2/1251

LA/MASS/VA

sheridan philip

Places: - [1]

(Cavan/1)

Breagh, Killinkere, Co. Cavan {Monument)

[(6 miles SW of Bailieboro, in Beagh (glebe)]

Further Reading:

History of the Presbyterians Congregations, 1982 pp. 40 ff..

Dictionary of American Biography, volume 11, pp. 820-8,1999

Lewis R.W.B., A Family Narrative/Andre Deutsch/1991

Journal of the Kildare Archaeological Society, Nr. 4, pp. 6-7

Breifne Antiquarian Society Jounral,1924.Volume II,no.2,pp.241-2

Toibin, Colm, The Master, Picador, London, 2005

Dun Laoghaire Journal, No. 18, 2009, Henry James in Kingstown’ by Mary Grogan,k pp. 36-9

Edel, Leon, Henry James:The Conquest of London, 1870-1883 volume 2, Hart Davis, 1962, page 475

Lubbock, Percy, The Letters of Henry James, vols. 1 & 2, Scribner, 1920, page 628 ff…..

Dictionary of Irish Biography, Volume 4, pp. 947-8, 2010

james henry

‘The Most Intellectual Family in America’

Curkish, Bailieboro

William James, Presbyterian, of Curkish, Bailieboro, Co.Cavan ,1736-1822

William James (We refer to ‘of Albany’1771-1832) was born on his father’s farm in the townland of Curkish, near Bailieboro, Co. Cavan. His father, also William (1736-1822) was a devout Presbyterian and had received his land holding under a plantation of Presbyterians in the area organised by William Bailie, M.P. The Presbyterians were not allowed to build churches but instead had ‘meeting-houses’

The High Sheriff of the time, William Stewart, lived in Bailieborough Castle and had a land agent called McCartney. William James of Curkish married McCartney’s daughter, Susan. Robert, the first son, ran the farm and William, being the second son, saw little hope of progress for himself in Bailieborough. Besides that he didn’t want to become a Presbyterian minister. Therefore with a good basic education in the Classics, competent handwriting and a small amount of money, William headed for the United States desirous in particular to visit some of the battlefields of the Revolution.

William James of Albany, New York 1771-1832

Financier, Entrepreneur

William James worked for 2 years in Albany as a clerk in a dry goods store. In 1795 he opened his own store and within ten years he had six stores, five in Albany, one in New York and a tobacco factory and salt works in Syracuse and Saratoga. He then set up the Albany Savings Bank, became a director in the New York State Bank and started shipping goods down the Hudson River and also to Ireland. Success followed success. And after he had handed over these businesses to his sons, he devoted himself to development and investment. At one stage he owned the land on which Columbia College (later Columbia University) in Manhattan is built and the land of Union College.

3 Marriages

William was 25 when he married first time. He married Elizabeth Tillman. Elizabeth died in childbirth in 1779. Two years later William married again, this time to Irish-born Mary Ann Connolly from Armagh. Her father was a large New York merchant and William and Mary Ann had one daughter, Ellen. Later however, Mary Ann too died in childbirth. His third marriage was to Catherine Barber, daughter of Judge Joseph Barber, brother of Francis and John Barber, heroes of the War of Independence, whose family came from Scots' Quarter, Cleghill in Co. Longford. Catharine and William had ten children of which eight survived. Catherine's family owned the newspaper “The Albany Register ” which proved useful when William was launching yet another business venture. Their fourth child was Henry, known to the world as Henry James Sr., philosopher and writer, founder of `the most intellectual family in America'.

Henry James Sr. 1811-82

Theologian and Social Theorist

Financially independent Henry James absorbed himself in study becoming a writer and a theologian. He was born in Albany, New York. Though brought up in the devout Presbyterian tradition he rejected this and spent his life in the pursuit of philosophy. He was an adherent of the mystic philosopher Swedenborg and his system and wrote a number of works on the subject. He died in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1882.

Henry James Jr. 1843-1916

Henry along with his many siblings was raised in an atmosphere of learning and travel. He devoted himself to philosophy, theology and novel writing could number among his friends many of the best intellectual minds of the day such as Makepeace Thackeray, Washington Irving and Ralph Waldo Emerson.

James’ novels often reflect the contrast and diversity between the Old World of Europe and the New World of the United States. This contrast manifested itself in social taste, social convention, the arts and philosophy featuring often the theme of innocence corrupted and is brilliantly treated in such works as Daisy Miller, The Bostonians and the Ambassadors.

Henry Jr., made two visits to Ireland, initially with the intention of tracing his family origins but this idea lost its charm soon after arrival. He visited in 1882 and 1891. On his first visit he stayed eight days in both Cork and Dublin and found them full of police constables. He did not take the opportunity to visit his grandfather’s birthplace in Co. Cavan. He spent some of this visit in Marine Hotel, in Dun Laoghaire, in South Dublin at the sea.

In 1895 he spent considerably a longer period, this time in Dublin. He resided for a time as a guest with the Lord Lieutenant, Lord Houghton, at the Vice-Regal Lodge in Phoenix Park. He was shocked by the contrast in the squalor of the citizens and the ostentatious wealth of the Establishment. In a letter to Isabella Gardner, he described Dublin as ‘this queer, shabby, sinister, sordid place’. He experienced the full thrust of the ‘Castle Season’ and he resided with his friends, the Wolseleys, at Kilmainham Military Hospital, the pinnacle of the military establishment in Ireland.

William James (1842-1910)

William (1843-1910) devoted his life to medicine and the new science of the day, psychology, an area where at the time much ground breaking work was being done. He is famed for his lectures on the subject and for his work ‘Principles of Psychology’. He travelled a great deal.

Cardinal William Henry O’Connell,(1859-1944)

Roman Catholic Cardinal of Boston

son of John and Judith O’Connell, Fartagh, Lurgan, Co.Cavan

born on 8^th December,1859 in Lowell, Massachussetts

died on Boston,Massachusetts on 22^nd April, 1944

Places:

(Cavan)

RC Parish Church of Lurgan,Virginia,Co.Cavan

Townland of Fartagh, Lurgan,Co.Cavan

(Dublin)

Daniel O'Connell's Grave,Glasnevin Cemetery,Dublin

(Kerry)

Muckross Abbey, Killarney,Co. Kerry

The Lakes of Killarney,Co.Kerry.

(Cork)

Blarney Castle,Co.Cork

Further Reading:

Catholic Encyclopaedia, 1981, volume 10, page 636c

Wayman, Dorothy, Cardinal John O’Connell of Boston,

1955, pp.3 ff.

O’Connell, His Eminence William Cardinal, Recollections of Seventy Years, Houghton Mifflin, 1934

American Dictionary of National Biography, Volume 16, pp. 603-4, 1999

De Breffny, Brian, Castles of Ireland, Thames & Hudson,

London, 1977, p. 54

At his appointment in 1911 William O'Connell was one of the youngest Cardinals in the world. Born of Irish parents into a large family in Lowell, Massachusssetts, John O'Connell had inbibed the deep religosity of his devout parents and was well acquainted with the basic needs of the burgeoning Roman Catholic Church in the Eastern United States.

The O'Connells of Cavan

Cardinal John O'Connell was the great grand son of Patrick O'Connell and Ellen Smith of Lurgan Parish , Virginia ,Co.Cavan. Patrick’s son, John, the grandfathe of the Cardinal, was a farmer and is recorded in the Religious Census of 1766 for the area. John and his wife, Judith, had six children, three boys and three girls. One of these boys was John O'Connell, the father of the Cardinal. He was born in 1809 and lived in the townland of Fartagh, Lurgan. He attended the local hedge—school and sang in the church choir. In 1832 he married Brigid Farrelly, from the neighbouring townland and they had six children. In 1850, after five terrible years of famine, they emigrated to Montreal,Canada before eventually settling in Lowell,Massachusetts.

Cardinal William Henry O'Connell would visit Ireland only once. That was in the year 1882 on his way to Rome. Arriving at Queenstown (Cobh), Co.Cork he visited Muckross Abbey near Killarney, Co. Kerry and did the tour of the Lakes of Killarney. He rejoiced at being able to visit the lands of his parents but distressed at the poverty he saw. He visited Dublin on his way to catch the boat for England and made a pilgrimage as he called to the grave of the 'Liberator' Daniel O'Connell in Glasnevin Cemetery.

John obtained his early education in Lowell, Massachusetts beore entering the seminary of St. Charles' College in Baltimore, Maryland and then going to Boston College. During this time he had exemplary results and this led to him completing his theological studies in the American College in Rome. In 1895 he was appointed Rector of the American College in Rome, a post he held for five years. Here he brought to bear an intellectual pragmatism which made his Rectorship one of the most successful in the young College's history. In 1901 he was appointed Bishop of Portland, Maine post the death of the beloved James A. Healy (one of the five sons of Maurice Healy, Roscommon ). In addition he was briefly Papal Envoy to Japan and here he was truly following in the footsteps of Saint Francis Xavier. The small Roman Catholic community in the country had experienced near annihilation. He was greeted warmly. Academics, political and military leaders and students accorded him great respect and often expressed their admiration for his erudition. He remembered with great affection the personal contacts he made there and the assistance they gave him on his mission. Five years later he was made Archbishop of Boston.

The Educator and something of a diplomat

Generally his approach to life was one of directness, 'a spade is a spade', and positive criticism was uttered where necessary. The Archdiocese of Boston would see great developments in the field of education under his leaderhsip. He set up St.Paul's Rehabilitation Center for the Visually-Impaired ,which was so ahead of its time in education planning that it became the model for other dioceses. He brought all the Archdiocesan charities under the one umbrella organisation thus avoiding duplication of services and to streamline eneriges. He bought over 'The Pilot', the main Catholic newspaper in the US and with no time it had a circulation up to 100,000. He set up the Catholic Bureau which embraced and guided nearly twenty agencies in the dioceses. The great influx of different nationalities into the Arcdiocese demanded diplomatic skill on his part in order to achieve harmony amongst his flock as did his efforts allay fears within the Protestant community. By his death the number of parishes in the Arcdiocese had more than doubled and it was home to one third of a million more Roman Catholics. By that time also,William Henry Cardinal O'Conell, for his was elevated to Cardinal in 1911, was one of the most repected and influential figures in the Boston area and during his tenure many negative opinions of Roman Catholicism had fallen away to be replaced by a much more positive preception. This turnaround was achieved in part through his dedication to his flock, his deep spiritualiy and intellect and his patriotic sense to his fellow-man. On his passing the Church he chose to serve was held in higher regard through his long years of work. He died in Boston on 22 April 1944.

Count Alejandro O’Reilly,

Governor of Louisiana, 1769-70

Son of Thomas O’Reilly,

Born at Baltrasna House, Oldcastle, Co. Meath in 1722

Died in Cadiz, Spain in 1794

Places: -

(Meath)

Baltrasna House, Oldcastle, Co. Meath

(Cavan)

Kill Graveyard, Kilnaleck, Co.Cavan

Further Reading:

Dictionary of American National Biography,

Volume17,pp.608-11,1999.

Quinn, Arthur H.: Edgar Allan Poe, a Critical Biography,

New York, 1941

Woodberry, George E.: The Life of Edgar Allan Poe :

Personal and Literary, with His Chief Correspondence

with Men of Letters, Volume 1., Houghton Mifflin , 1909

Bewley, Sir Edmund, The Origin of the Family Poe, 1906

History of the Presbyterian Congregations in the Nat. Lib.

Presbyterian Historical Society

‘And all I loved, I loved alone.’

Alone.

(Edgar Allen Poe)

That the work of great writers such as Kafka, Wolfe, or Plath amongst others, reflects their tormented souls, their unhappy personal relationships or some tragedy in their lives can be surely claimed for the literary output of Edgar Allan Poe. His short life of only 40 years was, for the most part an unhappy one.

Both his parents were dead by the time he was two, his brother died soon thereafter and his sister was mentally unbalanced. A merchant, John Allan, and his wife, Fanny, took the young Edgar into their care. The Allans, with Edgar in toe, moved to England, but after 7 years with Allan’s tobacco business in difficulties they all returned to Richmond, Virginia. Edgar went to the University of Virginia where he got heavily involved in drinking and gambling and ran up debts. Allan refused to help him with his debts and although he was doing well at his studies he quit the university and through Allan’s efforts it seems got accepted at West Point Military Academy. But the young man never really wanted to succeed at the military life and he so was expelled in 1831. At this point John Allan disowned him.

In actual fact the future novelist literary career had actually begun in 1827 just before his sally into the army with the publication of his story 'Tamarlane'. After his expulsion he went to Baltimore and lived with an aunt of much reduced circumstances, Maria Clemm. In the time that followed he

won a prize of $50 from the Baltimore Saturday Visitor for his story ' Found in a Bottle'. He wrote articles, critical reviews, poetry and stories for several newspapers in Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York, but drinking and erratic behaviour eventually lead to his dismissal from the Southern Literary Messenger in Richmond. He was co-editor of the Burton's Gentleman's Magazine till 1844 during which time the literary contribution side increased the circulation of the magazine. In 1836 he had married his cousin, Virginia, a frail 13-year-old. Poe cared greatly for her and her premature death in 1847 at the age of 24 due to tuberculosis was a dastardly blow to him. Once again he had resort to the bottle as his only solace, which this time was his undoing and he died in Baltimore on

7 October 1849.

The literature of Edgar Allan Poe for most people conjures up the world of the surreal, the weird, the horrific. Poe believed American writers should break away from the stultified and wooden style of English literature of the time and consciously develop their own distinctive approach. An objective it can be said that Poe himself achieved. His ‘Tales of the Grotesque’ and ‘Arabesque’ in 1840, ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’ and ‘The Pit and the Pendulum’ were enormous successes and his French detective Dupuin in Murders in the Rue Morgue (1841) can be called a birth of the detective story genre that has gone on to become a worldwide phenomenon.

The Irish Poes

The name Poe is thought to have probably originated in Wales, derived from Powell, Powys, Poole or Pue. The first Poe in Ireland was a Crowellian officer. An ancestor of Edgar Allan , David Poe (died 1742), his great-great-grandfather, held a moiety of land, some 42 acres at Dring, in the parish of Kildallen, Co. Cavan. There were baptism entries for Poes in the Presbyterian church register for the church at Croghan, which is near Killeshandra and three miles from Dring.

These were extant in 1906 when Edmund Bewley (author of 'The Origin of the Poe Family) was shown them by the then minister, the Rev. John Homes Whitsitt. The church at Croghan /Killeshandra united with the church at Carrigallen /Belturbet in 1930.

The aforementioned David Poe, had a son, and this John Poe with his wife, Jane McBride, came to Delaware in 1748. Their son, David, grew up to be a staunch supporter of the Patriot cause during the American Revolution and his country’s cause in War of 1812.

His son, yet again another David, David Poe, Edgar's father, though educated for the Law turned to acting, dying in 1811 when Edgar was two years of age.

10.

Potamian , Rev. Bro. ,1846-1917

Born Michael O’Reilly,

Scientist , Inventor and Teacher

son of James O'Reilly and Judith Finningham

in Bailieboro , Cavan on 28^th September, 1846

died in St. Lawrence, New York on 20^th , 1917

Scientist, Inventor and Professor at Manhattan College,

Doctorate in Science (D.Sc.) from the Vatican and Georgetown University , USA

Scientist Brother Teacher of the De La Salle Order

'The Man from Manhattan College'

Places: (Cavan)

Bailieboro, Co.Cavan (Birthplace)

(Waterford)

` De La Salle House and Training College,

Newtown , Co. Waterford

(USA)

Manhattan College, New York

Further Reading:

Irish de la Salle Brothers in Christian Education By Dr. John Towey , 1980

Battersby, Dr. W.J., Brother Potamian, Burns&Oates, 1953

Catholic Encyclopaedia, 1981, Volume 10, page 741d

Rev. Bro Potamian , 1846-1917

Scientist,Inventor and Professor at Manhattan College,

Doctorate in Science (D.Sc.) from the Vatican and Georgetown University , USA

Scientist Brother Teacher of the De La Salle Order

'The Man from Manhattan College'

Michael Francis O'Reilly, known in the religious life as Bro. Potamian, was born in the parish of Bailieborough, Co. Cavan on 28 September 1846. His exact birthplace is not known and because Baileiborough as a parish straddles two counties, Cavan and Meath and the frequency of the name O'Reilly in this area, it has proven impossible to say definitively which church he was baptised in. Shortly after he was born his parents had emigrated from the famine-racked Cavan to New York and within a few years Michael would have two more sisters and one brother was attending St. Brigid's Parish school.

It was St.Brigid's Parish school in New York and its teachers, which contributed to fostering in Michael the desire for the religious life, in particular his acquaintance with one teacher, Bro. Chronian of the Institute of Christian Schools, from New York. In 1859, at the age of 13 he entered the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, an order founded by the French educationalist , Jean Baptiste de la Salle. He had to travel alone by train from New York to the Brothers seminary in Montreal. So strict was the Rule of the Order that it effected his total separation from his beloved family. In fact, he would never see his mother alive again.

Each novice gets a name for their religious life. Michael was given the name of Potamian, a 6^th century bishop of Agrigento in Sicily and in years to come this most unusual name would be heard often and in the most infuential of academically seats.

Potamnian

Potamian proved an able student. He trained and graduated as a teacher without difficulty, in addittion to being ordained as a full member of the De la Salle Order. His first teaching post was in Quebec, then back to Montreal and then on to St. Louis. On his way to St. Louis he stopped in New York to visit his family, his father and two sisters, who he had not seen for a decade. He spent one year in St. Louis, where he developed many fo the skills for which he was to become known for as a teacher. He was control of a large boarding school and he showed himself to be a capable administrator. He was very interested in the Classics and also literature. He always kept up with the latest developments in education and in particular the sciences.

England

In 1870 he was appointed to a school in borough of Clapham in London, England. At the time education in second level, Roman Catholic faith-based schools in England was very polarised . The wealthy had schools of excellence such as Ampelforth, Stonyhurst and Downside . Generally the educational system was becoming very examination-orientated. Potamian decided to accept this approach to achieve academic excellence all the while emphasising on the sciences. He favoured the new London University over Oxford or Cambridge. From London University he personally obtained a Doctorate in Science,

and went onto to become asistant director of the new school in Tooting.

Noah's Ark

The practicality and vision of Potamnian and his colleagues was llustrated publicly at the 1884 Health Fair,where he and fellow teachers, Bros.,. Alexis (Geography) and Bro. Noah (his Science colleague), demonstrated Noah's Ark , a method whereby in a most progressive and constructivist they drew up a model for instruction in Science and Geography .

Tooting to Waterford to Manhattan

At Tooting, Potamnian structured a science course and set up the Science Department. On his leaving in 1892 for Waterford, Ireland, due recognition was given to his work by a memorable reception and gathering of students, alumni and dignitaries from the world of education and politics.

Waterford was a De La Salle Teachers' Training College, on the scale and model of their main school in Rheims, France. Potmanian could now concentrate on science and it’s teaching. He erected a pendulum to demonstrate the rotation of the earth, his interest in the new development of Roentgen rays, X-ray, was evidenced when a young girl got a dangerous splinter into her hand, which could not be traced. Potamnian improvised an

X-ray machne, X-rayed the hand and located and extracted the splinter. This was the first use of X-ray in Ireland. At the time the Cavan man was also extremely interested in the development of the microphone and also the work of Marconi.

In 1896 he was transferred to Manhattan College, NYC. Then over forty years old and well-stablished. Unusual for a Roman Catholic College, Manhattan did not emphasise the Classics; Greek and Latin, rather it put the emphasis on science and along with B.A Degrees, it offered B.Sc. Degrees and soon would include an Engineering programme

At that time, it could already count some notable graduates, such as Bishop Hayes and Bishop Mundelien; future Roman Catholic Cardinals.

Potamnian was as a superb teacher; dynamic, energetic, erudite and enthusiastic, eliciting the highest praise from students, indeed even a level of awe at his profound and vast knowledge across the sciences and his linguistic ability. Manhattan College was his last posting, and under his direction it developed a very high reputation for Science and , particularly Engineeering. Potmanian was awarded Honorary Doctorates, from Fordham and Villanova Universitites.

On the bi-centenary of Benjamin Franklin’s birth, Marconi was to give a talk at the Waldorf Astoria on 'wireless telegraphy' but becoming seriously ill he could not travel by ship, so requested that Professor Michael Francis O'Reilly (Bro. Potamnian) of Manhattan College should be invited in his stead. The request was acted on and Potamnian addrresed the gathering on 'The Electrical Work of Benjamin Franklin '.

When Marconi eventually did come to New York , to lecture at the Teachers' Columbia College, he requested that Potamnian be at his right-hand side along with Dale Carnegie.

Bro. Potamnian 'Potsy', the man from Manhattan College, died on 20 January 1917 at

St. Lawrence Hospital, Bronxville, New York City and it is recalled how on his deathbed he related to reporters from the New York Herald the incident of X-raying the young girl back in Waterford all those years ago.

11.

Mary Anne Madden Sadlier, 1820-1903

19th Century Novelist and Businesswoman

, sadlier

born on 31/12/1820 in Cootehill, Co. Cavan

died in Montreal, Canada on 5th April, 1903 aged 82 years.

Places: (Cavan)

Main Street, Cootehill, Co. Cavan

(Drogheda)

‚Sienna' Dominican Convent, Drogheda,Co.Louth

‚The Tholsel’, Drogheda, Co. Louth

(Meath)

King William’s Obelisk at Oldbridge, Donore, Parish, Co.Meath

The Scenery of Rathmullen, Co. Meath

(Kildare)

Jigginstown Castle, Naas, Co.Kildare.

Further Reading:

Breifne Antiquarian Society Journal,1924/volume 2 /nr.2,

pp244-247

Boylan, Henry : Dictionary of Irish Biography,1999,page 389

Catholic Encyclopaedia, 1981, Volume 12, page 84d

Sadlier,Mary Anne: The Old House by The Boyne,

Gill & MacMillan

Dictionary of Irish Biography, Volume 8, pp. 720-1, 2010

An Insightful Legacy to Ireland and America

Although Mary Anne Sadlier 's novels may not be on the bestseller list today, they were in the latter half of the 19^th century when they first appeared. For us today,her writings give us a very useful insight into the social life, travails and joys of the Irish Famine emigrant She wrote over 60 novels, plays, poems and sketches for a myriad of magazines and newspapers .

Early Years

Mary Anne Madden was born on 31 December 1820 in Cootheill, Co. Cavan, the daughter of Francis Madden, shopkeeper and businessman and Mary Foy. Francis Madden owned a small business on the Main Street of Cootehill and Mary Foy was a miller's daughter from the nearby townland of Bunnow, in the parish of Drung.

Mary Anne was just a child when her mother died but her father saw to it that she obtained the best education that was available. She attended the secondary school of 'Sienna' in Drogheda, Co. Louth run by the nuns of the Dominican Order. Near Drogheda is the setting for her novel 'The Old House by the Boyne', an area which she would grow to know intimately. In the work she mentions fondly the‚Tholsel, The Old Abbey, King William’s obelisk at Oldbridge, the Castle at Jigginstown and the picturesque heights of Rathmullen. She was only eighteen years when she first got published, some poems of hers appearing in the London Magazine, 'La Belle Assemble' .

Canada and Marriage

In 1844 Francis died and Mary Anne was 23 and suddenly totally alone. Her father had thought that she wold join the Ursuline Convent but within the year of his death she had sold everything and moved to Montreal,Canada, where she made the serious decision to try and earn her living as a writer. She began writing for the Literary Garland, a popular journal of the day and in November 1846 she married James D. Sadlier of the Sadlier Publishing Company (SPC), a US publishing house, and at this time she was becoming a popular writer name amongst the Irish immigrant community. James Sadlier was managing the Canadian subsidiary of SPC out of Montreal City. It was with the Sadlier Publishing Company that Peter Fenelon Collier (later founder of Collier's Magazine and Collier's Encyclopaedia) served his apprenticeship.

The Sadliers

James and Mary Anne, it may be said, made an excellant publishing fusion. James's experience and knowledge of the publishing business and access to the printing press meant Mary Anne’s work got published but it was her writing ability and the

resonance her novels had with the lives, experiences and sentiments the Irish immigrant community, meant that SPC secured a huge dominance in a very high spending market group. May Anne had lived in Montreal for fourteen years when in 1860 she and James relocated tback to New York City during which time the couple had became great friends of another Irish, Thomas D'arcy McGee, Canadian government minister and later assasination victim. McGee was originally from Carlingford, Co. Louth. At times

Mary Anne looked with great nostalgia at the old days in Ireland and this is reflected in The Confederate Chieftains (1859) but in other works, The Famine in Newlights or Life in Galway (1851) she focused on the most horrific event in modern Irish history and its immediate consequences, with novels like Bessy Conway about the life of a domestic servant, 'Willie Burke` and ' Alice Riordan: the Blind Man's Daughter' he looked a more personal themes

The Sadliers had seven children, three boys, three girls and a foster-son and one of them, Anne Maria, became famous in her own right as a novelist. After several difficult years the Sadlier Publishing Company was taken over and with the sale went the all the rights to all of Mary Anne works. With the death of James in 1868 and the political assasination of D'arcey McGee the following year Sadlier moved away from writing on secular to religious subject matter and eventually returned to Montreal and as the years passed slid into reduced financial circumstances. But she did have the consolation of seeing her work and life receiving official recognition. In 1895 the University of Notre Dame presented her with the Laetare Medal for Literature and at the end of her life she received a special blessing from Pope Leo XIII for her service to the Catholic Church.

Mary Anne Madden Sadlier died on 5 April 1903 in Montreal, Canada.

12.

2/1251

LA/MASS/VA

Places: - [1]

(Cavan/1)

Breagh, Killinkere, Co. Cavan {Monument)

[(6 miles SW of Bailieboro, in Beagh (glebe)]