DETROIT -- As I drove along River Road toward Fort Niagara State Park, I delighted in the prospect of seeing relatives I had not seen in decades and some I had never met. More than 100 descendants of Daniel and Mary Buckley and their spouses were gathering for a picnic reunion in the lovely setting where the Niagara River flows into Lake Ontario.
I am deeply grateful to my cousin Mary Ellen Nichols D'Aurizio for gathering the documents and doing so much of the research I am using. My family's story shares features with countless families from Niagara Falls. Immigrants from Italy, Poland and Germany came here with the same hopes and fears.
My grandfather Dan Buckley left the dairy farm where he was born and that he ran with his younger brother, Tom. After their father, Patrick Buckley, died at age 42, the Buckley boys struggled to provide for their mother, Margaret Kelly Buckley.
When not caring for the cows, Dan and Tom went to a Christian Brothers school, where they received a basic education with much emphasis on discipline and religion. Their handwriting was exemplary and they spoke the King's English with grammatical precision, although their speech was laced with thick brogues.
They were fine examples of the British Empire's centuries-old quest to "civilize" the Irish. But the Buckleys and many others in their community deeply resented the Brits and longed for the day they would leave Ireland.
The farm, with its thatch-roofed two-room cottage, is in Blackwater in County Clare. It had been owned and worked by the Buckley family for as long as any one could remember. Throughout the 19th century, resistance to British rule often manifested in the west of Ireland, where the Buckleys raised their cows, and sold their milk and cream.
Twenty-year-old Dan was heading to America. British authorities may have urged him to do so. I recall him singing songs denouncing the dreaded Black and Tans, the murderous thugs the British hired to keep the Irish in line. While living in the United States for nearly 66 years right on the Canadian border, Dan would never venture into the British Commonwealth nation. No explanations. He gained U.S. citizenship but refused to set foot in Canada. Dan was never afraid to speak his mind. That kind of attitude would get young Irishmen in trouble.
Dan's family and friends held an "American wake" for him. Most believed they would never see him again. They were right.
Dan departed from the port of Queenstown (the Irish didn't give it that name) in Cork City. He was a passenger on the HMS Carpathia bound for New York City. His third-class fare cost about eight pounds -- equivalent in those days to about four months of wages. The ship became internationally famous nine years later when she picked up survivors of the Titanic disaster.
The Carpathia steamed into New York harbor on September 25, 1903, and Dan was duly processed on Ellis Island. Dan was headed west to Detroit. He carried a letter of recommendation from his parish priest, describing him as an honest and reliable young man who had a quick mind and mechanical skills. Dan landed a job at the Ford Motor Company. He was living the new immigrant's dream. Or so it seemed.
The plants and assembly lines were dark, dirty and dangerous. The hours were long. Men would lose fingers and limbs, and routinely suffered serious injuries making cars for Mr. Ford, whose grandparents were Irish immigrants. Dan lived in company-provided housing in cramped conditions. For someone who had spent his whole life working outdoors, the cruel confines of Ford's manufacturing miracle were bleak and oppressive.
He heard that men from Clare were landing jobs on the railroad in Niagara Falls. Dan went to work for the New York Central Railroad. I remember telling a woman from the Falls that my grandfather worked on the railroad, and she said resentfully, "Oh, he must have been from Clare." The men from Clare did look out for their own.
In 1921, Dan married Mary Ellen Hayes from Albion. Her father, James Hayes, was born in County Cork, and her mother, Ellen Lynch, was from County Kerry. Mary was wonderful, warm and witty, and was an excellent seamstress and cook.
The Buckleys lived at 1838 Weston Ave. My mother, Mary Louise, was the oldest of eight children, followed by James, Daniel, Thomas, John, Margaret, Catherine ( Rita) and Patricia.
Another member of the family is "Aunt Helen," Helen Sinclair Schoninger. Helen's mother, Annie, my grandmother's sister, died in childbirth, and Helen lived with the Buckleys while her sister, Alice, and brother, Bobby, lived with other family members and friends. Helen is the matriarch of the family, and in September she'll turn 90.
Dan moved up quickly in the railroad, and when he took the proficiency test to become an engineer he had a perfect score. Dan never lost a day of work during the Depression. Dan and Mary were able to pay my mother's tuition to nursing school.
My mother, Jim, Dan and Jack are all gone now. But Tommy came in from Houston and Rita from Maryland for the Buckley gathering. Margaret, Pat and Helen still live in the area. It was great to see them all together.
The descendants of Dan Buckley live all over the country.
Dan Buckley IV did two tours of duty with the Marines in Iraq. He now is a U.S. Customs Agent. Dan Nichols is with the U.S. Army in his second tour of Iraq. Ryan Edwards served in Iraq with the U.S. Army Reserves.
We have a New York City police officer and a public school teacher in East Harlem. There are lawyers, a stockbroker, environmental scientists, nurses, a college professor, a hair stylist and almost any occupation you can name. Bridget Edwards, who helped so much with the reunion, is the greatest cake baker in North America.
They are nice people who enjoy a good laugh, especially at their own expense. They do not tolerate pretension. From thoroughbred Irish stock, the Buckleys now have spouses from Africa, Europe, Asia and South America. The most numerous marital unions are with Italians, so names like Gaeta, Chiappone, Bellonte, D'Aurizio and Teixeira are familiar among the Buckleys. The Irish-Italian mix produces lovely children and plenty of good humor.
My cousins in Ireland have three stately homes on the old farm. The cows' production is now computerized. The cottage where my grandfather was born is used to store tools.
Ireland has become prosperous, and our exceptional cream is highly valued in Europe. My Irish cousins have built a prosperous enterprise and deserve the rewards their ancestors worked for but were denied.
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | Aug. 19 2008 |