Finding Home

In season two of the "Finding Home" podcast series, Irish American Archives Society Executive Director Margaret Lynch interviews an array of Clevelanders with specialized knowledge and stories about the history of the Irish in Cleveland. This episode features an interview with Joan Hartnett Reali.

Growing up in the 1940s and 1950s near Kenmare in County Kerry, Joan Hartnett Reali was steeped in traditional Irish music, dance, and sports. At age 17, she followed an older brother to Cleveland, and other family members soon joined them here. Joan felt most at home at dances and lessons sponsored by the Cleveland Gaelic Society, which formed in 1958 to promote Irish language, music, and dance. Serving as longtime treasurer of the Gaelic Society, she represented the club in the formation of the Cleveland Associated Irish American Clubs-- the so-called "Four Clubs." She shares memories of organizing dances, recruiting teachers and musicians, and juggling activities and responsibilities.

In season two of the "Finding Home" podcast series, Irish American Archives Society Executive Director Margaret Lynch interviews an array of Clevelanders with specialized knowledge and stories about the history of the Irish in Cleveland. This episode features an interview with Marilyn Madigan.

Series 2 of the Irish American Archives Society Podcast, "Finding Home," will be taking a brief pause until the new year. Thanks so much for listening along during 2021. We're excited to share even more stories from Clevelanders of Irish descent with our wonderful listeners in 2022. Stay safe in the meantime, and have a Happy New Year.

In season two of the "Finding Home" podcast series, Irish American Archives Society Executive Director Margaret Lynch interviews an array of Clevelanders with specialized knowledge and stories about the history of the Irish in Cleveland. This episode features an interview with Patrick Reynolds.

Patrick Reynolds is a retired detective sergeant of the the Cleveland Police Department and President of the Board of Trustees of the Cleveland Police Museum. Reynolds shares information about the Museum collections and its research services--from displays about Eliot Ness and the Kingsbury Run torso murders to help documenting a family member's police service. Reynolds also reflects on his own years of high profile work on the department's bomb squad and hostage negotiating team, on his extended family's more than 100 years of service on the force, and on the camaraderie that led to the formation of the Retired Irish Police Society.

In season two of the "Finding Home" podcast series, Irish American Archives Society Executive Director Margaret Lynch interviews an array of Clevelanders with specialized knowledge and stories about the history of the Irish in Cleveland. This episode features an interview with Colleen Corrigan Day.

People have been immigrating from Achill Island, off the west coast of Ireland, to Cleveland, OH, since the 1840s, and immigration surges connecting the two communities can be well documented for the 1860s, 1880s, 1920s, and 1950s. Clevelander Steve Mulloy, an Achill native, spearheaded the effort to commemorate the community ties with a formal "twinning" initiative in 2003. Colleen Corrigan Day, who currently takes the lead in facilitating the initiative, talks about the pillars of business development, educational exchanges, and tourism that continue to undergird the connections and help to forge links with other global partners.

In season two of the "Finding Home" podcast series, Irish American Archives Society Executive Director Margaret Lynch interviews an array of Clevelanders with specialized knowledge and stories about the history of the Irish in Cleveland. This episode features an interview with Sheila Murphy Crawford.

Sheila, a well-known Irish dancing teacher in Cleveland, talks in this episode about her family's decades-long association with the Irish Cultural Garden. Sheila's mother, Betty Murphy, was a member of the Ladies Auxiliary of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, which had taken responsibility for programming and maintaining the Irish Cultural Garden since its dedication in 1939. Succeeding her mother as a representative to the Cultural Gardens Federation, Sheila served as President when the Federation celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2016.

In season two of the "Finding Home" podcast series, Irish American Archives Society Executive Director Margaret Lynch interviews an array of Clevelanders with specialized knowledge and stories about the history of the Irish in Cleveland. This episode features an interview with JoAnn Kerr.

Posting under the moniker "Irish JoKerr," Clevelander JoAnn Kerr is a major contributor to a crowd-sourced tool for family history researchers, Findagrave.com. Kerr shares on the podcast how she went from researching her own family to finding and sharing information about Clevelanders of Irish descent on a free website that first launched in 1995. Created to share burial information about individuals around the world, Findagrave can include photographs, obituaries, biographies, vital statistics, and links to other family members. JoAnn Kerr has generated more than 21,000 entries and adds about 50 per week, using such resources as cemetery and death records, death notices, and other public records.

In season two of the "Finding Home" podcast series, Irish American Archives Society Executive Director Margaret Lynch interviews an array of Clevelanders with specialized knowledge and stories about the history of the Irish in Cleveland. This episode features an interview with Mary McCluskey.

The Ladies Drill Team of the West Side Irish American Club dates back to the club's first decade in the 1930s. And yet, the recently retired Mary Hastings McCluskey was only the team's third leader. Succeeding Carol McGinty, who followed team founder Colletta Masterson Jablonski, Mary McCluskey led the group for more than 50 years. McCluskey first started coming to the West Side Club in the 1950s with her father, Thomas Hastings, who had helped to found the men's Fife and Drum marching unit. Mary joined the drill team as a freshman in high school in 1957. In this interview she recalls six decades of carrying a vibrant community tradition forward.

In season two of the "Finding Home" podcast series, Irish American Archives Society Executive Director Margaret Lynch interviews an array of Clevelanders with specialized knowledge and stories about the history of the Irish in Cleveland. Episode 5 features an interview with Patrick Corrigan.

A trip to Ireland in 2017 sparked an interest in family history in Patrick Corrigan, who is a Battalion Chief in Cleveland's Fire Department. Genealogy became a passion as Corrigan connected with relatives world-wide. An 80-page memoir written by a great uncle in Ireland in the 1970s propelled him further. Corrigan's great uncle Brian Corrigan fought in the Irish War of Independence, and against the treaty in the Irish Civil War. Seeking context for the memoir, Patrick Corrigan immersed himself in research; he was invited to participate in the West Mayo Brigade Centenary Commemoration in Westport and to contribute an essay in the new publication, The Men of the West.

See http://westmayo.ie/ for more information about the commemoration and publication and for a link to Brian Corrigan's memoirs under the "Family Histories and Stories" tab. Patrick Corrigan utilized the indexed pension applications and witness statements that can be accessed at https://www.militaryarchives.ie/collections/online-collections/bureau-of-military-history-1913-1921

In season two of the "Finding Home" podcast series, Irish American Archives Society Executive Director Margaret Lynch interviews an array of Clevelanders with specialized knowledge and stories about the history of the Irish in Cleveland. Episode 4 features an interview with Bernie McCafferrty.

For several decades, Bernie McCafferrty, a Business Consultant for Hewlett Packard Enterprise, has tracked elusive information about the earliest Irish immigrants to settle in Cleveland. He has traipsed cemeteries, transcribed census records and city directories, and perused early property records. For an MA Thesis in Irish Studies at John Carroll University, he focused on the 1850 census and found an early concentration of Irish immigrants in the area equivalent to today's East Flats and Warehouse District. McCafferty, who is also a singer/guitarist with the Craic Brothers, shares the high-points of his work, which can be read in full at https://collected.jcu.edu/mastersessays/62/

He has also photographed and transcribed gravestones at cemeteries surrounding Clew Bay and shard the results on the IGP Irish Genealogical Projects website at https://www.igp-web.com/IGPArchives/ire/mayo/photos/tombstones/markers.htm