The SAR MAGAZINE is the official quarterly publication of the National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution published quarterly.
Issue link: http://sar.epubxp.com/i/374815
28 SAR MAGAZINE SAR Trip to Ireland By Stephen R. Renouf (CASSAR) P resident General Joseph W. Dooley led an SAR delegation of 82 compatriots, wives, family and friends to Ireland on May 1-11 to honor Irish patriots of the American Revolution. We were welcomed in Belfast by the dynamic Lord Mayor M‡irt'n î Muilleoir, who spoke about the links between Belfast and the United States, and how Belfast has prospered since the Peace Agreement. The lord mayor also named PG Dooley a ÒBelfast Ambassador.Ó We toured the vibrant city and drove through the Protestant neighborhood of Shankill Road and the Catholic neighborhood of The Falls Road in Belfast to see the political murals documenting Òthe Troubles.Ó We also saw the peace wall that still divides the two communities, but gives hope for the future. While in Northern Ireland, we honored Charles Thomson, the secretary of the Continental Congress from its formation in 1774 until the adoption of the U.S. Constitution in 1789. (For more on Charles Thomson, see page 28.) We visited ThomsonÕs birthplace of Maghera and met with Council Chairperson Catherine Elattar and other town dignitaries. We visited the ruins of the ancient St. LurachÕs Church in Maghera (dating from as early as the 6th century), and we presented two bronze plaques from the SAR honoring Charles Thomson. One will be placed at the Charles Thomson House and the other will be placed at the Maghera Visitors Centre. We visited ThomsonÕs house, and met with the current owner, who spoke about Thomson and the times in which he lived in Maghera. The group toured the GiantÕs Causeway, the Titanic Museum at the old Belfast shipyards where she was constructed, and the infamous Crumlin Road Gaol, where we were greeted by D—nal Donnelly, the only man to escape from the prison and never be recaptured. We visited Down Cathedral and saw the simple grave markers for St. Patrick, St. Brigid and St. Columba. Dr. Tim Campbell welcomed us to the St. Patrick Centre, and we listened to a lecture on the ancient Celts and the Scots-Irish contribution to American history by Dr. Ian Adamson, OBE, a former Lord Mayor of Belfast. We saw a presentation at the St. Patrick Centre on St. PatrickÕs lifeÑ how he was kidnapped from the west coast of Britain and enslaved for a time in Ireland, and how he escaped and later returned to Ireland to convert the Irish to Christianity. We then traveled to the Republic of Ireland, and honored Commodore John Barry in Wexford, where we met Mayor George Lawlor at Crescent Quay at the statue of Commodore Barry, which was a gift from the United States to the City of Wexford in 1956. PG Dooley placed a wreath at the foot of the statue of Commodore Barry, the father of the U.S. Navy. We toured the glacial valley of Glendalough, where we saw the ruins of the monastery founded by St. Kevin in the 6th century, and visited the Rock of Cashel, the traditional seat of the kings of Munster. We drove along the picturesque Dingle Peninsula and had a medieval banquet in the 15th century Knappogue Castle. We visited the Cliffs of Moher, but the Irish mist was so thick, we could not see the cliffs. In Dublin, we were welcomed by Lord Mayor Ois'n Quinn in City Hall. The lord mayor addressed our delegation on the relationship between our two republics. A leading authority on early modern Irish history and the author of numerous books and articles, Prof. Nicholas Canny greeted us at the Royal Irish Academy, where he spoke on the role of Ireland and the Irish in the American Revolution. Canny, a professor of history at the National University of Ireland, Galway, also arranged for a special exhibit at the Royal Irish Academy on Ireland and the American Revolution. Among the items on display were 18th-century manuscripts written in Irish celebrating the Revolution. The text was handwritten in Irish, but some non-Irish names stood out, such as George Washington. After the lecture and the tour at the Royal Irish Academy, Canny arranged for dinner for us at the private Kildare Street University Club. While in Dublin, we had a genealogy seminar sponsored by Irish Gathering, and we learned of resources for tracing Irish ancestry. We were greeted by John Perry, the Irish minister for small business. Joe Whelan showed us how the Irish Gathering website could be used to document oneÕs Irish ancestry. Dr. Tyrone Top, Lord Mayor of Belfast Máirtín Ó Muilleoir named PG Joe Dooley a Belfast Ambassador; middle, PG Dooley and Joe McCoy of the Maghera Historical Society, with framed photo of St. Lurach's Church; bottom, Mayor of Wexford George Lawlor and PG Dooley at statue of Commodore John Barry. I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I