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Mukilteo Man Preserves Area’s Rich Irish Heritage By Julie Muhlstein - 03/11/2007 The Herald More Info on This Book: Irish Seattle
"I once more take the opportunity of addressing ye a few lines from the far and distant shores of Puget Sound. ... To speak in truth, my last thought going to bed at night and first arising in the morning are of home." Those words are from a letter John F. Costello wrote in 1883 to loved ones in his homeland of Ireland. Working his way out of poverty, the Irishman came to the Seattle area in 1880. With his wife, Bridget, Costello raised 11 children on a dairy farm in King County. Across more than a century, Costello's wistful letter speaks for many. It's included, with dozens of other documents and historical photographs, in "Irish Seattle," a new pictorial book chronicling the contribution of Irish immigrants and their descendants to the Puget Sound region. Keane, who lives in Mukilteo, is both a subject of the book and its author. He spent a year gathering photos, researching stories, and writing captions that tell of this region's early Irish settlers and its current "Movers and Shakers," as one chapter is called. A native of County Westmeath in central Ireland - "you could balance a map of Ireland with your finger on Westmeath," he said - Keane left his family of eight boys in 1967. "I was 24. I came for the same reason most people leave Ireland, to get a job here," said Keane, 64. He settled in Detroit, where he had a cousin. There, he met his wife, Maureen. They have a grown son. He worked for Bell Telephone, and came to Seattle in 1977. He became a U.S. citizen a year later. Like many with similar stories, Keane left a piece of his heart in Ireland. Through years of involvement in the Seattle-based Irish Heritage Club, Keane has built bridges between his ancestral home and his adopted one. He is pictured in "Irish Seattle" with the Seattle Galway Sister City Association and as a player on a Seattle Gaelic Football team. He served as president of the Irish Heritage Club. This year, he is chairman of the group's Irish Week activities, among them Everett's Irish Cabaret, at 7:30 p.m. Friday at the New Everett Theatre, 2911 Colby Ave. "Irish Seattle" was published last month by Arcadia Publishing, which focuses on regional history books. Keane used photographs from many sources, from the Everett Public Library's Northwest Room and University of Washington collections to private contributions from families and the Irish heritage group Friends of St. Patrick. As a men's group, the organization used to be known as the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick. Keane said the late Archbishop Thomas Murphy, of Seattle, joked that the name change was in response to "the angry daughters of St. Bridget." Keane's book includes a picture from early Marysville, dated "around 1913." A caption explains that the town is named for Maria Comeford, wife of James Comeford. The Irish-born couple came to the Tulalip Indian Reservation in 1872 and bought nearby land in 1878. There are also pictures of young Irish women who came west as "Mercer Girls," recruited by early Seattleite Asa Mercer to relocate from back east as prospective brides. The women's stories became the basis of the 1960s television show "Here Come the Brides." Before writing the book, Keane thought he knew nearly all there was to know about Irish people in the area. He discovered more to learn. A stained glass window of St. Patrick in Seattle's St. James Cathedral was donated by the Ancient Order of Hibernians, a group that worked against anti-Catholic bias in the early 1900s. "I'd been in St. James many times, and had never seen the window," Keane said. With St. Patrick's Day coming, this week may be the busiest all year for Keane. But it may not be the high point. With five brothers still in Ireland, he's hoping for a trip home. Buy It Now: Irish Seattle $19.99 Book Chronicles Irish Influence on Emerald City, Evergreen State By Terry McGuire - 03/22/2007 Catholic New Progress
Bishops Edward O’Dea, Gerald Shaughnessy, Thomas Connolly and Thomas Murphy were of Irish extraction, as were the city’s longest-serving fire and police chiefs, William Fitzgerald and Patrick Fitzsimons. State territorial Chief Justice Thomas Burke provided a much-needed “voice of tolerance” during the ugly anti-Chinese riots of 1886, while Bishop O’Dea helped the faithful weather the Klu Klux Klan-led anti-Catholic bias that came later. When future saint, Mother Frances Xavier Cabrini, sought to purchase the Perry Hotel and convert it to a hospital, it was real estate entrepreneur Henry Broderick who sold it to her for rosary beads in lieu of a $7,500 commission. These and many more local folks of Irish roots are featured in John Keane’s new book, Irish Seattle, a 128-page pictorial chronicle of the prominent role of the Irish in the area. Book is work of Irish immigrant Keane, a member of St. Thomas More Parish in Lynnwood, is a natural to compile such a history. He’s been involved in almost every local Irish organization since settling in the Seattle area in 1978, a decade after emigrating from Ireland to the U.S. He was president for 10 years of the Irish Heritage Club, which sponsors the annual Irish Week celebrations in the Seattle area around St. Patrick’s Day, and currently chairs the Irish Week Committee. He also is a founding member of the Seattle Galway Sister City Association, an officer and past president of the Society of the Friends of St. Patrick in Seattle, and the publisher of a monthly e-mail newsletter for Seattle’s Irish community. Keane said the 2005 visit to Seattle of Ireland President May McAleese – which he helped organize -- inspired him to delve further into the Seattle area’s Irish history; McAleese’s visit was the first since Irish Republic president Eamon de Valera came to Seattle in 1919. Keane’s book, written on behalf of the Irish Heritage Club, contains informative captions to accompany the photos. Each of its nine chapters is preceded by a page explaining chapter topics including “Early Irish Families,” “Faith and Community,” and “Movers and Shakers.” Variety of occupations Tacoma-born crooner Bing Crosby, Seattle University All-American twins Johnny and Eddie O’Brien, and Medal of Honor recipient Maj. Gen. Patrick Brady are among the faces featured. Elected officials include former Gov. John Spellman – well-known for his Irish tenor voice – and 26-term state Rep. John L. O’Brien, speaker emeritus of the House. Then there’s OWL (Out With Logic, On With Lunacy) Party candidate Thomas “Red” Kelly, the playful Olympia-area bar owner and musician who garnered eight percent of the vote in the 1976 governor’s race after declaring that “unemployment isn’t working.” Religious women in the book include Tacoma Dominican Sisters and siblings Mary Pat, Peg and Nora Murphy, who are noted for their ministries. Business leaders include Jim Casey, who co-founded United Parcel Service with two bicycles and a phone in the basement office of a downtown saloon in 1907 Seattle, and William Pigott, who two years earlier founded what is now the truck manufacturer, PACCAR, Inc. Let’s not forget Belinda Mulrooney, originally from County Mayo, who became the “Richest woman in the Klondike” during the Gold rush, only to lose her fortune to a fake French count; or Seattle couturier John Doyle Bishop, who struck gold in free publicity through his annual arrests for painting a green stripe on the street outside his store prior to St. Patrick’s Day. Keane covers many other Irish notables, as well as the history of Seattle’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade (impromptu events until a permit was issued in 1972), and local Irish organizations such as the Ancient Order of Hibernians that sprung up to serve the immigrant men. Keane also notes that communities including Redmond, Marysville, LaConner and Buckley owe their names to Irish settlers. He writes that most of the early Irish immigrants to the U.S. were not Catholic but Presbyterian from the north part of Ireland. Then came the waves of Catholics, fleeing famine, poverty and persecution. They found in the Seattle area a place much like their native land: damp winters, warm summers, rugged coastlines and mountains. |
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