Synopsis
The concise, Irish American Chronicle takes the reader down an historical road few know exist. Buy the Book
The section on the Kennedys—based on newspaper columns of the time, the Warren Report, and Doctor Humes’s autopsy—is a gem. The conclusion belongs to the author, written only after he weighted all the cognizable facts.The open letter to Bill O'Reilly has been added.
Other stories cover little-known people and events in the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, WWI and WWII. The segment on the Ancient Celts and the megaliths erected by followers of a prehistoric religion is well worth the price of admission.
Author 
The
grandson of Big John Meehan from Sligo, Mary Ellen McLaughlin-Keane
from Galway, Bridget Munnelly from Mayo, and Matthew Smith from Cavan
ended up with the least recognized Irish name of them all. I can’t begin
to tell you how many times, I’ve been asked, “Smith, huh! English …
right?” When I meet up with my ancestor Mac an Gabhann—the one who
anglicized our family name to Smith—he and I are going to have words.
Even my wife, Elizabeth McCarthy McGinty Smith, would’ve retained her
maiden name if such a thing were fashionable when we were wed.
Before I continue on to the little I’ve accomplished in life, there are a
few items from my family history that need emphasizing. The Smith
homestead in Beagh Upper, Parish of Upper Killenkere, was “situate”
within 200 yards of where General Phil Sheridan was born. And since, my
uncles have stated that their grandmother was a Sheridan, well … you do
the math. If you have an issue with that, there’s no sense going into
the story Big John Meehan told of my Galway-born grandmother being
related to a member of Columbus’s crew.
When I began writing
narrative-history, I didn’t plan to write the complete Irish-American
Story, it just happened, or it will happen when later this year I add,
The Revolutionary War Irish to the series.