All Gone

Michael Lynch kept moving. Every year he lived somewhere else. In 1902, he was here, although the house is gone now.  Michael was my great-grandfather – an Irish immigrant with a young and growing family. He alternated between working in factories, and in granite quarries. Why he moved so often is unknown. Maybe it was

Two Worlds

In 1914, not long after her immigrant husband Michael died, Theresa (O’Day) Lynch (my great-grandmother) lived here, on a small lane on the West Side of Providence. Manhattan-born Theresa resided on this thin backstreet for ten years (1905-15) at four different addresses, but this is the only house that remains. She was a 47 years

By the Tracks

My current project is to draw where my immigrant ancestors lived. In most cases, the houses still stand long after my family members moved on. But other times, things have changed, sometimes dramatically. Often, I find the locations to be by factory buildings and railroad tracks. If a house is gone, it is now likely

Irish Connector

Catherine “Kate” McMahon came to America in 1900, and last year, from a farm in County Kerry, Ireland, I got a message from someone looking for her. Kate was the McMahon that left. The rest had stayed behind in the then gritty city of Cork. My online family tree had provided the missing link for

Highway Lost

In 1903, Johanna (Cashman) Ivers lived here after her husband Patrick died. The house on Printery Street in Providence, Rhode Island, is gone now. So is John and Nora Ivers’ house which was down the street. Actually, the whole neighborhood is gone. Behind those trees now is Route 95, the main thoroughfare connecting the entire

Janitoress

The Rhode Island State House sits like a beached white whale on a hill overlooking downtown Providence. It is massive and relates to none of its surroundings on Smith Hill. Completed in 1904, the magnificent marble building makes a big impact from every angle. Its dome is the fourth largest of its kind, behind Michelangelo’s

Builder

My great grandfather Clinton Colburn built both of these houses in the Washington Park section of South Providence. He built the one on the right, and lived there while he built the other on the left—his eventual home for the rest of his life. He described himself as a carpenter when he was a young

Jenkins Street

My mother grew up in the second floor apartment of this house in Providence. Actually, she lived in a few apartments around this hillside neighborhood of Mount Hope.  Drawing this house -which is just one mile away from the art school where I teach, I think about how far away it seems, and how it

Looking Back

Drawing can be about so much more than just appearances. What we choose to draw can be about what we’d like to investigate, or wonder about. A page can hold feelings as well as ink. Consider this series. In tandem with some genealogy I’ve been doing, I’ve dedicated myself to finding through my records, all