Many Irish who contributed significantly to this nation have been undeservedly excluded from the pages of our school’s history books and their stories remain untold. One such is John Patton. Born in 1745 in County Sligo, John immigrated to Philadelphia about 1765. He met and married Jane Davis on 7 March…

In September 1862, two Irish-born men were about to put their lives on the line for their adopted American nation.  One was Dennis Heenan from Borrisokane, County Tipperary who arrived in Philadelphia in 1839.  He joined one of the many Irish militias defending Irish neighborhoods from the bigoted…

After Cromwell’s conquest of Ireland, more than 40,000 Irish were relocated west of the River Shannon by the end of 1654. Those who weren’t were press-ganged into the British Navy or sold as indentured servants to the colonies. There was one group, however, who refused either. They eluded capture in the…

During Ireland’s War of Independence from 1919 to 1921, the people supported the patriot cause and the new, if not British approved, Irish parliament – Dáil Eireann and its administration. Part of that administration was a system of Courts to hear and adjudicate legal issues. The people’s support of the court system was as strong as…