Working Class

This is the house into which my mother was born in 1936. Her father, James O’Connor, was a truck driver for the Providence Journal Bulletin newspaper. Her mother, Helen (O’Keefe) O’Connor, was not working when my mother was born, but did work most of her life as a sales clerk. My grandparents did not graduate

Canadiens

Clinton Colburn and Alberta Ripley, my great-grandparents, came from rural northern Nova Scotia, Canada —specifically, the little farming and timber town of River Philip. Settled in the 1770s, the town is still populated by its immigrant families. They were Methodists from Yorkshire, England, who acquired land grants to settle this “wild” area. The two 21-year-olds

Bartender

Snooky was my grandfather’s nickname. He loved baseball. My mother thinks the moniker came from his playing days. James Victor O’Connor was born in 1906 in Chelsea, Massachusetts, the son of two Irish immigrants from the city of Cork. In 1910, his family moved to Providence, Rhode Island. Snooky was a truck driver for the

Sales Clerk

My grandmother, Helen Maria (O’Keefe) O’Connor, worked her entire adult life, mostly as a sales clerk at City Hall Hardware, a long-lost department store on Washington Street, in downtown Providence. She worked her way up to running the lamps and lighting department. Helen’s paycheck was important because her husband, my grandfather, was an irresponsible guy—a

Rubber Relations

In 1910, the O’Connors came to Providence, Rhode Island, from Chelsea, Massachusetts, and found an apartment here, in the Valley neighborhood. Daniel, my great-grandfather, was taking a mill job with the big US Rubber Company. He had previously worked at a rubber mill in Chelsea with his brothers Frank and Bernie. The O’Connors were immigrants

Foreigner

On the front door of this house in South Providence are a bunch of political bumper stickers. One says, “We Were All Immigrants Once.” It’s fitting, considering my Irish immigrant ancestor Thomas O’Keefe lived here just before he died in 1919. Another sticker says, “I Support The Campaign for Immigrant Rights.” However, in black marker,

Tragic Truths

An unsettling, tragic story from family – about my great-grandfather, Michael Lynch, an immigrant from Kerry, Ireland. The story passed down, was that the young father of four children and husband to a pregnant wife, died in a work-related accident. My research uncovered quite another story which was lost, or more likely, hidden. Dies Two

Revolver

This is a long lost and forgotten tragedy from my family’s immigrant past. (My 84 year old mother had never heard of it.) The story was remarkably told in the local newspaper, which I found to my our despair. Michael O’Keefe’s Deed Discovered When Nephew Finds Revolver July 2, 1912 The Providence Daily Journal “See

Little House, Big Family

The O’Connors of the Valley section of Providence were an odd bunch. Big drinkers, I’m told. Or, at least that’s what my mother and uncle said. They should know—they’re O’Connors. My great-grandfather Daniel was an Irish immigrant from the city of Cork, as was my great-grandmother Catherine McMahon. They moved their big family down to

A Little Italy

Federal Hill is the “Little Italy” of Providence—the center of Italian food and culture for Rhode Island. But earlier in time, it was an Irish neighborhood with immigrant families from the northern part of Ireland, such as Counties Tyrone and Monaghan. They lived here for a couple of generations. As the 19th century turned to