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Irish America magazine - Oct/Nov '08 issue: The Legacy of the San Patricios Lives On , Stars of the South, The Legal 100, Roots: The Mighty Mahers, All Hail The Humble Spud! , Music: Still Fiddlin’ Away , The Real Bill , The Battle over Ulysses, Broadway's Irish Colleen
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Photo Album: O’Neil Family, Boston
Easter 1953
 Raising
four sons was a challenge for me after growing up in a family that was dominated
by girls, clothes and fashion. My Boston family consists of twelve children, a
boy, ten girls and the last, a boy. We became well known in the city in the 40s
and 50s when we infiltrated the Boston Brahmins strolling down Commonwealth
Avenue on Easter Sunday. In 1941, our parents, with the oldest son and five
little girls in matching outfits, all made by my mother, joined the uppity
Easter stroll. It made the front page of the Boston Globe. Each year after that,
oldest boy, ten sisters, and finally the youngest, a boy, Daniel, Jr. continued
that tradition for about twenty years. It was a time in Boston history when the
Irish were coming up in the city and our family, in some way, symbolized their
pride in an Irish family. When you have a moment, check out the web site we are
working on: tenoneilsisters.com.
On Monday after Easter our father went out to buy newspapers first thing in the
morning, but not to the shop at the corner of our street. He wanted to make sure
that there were plenty of papers available for our neighbors. The photos went
around the United States and the world with international news services. We got
fan mail from all over, some with marriage proposals, circling the girl they
were interested in.
We also sang and tap-danced to Irish-American music at parish minstrel shows and
many other Boston events. I remember my mother working at the kitchen table with
the beautiful fabrics for our gowns, then glancing at the clock. “Girls, it’s
time to put this away and start peeling potatoes.”
I’m the seventh daughter in the photograph. My husband Phil Hanrahan [see Legal
100] and I visit Ireland often and have a home in Ballyvaughan, County Clare.
Submitted by Mary June Hanrahan
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
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