Grace Boner was born December 10, 1904 in Altmore near Burtonport in the Rosses, County Donegal, Ireland. She married John Conaghan from nearby Crickamore. John went to America looking for work, leaving Gracie with two children, John and Celia, and a child on the way.
Gracie, left to raise her family in a small one-room freestone house, thought she would never see her husband again but her younger sister, Maggie, already living in America, sent her the money for the passage over. She traveled to Dublin with John and Celia to get her passport (above). They departed from Derry and arrived in New York on March 5, 1930.
John and Gracie lived in Bayonne, New Jersey, and had nine children.
Gracie passed away January 19, 2001 at 97 years. She was my grandmother and her son, John, is my father. ♦
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