Vol. XXX — No. 3 — 2018

With cutting torches and arc welders Coventry sculptor created rich legacy of artwork

rom the 1950s until his death in F 2013, a Connecticut Irishman used the tools of ordinary craftsmen — cutting torches and arc welders — to create ex- traordinary artwork that today is displayed throughout the nation and abroad. Fashioned from heavy steel, the sculp- tures of David Hayes are on display — to name just a few of many places — at the Guggenheim Museum in New York City; National Museum of American Art in Wash- ington, D.C.; Musee des Arts Decoratifs, Paris; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Carnegie Institute, Pittsburg; Dartmouth College, N.H.; Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, Mass., Hartford Public Library; and on the campus of his alma mater, Notre Dame University.

Entire city of Hayes creations In 2013, almost as if in a parting tribute to his contribution to the world of art, Dothan, Ala., sponsored a yearlong and The grandson of immigrants from County Cork and son of a father who was a gridiron star citywide outdoor exposition of Hayes sculp- for Notre Dame’s Fighting Irish, David Hayes, shown at work and with one of his sculptures, tures. “The 20 works,” explained the direc- won national and international honors for the artwork he fashioned out of industrial steel. tor of the Dothan Wiregrass Museum of Art, one of the sponsors of the event, “have been citywide exhibit, described the sculptor and giving each piece, no matter its size or pal- installed across the community. Located in his work: “A master of his media, Hayes’ ette, a bold presence in the community …” public parks and gardens, college campuses sculptures, unique in color, size and compo- Dothan is not the only city to have bene- and in front of municipal buildings, all are sition, stand tall and proud around fited from Hayes’ imagination. In 1998, accessible to allow for interaction and the Dothan’s parks and campuses. Some are Stamford on the Connecticut shoreline se- freedom to enjoy … Imagination is what the painted flat black and stand nearly 10 feet lected Hayes to help usher in spring at its museum wanted this exhibition to bring to tall while smaller works are painted bright annual downtown Sculpture Walk. The our city.” blue, red and yellow. All are abstracted A booklet published for the Dothan using various organic and geometric forms (Please turn to page 2)

Norwich soldier’s pension Clare native was legend aided widowed mother … Page 6 on Connecticut River … Page 7

2 Hayes family excelled on gridiron and in world of art

(Continued from page 1) vid, 6; James, 4; and Mary, 1. Members of ments into the trenches soon after. The result was hailed by the Stamford Advocate: the Hayes family were hard-working and 326th went over the top in August, advanc- “Spring has come with its natural burst of upwardly mobile. By 1910, Martin Sr. was ing behind an artillery barrage to capture colors and textures delighting the eye and superintendent in a “sewer fitter beds” three German machine gun positions. nurturing the soul, but throughout Stam- company. Michael was a civil engineer for a On Sept. 12, the regiment was exposed to ford’s downtown area metal shapes in a steam railroad and John was a lawyer. a mustard gas attack in the Battle of Saint variety of Crayola hues are vying for the Their younger brother David, the father Mihiel. A month later, the 326th suffered passerby’s attention. Like crocus and daffo- of the sculptor, was similarly resourceful. heavy casualties during the Meuse-Argonne dils, these organic shapes thrusting out of He studied at Philips Exeter Academy in offensive, the last campaign of World War I. the urban ground have their start in nature, New Hampshire. A football player as well as Hayes was wounded in the left leg in an but they are enhanced by the hand of man a student at Exeter, David Sr. was deter- attack on a German machine-gun nest on … The fanciful forms are mined to enter Notre Dame Oct. 20. He was evacuated back to the Unit- the work of David Hayes, University, maybe because ed States and after hospitalization in New a Coventry, CT, sculptor during his high school York City returned to Notre Dame and its whose list of past years the Fighting Irish had football team in 1919. achievements reads like become a gridiron power- Notre Dame championships an artist’s dream. house. In 1913, the Irish “Discovered early in his stunned Army 35-13 in a That season Notre Dame was undefeated career by a panel of trav- huge upset at West Point. and won a national championship. After the eling jurors from the Mu- The star end in that victory season, the university published a football seum of Modern Art, was Knute Rockne, who by review with drawings of the players and Hayes’ colorful, abstract 1916 had become head under the sketch of Hayes a caption stating, towers of welded steel coach at Notre Dame. “Back from the front and full of pep! Two have gone on to appear in That year, David appar- seasons ago Dave made his name on the more than 80 one-man ently resorted to freight grid and he has lived up to it this year.” shows throughout Ameri- train hopping or riding the In Hayes senior year, 1920, the Irish were ca and more than 130 rails to make the long trip undefeated again. The postseason review national and internation- from Connecticut to South summarized Hayes’ career at South Bend: al group exhibitions. His This photograph of David V. Bend, IN. Once there, he “Wandered out to Notre Dame from the work has garnered Hayes Sr. appeared in the 1920 succeeded in finding em- bleak shores of Connecticut … and proceed- awards that include a edition of the Notre Dame Uni- ployment in a bakery, con- ed to set Cartier Field afire with his football Guggenheim Fellowship versity Football Review. vincing Notre Dame admin- feats … The next year found him with some and a Fulbright scholar- istrators to enroll him as a two million others in France … As an end, ship. His sculpture has been the subject of student and earning a spot on the freshman he is a personified reason why Notre Dame several documentaries, including ‘Welded football team. teams are called ‘The Fighting Irish.’ He has Steel Sculptures with David Hayes,’ and a In 1917, David made the Notre Dame done a big part in winning two champion- PBS broadcast, ‘The Sculptures of David varsity as a starting end on a team that ships and in making South Bend and Notre Hayes’ … “ included early grid greats like halfback Dame world famed …” Roots in County Cork George Gipp. That year, the Irish won six of That same year, a group of free-lance, eight games, including another victory, 7-2, semi-pro grid teams, mostly in the Midwest, David Hayes the sculptor was the grand- over Army. They played to a scoreless tie organized the nation’s first professional son of Irish immigrants Martin Hayes and with Wisconsin and suffered only one loss, gridiron league. It was named the American Margaret Fahey Hayes who were married 7-0 to Nebraska. Professional Football Association, but soon about 1876 in County Cork and came to However, the academic and gridiron was renamed the National Football League. America in the early 1880s with three sons. careers of David Hayes Sr. came to a sudden One original franchise, the Green Bay Pack- The 1900 census returns for Manchester, standstill after the 1917 season. The United ers, coached by former Notre Dame star, CT, list Martin as 45 years old and a team- States entered World War I in April that Earl “Curly” Lambeau, was sufficiently im- ster. The three sons born in Ireland were year and Hayes was inducted into the U.S pressed by Hayes to sign him as an end for Daniel, 21, a day laborer; Michael, 19, a Army on March 29, 1918. He was assigned the 1921 season. He was a starter at that motorman; and John, 17, still in school. And, to Company A of the 326th Infantry Regi- position for the first two seasons of the by that time, the Hayes household included ment, 82nd Division. The division arrived in Packers, and also played a few games for six more siblings all born in Connecticut: France in May and began sending detach- the Rock Island, Ill., Independents. Martin Jr., 12; Margaret, 10; Patrick, 8; Da-

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Sculptures by David Hayes are eye-catching whether inside or out. Above, is a roomful of his small works in many different colors and shapes in an exhibit at the Hartford Public Library in 2015; at right, a tall black sculpture in downtown Longview, Texas, in 2006.

David Hayes Sr. eventually returned to Dame University. Years later, another Con- around and think that you will be suddenly Connecticut and in 1928 married Adelaide necticut Notre Dame art student, Richard A. inspired. If you are an artist, you must work Brown, a native of Newark, N.J., and the Byrnes, wrote, “I remember shaking his at it everyday.” daughter of a father born in England and a hand in O’Shaughnessy Hall where the new His daily routine was to transform the mother born in Ireland. When the 1930 Art Department was located. It was imme- original sketches into small cardboard rep- census was taken David and Adelaide were diately obvious he was as seriously a com- licas, then weld them piece-by-piece in living in Manchester with a year-old son, mitted artist as I was.” quarter-inch steel plates. Many were paint- Martin, who apparently was named for his Hayes received his bachelor’s degree ed black, many in a variety of bright colors. grandfather. David’s occupation was pro- from Notre Dame in 1953, and immediately Some were small enough to be attractive on prietor of a coal company. City directories began postgraduate art studies at Indiana a table top, others massive enough to loom during the 1930s list him as president and University, Bloomfield. There he was tu- over an entire landscape. treasurer of the Sullivan Hayes Coal Co. tored by David Smith, a visiting professor In 1957, David Hayes Jr. married his high David V. Hayes Jr. was born in March and a pioneer in welded steel sculpturing. school sweetheart, Julia Moriarty, the 1931, and began his education at Hollister After graduating from Indiana in 1955 with daughter of Matthew and Julia Sheridan Street School in Manchester. There he had a master’s degree in fine arts, Hayes served Moriarty. For more than a half century, the the good fortune to cross paths with Hazel two years in the U.S. Navy. Moriarty family were proprietors of an au- Lutz, a dynamic educator who not only Nationwide acclaim tomobile dealership in Manchester and taught art in all Manchester’s schools, but Matthew was active in civic organizations designed art lessons for the town’s class- In the late 1950s, David’s artistic sculp- like the Chamber of Commerce. room teachers and even wrote the elemen- tures began to win recognition at such var- Julia Moriarty Hayes was a graduate of tary art curriculum for the Connecticut De- ied venues as the Silvermine Guild in New Albertus Magnus College in New Haven. She partment of Education. Canaan, CT, the New Haven Festival of Arts, taught science at Manchester High School, the Boston Arts Festival, and the Museum of Lutz’s students remembered her as an earned an advanced degree in biochemistry Modern Arts in New York City. The very advocate of hands-on techniques to encour- and became chairwoman of the Science nature of his works — composed of steel age them. She traveled widely and collected Department at East Catholic High School in and often in large scale — guaranteed that all kinds of souvenirs which she brought to Manchester. they would be exhibited both in traditional class for students to touch and hold as mod- museums and outdoors. In 1961, David Hayes Jr. received a Ful- els for their artwork. Hayes relied upon nature and common- bright Award and a Guggenheim Fellowship In 1949, his appetite for art having been place things for inspiration. He kept a note- to continue art studies in France. He and whetted by Lutz and having graduated from book in which he sketched whatever caught Julia with their sons David and Brian, pulled Manchester High School, David Hayes Jr. his eye in his everyday travels. “That’s how followed his father’s footsteps to Notre (Please turn to page 4) the work comes out,” he said. “You can’t sit

4 up stakes and lived in Paris for seven years. among five venues picked for a CBS televi- He celebrated his 82nd birthday on March When they returned, their family had sion feature: Top Outdoor Art in Connecti- 15, 2013, with his family at home in Coven- grown to include a daughter, Mary, and cut. “While the works of renowned and try, and on April 5 he attended the opening another son, John. prolific sculptor David Hayes can be found reception of an exhibition at Lutz Children’s Julia had spent the years overseas im- in some of the world’s leading galleries and Museum on South Main Street in Manches- mersing herself and her family in European museums,” the program stated, “the largest ter. It was a special event for him because culture. Upon returning, she taught French single collection of his art is on display out- the museum — a place where children cooking at the University of Connecticut, doors on the grounds ... Most of the sculp- could immerse themselves in hands–on wrote a book titled French Cooking for Peo- tures are tucked away in a fruit orchard, artwork — was a cherished dream of Hazel ple Who Can’t and in later years published a around a pond, and on paths throughout Lutz, the teacher who had encouraged him collection of poems, What to Say of Garlic the property, and their arrangement is itself in his youth to do just that. Fittingly, the Mustard. a work of art.” exhibition at the Manchester museum fea- In his later years, the works of Hayes and tured his works. His son David M. Hayes, David Hayes Sculpture Fields his reputation blossomed in projects and said, “That was an especially nice opening When the family returned to Connecticut, exhibits far and wide: a one-man show at … It was an opportunity for family and David and Julia purchased an early 18th Fordham University Downtown, New York friends to see him and talk to him. It was an century home on a large tract of land in City; an outdoor sculpture at Bradley Inter- absolutely splendid day. The sculptures Coventry. David turned the property into national Airport in Windsor Locks; Exhibi- were twirling in the trees in the breeze.” what today is known as “David Hayes tion Without Walls, 40 sculptures in down- Just four days later, on April 9, David Sculpture Fields.“ The property was de- town Fort Pierce, Fla.; Eight Vertical Motifs Hayes died. His funeral Mass was celebrat- scribed by Richard Byrnes, David’s Notre at the Mobile, Ala., Museum of Art; 12 sculp- ed at St. Thomas Aquinas Church on the Dame comrade, as “the engine room of his tures at Hartwick College in Oneonta, N.Y.; campus of the University of Connecticut creative soul, over 57 acres where David Louisiana State University Museum in Ba- and his remains were buried in St. Mary’s worked his magic, a sculptor up at dawn ton Rouge; Museum of Fine Arts, in Cemetery in Coventry. Just a month later, cutting sheets of raw steel with his torch, Longview, Texas; an honorary doctorate another particularly significant exhibition assembling fluid shapes into signature degree and outdoor exhibit at Albertus opened at the Snite Museum of Art at his works of art. A collection of tall, slender, Magnus College, New Haven; Downtown alma mater. black, geometric free-form clusters are re- Sculpture in Syracuse, N.Y.; Hayes Family It was not the first time Notre Dame had flected in a secluded dark pond. Red, blue Show: Three Generations at White Plains, spotlighted his works. In fact, in 1990 the and yellow interlocking angular and curvi- N.Y., Library; Outdoor Sculpture at the Con- university introduced an exhibit with the linear forms create a border of large and necticut Governor’s Mansion in Hartford. comment: “Ever since the opening of The colorful sculpture around a sunny 10-acre In October 2012, Hayes was diagnosed Snite Museum of Art in 1980, we have been opening in the woods. Walking down the with leukemia. He underwent chemothera- searching for the sculpture for one of the rugged path, you can catch a glimpse of py and was hospitalized several times, but most visible spots on campus, the front black steel clouds, defying gravity and dan- continued to be involved as much as he was lawn of the museum. It would be the hall- gling from sturdy branches.“ able in keeping with his own rule that an mark of the fine arts experience awaiting The Coventry Sculpture Fields were artist must work at it everyday. the museum visitor and would be done by

Sculptures by David Hayes decorate public places from coast to coast in the United States. At left, is a large circu- lar Hayes sculpture on the grounds of the Burt Reynolds and Friends Museum in Jupi- ter, Fla. At right, a similarly creative Hayes work stands on the lawn of the governor’s mansion in Hartford.

(The Hartford photograph is by Ryan Caron King, WNPR.)

5 an outstanding artist. Museum staff and the Campus Sculpture Committee discussed several candidates … One sculptor’s name came up repeatedly, that of David Hayes … When we began viewing David’s work for this second exhibition, we asked him to create maquettes, small-scale studies, for a large outdoor piece to be permanently in- stalled on campus …” The Hayes sculpture that was eventually selected stands in front of the Snite Muse- um. A photograph of it, shown at right, ap- peared on the cover of the booklet pub- lished for the exhibit. David named the 27- foot-tall sculpture the Griffon: Head of a Lion and Wings of an Eagle because it re- minded him of the mythological creature. According to son David, that fit well with his father’s philosophy. “He was committed to creating pieces that could live outside the static environment of a formal art institu- tion,” says his son. “It’s hard to get people to walk into a gallery or museum, but if you put it into a public setting where anybody can just walk around and like it or not like it, my father enjoyed that. That was an in- tellectually satisfying process for him.”

Sources: Peggy Ussery, “Steel Sculptures Become Public Art,” Dothan, Ala., Eagle, Oct 17, 2013. “Art Around Dothan, Sculpture by David Hayes,” book- let produced with Dothan, Ala., exhibit in 2013. Carolee Ross, “Sprouting Steel, Sculpture Walk features work by David Hayes,” Stamford Daily Advocate, May 3, 1991. Frank Graham, “A Guy as Game as That!” Boys Life magazine, November 1938. Www.sports-reference.com/cfb/schools/ notre-dame. Www.davidhayes.com. Www.pro- football-reference.com/players/H/Hayea20.htm. Dan Uhlinger, “David Hayes,” Hartford Courant, A modest rough-hewn burial July 27, 1999. Sherry Koonce, “Local Sculpture stone marks the graves of Garden Blooms,” Longview, Texas, News-Journal, David and Julia Hayes in St. Oct. 4, 2006. Hartford Public Library, Mary’s Cemetery in Coventry. www.hplct.org., “Large and Small, The Sculpture On the stone is a small metal of David Hayes,” June-August, 2015. sculpture typical of the hun- Www.sniteartmuseum.nd.edu/exhibitions, 2013. dreds of acclaimed works that Hartford Courant, April 11, 2013, “Coventry Sculp- tor David Hayes Dies.” Carol Schaal, “The Modern- were designed and created by ist Davis Hayes,” and Richard A. Byrnes, “The Art David Hayes. of Friendship: David V. Hayes,” both articles in Notre Dame Magazine, Autumn 2013. Julia Hayes obituary, May 28, 2016, Legacy.com. Www.ancestry.com, Hayes family entries, 1900, 1930 U.S. census; Manchester, CT., and directories in 1930s; David Hayes, World War I draft registra- tion card.

6 Son’s sacrifice in Civil War provided pension for widowed mother

By Paul R. Keroack with the military wages he sent home. Old- duty but often volunteering to perform er brother John was struggling to support extra duty for others.” n 1860, Michael and Thomas Carver, his wife and children on the wages of a brothers in their late teens, lived with On Aug. 7, 1863, Pvt. Thomas Carver was I “helper.” Thomas apparently had his own their widowed mother and two older sis- captured with others near Waterford, Va. lodgings. In a Dec. 28, 1861, letter home ters in Greeneville, a heavily Irish-American and interned in Virginia’s Belle Isle prison from Camp Tyler, Va., Michael asked his mill village in Norwich. Michael, 17, was a camp and later in Andersonville, Ga., where mother to “give my love to John and family marble cutter, a skill he may have learned at least one other member of his company and to Wm. Cunningham and family, to in Vermont where Thomas, 16, was born. taken that day died. The worst had hap- Bridget and Eliza and Thomas.” Thomas was an “operator,” a mill worker. pened for Honora. The son she depended “Operator” was a step above “laborer,” the The cavalry unit was first deployed in on for support was dead and soon after, her typical job classification of Irish immigrants Western Virginia pursuing guerillas from other soldier son was a prisoner. in that era. Wheeling though the Potomac Valley. After In April 1862, Congress had begun a pro- some battles in northern Virginia, it was Their father William died in 1850, place cess of accepting pension applications from stationed in Baltimore while being refitted unrecorded. He and his widow Honora disabled soldiers and dependent survivors. (Casey) Carver were born in Ireland, she in Glanworth, probably the village near the northern Cork-southern Limerick border where the Carver name is primarily found. Their daughter Mary, who died in Norwich in 1858, had been born in nearby Ardpat- rick, County Limerick. Their youngest child, and perhaps others, was born in Vermont, but it is not known when the family relocat- ed to Connecticut. As with many Irish immigrants, extended families lived close by. The 1860 census of Norwich lists a John Carver, a mechanic, and his wife, Mary Casey, young parents with one child. In the same dwelling was John B. Carver, 30, a laborer, his wife Mar- garet, and four children. The two Johns were likely cousins. The latter was probably the older son of William and Honora. A and augmented. On Aug. 15, 1862, Thomas If there was no wife or children, widowed Richard Carver, perhaps not as close a Carver joined his brother in Company A as mothers of the deceased were eligible. Due cousin, came to Norwich about 1850. the regiment was again assigned to north- to the number of documents and amount of In autumn 1861, Michael joined a cavalry ern Virginia. Michael was promoted to cor- evidence required, the process was not battalion formed in West Meriden, but in- poral on Oct. 1 that year. speedy. The Carver file alone includes 34 cluding recruits from throughout the state. On Jan. 3, 1863, as later reported by Capt. images. Members were more educated than the Joab B. Rogers of Norwich, Cpl. Michael Honora Carver’s formal declaration was norm though few were trained as horse- Carver, only 19 years old, led a four-man made at the Superior Court in Norwich on men. Michael’s occupation given on his squad operating between the lines of the July 21, 1864. In her application, Honora, enlistment papers was teamster. On Oct. 26, opposing armies near Stafford Court House, age 59, stated that Michael had been her he was mustered as a private in Company A. Va. On a patrol, he entered the house of J. primary support, that she had been married Later expanded to a regiment, the First Herndon, a parolee, where rebel soldiers to the late William Carver since 1826, that Connecticut Cavalry was the state’s only were rumored to be concealed. While as- after his April 14, 1850, death she had nev- mounted unit in the Civil War. cending the stairs, he was shot in the head er remarried, and that another son, Thom- As with many unmarried recruits, Michael and killed instantly. The remaining squad as, was then a prisoner of war. directed that $7 a month of his pay be sent members went for reinforcements, not Witnesses Joseph Connor and Isaac John- to his mother, presumably to compensate knowing how many rebels were inside. In son, both grocers, attested that Honora had for the loss of his civilian income, which had retaliation, Gen. Burnside ordered the prop- been dependent upon Michael for her sup- been the primary support of the family. His erty burned and its owner arrested. In his port. Before enlistment, Michael had con- mother and sister Eliza had given up their later report, Capt. Erastus Blakeslee said, tributed his entire pay to the household and residence to save money when Michael “Carver was a brave, good soldier; always since entering the army had sent sums of joined the army. They boarded elsewhere cheerful and full of spirit; never shirking money to support his mother and sister.

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In one penciled letter in February quainted with Mrs. Carver and with her 1862, submitted as evidence, Michael son Michael,” and that they were not Clare man was a legend told his brother (John) that he had en- interested in her claim for a pension, by closed “$20 for mother.” Apparently his which they meant they had no financial on the Connecticut River request for automatic assignment of his claim on it.. $7 monthly pay to be sent home was not On Jan. 16, 1866, Honora was award- n the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a always honored, despite the form he ed a pension of $8 monthly — a cor- I native of Ireland was known simply as had signed at enlistment. poral’s pay — retroactive to his death in “Tom the ferryman” by folks all along the Con- Testimony on Aug. 3, 1865, from Wil- 1863. By 1868, Thomas was listed as a necticut River in Middlesex County. liam Cunningham and Thomas Bourke machinist, living at 9 Cliff St. No longer Thomas Donnellan was his full name and he stated they knew Honora Carver, a listed in the city directory, Honora may was an important figure in daily life in Middle “poor woman in feeble health and una- have been living with Thomas. Haddam, a small but significant shipbuilding ble to support herself.” Cunningham, an Honora died on Aug. 8, 1871, at the and industrial village on the eastern shore of express man, was both a neighbor and age of 67 – of “old age.” The following New England’s longest river. For some 40 son-in-law, married to Honora’s oldest day in Probate Court a bond was issued years, Donnellan provided an essential trans- daughter Hannah. for Thomas Carver and Joseph Connor portation service: he ferried people back and All four witnesses to these several to administer her estate. It would seem forth across the quarter mile of water that documents knew each other. Bourke from this that she probably had been separated Middle Haddam and Middletown. was a clerk for, and boarded at John- able to save some of the pension money. It was perhaps inevitable that Donnellan son’s home. Connor’s business was lo- On July 23, 1872, Thomas Francis would end up making a living doing river work cated near Johnson’s on Water Street. Carver, age 29, married Elizabeth Rose in a river town. He was born in 1838 and grew Cunningham delivered goods, perhaps Carroll in Worcester, Mass., where he up in the County Clare town of Sixmilebridge to or from these wholesale grocers. worked as a machinist. They had several on the Gearna River. Just five miles south of In Oct. 31, 1865, Honora provided a children, including sons William and that village, the Gearna empties into the personal summation of her situation. Thomas. In 1888, Thomas filed for a mighty and majestic Shannon River near the Since Michael’s death, she had survived Civil War invalid pension, as did many port of Limerick. on charity and what little she was able others in later years when infirmities Donnellan came to the United States in 1856 to earn. Her older son was a laboring began to restrict their working abilities. at the age of 18. He found work as a longshore- man with a large family to support. Al- He died in Worcester on April 8, 1907, man in New York, probably because he had though Thomas survived the war, “he age 59, according to the records, but some experience on the docks of Limerick. He will never be as strong and vigorous as probably several years older, as he was introduced to the Connecticut River when before he was a prisoner,” due to his would likely not have entered the Army working for three years as a deck hand on the “over 15 months at Belle Isle, Anderson- in 1862 at 14 years of age. steamboats Granite State and City of Hartford, ville and other rebel prisons,” and was Michael Carver’s cousins John and which plied Long Island Sound linking New living on the remainder of his back pay. Mary (Casey) Carver, mentioned above, York City with the Connecticut shoreline. At the end of this professionally hand- were among those Norwich Irish fami- In 1864, Donnellan was married. His wife written narrative was Honora’s small lies who settled in Dawson, Neb., after Mary was also born in Ireland and came to shaky signature. Johnson and Connor the Civil War. America in 1857. The Donnellans had six chil- stated below that they were “well ac- dren: Charles, William, Thomas, Mary E., Mi- chael and Kate. Donnellan saw an opportunity to begin a Sources: Caulkins, Frances Manwaring, History of Norwich, Connecticut … to1866, 1874, p. 682. Connecti- cut Military Department. Units: History of the First Regiment Connecticut Volunteer Cavalry http:// ferrying business when in 1871 the Connecti- www.ct.gov/mil/cwp/view.asp?a=1351&q=271852. cut Valley Railroad began its passenger service Connecticut Probate records, 1871, 9 Aug., #2227. Genealogical and Biographical Record of New London from Hartford to Old Saybrook along the west- County, 1905, p. 956 [William R. Carver] https://archive.org/details/genealogicalbiog1905chic ern side of the Connecticut River. Advertise- Keroack, Paul R., “Irish Emigrant Headstone Inscriptions from St. Mary Cemetery, Norwich, Connecticut,” in The Connecticut Nutmegger, v. 32, no. 1-2, June-September 1999. Norwich vital records, FHL 1311437, ments for the railroad emphasized that ar- Deaths, v.13, p. 153, 369. Massachusetts Marriages, 1841-1915, Ancestry.com. Massachusetts Deaths, 1841- rangements could be made for ferry service to 1915. Ancestry.com [Thomas F. Carver, born Arlington VT]. Norwalk City Directories, 1861-1871. Norwich vital records, FHL 1311436, Marriages, v. 9, p. 83. Norwich vital records, FHL 1311437, Deaths, v.13, p. 153. a number of east shore towns including Middle Norwich vital records, FHL 1311437, Deaths, v. 13, p. 369. Norwich vital records, FHL 1311438, Deaths, v. Haddam. 16, p. 288. Prechtel-Kluskens, Claire, “Anatomy of a Union Civil War Pension File,” NGS Newsmagazine, July- Sept., v. 34, No. 3, 2008, p. 42-47 https://www.archives.gov/files/calendar/genealogy-fair/2010/handouts/ In 1901, after 30 years in the business, Don- anatomy-pension-file.pdf. nellan decided to modernize his operation. Record of Service of Connecticut Men in the Army and Navy of the United States in the War of the Rebel- lion, Hartford: 1889, p. 63-64.. Riding for Uncle Samuel: The Civil War History of the First Connecticut Cavalry The Hartford Courant sent a reporter who Volunteers, by Robert B. Angelovich, 2014, [quote from Capt. Blakeslee, p. 191]. U.S. Census, 1860, M653, found Donnellan “at his cozy little home in Connecticut, Norwich, p. 322, 333. U.S. Census, 1900, T623, Massachusetts, Worcester. U.S. Civil War Draft Registration Records, 1863-1865. Connecticut, 3rd. Congressional District, v. 1, p. 192. Ancestry.com.. U.S. Middle Haddam just up from the river.” The Civil War Pension Index. General Index to Pension Files, 1861-1934. Thomas Carver, application No. reporter’s brief, but well-written biography 679445, 22 Nov. 1888. Ancestry.com. U.S. Civil War Widows and Other Dependents Pension Files. RG 15, WC 63091. www.fold3.com.“Norwich Families went West,” Shanachie, Vol. XI, March-April, 1999. Please turn to page 8

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… A three-horsepower gasoline engine with resume the ferry between Middle Haddam Tom the Ferryman single propeller will furnish motive power and Maromas on March 4 … (He) is well (Continued from page 7) for the craft, which will develop at least 12 known to all the river men and many others knots an hour.” as Capt. Tom.” The 1910 census returns for portrayed an Irish emigrant who had creat- The vessel, which cost Donnellan $325, Chatham list the Donnellan household as ed an entrepreneurial niche for himself in was launched on Saturday morning, March including: Thomas, 71, occupation ferry- the Land of Steady Habits. It appeared in 23, 1901. man; wife Mary, age 67; their son William, the March 19, issue of the Courant. Donnellan told the reporter, “Business 44, occupation farmer; and their daughter, The reporter wrote, “After so many years now days isn’t what it was … but still I pick Catherine, 23. of ferrying … he will discard his faithful old up a fair living.” The ferryman also remi- Several family trees on ancestry.com state rowboat and to keep march with the line of nisced about his years on the river. “Never that Tom died in September 1917. His wife progress, use an up-to-date gasoline launch, in all this time did I ever have a serious Mary and son William are listed on the built after his own ideas and now fast near- accident, and never even wet a passenger 1920 census returns living on the farm in ing completion at the shop of Adrian Bou- and I’ve carried some stylish ones, you bet.” East Hampton. dreau of Middletown. The launch is 21 feet Donnellan continued to operate the ferry Sources: Hartford Daily Courant, Nov. 1, long with five and one half feet beam and until at least 1909 when the Courant re- 1900, March 19, 1901, and March 3, 1909. can accommodate a dozen or so passengers ported “Capt. Thomas Donnellan … will www.ancestry.com.

The Shanachie

Published quarterly by the President George Waldron Connecticut Irish-American “We have kept faith Vice President Vincent McMahon Historical Society with the past; P.O. Box 185833 Secretary Patricia Heslin

Hamden, CT 06518 Treasurer Mary McMahon we have handed (203) 392-6126 Membership Chairperson Joan Murphy a tradition www.ctiahs.com Shanachie Editor Neil Hogan to the future.” [email protected] Webmaster Finbarr Moynihan https://www.facebook.com/ ctirishamericanhistoricalsociety In Ireland, a Shanachie is a folklorist, historian and keeper of the traditions of the people. Padraic Pearse

Connecticut Irish-American Historical Society P.O. Box 185833 Hamden, CT 06518