With the bombings in Boston earlier this week still freshly on my mind, it led me to think of a few photographs I captured just a few weeks back.  The cross monument you see in these photos stands near our house here in Indreabhán (or Inverin) Connemara.  It marks the spot where nine Galway fishermen were killed by a floating German…

From 1702 to 1714, western Europe was engaged in a war involving, on the one side Spain and France, on the other a coalition of states headed by the Holy Roman Empire, and including Portugal, the Dutch Republic, England,…

The grandson of Big John Meehan from Sligo, Mary Ellen McLaughlin-Keane from Galway, Bridget Munnelly from Mayo, and Matthew Smith from Cavan ended up with the least recognized Irish name of them all. I can’t begin to tell you how many times, I’ve been asked, “Smith, huh! English … right?” When I meet up with my ancestor Mac an Gabhann—the one who anglicized our family name to Smith—he…

If one were to query the public regarding the Father of the American Navy, they would likely hear the name, John Paul Jones. The Scotsman, John Paul, who added the name Jones to gain some anonymity while hiding in the colonies from the…

The dust of some is Irish earth;

Among their own the rest;

and the same land that gave them birth

Has caught them to her…