On Mother's Day, I wish to thank my Great, Great Grandmother, Mary Givens, who left Glenties, Donegal, Ireland in 1852. The following is a contemporary news article of the conditions she left at the age of 11, bringing with, her little brother, John, 7 years of age.

In 1845, when the great Famine of that and following years was about to break upon Ireland, "The Times" newspaper appointed Thomas Campbell Foster as its "Commissioner to report on the condition of the people of Ireland". In this article, there appear extracts from his letter written at Gweedore on September 3, 1845, in which he described the towns he passed through, namely, Donegal, Glenties, Dungloe, and the island of Arranmore.

From Donegal town, he "proceeded to Glenties, a village which is the property of the Marquis of Conyngham, whose chief managing agent is Mr. Benbow, M.P. for Dudley. The whole of the country for many miles in the direction of Dungloe, and beyond that town--in fact, almost the whole barony of Boylagh--belongs to this nobleman, together with the island of Arran, or Arranmore, on the west coast. Once in the course of his lifetime--two years ago--the Marquis of Conyngham visited this estate for a few days. His chief agent, Mr. Benbow, usually comes once a year, and the sub-agents visit the tenants every half year to collect the rents. At short periods of a few years the farms are visited to see what increased rent they will bear, and this is the extent of the acquaintance of the Marquis of Conyngham with his tenants.

This nobleman, himself, bears the character of a kind-hearted, generous man--fond of yachting and amusement, and having an excessive distaste for every kind of business or trouble. From one end of his large estate here to the other, nothing is to be found but poverty, misery, wretched cultivation, and infinite subdivision of land. There are no gentry, no middle-class,-- all are poor--wretchedly poor."

"Every shilling the tenants can raise from their half-cultivated land is paid in rent, whilst the people subsist for the most part on potatoes and water....Every rude effort that they make to increase the amount of the[ir] produce is followed immediately by raising their rents in proportion--as it were, to punish them for improving; they are, naturally enough, as discontented and full of complaints as they are wretched in their condition."

Foster reported in minute detail what he found when he visited some of the homes, if such they could be called, of the noble marquis's tenants.

"Into these cottages I entered. They were stone-built and well-roofed, but the mud-floor was uneven, damp, and filthy. In one corner was a place for the pig, with a drain from it through the wall to carry off the liquid manure, like a stable. Two chairs, a bedstead of the rudest description, a cradle, a spinning-wheel, and an iron-pot constituted the whole furniture. An inner room contained another rude bedstead; the mud-floor was quite damp. In this room six children slept on loose hay, with one dirty blanket to cover them...The father, mother, and an infant slept in the first room, also on loose hay, and with but one blanket on the bed. The children were running about as nearly naked as possible, dressed in the cast-off rags of the father and mother; the father could not buy them clothes. They had not been to mass for a twelvemonth for want of decent clothes to go in.

"These men assured me that their whole food was potatoes, and if they had a penny to spare they bought salt or a few sprats, but very seldom these. Instead of buying salt they sometimes bought pepper and mixed it with the water they drank. This they called 'kitchin'--it gave a flavour to their food."

Part 7 - From a contemporary news source from March 11, 1876 regarding James Boyle - "James Boyle is in the Pottsville jail on a charge of complicity in the murder of Police Chief Benjamin Yost. Looking at Boyle as he sat facing Kerrigan testify against Boyle, we wondered that if it were possible that such a manly, handsome-looking specimen of manhood could possibly by guilty of the terrible crime of murder, and we concluded in our own mind that if the evidence against him was not simply conclusive that we would be induced mentally to give him the benefit of the doubt, for a more happily innocent-looking face we never saw occupy such an unfortunate position."

This article had the same euphemism that my grandfather would use, "A fine specimen of manhood". He must of got it from his mother. The picture below is of James Boyle. The picture to the right is the gallows that he was to hang on June 21, 1877.

Part 6 - So what happened at James Boyle's trial? So many different versions and viewpoints, I will copy from Wikipedia. The first trial of defendants Hugh McGeehan, James Carroll, Thomas Duffy, James Boyle, and James Roarity for the killing of Yost commenced in May 1876. Yost had not recognized the men who attacked him. Although James Kerrigan has since been described, along with Duffy, as hating the night watchman enough to plot his murder. Kerrigan became a state's witness and testified against the union leaders and other miners. However, Kerrigan's wife testified in the courtroom that her husband had committed the murder. She testified that she refused to provide her husband with clothing while he was in prison, because he had "picked innocent men to suffer for his crime". She stated that she was speaking out voluntarily, and was only interested in telling the truth about the murder. For the prosecution, Franklin Gowen cross-examined her, but could not shake her testimony. Others supported her testimony amid speculation that Kerrigan was receiving special treatment due to the fact that Pinkerton Detective James McParland was engaged to his sister-in-law, Mary Ann Higgins. This trial was declared a mistrial due to the death of one of the jurors. A new trial was granted two months later. During that trial, Fanny Kerrigan did not testify. The five defendants were sentenced to death. Kerrigan, although implicated in two murders, was allowed to go free. Below are the two men that testified against defendants. Top photo is James McParland and bottom photo is James Kerrigan.

Part 5 - It seems as if the Boyle family had paid a dear price during the period of violence in the middle 1870's in the coal region. Yesterday, I told you that two of James Boyle's cousins were sentenced to prison for testifying on his behalf at his trial, for perjury. Let me relate to you what happened to James' brother. Dennis and Margaret (Gallagher) Boyle had five children - Bridget, John (Jack), James, Mary and Anna. James was found guilty of the murder of B.F. Yost in Tamaqua. Before his sentence was carried out, his brother Jack, left Lansford for the village of Eckley, in Luzerne County. Today, the village of Eckley is preserved as it was in the old times, as a coal town. It was used for many scenes in the Sean Connery and Richard Harris movie film in "The Molly Maguires". Jack was a miner and would travel back and forth on the train to work in the mines. One month before his brother was to hang in Pottsville, I found this article in the contemporary newspaper - "Jack Boyle, of Eckley, a son of the widow Boyle and a brother of James Boyle, to be hung on the 21st day of June, in Pottsville jail, for the murder of Policeman Yost, was killed at Stockton, Monday. He was thrown off the No. 1 train on the Lehigh Valley railroad, and fatally injured. He was taken to Hazleton, where he died about two o'clock in the afternoon". How does one get "thrown off" a passenger train? There is only one possible way, that I see it. The train was run by the Lehigh Valley Railroad. They were patrolled by the Coal and Iron Police. I will soon be traveling to the Luzerne County Coroner's Office to ascertain and collect any information into the cause and manner of death into John (Jack) Boyle. I believe that the Coal and Iron Police may have committed a homicide and threw Jack Boyle off the train, in retribution of what his brother was accused. I don't know what became of James' sister, Bridget, other than she married a John Boyle and they had seven children in the Borough of Lansford. As for James Boyle's other two sisters, Mary and Anna, they escaped the violence of the coal region and settled in Philadelphia, Eerily, their home was located at 405 Ripka Street, in Philadelphia. That is only a half of a block away from my house where I was born and raised. Below are pictures of the town of Eckley, where Jack Boyle lived.

Part 4 - I had said that other members of the Boyle family had received the ire of the justice system of the coal region. James Boyle was on trial along with three others, for the murder of B.F. Yost in Tamaqua. Two cousins were witnesses for the defense to provide an alibi for James. Bernard N. Boyle swore he was with his cousin, on the night of the murder. Bernard had testified that both he and James were drinking at another cousins tavern. Upon cross-examination, the prosecutor asked Barney his age. When Barney replied, that he was 19 years of age, the prosecutor asked what year was he born. Barney had to count backwards in order to figure his birth year. The prosecutor slammed Barney for not telling the truth. It's easy for an attorney, learned in the art of argument and logic, to disparage a person with a sixth grade education. The prosecutor tore up the witness on the stand, accusing him of perjury. Kate Boyle, 16 years of age, also testified as knowing that James Boyle was drinking that night. She was also vilified on the stand and accused of perjury. At the end of the trial, during the closing arguments, both Barney and Kate were arrested for perjury and sent to Schuylkill County Prison. On September 27, 1876, both Barney and Kate were found guilty of perjury. Barney was sentenced to 36 months of hard labor. Kate was sentenced to 30 months of hard labor and solitary confinement. Below is a picture of Bernard P. Boyle, where Barney and Kate swore James was drinking in his tavern.

Part 3 - As I told you yesterday, my Great, Great, Great Grandmother, Margaret Boyle ran a boarding house on Bertsch Street, Lansford, Pennsylvania. One of James Boyle's friends, Hugh McGeehan, which you will hear more of later, was targeted by the Lehigh Coal and Iron Police and was shot and wounded in 1875. He lived, but was a targeted man. Later in the year, the LC&IP tried to assassinate him again and shot up his house. McGeehan fled with his whole family and was protected within our GGG Grandmother's boarding home. When McGeehan and James Boyle were arrested for a murder of a policeman in Tamaqua, our GGG Grandmother testified at the trial. The prosecutors and the press were vicious. The Philadelphia Inquirer, in 1876 described her as, "McGeehan's boarding mistress". Others described my GGG Grandmother as, "...having the appearance of the harlot...who tried to provide his alibi for the night of July 5". The prosecution was determined to discredit anyone, regardless of consequences. They were the ones in power and providing alternative facts. This is personal, This is family. During this time, our GGG Grandmother remarried a gentleman, with the last name of Burns. McGeehan had married someone else. Margaret Boyle's other son, Patrick Boyle (my GGG Uncle) did marry Hugh McGeehan's sister, Margaret. Our GGG Grandmother paid the price of testifying, through humiliation and ostracizing throughout the press. Other family had testified and paid a different price. That will be another story. The picture below is one of the prosecutors of the case against James Boyle, Franklin Gowen. He was relentless against discrediting our GGG Grandmother.

Part 2 - How are we related to the Boyle's of the Molly Maguires? In the picture below, in the middle, is my Grandfather, John Warren Smith. His mother, Mary, to the left, her maiden name is Boyle. She was born on May 7, 1863 in Lansford, Carbon County. Her father, Frank Boyle was married to Mary Givens. Our Great, Great, Great, Grandmother's name was Margaret Boyle. She was also known as the Widow Boyle, because our Great, Great, Great Grandfather died early. Margaret Boyle ran a boarding house to make ends meet, to put food on the table, since she was a widow. My Great Grandmother, my Great, Great, Grandfather and my Great, Great, Great Grandmother lived in a house owned by Margaret's brother-in-law, Dennis Boyle. Dennis lived in another house next door with his family. Dennis' son was James Boyle, who was hung in Pottsville on June 21, 1877. So Frank Boyle, my Great, Great Grandfather and James Boyle were first cousins. And they lived next door to one another. In the 1875 map, below, you can see the Boyle's homes, next to one another, with James Givens, next door. Now that you know how we are related, tomorrow, I will continue to discuss some astonishing and not so pleasant stories about our family.

With St. Patrick's Day tomorrow, I will be discussing, over time, about our relatives in Carbon County. One in particular, James Boyle, was hung 140 years ago, on June 21, 1877, in Pottsville, Schuylkill County. Several other family members were killed, injured or jailed, because they assisted other immigrant Irish/Irish-Americans. So today, and over the weekend, I'm flying the Irish flag outside my home.