Dr. Aidan MacCarthyThere are times when you read history you come across a story that literally defies belief.  Yet, fate can bring together events beyond the imaginations of any writer and the most unlikely of people show us the strength and nobility of the human character.  Such is the story of Dr. Aidan MacCarthy. MacCarthy was born in Castletownbere, Beara Peninsula County … [Read more...] about Dr. Aidan MacCarthy, a survivor from Dunkirk to Nagasaki

In the summer of 1896, a newly ordained Priest said one of his first masses at St.  Peter’s in Haverstraw, Rockland County.  Though the young Cleric was born in Ontario Canada, he was the grandson of Irish immigrants who had fled the horrors of the Great Hunger.  During the mass, he was assisted by a young Irish American altar boy who was born and raised in … [Read more...] about On the 100th Anniversary of the Ending of WW I, a Rockland Connection

November 16, 2018, marks the 330th anniversary of one of the great travesties of American history.  On that date in 1688, the citizens of Boston executed Ann “Goody” Glover for being a witch.  The tragedy of the event is compounded by the story being little remembered despite its echoes in the events of today and the lessons it could teach. Not much is known … [Read more...] about Accussed of Being a Witch, Hung on Evidence of Being an Irish Catholic

Between the years 1845 and 1851, Ireland lost at a minimum 25% of its population, with over one million dead and another million emigrating. The literal root cause being a mold Phytophthora infestans which destroyed the foundation of the Irish diet based on the potato. This period is inaccurately referred to as “the Irish Potato Famine”, but this obscures the true source and … [Read more...] about The Almighty Sent the Blight, but the English Created the Famine