Michael J. Hanrahan (1888-1968)
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Michael J. Hanrahan (1888-1968): Struggled Along
Last week we highlighted the article written by Peter Roughan for the Kilkenny People concerning his interview of Michael J. Hanrahan. Today, we will focus on Mick’s early years as he disclosed to Peter Roughan in the 26 September 1959 article in the Kilkenny People. The interview is in italics. We conclude with some information we were able to find about Mick and his brother John’s time in the U.S.
Mick’s Early Life
Roughan quoted Mick, “Well, I suppose I’ll have to start now with the day I was born, although ’tis very little I can remember about that, but, dad — God be good to him — came from Powerswood, over near Thomastown. I was called after him; and God rest my mother, she was Hanora Mullins — they always called her Onie Mullins — from Gaulstown, here in Glenmore; and I was born on December 8, 1888, the very same year that Kilmacow footballers beat Wexford county team. I often heard them all talking about that match when I was a lad. We were living then in No. 2 Barronstrand Street, Waterford, and the place is a big shoe shop now.
A review of the Glenmore Parish records reveals that Michael Hanrahan (farmer) of Powerswood, Thomastown married Hanoria Mullins, of Gaulstown, Glenmore, on 23 July 1885. Michael was the son of Patrick Hanrahan (farmer) and Hanoria was the daughter of Nicholas Mullins (farmer). Hanoria Mullins was baptized in Glenmore on 16 Dec. 1854 the daughter of Nicholas Mullins (farmer) of Gaulestown, Glenmore and Mary Mullins née Mackey. In the Thomastown records a record was found where a Michael Hanrahan was baptized in 1848 in Powerswood, the son of Patrick Hanrahan and Ellen Hanrahan née Cassian.
Orphaned
Returning to Mick Hanrahan in his 1959 interview he recalled, “I was one of six lads, Pat — God rest him — died here in Glenmore about two years ago; Dick has a drapery business beyond in Ross, and Jim has a grocery and bar right opposite Dick’s place; poor Nick – Lord have mercy on him — died over in Gaulstown during the 1918 flu; and John is out in New York. We were all very young when we lost our parents, but thank God we struggled along nicely.”
The death register reveals that Michael Hanrahan, shopkeeper, died in Waterford on 3 October 1898, at the age of 45. His widow, Honora Hanrahan née Mullins died in Glenmore on 5 April 1902 at the age of 42. Her cousin John Hanrahan was present at her death. Per statements made to Danny Dowling by various Powerstown, Hanrahans, Michael Hanrahan was buried in Inistioge. Honora was buried in Glenmore.
The following children were born to the couple. Only Patrick the eldest was born in Gaulestown, Glenmore. All the other children were born on Barron-Strand St. in Waterford City.
(1) Patrick Hanrahan (26 June 1886-9 Sept. 1957) (2) Nicholas Hanrahan (8 Dec. 1887-14 Nov. 1918) (3) Michael Hanrahan (8 Dec. 1888- 1 June 1968) (4) Ellen Hanrahan (bapt. 16 Feb. 1890-died young) (5) James Hanrahan (5 May 1891-14 Sept. 1977) (6) Richard Hanrahan (3 Sept. 1892- ?) (7) John Hanrahan (3 Feb . 1894-15 Aug. 1980)
In the 1901 Census, three of the orphaned Hanrahan brothers, Nicholas (age 13), Mick (age 12) and John (age 7) were residing in Gaulestown, Glenmore on the Mullins farm with their maternal uncle Richard Mullins (age 39) and their two maternal aunts Kate (age 29) and Bridget Mullins (age 33). The other three orphaned Hanrahan brothers were living in Glenmore Village with John Hanrahan (age 55) who was listed as a farmer and cooper. Pat (age 14), James (age 9) and Richard (age 8) are listed as nephews although John Hanrahan is listed as their mother’s cousin on the death register. Also residing in the home of John Hanrahan in 1901 was his wife Ellen (age 60) and their 25 year old son James (farmer).
In the 1911 Census, John and Ellen Hanrahan are both aged 69. John is still working as a cooper. Two of their nephews are residing with them. Patrick is 24 and also working as a cooper. James is 19 and is employed as a shop assistant. On the Mullins farm in Gaulestown, Richard Mullin’s age is recorded as 62. Nicholas Hanrahan is 23 and Michael Hanrahan is 22. Richard Hanrahan is not recorded in either home and as discussed below John Hanrahan emigrated to the US in 1909.
School Days
Mick in speaking of his school days stated, “I first went to the Brothers’ school in Mount Sion [Waterford], where I can always remember a grand man there, Bro. Hamilton. who used to try to teach us to sing, he was a great singer himself, but he had a hard ]ob with some of us!
In my class at that time we had lads whose names I can remember very well, Nicky Gaule, Nicky Bowe, a chap of the Kervicks, and a lad named Colfer. I finished my schooling beyond in Ringville school under a man named Dick Grace, a great teacher Dick was.”
Farming
“I left school when I was confirmed, I was just turned eleven then, and took to the farm, and I was following a pair of horses long before I was fourteen. That was nothing in those days, lads were better able to manage a pair of horses then than driving a motor now. Sure farming today is a holiday compared to my time. I can remember the old harvest day. Begor we were going here and there after the threshing engine from one haggard to another giving a hand everyone used to help each other then. Now, the whole job is done in the field in less than a day with all the machinery they have in the country. In a way, ’tis a blessing, for farming in my young days was next door to slaving.”
Emigration
Naturalization Records filed by Mick on the 18th of August 1913 reveals that he left Queenstown on the SS Philadelphia and arrived at the port of New York on the 24th of January 1912. The physical description of Mick is provided in the application. Mick recorded that he was 5’9”, 155 lbs., with brown hair, blue eyes, ruddy complexion, with a scar in the middle of his forehead. Mick recorded that he was born in Waterford on the 8th day of December 1888 and in 1913 was employed as a porter and residing at 524 First Avenue, New York City. The entry records from 1912 reveal that Michael gave his contact person in Ireland as his uncle Kieran Mullins of 25 St. Alphonsus Road, Waterford. He also stated that he was going to his brother John Hanrahan of 220 Harrison Street, Brooklyn, New York.
The 1930 Federal Census reveals that Mick had married and was residing at 2340 102nd St., Queens, New York. Mick was 41 years of age, recorded that he immigrated in 1912, was married to Anna, aged 35. The couple were parents to Richard, aged 8; Michael aged 4 and Laurence not yet a year. Mick reported that he was employed as a chauffeur for a builder. In the first half of the twentieth century people who drove professionally in most US states were required to obtain “chauffeur” licenses. Thus, truck drivers, bus drivers etc. were the holders of chauffeur licenses. During the World War II draft registration in 1942 Mick recorded his employer as Huron Stevedore Co., of Pier 57, New York City.
The following small death notice was located in the Daily News (New York, New York) of 3 June 1968 for Michael J. Hanrahan:
“Hanrahan—Michael J. On June 1st–Native of Glen More (sic), Co. Kilkenny, Ireland. Member of the Gaelic Athletic Association. Husband of the late Anna. Father of Richard, Michael and Laurence. Brother of John of Hampton Bays, and Richard and James of New Ross, Co. Wexford, Ireland. Survived by 7 grandchildren. Reposing at William E. Law Funeral Home, 1 Jerusalem Ave., Massapequa. Requiem Mass, Our Lady of Lourdes R.C. Church, Massapequa Park, Wednesday, 9:45 A.M. Interment, St. Charles Cemetery.”
In researching Mick it came as a surprise to find that his youngest brother, John, emigrated to the US in November 1909 at the age of 15, three years before Mick emigrated. In most cases older siblings went to the US and later younger siblings joined them. However, in this instance John sailed on the SS Teutonic from Queenstown to New York. He listed his last address in Ireland was with his Uncle Richard Mullins, of Gaulestown, Glenmore and his final destination was to his uncle John Mullins, 283 Clinton St., Brooklyn, New York. John registered for the WW1 draft, listed his age as 23 with an address of 220 Harrison St. of Brooklyn. He was employed as a clerk. By 1930 he was married to Marion F., had a daughter also named Marion and was employed as a salesman (clothing). The 1942 WWII draft registration provided his physical description as 5’7” tall, with blond hair, gray eyes and was employed at Roger’s Peet Co. at 479 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The Social Security Index revealed that John died in August 1980.
Although Mick and his siblings were orphaned when they were young with the help of their extended family as Mick said himself “they struggled along nicely.” Three of the brothers became businessmen and raised families. Two emigrated to the US where they played Gaelic sports, worked and raised families, and one brother remained single and died tragically in the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic. The obituary of James Hanrahan is on the obituary page, accessed from the homepage by clicking on the Roots button and the death notice for Patrick Hanrahan is on the H family page.
The featured map is of New York City printed in the Commercial and Financial Chronical 1909 (c) University of Toronto.
Dr. Kathleen Moore Walsh
Michael J. Hanrahan (1888-1968): Early Twentieth Century Gaelic Football on Both Sides of the Atlantic
Peter Roughan wrote articles for the Kilkenny People where older people “looked back” over their lives. On the 26th September 1959 a Roughan article was published entitled “Glenmore Man Looks Back,” featuring Michael J. Hanrahan who had returned from New York to Glenmore for a visit. Due to the length of the original newspaper article excerpts more germane to Glenmore and Kilkenny are below. A separate blog article will cover Michael J. Hanrahan’s early life. The words recorded in the original newspaper article have been utilized as much as possible.
The author stated that he “knocked” into Mick Hanrahan a few evenings ago, after “young Betty McKenna down at the Post Office” told him that Mick was home from America. Interestingly Betty herself was born in New York the daughter of a Glenmore emigrant Elizabeth McKenna née Fluskey (1897-1985). (See, https://glenmore-history.com/glenmore-businessman-robert-fluskey-1843-1925-and-the-sisters-of-charity-of-the-incarnate-word/ .) Roughan commented that, “… what stands out in my mind most of all about Mick Hanrahan is his rich brogue after his 47 years in New York…I can say this much . . . his heart never left [Ireland] anyway, and I don’t suppose it ever will.”
Gaelic Football
“Now” says he to me, “I could keep you up all night talking about football, for in my young days ’twas all football down around here, there was little or no hurling at all except over Mooncoin way, but we had the very best of men here in Glenmore, Tullogher, Mullinavat and Kilmacow. And when a match was played on a Sunday, sure, we played it all over again around the fireside for the other six nights of the week.
I was only thinking the other day when I was coming back down from Croke Park about the big change there is in the country. Years ago we used to travel to matches in waggonettes, and we’d have a singsong coming home, and then we’d give the whole week talking about the game, there’d be footballs flying all over the kitchen every night until we went to bed, and the same way when we used to sit around at the crossroads; but now, the lads go to matches in motor cars, four or five of them in a car, and you’d hardly know that you were at a match at all when you’d be coming back home, you’d never hear “inquests” like we used to have years ago.
In those days if we lost a match and knew that, say, the full-back on the other team was the nail in our coffin, well, the next time we played that crowd, we’d make sure that our best man was playing on that full-back, and it didn’t matter whether our best man was a forward or a centrefield man or what he was, if we thought he could hold that fellow, well, he was told that he was to play on him, and that’s all there was to it.
Good Heavens, we used to think It a great thing to be picked to mark the best man on the other team, and I can tell you ’twas God help the man that was picked if he let the other fellow skittle him about the field. He’d never hear the end of it after coming home that night. Begor, the girls mightn’t even dance with you at that! Oh, bedad, we took our footballing very seriously then.”
When asked about his brothers on the field, Mick remarked, “I think … my brother Jim was the toughest sample I ever saw on a field. He was known to be the smallest and wiriest lad in the country, he was a little devil when he got going. He played on the old senior team in Glenmore and turned out in hurling and football with Kilkenny. From 1913 to 1922 he hurled with Mullinavat. I’d say that Jim was the best of the Hanrahan’s, but according to himself he wasn’t worth a hat of crabs. Now Dick was a good lad as well, he hurled with Wexford and partnered Gus Kennedy; and sure Gus was a topper. Dick put out his knee when kicking in a senior match against Wexford in 1913. That finished his footballing days. They didn’t treat cartilage trouble in those days like they do today. The knee trouble finished many a good man then, the very best of men. Sure a vamp in the shin was nothing, you soon got over that, but when the knee went, ’twas all up with you. A fellow got over a broken leg, but the knee was a terror. That last match of Dick’s got him a Leinster medal, but he couldn’t turn out for the All-Ireland that year. Now, Pat — God be good to him — was a tidy lad on the field, he hurled and kicked with Glenmore, and Nick — God be good to him too — he was crocked like Dick with knee trouble when he kicked with Glenmore and that finished his footballing days.… John went to America and he kicked with the New York team in 1917 but out there, you can’t get as much practice as you can here, still, you’d have to be a good man to get picked to play for the city team.”
When asked about the best match he ever witnessed Mick stated, “I’ll never forget the match … that was played in James’s Park in 1908, and ’twas one of the best football matches I ever remember. We beat Kells, but I forget the score. Bedad, Kells had a powerful set of men on the field, …the man whom I’ll never forget that day was young Dan Stapleton — Dottie as we called him — he came from Callan. Now Stapleton was like a hare on the field, and a dandy to take a drop kick, and you’d be talking about style, well I can tell you there wasn’t a footballer in the county or country to come up to him, and I doubt if ever we’ll see a tastier footballer again. You should see the way that he went in to meet a drop kick.
… We had a great set of men out, John Grace of Kilbride was our captain, then we had the three Walsh’s of Rochestown —Jack, Mick and Tom; Nick Curran, the teacher in Glenmore at the time; Jack Heffernan; Bill Grace; Mick Hoynes; and Dick and Pat Reddy. My brother, Pat, was a sub that day, and John Dunphy of Ballyverneen was in the goal. John has a son —Sean — who is now secretary of the club here. ‘Tis so long now, and I’ve knocked about such a lot since then, that I forget the names of all the lads who turned out against Kells that day, but we won a hard match against ’em, and I can tell you that it had to be a real good team that could hold out against Dinny Gorey’s lads in those days…” In terms of the best all round footballer, Mick replied, “Now that’s a stickler, but I would say that Ballyhale produced the best all-round man I ever saw on a field, and that was Davy Hoyne. We had him on the Glenmore team that played against Wexford over here in Bawnjames one Sunday, and Davy kicked the best match any one ever saw.”
New York Gaelic Football
Mick said that he went to the United States on 19 January 1912 when he was 24 years of age. He made contact with the GAA soon after landing in New York and played with the Kilkenny team there until 1932. He captained the team one year. Mick refereed “most of the big matches out there, international and home ones, and gave fifteen years as referee in League games.”
Turning to Kilkenny men who played in New York, Mick “spoke of one chap — Big Tom Phelan of Cotterstown — a man of 17 stone, who captained the New York team at one time, Jimmie Duggan at Mullinahone, over near Glenmore, who played with the Tipperary team out there, and an American-born man named Barney Cassidy, who kicked with the Kilkenny team, Barney afterwards came to Ireland and lived down in Limerick. He recalled a Mattie Butler from Kilkeasy, he played with the Kilkenny lads in New York, and two chaps who emigrated from Knocktopher, Dick Dalton and Jimmie Cody. Another great lad was Paddy Phelan of Harristown. But, says he to me, “the greatest character of all is Jim Dwyer — he must be well over 90 now — he came out from the Slatequarries and a darling of a footballer, and played with the Old Quarry Miners here in his young days. Then we had Tom and Jimmie Daly from Cotterstown, and Bob and Jack from Lamogue…”
Mick said, “I was given the honour and privilege to pick and manage the first team that beat the first football team to come out from Kerry, we beat the Kerry lads three times, and then my team beat the pick of New York. In fact, one sportswriter out there blazoned his paper with the big head-lines that he heard of one crazy Kilkenny man who offered to put up a team to beat Kerry and I was laughed at by some of the big noises out there in the G.A.A. at the time… I knew that I had the men to pick on, all great men, and I never had a doubt but that they would beat the best that could be put up against them, and the most of my lads came from my own county, sure, Kilkenny produced some of the greatest men that ever kicked a ball.”
Without a date we were unable to find a newspaper account where Mick’s New York Team beat the Kerry lads in three matches, but we did come across an article in the Boston Globe of the 4th of June 1927 (p. 5) where it was announced that the Governor of Massachusetts was to toss up the ball to start the Gaelic football game between the Kerry, all Ireland champions, and the pick of the players in Massachusetts Gaelic Association. The article explained that although the Kerry “visitors were thought to be invincible,” they were just coming from a loss in New York. The Billings Gazette (Montana) of 31 May 1927 attempted to explain to readers why the New York Gaelic Football team beat the Irish football champions at an Irish game. It was explained that the New York players were natives of Ireland, and that an expert had informed the puzzled press that witnessed the game that the New York players “were slightly more accurate in kicking and had the edge in aggressiveness.”
Special thanks to Kelvin Johnson Treacy for sending on the Roughan newspaper article.
The feature photo is the Kerry All Ireland Football Champions of 1927. The photo was published in the Boston Globe (4 June 1927, p. 5). The players were identified as follows: Front Row, Left to Right—J. Sullivan, T. Mahoney, R. Stack, J. Slattery, Jim Bailey, Second Row—J. O’Sullivan, J. Ryan, Stan Kirvin, John Bailey, John Riordan, Con Brosman. Back Row—Jack Walsh, M. Coffey, J. Ryan, John Joe Sheehy (Captain), P. O. Sullivan, P. Clifford, M. Coffey, Dick Fitzgerald, J.J. Hanley.
The photo from the Daily News, (N.Y. 31 May 1926, p. 26) depicts Wm. Landers who took a nose dive when P. Brady (with ball) gave him the hip in front of Kilkenny NY goal.
Dr. Kathleen Moore Walsh