The Schoolmaster - Gun running nurses in the fight for Irish freedom!?!?

So Father Moriarty had responded to my initial letter. He was busy planning the Moriarty Reunion in Ireland. His next letter came just days before the Reunion tour was to leave.

"Catholic Television Network of Chicago
His Eminence John Cardinal Cody
Archbishop of Chicago

Rev. James Moriarty
Director

Charles E. Hinds
Executive Director                                                                                 July 6, 1982

Dear Mary Ellen, 

I wish I had written to you sooner so that you would have received a letter from me in the United States, but I dictated this on July 2 and your flight was July 4.

First of all I would like to add to your Moriarty genealogy and then talk about meeting you.  Helen Murray Nichols, whom I never had the pleasure to meet, was visited frequently by my uncle Msgr. John Moriarty. I believe on one or two occasions, my father visited her.  Strangely enough, my brother Edward who works for the Internal Revenue Service lives in Fairfax, Virginia and on family orders, visited her on several occasions. As you mentioned, she died in October 1978. My brother Edward has three children -- Edward, Mary and Eileen. Eileen just graduated from high school and has won a scholarship for her swimming prowess to Wright University in Ohio. She will be in the Olympics someday. When Helen Murray Nichols' widower heard of the graduation, he sent a gift to Eileen just because he felt that Helen and Eileen were similar names. It was a very expensive ring of Helen's. My mother who was there for the graduation was very impressed with the sentiment of the gift. The gentleman gave up their home in Virginia and lives somewhere in the deep south.

About the children of James Moriarty and Ellen Fitzgerald -- you were quite right in suggesting that Con and Thomas Cornelius were one and the same. My dad was baptized Thomas Cornelius, but everyone called him Con Moriarty. That leaves you with two names short. One whom you have not listed is Una. My guess is that there was another woman not mentioned who, like Una, spent her entire life at Inch, never married and died very early.

Mary and Eileen Moriarty were both nurses who spent all their adult life in England. Like my dad Con, they were active in Sinn Fein. Because nurses were given a pass at Customs, they used to make frequent trips from England to Ireland carrying pistols and ammunition in their luggage. Both were nurses in London during the blitz. In later years, they both retired and managed the Inch Post Office. They were the ones who sold it to Kathleen Casey whom you have met already. Eileen, like Mary, eventually settled in Waterford to be near Nuala. Believe it or not, she died at age 83, being struck by a car while crossing the steer.

Katherine Callahan had five children. Her husband Dan died of cancer many years ago. He was also from the Dingle Peninsula. Three of her children, William, James and Donald, were police officers. William eventually left the Chicago Police Department and moved with his wife and six children to Hollywood, Florida. He is now a Lieutenant and I predict will be visiting Ireland this summer for the first time. Katherine's other two children were Mary DePlanche, with whom she lives, and her youngest Myles who is married and has a family of his own in Oak Park, Illinois.

Msgr. John Moriarty died and was buried on March 16, 1980. I celebrated the funeral. There were 45 priests at the Altar with me, including Bishop Sullivan and His Eminence John Cardinal Cody.  Cardinal Cody was a Bishop in St. Joseph, Missouri and my uncle was the Chancellor of the diocese when Cody came. They eventually appointed him Vicar General as well. I suspect that that relationship contributed to Cardinal Cody's interest in me when he came to Chicago. Msgr. Moriarty spent his entire life as a priest in the city of St. Joseph, Missouri. He had all the official jobs that small dioceses give to one or two men. Later on, he got a parish and lived there 28 years. He was still working there four years  after his retirement when he passed away.

Canon Myles Moriarty and his sister Nuala visited Chicago in the summer of 1981.

Michael Moriarty, like his father, was a schoolmaster. I never met him personally, but in our seminary days, he and I carried on a great correspondence. He was a prolific writer. He had four children. He taught school in Letterkenney, Co. Donegal. Like his brothers and sisters, he also was active in the fight for freedom. For awhile he was on the run. His wife died at a very early age. Somehow I have it in memory from childhood that her death was somehow attributed to the fact that her husband was being sought. He had three boys and a girl. Two boys became missionary priests -- Frs. Charles and Peter. The third son Gerald became a civil engineer in Ireland -- one of the few cousins I have not met. The only daughter, Una, is married to Noel Croal in Ballyshannon, Co. Donegal. Fr. Charles Moriarty was a Columban Father. He was Provincial of the order in Japan and died there during surgery about ten years ago. Fr. Peter Moriarty is a member of the Oblates of Mary Imaculate. He was a missionary for years in the Philippines and then was transferred to Brazil.

Dora Moriarty, like my father and Katherine Callahan, came to Chicago. She met and married Timothy Sullivan from Killmachder, west of Dingle. Dora also died very young leaving three children -- Eileen, Kathleen, and James. After that, Tim could not handle his responsibility. One day, my father just walked into the house and took all three children. He gave the oldest, Eileen, to his sister Katherine Callahan. The other two he brought home. They were raised with me. James did military service in World War II and returned to Chicago, where he married and raised a fine family. Kathleen became a nun. Her name is Sr. Mary Joseph. She is very, very close to my mother, spends almost every weekend with her. There is no doubt that my parents were richly rewarded on this earth for their act of kindness.

Thomas Cornelius: My father came to Chicago suddenly when he was tipped that his name was on an arrest list. He met and married Bridget Flaherty from Clogher, Ballyferriter, Dingle. They had eight children -- James, Thomas, John, Edward, Marie, Gerald, Robert and Myles. Myles, the youngest, died suddenly two years ago.

To fill you in on the story of Jim Moriarty, the son of Myles, I was told that on the occasion of the funeral after the tragedy in the Kenmare River, James Moriarty, after attending the Funeral Mass, simply took young Jim home with him and he was raised at Inch with the other children just like a son of the family. He was in the Royal Constabulary. I don't know exactly when he came to Chicago, but I do believe it was sometime before my parent's wedding. I remember him very well. He was very tall and distinguished and wore a mustache. He was a Station Manager for the Illinois Central Railroad. His wife's name was Bridie. They had no children. They were extremely pious. Their apartment was one of the ones we visited regularly on Sunday afternoons long ago. When we visit the cemetery where most of us have graves, we always go over to Jim Moriarty's grave. His wife died several years afterwards. None if us were informed. Her estate was taken care of by an attorney. Her grave is next to Jim, but it has no marker.

Now to the possibility of getting together. I really feel compelled to stay with the tourists. We have set up gatherings for the local Moriartys on our tour. One of these will be at the Great Southern Torc Hotel in Killarney on Monday evening, July 12. There is a gathering set at 9:00 pm. I suppose I will be playing the role of host. Is there a possibility that you might come up sooner? If you leave a message, I could be waiting for you at dinner. We could have a meal together and further fill in the details. Bring your lad with you if you like. After the tour is over, I will have two more weeks left in Ireland. Certainly if I have a car and come back to Kerry, I would consider going to Loughane. However, as yet I have made no plans.

I could easily spend the remainder of my time on the Dingle Peninsula. I just hate to spend all that money on car rental. I have told one and all that I will not keep driving around Ireland as I used to because I badly need the rest. I even told the family in Kerry they had better see me at hotel visits during the tour. I have the offer of a house on the ocean in Donegal. It is a possibility I just might stay there for the last two weeks.

I can't tell you how much my family enjoyed the history you sent me. I made copies and distributed them among my brothers. They were totally fascinated. I will bring your letter and map with me just in case.
                                                                              Sincerely,

                                                                              Rev. James F. Moriarty
(Typed and mailed in Fr. Moriarty's absence)"

I was impressed that the Moriartys were involved in the fight for Irish Freedom, but I wasn't surprised because Dingle is known for its rebellious nature. But being a nurse, I was awed that Ma's cousins were nurses and smuggled guns into Ireland.  I wonder now where in London they were working. I never thought to ask Fr. Moriarty.  I knew that Jim Keohane, whom we visited in Kinsale, was a scout for the rebel forces - he had shown my father sites of battles and ambushes. Now to learn that Ma's cousins were also involved was something. 

And to learn that the schoolmaster just took Jim Moriarty home after the funeral! Was his mother okay with this? Did she try to stop him? Why would he do this? 

The same thing happened in the next generation - Con Moriarty just walked in and took his sister's three children out of their home.

Then controversial Cardinal Cody took an interest in Fr. Moriarty. 

Such interesting information! "Soldiers," saints, and scholars!! And I never made it to dinner with him! But Fr. Moriarty did include a brief biography with his letter. 

Shall we take a rest to absorb all this information?