Series 9 - Patrick Kearney letters

186pp

Transcripts of the Kearney letters were excerpted from De Búrca, S. et al. (1957). The Soldier's Song: The Story of Peadar Ó Cearnaigh. Dublin: P.J. Bourke. Kerby A. Miller later created his own versions of the transcript.

The Kearney letters are a set of five letters written between 1885 and 1892 by siblings Patrick and Mary Kearney to their brother John, a grocer and insurance agent in Dublin, which were printed in Seán de Búrca, et al. (1957). The Soldier's Song: The Story of Peadar Ó Cearnaigh (Dublin: P.J. Bourke).
The Kearneys were natives of Collon, County Louth. John’s son Peadar Kearney (Ó Cearnaigh) gained fame as the composer of numerous Irish rebel songs, including ‘Amhrán na bhFiann’, now the Irish national anthem. John’s daughter Kathleen was a noted republican and the mothers of noted authors Brendan, Brian, and Dominic Behan.
Per Kerby A. Miller, Patrick was ‘Born: mid-late 1850s, on a small farm (38 acres) on the Massereene estate, in Funshog, ca. Ballypousta (where parents buried), Collon, Co. Louth. Went to Bellpatrick school. Parents were Peter Kearney (born Rosybrook, ca. Ardee, Co. Louth) and Margaret Quirk of Rockbrook; married April 1853.’ In 1885, Kearney is working in the lumber industry in Arkansas, and by 1890 is in northwestern Washington. Per Miller: ‘Oct. 1892: In hospital in California. Later showed up at his sister's, in New York City, wearing shabby clothes. Appears to have become a tramp laborer.’ Mary worked as a domestic in New York City.
In addition to the letter transcripts, the series includes biographical notes and census data regarding the Kearney family; photocopies of publications pertaining to Fairhaven, Washington, and copies of Fairhaven magazine from 1983 and 1987 featuring articles on the Fairhaven Hotel where Patrick Kearney stayed.