Newry has a proud and illustrious history of offering aid to the developing world – and indeed to the needy at home, both on the group and the individual level. Father Peter McVerry was recently presented on RTE with Man of the Year (again!) for his efforts with the homeless and addicts in Billy Lawson emerged unsteadily from the lavatory in Dunhill’s pub. He’d been drinking since ten o’clock in the morning. He’d been outside at a quarter to, staring at the foul green scum lying like a thin knotty blanket on the flat waters of the canal. “I had a little puppy His name was Tiny Tim I put him in the bathtub to see if he could swim. The nineteenth century Newry family, Russell of Dominic Street in Ballybot, played a prominent role not just here in Newry but in far-off His eldest sister Mary died suddenly at twelve years of age. His brother Matthew became a Jesuit priest. His three surviving sisters became Sisters of Mercy. We will later refer to each in turn. First, Kate. 20.09.05 Dear Agnes You know the drill! You’ve been round the circuit a few times! You could advise me! In father’s absence at first – for six months or so – we stayed at Grandfather Bicker’s in Poyntzpass. Then my two sisters were fostered to two married aunts. I was taken in by Granny Hanna who had already reared nine sons. She was more comfortable with boys. This was to my advantage as she was a lovely person and respected by all. Her life had been hard, helping grandfather to run the farm as well as rearing so many sons. It was a sad day for me when grandmother died when I was fourteen. The The Chess team below shows: B. (L-R) Joe McGrath, Eric Johnston and Raymond O’Neill The team was ably coached by popular teacher of the time Brian O’Hare. I spent the first fifteen years of my life on my grandfather’s farm in the townland of Lisraw. The routine was school, farm work, hunting with dogs and ferrets and, rarely, playing with friends. The Kilkeel Ramblers of 1945 consisted of Pat Hudson (the photographer here) and (L-R) Frank McCann, Helen Fearon, Alma Nicholson, John McConnell, Tony Cunningham, Teresa Hudson, Maura Morgan and Tom Quinn. One can only speculate what might have been the outcome of the 1798 Rebellion in Ireland had not so many Ulster Presbyterians, the backbone of that radical movement the United Irishmen, left our shores in the eighteenth century to find a new life in America. Our previous article demonstrates what a huge effect these pioneering people had on the future history of that emerging nation on the other side of the O K, so this one is really difficult! But many of those pictured in this great period photo were Irish! We will start you off with a few names. David Keane, brother of Tommy, ex-V.P. of the Abbey Grammar is in the middle of the back row, and beside him is fellow Lislea man, Johnny O’Donnell. The Irish ancestry of president John F Kennedy is well-documented, but less well known is the Ulster ancestry of as many as seventeen of the forty-three Presidents of the USA. The late Jim Murphy of Dernaroy, a noted Gaelic footballer in his time and one time Newry and Mourne Councillor, was a pavhee most of his life. Perils of an Earth Walker 1.
No escape (Reader’s Story)
Street Rhymes ‘n Times
Sister Mary Baptist Russell
Immigrant Jobs
Bill Hanna’s life
Emigration Patterns 2
St Joe’s Chess & Debating 65
F. (L-R) M Hollywood, Martin Treanor (Captain) and J StrainLisraw, 1920’s
Kilkeel Ramblers 1945
Presbyterians to America
1957 Liverpool, Nurses’ Dance
Ulster American Presidents
Pahvees of Dromintee
