And In Conclusion...
Grandmother Bridget McGlinchey
Bridget was born in 1859 at Stranabrade, a farm in Donegal's Glenfin,
and in 1882 sailed to New York City where in 1886 she married my grandfather,John Francis
McMenomey, at the Church of St. Paul in Brooklyn, N.Y. In 1847, John Francis'
father, John McMenamin, had emigrated to NYC from near Killygordon, a few miles east of
Stranabrade along the River Finn. The Irish in New York, especially those from the
same area of Ireland, kept in touch with each other and with their relatives in
Ireland. So it should be no surprise that a girl from the Glenfin would marry the
son of a man who had come from the Glenfin a generation earlier.
Bridget was the daughter of Patrick "Paddy" McGlinchey, who then
owned Stranabrade, and the sister of Pat Ban McGlinchey, legendary in that part of the
Glenfin. The Glenfin McGlincheys had arrived in the Glenfin from County Cavan in the
early 1700's. Stranabrade was their first substantial holding but later they bought
land on two "mountains," Tullytrasna and Meenbog, to the east toward Brockagh
and Ballybofey.
From at least the time of her marriage, Bridget lived in Maspeth, Queens, New
York, in an Irish-Polish Catholic neighborhood near the church of St. Stanislaus Kotska.
We believe that the picture of her on the left was taken there in Maspeth
behind her house while the area was still country-like. In America she used the
forename Delia instead of Bridget, probably as many Bridgets did in the States and in
Ireland because there were just too many Irish girls with that name!*
I'm told that my grandmother was quite a character. A cousin of mine,
whose mother Annie Pat Ban (born McGlinchey) McCartney was Pat Ban's daughter and Delia's
niece, said that Delia used to come to their small flat in lower Manhattan every winter
for an extended visit. Delia had a great liking for Strohmer's Ale and Copenhagen
snuff and was never without either. My cousin told me that when Delia died in 1944,
Annie Pat Ban closed the coffin but just before she did she slipped in a bottle of
Strohmer's and a tin of Copenhagen. When I visited Delia's grave in Holy Cross
Cemetery in Brooklyn, where she is buried with my mother Anna and others of the family, I
smiled at the thought, "There you are like a Pharaoh's daughter, provisioned for the
next world!"
This web site has been online for some time and, even though it's goal is to
find my McMenamin connections, I feel a little guilty for not having included my
McGlinchey grandmother. To make it up to her, I plan to add here the 3-century
family tree of my Glenfin McGlincheys. When? Sooner or later - so McGlincheys,
watch this space....
* I heard that explanation of the Bridget "name changes" from a reporter friend in Ireland. Since then I've been told by an American McM-descendant, from her first-hand experiences, that many Bridgets in America changed their name because of anti-Irish bias (e.g. "No Irish Need Apply"). If you have any comments or family experiences on this interesting question, please contact me at rjcollins1@earthlink.net and I'll find away to share it here on my web site
About the Author
I suppose that sooner or later everyone wants to tell you about themselves.
That includes me. Being lazy, or perhaps efficient which sounds better, I
found an easy way to do it. Anne McMenamin, editor, reporter and photographer for
the "Finn Valley Voice," a Donegal Glenfin biweekly newspaper, published a book
in 2000 titled, "When we were Young." It is a wonderful collection of
interviews with older Glenfin natives and one American (see my "Neat Links"
page) and her book is now in it's second printing. Anne graciously included me, the
lone American, probably to represent someone not born in the Glenfin who found his roots
there. So I've attached here the final draft that I sent to Anne for the book.
She asked me to "Just tell about your life...." so there is probably more about
me than you would ever want to know. But what may interest you more is that I tried
to tell the story of how I found my birth mother, my ancestors and my relatives.
Many of you are searching in the same way yourselves, some of you have probably been
successful, some not. One thing is certain, there are many different ways to make
the miracle happen. Maybe my story will give some of you ideas that may help you in
your search.
If after all this you still want to read the
story Click Here!
Thanks for visiting my site! I hope we can help each other. If you have any leads or information for me, or want to post a bulletin about your search, or want to recommend a useful link, or correct me where I've erred, or tell me what else you'd like to see on this site, or just say hello, e-mail me at rjcollins1@earthlink.net
!! REWARD !!
As a reward for visiting this site, click on PLAY and listen to a very haunting tune from the web site, "Ancient Music of Ireland." The tune is called, most appropriately, "The Parting of the Friends." PLAY
Slán leat!
Bob Collins - Webmaster
Questions/Comments let me know at rjcollins1@earthlink.net