Nagle on July 7, 1848, in Waterford City, Ireland during the height of the Great Hunger.

Her father, who managed the local Post Office and rented property in the city, died in 1849 during her infancy. Her mother, Mary Jane died a few years later in 1852. 

 As a beneficiary in their wills, Marguerite inherited £250 equivalent to £31,000 today when she came of legal age in 1869.

The Great Hunger (1845 - 1851) was a calamitous event in the annals of Irish history. Despite the death or flight of over 2.5 million victims of starvation, not every native Irish family went hungry however, the attendant diseases reached far beyond the starving masses to add to the overall carnage.  It's not known if Garret or Mary Jane fell victim to any of these diseases that continued to plagued Ireland long after the Great Hunger.

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Edward FitzGerald (1763 - 1798)

Irish Revolutionary, 1798 Irish Rebellion Martyr, United Irish Army Commander-in-Chief, British Army Officer, American Revolutionary War Participant, Honorary Iroquois Chieftain

What was remarkable about Edward FitzGerald, a scion of nobility, was his transformation from a defender of absolutism to a martyr of liberty. His journey from a life of opulence to a hideout in Thomas Street in Dublin was adventurous, transformational and tragically fateful—a unique journey for a unique man. His life will be remembered for the days he shared with his countrymen and women in their struggle for liberty and for his profound and fearless embrace of their revolution. --- continue


Linda Kearns 1888 - 1951)

Irish Republican Nurse, Easter Rising Participant, Prisoner of War,

Participant in the Irish War of Independence, and Treaty War aka Civil War.

Gifted with intelligence, motivation, courage and a sense of self-worth, Linda found expression for her unique qualities in Ireland’s quest to reclaim its cultural heritage and rights to nationhood at the turn of the 20th century.  A nurse by profession she served humanity in times of war and peace.  A soldier by happenstance, she braved the inherent dangers and fears to serve her homeland unreservedly.  As a prisoner-of-war she suffered through extreme interrogations and inhuman prison conditions. Undaunted, she escaped her colonial captors to continue her quest for the Irish Republic she embraced, and for which her friend Thomas MacDonagh and his comrades in arms gave their lives.   

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Commodore John Barry (1745 - 1803)

Officer of the Continental Navy, Veteran of the Revolutionary War, First Commissioned U.S. Naval Officer and Father of the U.S. Navy

The son of an evicted peasant farmer in Ireland by the henchmen of colonial Britain, Barry survived to exact his vengeance in the American colonies. His journey to revenge and fame started as a cabin boy on a fishing boat and ended as the First Commissioned U.S. Naval Officer of the U.S. Navy. As captain of a number of Continental Navy warships during the American Revolutionary War, he exacted his revenge on colonial Britain by capturing and sinking a number of its warships. His exploits and those of his fellow patriots freed the American colonies from the scourge of colonialism and in the words of Thomas Francis Meagher in his 1846 'On Abhorring the Sword' speech, "a giant nation started from the waters of the Atlantic, and by its redeeming magic, and in the quivering of its crimson light, the crippled colony sprang into the attitude of a proud Republic—prosperous, limitless, and invincible!".. --- continue


Thomas Antisell (1817 - 1893)

Young Irelander, Physician, Scientist, Professor, and Veteran of the U.S. Civil War

Thomas Antisell joined the young Ireland movement in the early 1840s. In so doing he opened a new chapter in his life, a chapter that would deprive Ireland of one of its greatest minds, and award America with a worthy addition to its trove of brilliant men. His contribution to America's viability as a Republic during the Civil War was absolute. His contribution in the field of medicine and science greatly contributed to America's leadership role in scientific discoveries and innovations.

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Eamonn Bulfin (1892 - 1968)

Argentine-born Irish Patriot, Veteran of the 1916 Easter Rising, Irish Republic Representative to Argentina.

Born in Argentina did not diminish Eamonn's love for Ireland, the birth land of his parents and ancestors. On his family's return to Ireland in 1902, Eamonn was immediately embedded in the cultural nationalism movement taking hold in Ireland at that time. By virtue of his enrollment in St. Enda’s, the school founded and managed by Padraic Pearse, he became a committed Irish Republican who went on to take part in the Easter Rising. He will be forever remembered as the Volunteer lieutenant who hoisted the green flag bearing the words ‘Irish Republic’ over the GPO at the onset of the Rising on Monday, April 24, 1916.

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Nora Brosnan (1905 - 1996)

Irish Republican, Cumann na mBan, Free State Prisoner of War.

On the evening of 22 November 1922, Captain Spillane watched the rowing boats with Free State troops and their captives return to his vessel, the Helga. The gunboat lay at anchor just off the sandy shore on the western tide of Tralee Bay and he had steered her as near as the tide allowed to the beach that lay a few hundred yards to the east of the village of Castlegregory.

That morning he had brought a detachment of Free State troops from Fenit who, landing in their rowing boats, hoped to surprise the local Republicans in one of the few areas that remained under their control. The Helga, originally designed as a scientific research vessel, had been converted in 1914 to her present status as a gunboat by the Royal Navy. Her guns pounded the Republican positions in Dublin in 1916 and, over six years later, she was still pursuing the same enemy, though under a different flag. --- continue


Patrick Donohoe (1806 - 1854)

Young Irelander, "a Felon of Our Land," a Van Diemen’s Land Exile,  a Writer and Publisher and a Penal Colony Escapee.

Under normal circumstances Patrick Donohoe would have led his life in relative obscurity despite having participated in the 1848 Young Ireland Rising. What changed that probability was a meeting with the Rising's Confederate leadership in Tipperary where he was sent to brief them of the situation back in Dublin. That task, together with his presence at subsequent leadership meetings and his participation in an attempt to start a Rising in Waterford with Thomas Francis Meagher, sealed his fate. As a consequence, he has the dubious honor of being categorized as one of the seven Young Ireland leaders exiled to Van Diemen's Land and immortalized as a "Felon of our Land" alongside the luminaries of the Young Ireland movement..   ---  continue 


Constance Markievicz (1868 - 1927)

 Irish Revolutionary, Suffragette, Citizen Army Soldier, Easter Rising Participant,

First Female elected to the Westminster Parliament, and Labor Minister in the First Dail Eireann.

Constance Markievicz was prominent amongst a number of brave women born into British nobility who, through their exposure to the abject poverty of the native Irish under British colonial rule, and the systemic destruction of their cultural identity, became leaders in Ireland's struggle for independence and for the preservation of its unique cultural identity. Constance's commitment to Ireland was total and uncompromising, a commitment that led to vilification by her former peers, a commuted death sentence, and numerous terms of imprisonments. Her place in modern Irish history is secure and beyond reproach, and her exploits are immortalized alongside those of Ireland's greatest heroes. 

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Jerry O'Sullivan (1845 - 1922)

O'Sullivan was born in the parish of Caherdaniel in south-west Kerry in 1845. His father was a national schoolteacher, who had come from Valentia Island to teach in a school opened by Daniel O'Connell, The Liberator, on his estate at Caherdaniel for the children of his tenants. Jerry O'Sullivan, as he was known, received a good education and at the age of sixteen travelled to London for employment, probably in the civil service.  His father may have been dead at this stage as his mother lived with him in London. It was in his adopted city that O'Sullivan joined the IRB, and by 1867 he was the head of the Fenian circle in the High Holborn and Clerkenwell districts.

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Denis Duggan (1842 - 1884)

Fenian, Veteran of the Fenian Rising of 1867,  Member of James Stephens Prison Escape Squad, Member of Clan na Gael, Member of the Catalpa Fenian Prisoners Rescue Squad

Denis Duggan was the quintessential Fenian, resolute and fearless, and most of all, dedicated to the cause of Irish freedom, He was a frontline foot soldier who participated in three historic events including the rescue of James Stephens from Richmond Jail in 1865, the Fenian Rising in Dublin in 1867 and the rescue of Irish-born British soldiers, turned Fenians, from the Fremantle Prison in Australia in 1875/6.  Not one to seek the limelight, he preferred to remain in the shadows until called upon to undertake another mission. 

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Leonora O’Reilly (1870 - 1927)

Labor Leader, Trade Union Organizer, Suffragette, Social and Political Activist.

Leonora O'Reilly epitomized the qualities that distinguished the activist women of the gilded age. The child of Irish refugees from the Great Hunger of the mid-1800s, she became an agent of change for the victims of capitalism and imperialism. Forced to leave school at the age of 11 to work in the garment industry, she chafed at the industry's inherent inhumanity and the powerlessness of its female workforce.  Through her innate intelligence, self-education, oratorical skills, and forged alliances, she became a renowned advocate for the abolition of child labor, the rights of working women, women's suffrage, racial equality, and the victims of British imperialism in Ireland --- continue


William Francis Roantree (1828-1918)

Fenian, Soldier of Fortune, Fenian Organizer, Political Prisoner and Clan na Gael Member

William Francis Roantree was an unrepentant Fenian who worked tirelessly for an Irish Republic throughout his lifetime. His involvement in the Republican movement spanned six decades. He was one of the movement's best organizers and steadfast leaders.  His beliefs and those of his comrades in arms were grounded in the ideals so eloquently articulated and immortalized by Wolfe Tone's assertion that England's evil rule was the root cause of Ireland's woes.  --- continue


Kathleen Ó Brennan  (1876 - 1948)

Irish Republican, Suffragette, Journalist, Playwright and Lecturer

Kathleen was born into a patriarchal society in a century of cultural and political repression.  From an early age she rejected the misogynistic Victorian-era norms repugnant to her sense of self-worth, gender and ethnic identify. She rebelled against England's attempts to cage her, destroy her culture and, deny her Celtic race the right to control its own land and destiny. In her quest for redress, she became a political activist and journeyed across the Atlantic to secure the help of Ireland’s exiles to right the wrongs wrought by a brutal Empire on Ireland and its people.

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Michael Kerwin (1837 - 1912) 

American Civil War General, Fenian, Publisher, Republican Party Operative and NY City Police Commissioner

He put his life on the line for America, his adopted homeland, during the Civil War and afterwards proffered the same ultimate sacrifice for Ireland. A political animal by nature, he was as much as any other political operative responsible for the election of Benjamin Harrison as the 23rd President of the United States. ---  continue


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