Afraid to Look

In the heart of downtown Boston, on State Street, close to the iconic Old State House, there’s a plaque on the wall of an office building marking the former location of the celebrated Bunch of Grapes Tavern. That tavern, which was in operation for most of the 18th century, was full of history, including my

Crowded House

The stereotype of oversized Irish Catholic families proves true in my ancestry. Ellen O’Connor, for instance, was one of ten children born in the city of Cork, Ireland in 1863. She and a handful of her siblings came to the US in the late 1880s and started out in Chelsea, Massachusetts (next to Boston), where

Beach Bothered

Perhaps I was trespassing when I visited and drew by Bass Rocks, overlooking Gloucester’s Little Good Harbor Beach on a beautiful evening in June. Nearby was a sign telling me that visitors were not welcome. However, I felt a little entitled to be there, actually. You see, nine generations ago, my ancestor John Rowe, an

Dirty Work

This is the home of a chimney sweep. A truck out of view said so. Long ago, this was the home of my great-grandfather, the Irish immigrant Michael Lynch. In the New Bedford Directory of 1896, he was listed as a “stonecutter” living at this address. In records he was described throughout his life as

Waves

This is a small piece of a very large stone church in the seaside city of New Bedford, Massachusetts. This small city is known for its big fishing fleet and as the setting for Moby Dick. St. Lawrence the Martyr Church is where my grandfather John Joseph Lynch was baptized in 1895. His Irish-born father

Ipswich Immigrant

Edward Colborne was an immigrant from Cornwall, England and probably walked these fields in Ipswich, Massachusetts. He was a farmer for the wealthy Saltonstall family in the early years of his new life in America in the 1640’s. Edward did not come by himself – his brother Robert emigrated on the same ship, landing in

Wrong House, Right Place

Perhaps my earliest ancestor in North America was Edward Colborne who sailed to the New World from England with his brother Robert on the ship Defense in 1635. He landed in Boston and settled in Ipswich, Massachusetts, taking a job as a farmer for the wealthy Saltonstall family. I was excited to find that this

New Boxes

Library Street in Chelsea, Massachusetts has two very different sides of the road. One side has old multi-family homes which have weathered a lot of changes in this former industrial neighborhood. The other has a brand new housing development called The Box District. In 1901, Irish immigrants Daniel and Kate O’Connor, (my great grandparents) lived

A Church Reborn

I met a man across the street from St. Rose Church on Broadway in Chelsea, Massachusetts, while drawing, who smiled when I told him that my grandfather was baptized in this church. With his Hispanic accent, he said that he was going into the church just now to prepare for today’s baptisms. He told me

Chain Migration

It wasn’t long ago that I pictured my great grandparents facing the complete unknown when they came to America in the late 1800s and early 1900s. But my research has largely proved that wrong. The O’Connors and O’Keefes followed others from their families and hometowns that came before them. No doubt, what they did took