Maher, William Francis & Martha Mary

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Martha Mary Browne & William Francis Maher Celebrant: Rev. John J. McLaughlin.
Saint Patrick's Church. Binghamton, New York.
Wedding Day. February 11, 1918

Victory in Europe Day (V-E Day or VE Day) was May 7 and May 8, 1945

Anna Hungerford, Mystery Dude, Mattie Browne

Pictured here is a program of musical entertainment from Mattie's voyage aboard the Baltic

RMS Baltic
� 23,876 Tons � Length 725ft 9in. � 75.6 ft at the beam � Draft 49ft �

Mattie (Martha) Browne [1893-1987] returned to Ireland in December 1915 for one last visit before returning to the USA to marry William Francis Maher. While she was in Ireland the Easter Rising took place (Easter week ~ 1916). She told me that she and sister Tessie went to the Lakes of Killarney, where British soldiers were swarming all over the place.

Uncle Pete

While in Ireland Mattie sent a post card to her pastor. Here is his reply:

St. Patrick's Church

Rev. J. J. McLoghlin, M. R

Binghamton, N. Y. St Patrick's Day, 1916.

Martha,

I was glad to hear from you and to learn that you found all the "folks at home" well & happy under the circumstances.

It is now some years since I passed through your town on my way to Athlone. We are all very well just now thank God. A severe snow storm has swept over this city lately leaving 19 inches of the beautiful on the ground and blowing a hurricane. Grippe and pneumonia have taken quite a few from this parish the past few weeks. Now that your wishes are realized, you have seen "the folks" & the green fields of your native land maybe you will settle down, & maybe you have still a longing desire to return to the Parlor City, and St Patrick's. If the latter be the case, you are as welcome as the flowers of May. Give my kindest regards to your friends & tell them of the great work the Irish soggarths are doing in far off America, keeping alive the Faith of St Patrick, & instilling into the hearts of young America The Royal Road to Heaven.

With best wishes & kind regards , I remain my dear Child,

Your old Pastor, Father John .

*Gaelic soggarth "priest" < sacerdos singular, sacerdotes plural.

A copy of the letter is posted on this page.
Click here for page 1
Click here for page 2

	Binghamton NY: This Portrait of William F. Maher, age 16, was painted over 100 years ago in 1911 at Binghamton by an Artist who had studied under the impressionists in Paris. "Mother always teased him for being a model for a woman painter..."Uncle Pete
	In the pic left you'll see the 1918 love nest of Mattie Browne & Willy Maher. Before renting on Winding Way and buying 256 Front Street in 1920, they lived in the pretty red brick apartment house with little turret on the NW corner of Main St & Oak St. To the left of the Episcopal Church here...Thank God it was not demolished in "Urban Renewal"...Uncle PeteI
"Binghamton used to be the Parlor City when local Yankee entrepreneurs ran it. The rich lived in town, built & prospered, and with them all the citizens... The money stayed and circulated in town. No income tax... Mansions were down the street from modest houses of the workers..." Uncle Pete
"I was a paper boy in 1947 and delivered papers here and along Oak and North and Front Streets. The Binghamton Press. " Uncle Pete

On Tue, 12/27/11, terre maher <terremaher@hotmail.com> wrote:

Merry Christmas Uncle Pete ! I see this photo with you and your father in it. I feel I have never known enough about Baba. How would you describe him?

Terre

Wm F. was gentle, quiet. Martha Mary was a stronger personality. He never whacked or spanked the kids. He had a sly sense of humor. Told a good joke. When he retired, he always took over household chores to help Nana. Did dishes, mopped floors. Loved to garden. Tomatoes, corn, raspberries, red and black.

One Christmas I got a jack knife. It was a COLD winter. Rabbits nibbled the bark off young fruit trees he had planted.. He thought at first I was the rabbit, but he believed me.

For my 13th birthday he took me to New York. DL&W: Delaware, Lackawanna & Western. RRs all had nicknames. This one was Delay, Linger & Wait. End of the line Hoboken NJ.Stayed in Abbey Hotel,, 20th floor. I was amazed. The Press Bldg in Binghamton is 12 stories high. Lexington Ave escalator the first one I ever saw. went to Empire State Bldg, Paddy's clam house, Newsreel theater (nothing but).A-Bomb tests at Bikini atoll (the swim suit was named later.)Bronx Zoo, Natural History Museum, boat ride around Manhattan... The guide pointed out a tract of slums that the Rockefellers had bought up for the projected UN HQ, 1961.

Baba teased Hilde about her accent, since at first she pronounced TH as S...
"Hilde, would you like some apple pie?"
He did it in a sweet way.
She would answer
"No sanks:
B "Hilde, would you like a glass of beer?'
H "No sanks."
And so on. Nana poked him in the ribs, and Hilde thought she was being stingy, but she only meant "quit teasing"...I coached her on pronunciation, and she eventually mastered TH. Now it's her favorite reminiscence of him

Pete

http://256frontstreet.com/imagesbig/nana&baba/nb.mydocs.256discoverloadf.jpg

On Wed, 12/28/11, terre maher <terremaher@hotmail.com> wrote:

Thank you for these early morning memories. (4 am ?!) I love that you had that trip to NY with him and the details you recall. I love to read these vignettes, keep them coming, I am always interested. I am making a file. One memory i have about Baba could use a some adult- explanation, maybe you could help. On one visit, I think we were told that Baba was having problems with his vision. He used a hand on the wall to guide himself throughout the house. We had had an appliance delivered and I was sleeping in the big box in the living room. When i poked my head out I saw Baba was sitting in an easy chair reading the paper, I said "Hi Baba" and startled him , he threw the paper to the ground. As a kid i thought he was faking the eye problem. Do you remember the nature of a vision problem he had?
Terre& all
Was that in 1955?

Detached retina. Corrected surgically, with good outcme. No lasers then. During the healing process, he had to keep his head immobile, Low tech -- bricks piled on either side of his head, him lying on his back. Tom and Joe and I would bring him a six-pack. (You needed a "church key" then.) Baba lay there peacefully, sipping beer through one of those nice hospital drinking "straws", a glass tube bent at an angle in a Bunsen burner flame...

unc P