Who is lucky enough to have a 1943 recording of their grandmother singing “Danny Boy”? My mother “produced” this on a home-recording machine, where a
Category: Barrett
Martin Barrett, Unsung Hero
While I have written much about Patrick and Mary Barrett, the patriarchs of the Catawissa Barrett clan, famine refugees, and Missouri homesteaders, I’ve neglected Patrick’s
American Support for Ireland
My grandfather Thomas Patrick Barrett was a member of the American Association for the Recognition of the Irish Republic. When the convention was held in
Pandemic… Thanksgiving… 1918
Here is another excerpt from the first draft of Kitty’s People: Legend of an Irish Family in the American Heartland. The scene opens in the
Kitty and Tom Get Married
Today, November 22, is the 108th anniversary of my grandparents’ marriage. What I know is that they got engaged on Palm Sunday because Tom Barrett
Postponing Marriage, Living with Your Parents
Where did I get the impression that in the “olden days” of America, people married young? For months now, I’ve been entangled in the twigs
