Synopsis:
From humble immigrant beginnings in early 19th century Pittsburgh, Bernard (Barney) McKenna and Charles F. McKenna made civic service their chosen path to position and influence. Buy Book Here.
One became a beloved mayor and
political reformer. The other was a Civil War soldier and distinguished
attorney and jurist.But it was their widowed mother Annie who enabled
their rise in the face of tragedy and struggle.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
David M. Quinn was born in Oak Ridge, Tennessee in
1945 and grew up in the Washington, D.C. area. He studied political
science at Wheeling Jesuit University (B.A.) and Fordham University
(M.A.). In 1999, after thirty years in the telecommunications industry,
David made the decision to leave the corporate world. Following his
passion for genealogy led him to uncover remarkable stories within his
family history. First was that of his great, great uncle Michael Quinn,
as told in the historical novel, It May Be Forever: An Irish Rebel on the American Frontier.
Later, drawing upon his maternal ancestry, David
gave us the remarkable story of Captain George W. Dow, who is the
narrator of the true story, Leviathan's Master - The Wreck of The World's Largest Sailing Ship.
Steel Shamrocks recounts
the story of his wife's ancestors, the McKennas of Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania. David and his wife Betsy reside in Frederick, Maryland.
They have three grown
children and five grandchildren.
Review
" Master storyteller David Quinn erases time ... To transport the reader is the writer's job. Quinn does just that ... "Mary Sojourner - Novelist of the Southwest
Review by FRANK WEST
Steel Shamrocks
is a journey of the heart. It is a sparkling tribute to our ancestors
and tells their story by tracing the lives of the descendants of the
children of Annie McKenna after they left Ireland in 1830. They are the
ancestors of the authors wife.
The author makes the story
fascinating, even though we are familiar with it: Irish immigrants work
hard and achieve their dreams.
David Quinn, the author, does
this by creating dialogue that is almost magical, and we quickly become
closely involved with the persons in the story. Quinn writes gracefully
and with a novelist's soul.
As he says, "These people were
giants. They accomplished so much . . . against great obstacles. How
different our lives are from theirs!"
Quoting from the
information sheet: "In 1840 Hugh McKenna, a widowed farmer and father of
eleven, left his home in Ireland's County Tyrone for economic survival
in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. Arriving in Quebec . . . Hugh and the
family walked the twelve hundred miles to a new life in the raucous,
burgeoning gateway to the American West. Thus began nearly a hundred
years of trial and triumph for Hugh's widowed daughter-in-law Annie, and
two of her sons . . . through financial struggle, fire, civil war,
flood, labor unrest, political corruption and reform, they made their
challenges with fortitude and civic devotion. Whether defending the
Union from Antietam to Appomattox or helping to build a new industrial
and political order, the McKenna men and their remarkable mother are
emblematic of the many contributions Irish Americans have made to a
great city and a great nation." Quinn adds to this, the accomplishments
of these people are "testimony to the opportunities afforded by their
adopted country . . ."
David Quinn and wife Elizabeth (Betsy)
have three children and five grandchildren. They live in Frederick,
Maryland. He was born in Oak Ridge, Tennessee and grew up in the
Washington, D.C. area. He studied at Wheeling Jesuit University and at
Fordham University. He then worked for thirty years in the corporate
world of telecommunications.
I'm happy to say that after leaving the corporate world he dedicated himself to his passion of genealogy and history.
While earning a degree in history, I spent countless hours at the
college library, so I understand what a great accomplishment of
historical research STEEL SHAMROCKS is. What makes look easy, really
required hours of research. Even the bibliography is six pages long!
Quinn has an eye for the telling detail. For example: What food did
our ancestors take with them for a sea voyage, which in the mid 1800's
would take a month? Quinn tells us they brought "hard cheese, salt
cured meat, black bread and dried fruit." There are many facts like
this scattered throughout the book.
As we see the development in
the lives of the McKenna family, we also see the progression of
American history. The author so develops the people in the book that
they become friends. I didn't want to see the end of the book come,
because they had become so personal to me.
Steel Shamrocks is about one family, but all of our ancestors were steel shamrocks or we wouldn't be here.
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Next year is the hundredth anniversary of the uprising of 1916. A quote from this book is about their motivation.
The rebels of 1916 were powerfully motivated by searing memories of
famine and eviction that their parents and, sometimes themselves, had
experienced.
Those memories made them heroically brave, and even though greatly outnumbered, they never retreated or flinched.
From Steel Shamrocks: "The late 1870's were a difficult time, again, in
Ireland. Especially in the western province of Connaught, continued
potato blight and severe winters produced another economic crisis for
peasants. Rising rents and mass evictions ...resulted ..."