My fathers sister says I look so much like her it's eerie. There is only one picture of her. I have never seen it. No one truly knows her story. She left her homeland for a better life. It didn't happen...

Her name is Anna O'Connor. She was my fathers mother and she was the grandmother I never met. Born February 15, 1908 in Knock Knagoshell, County Kerry Ireland, Anna was one of eight children born to Charles and Mary O'Connor. Charles was a parish clerk and Mary a teacher. 

There aren't a lot of facts. What we know is this: Anna's sisters Nellie, Mae and Kitty had gone to New York. Nellie had met and married someone by the last name Lyons. It was Nellie's home on Wales Avenue in the Bronx that was Anna's destination when she left Ireland on May 8, 1927 on board the S.S. Caronia headed for New York Harbor. 

Anna arrived at Nellie's house and stayed there for an undetermined amount of time. But something happened, and no one knows what. The next "for sure" fact we have is that a Spanish immigrant by the name of Indalecio Lopez Rodriguez was walking through Central Park and happened upon a young woman sitting on a bench, suitcase at her feet and crying because she had no where to go.

Whatever happened between Anna and Nellie would forever remain a mystery. Not only was there a permanent separation between Anna and Nellie, but her other two sisters in New York, Mae and Kitty as well.

Indalecio took Anna in and married her as was the proper thing to do in the late 1920's. They had three children together, Amelia, Cecelia and my father Victor. What happened to Anna and the circumstances that landed her homeless on a park bench in New York City were never discussed in the family. It was taboo. Not to be brought up and never to be questioned. Most likely because Indalecio was a cold man. Not open to affection or disobedience, his word was law. There was discipline, there was punishment and there was a sterness in that house. And everyone lived in fear of the Spanish immigrant. 

As is often the case, only the good die young. Anna died of cancer on a cold winter day in 1944 at the age of 36 leaving behind three children for the Spaniard to raise alone. Which he did. And lived to a ripe old age of 86.

For Anna, the American dream was not all she hoped it would be. For me, I lost yet another grandmother before I could know her. I carry her features and I carry her Irish Spirit in my heart and look forward to that day in heaven, when I can look into the face that is so like my own, Oh Grandma I've missed you so much.

An Irish Blessing

May you always have walls for the winds,
a roof for the rain, tea beside the fire,
laughter to cheer you, those you love near you,
and all your heart might desire.

Go mbeannai Dia duit
(May God Bless You)

Some family facts in case someone out there is related:

Anna's sisters in New York:

Nellie Lyons - Wales Avenue Bronx, NY

Nellie had 3 children - Joe, Charles and a daughter

Mae married Peter Claren

Hannah (Kitty) married Gus Stahl

Hannah had two children - Gus and Mary

Bridget - a sister who died young

Anna's brothers:

Lawrence (in Ireland) had two daughters - Margaret & Lillie

Margaret married last name Galvin & had 3 children - Brightley, Kathleen & Thomas

Margaret was born 1909 and died in Abbey Faele, County Limerick, Ireland

Lillie married Dan Healy and had a daughter Mary

Lillie was born 1913

Patrick Laney O'Connor died in 1972 in Glasgow, Scotland