As I sat down to write this story, it seemed fitting to tune in to one of the Irish music channels on my satellite-radio app. The first song? Molly Malone. That was one of Dad‘s favorites. When I’d gingerly play it on the piano as a kid, he’d burst in from wherever he was in the house or yard, singing: In Dublin’s fair city …

Pardon me while I wipe my eyes.

What have we here?

Another letter to Grandma Cassidy from her Irish cousin, Willie!

This one is dated December 12, 1967.

I’ve learned from my third-cousin-in-Ireland Adrian that they called him Granda Willie, which I find utterly charming. Adrian and his family live near the homestead that Gram (great-grandma Maggie) left in 1888, never to return. For the rest of her days, Gram lived in New Haven, Connecticut.

Her brother Denis’s son, the aforementioned Granda Willie, exchanged Air Mail letters with Grandma Cassidy here in the States:

My Dear Mrs. Cassidy,

As Christmas draws near, I wish you all a very holy and happy one.

Well Celia, you asked in your last letter, Was I ever in the U.S. The answer is yes, from 1928 to 1934, just the bad times. However, I never knew much of them, as I always had good health and work. I was employed with the Hartford-New Haven Steamship Co. To speak the truth I was to go to Providence R.I. as I had some friends there anyhow I never got that length.

We have a fall of snow with us at present. Not so pleasant around, but we must expect that.

I am quite shure Bill & Grace are settled down again after their trip to Ireland. Yes, they are two very nice people. You must remember them of me. Not forgetting Tom. Tell them all I send them my best regards.

Thanks for inviting us for a holiday to New H. I doubt very much, Celia, my rambling days are over. Some of the younger ones might. Too bad I didn’t know about your Mother R.I.P. when I was out there. I will Finish. Wishing you one and all God’s Blessing.

From Willie Kelly

Granda Willie’s mention of Bill and Grace referenced Grandma’s next-to-youngest brother and his wife.

Here’s a photo of Grandma and her brother Bill, circa 1914:

Grandma would think quite highly of my third cousin Adrian, as he emailed me photos of the church where her grandparents – Willie and Matty Kelly – were most probably married in 1852.

The old St. Mary’s Church was in Moneyglass (from the Irish Muine Glas, meaning “Green Thicket”), a hamlet with 107 residents, according to the 2021 census.

The new church, now a century old, is called the Church of Our Lady of Lourdes.

Here’s a lovely drone’s view of the church and its neighborhood:

Not sure if Grandma saved any more of Granda Willie’s letters. If any more surface in Mom’s archives, I’ll be sure to share them.

For now, though, I’m going to look around for that old folk song book …

In Dublin’s fair city
Where girls are so pretty
It was there that I first met sweet Molly Malone
She wheeled her wheelbarrow
Through the streets broad and narrow
Crying “cockles and mussels, alive, alive, oh”

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