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The Irish Ancestral Research Association 84 South Street Waltham, MA 02453-3537 Spring 2017 Volume 34, Number 1 Researching World War I Ancestors Wedding Picture of Isabel McShane and Charles Reardon. Charles is wearing his WWI service uniform. President’s Message Susan Steele #1025 It’s Your TIARA. It truly is your organization. TIARA has no paid staff. We function with all volunteer ef- The Irish Ancestral Research Association 84 South Street fort. In the last Newsletter I thanked the many Waltham, MA 02453-3537 volunteers who helped keep us going in 2016. www.tiara.ie The list of activities was long and the list of Officers volunteer names was even longer. Co-Presi- Susan Steele dent Greg Atkinson and I continue to be grate- Greg Atkinson Co -Presidents Kathy Sullivan Vice President ful for those who keep us functioning daily Joanne Delaney and those involved in long range planning for Co-Recording Secretaries Molly Walker TIARA. Pamela Holland Corresponding Secretary Committee Chairs Greg will be completing a four-year term as Pat Deal Membership Co-President in June. TIARA by-laws prevent Pat Landry Webmaster Greg from continuing to serve as Co-President Susan Steele Foresters Joan Callahan Library but he will continue to serve as one of the Eva Murphy Volunteers chairs on the Celtic Connections Conference 2018. We thank Greg for all his past work par- Dues: Calendar year membership is (U.S.) $25 per individual & $35 per family. Newsletters sent as a PDF file via email. An ad- ticipating on many board meeting calls and ditional $5/yr is charged to mail paper copies of the newslet- hosting our banquets and other events. We ters. Canadian and overseas memberships are charged an ad- ditional (US) $10/yr for paper copies of the newsletter. appreciate Greg’s willingness to continue to serve as a conference chair. Meetings: TIARA meets monthly except July & August at locations throughout the New England area. Kathy Sullivan also completes a four-year THE TIARA NEWSLETTER term as Vice President in June. We give The TIARA newsletter is published quarterly and distributed thanks to Kathy for multiple years of provid- to members in good standing. Editor Virginia Wright ing successful banquets, workshops and Assistant Editors Richard Wright monthly meetings with engaging, informative Marie Ahearn speakers. One way Kathy will continue to con- Submit all correspondence to the above address or email to tribute is by managing TIARA’s Facebook [email protected]. page. Copyright All material in this publication is protected by cop- yright. Permission must be obtained for use of any material and Greg and Kathy’s positions will need to be credit given, including Title, Author, Volume, and Issue num- filled in June. All of the other Executive Board ber. members have the possibility of continuing to ____________________________________________ serve in a current position or make a change. In This Issue A Nominating Committee will talk with cur- President's Message Page 2 Paul A. Redmond: rent board members, determine interest and American Ambulance Field Service Page 3 help recruit new board members. A World War One Hero Page 6 A World War One Family Page 7 Another big change will be happening in June. Research in the Virginia Wright will be retiring from the posi- Registry of Deeds in Dublin Page 9 tion of editor of this newsletter. After almost Website Updates Page 13 six years and more than twenty issues jam The Mysterious Thomas Tuffy Page 16 packed with member stories, guest authored Next Issue Page 17 articles, photos and new genealogy website in- The Heart of TIARA: Our Members Page 18 formation, Virginia has decided to take a well- Using irishgenealogy.ie Page 19 Upcoming TIARA Meetings Page 19 deserved break. Thank you, Virginia! Upcoming Events Page 20 (Continued on page 7) 2 TIARA Newsletter Volume 34 Number 1 Spring 2017 Paul A. Redmond: transport the wounded to safety for treatment American Ambulance Field Service at the American Hospital near Paris. In 1915 Geraldine M. Cox # 3054 they had 60 ambulances in service and by late 1917 the number had grown to 1,220. From My mother’s cousin Paul Redmond served the beginning and even before the United with the American Ambulance Field Service in States entered the war, the service attracted World War I in France. I only knew of him many idealistic and adventurous young men when he was an older man because he and my especially from colleges and universities in mother corresponded regularly during my America. Some of the volunteers later went on childhood. Every time she received a letter to become popular writers and poets, among from Paul, my mother would say, “Oh, I must them Ernest Hemingway, E.E. Cummings and get out there to visit him.” “Out there” meant John Masefield. While cousin Paul did not be- Binghamton, New York where Paul was then come a famous writer or poet we surely as- living. However it was a fair distance from our sume he was an idealist and looking for ad- home in West Hartford, Connecticut and with venture when he decided to join a group being a young family and aging parents and in-laws formed by his alma mater as the Syracuse to care for, my mother never did get to Bing- University Ambulance Company. hamton to see him. Information on Paul’s passport application Despite never having met him, I felt I knew paints a picture of him in his youth: twenty- him through their letters and the ensuing five years old, five feet six inches tall with blue conversations with my mother. I was fasci- eyes, brown hair and a fair complexion. It also nated by her tales of his WWI experiences. states that he intends to depart for France on Every year on his birthday he would send a or about August 4, 1917, sailing on board the photo of himself along with a witty comment ship “La Tourraine.” However, when the time about how he was still getting on, even in his came, he actually sailed aboard the “Aurania” advancing age. Though they were second (now designated “Aurania 2” to distinguish it cousins, Paul was almost 50 years older than from the first and third ships to bear the my mother. She would say that she thought name.) They were all commissioned by the her father had some photos and newspaper Cunard Line for their North American service. clippings about Paul’s WWI service and even The first “Aurania" was built in 1882 and a diary, but somehow there never seemed to sailed between Liverpool and New York until be time to search for them. We did have a copy 1899-1903 when it was requisitioned as a of a Redmond family tree which Paul had troop transport during the Boer War and was made and distributed to all his relatives who scrapped in 1905. “Aurania 2” was commis- attended a Redmond family reunion at Clin- sioned in 1913 but the advent of war caused ton, New York in 1937. It was a treasured pos- delays and it was not launched until 1917 and session and I was intrigued by it. immediately put to use as a troop ship. In early 1918 on a voyage to New York as it sailed Paul was born 14 Sep 1891 in Syracuse, New around the north of Ireland in an effort to York the fourth of eight children of Nicholas J. avoid being attacked by German submarines Redmond and Mary Hayes. Nicholas J. and it nevertheless was torpedoed off the coast of my grandfather James H. Redmond were first Donegal and broke up and sank near the Isle cousins. They were part of a large extended of Mull, Scotland, while being towed back to Redmond family in the Syracuse and Utica ar- port for repairs. The “Aurania 3” was built in eas of upstate New York. Paul studied at Sy- 1924 and voyaged between Liverpool and racuse University and was working as a clerk Quebec and Montreal until the outbreak of at the Savage Arms Company in Utica when World War II in 1939 when it, too, was requi- he volunteered to join the ambulance corp. sitioned for use as a troop transport. While The American Ambulance Field Service was serving in this capacity it was torpedoed; how- started at the beginning of the first world war ever, it was able to limp into port and was re- by the American community in Paris. As the paired and served its war duty until 1944. I Germans invaded, they recognized the need to find it ironic that all three ships “Aurania” TIARA NEWSLETTER Volume 34 Number 1 Spring 2017 3 originally intended for Cunard’s North Ameri- triage hospitals. The wounded were carried can service ended up converted to troopships through the trenches by their fellow soldiers during three different wars. to the abri where doctors cleaned and band- To return to Paul’s story, on 18 Aug 1917 the aged the wounds and stabilized the patients “Aurania 2” sailed from Pier 56 in lower Man- as best they could for transport by the waiting hattan in midafternoon. Paul’s brother Kirk ambulance. The abri might be the cellar of an was there to see him off along with Judge abandoned farmhouse or bombed out barn, Cobb of Syracuse, who had established the reinforced as best as possible with beams or Syracuse Ambulance Unit. Paul writes that he possibly simply a cave supported with timbers “watched the Statue of Liberty fade from view” in an effort to protect against enemy shelling.

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