A very special Irish Greeting is extended to the “Irish” and all those who enjoy this early spring “Shamrock Day” with them. Looking for your “Irish Family Tree Line ?”
Our research library may be a place to visit. The Hancock House library has a wealth of genealogical resources from old cemetery records to many family histories. One of our “hidden Irish gems“ are a number of bound monthlies of “Walker’s Hibernian Magazine,” (1) an Irish political, social and literary periodical, published from the 1770s to the early 1800s. During its years of publication it recorded a large number of Irish marriage announcements that may assist you in seeking your Irish roots. An unexplored resource for you?
Steeplechase
St. Patrick Day Celebration – The Army of the Potomac
by Edwin Forbes (1839-1895)
As the nation commemorates the 150th Anniversary of the ending of the American Civil War, our very large collection of Civil War titles, including the NYS Adjunct General records, are readily available for your review. Within this area of research you can find information about the “Irish Brigade,” a unit that suffered great losses during this conflict.
One of the best know American poets who wrote by prose and poetry during the Civil War was Walt Whitman. We choose one especially for you.
Old Ireland
Far hence, amid an Isle of wondrous beauty,
Crouching over a grave, an ancient sorrowful mother,
Once a queen — now lean and tattered, seated on the ground,
Her old white hair drooping dishevel’d round her head;
At her feet fallen an unused royal harp,
Long silent — she too long silent — mourning her shrouded hope and heir;
Of all the earth her heart most full of sorrow, because most full of love.
Yet a word, ancient mother;
You need crouch there no longer on the cold ground;
Oh! you need not sit there, veil’d in your old white hair, so dishevel’d,
For know you the one you mourn is not in that grave,
It was an illusion — the heir, the son you love, was not really dead;
The Lord is not dead — he is risen again, young and strong, in another country;
Even while you, veiled, wept there by your fallen harp, by the grave,
What you wept for was translated, pass’d from the grave,
The winds favor’d and the sea sail’d it,
And now with rosy and new blood, again among the nations of the earth,
Moves to-day, an armed man, in a new country.
Moses – Ludington Hospital
(17 August 1971)
From our vault of records we share another poem published a little over a century later from that above, in 1966. ~~~~ by Emily Allen.
“St. Patrick’s on the Hill” ~~ Hospital Staff Sees Green!”
We are not from the Emerald Else
We hail not from Kilarney,
Yet some may brag of Irish blood
And some may spread the flarney.
For this is the day, Saint Patrick’s Day
When the shamrock’s always seen,
The day when our canes are shillelahs
And the staff is all wearing green.
Leprechauns too may be hiding nearby
May be hiding from young and old —
Traditionally, if caught, they reveal
Where there are treasurers of gold.
So three cheers for dear old Ireland
May our hearts be happy and gay,
As all of us lend a helping hand
On this Saint Patrick’s Day.
We look forward to seeing you on your next visit to the Hancock House Research Library. Wishing you all a very happy and enjoyable St. Patrick’s Day.
(1) – Library Collection – Annuals for the years 1775 through 1809, except for the years of 1781 and 1807. Donations of missing years publications welcomed.
With cheers ~~ wgd 3/15/15
