IRISH AMERICANS

  This is dedicated to lesser known Irish Americans.  Everyone is aware of John F. Kennedy and his wife Jackie (her mother was from County Clare).  Sure Ronald Regan was Irish as was Maureen O'Hara and Bruce Springsteen has a bit of the "green" in his heritage.  Walt Disney's father was Anglo-Irish.  Bareknuckle boxing champion, John L. Sullivan's parents were both Irish immigrants.  Henry Ford's father was born in County Cork.  Both of Eugene O'Neill's parents were Irish immigrants.  Of course, you know that he won the Nobel Prize for literature and also his plays won four Pulitzer Prizes for drama.

Have you ever heard of Thomas Francis Meagher?

Tom Meagher was born in Waterford City in County Waterford, Ireland.  He was an Irish nationalist and, as a young man, fought the British in the 1848 Rebellion.  He was captured and sent to prison in Australia.  He escaped there and made his way to the United States.  He studied law and worked as a journalist in New York City.  Meagher joined the Union Army at the beginning of the Civil War.  He recruited the Irish and led the Irish Brigade in battle.  He rose to the rank of Brigadier General.  After the war, he was appointed by President Andrew Johnson to Secretary of State and acting Governor of the Montana Territory.  He was an Irishman of whom we should be proud.

FOURTH OF A SERIES