Irish America

Irish America

Wild Irish Women

What You Didn’t Know
About Typhoid Mary

By Rosemary Rogers, Contributor

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She was the original Patient Zero, a healthy and asymptomatic carrier of a deadly plague. Baptized in Ireland in 1869 as Mary Mallon, she was re-baptized in America as Typhoid Mary, a name conjuring evil and purposeful contagion, a name that carries a peculiar legacy – the notice in restrooms demanding, “Employees must wash their hands before returning to work.”  Orphaned as a … [Read more...] about What You Didn’t Know
About Typhoid Mary

Wild Irish Women:
The Reporter Who Wouldn’t Go Away

By Rosemary Rogers, Contributor
June / July 2017

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Dorothy is Back! Dorothy Kilgallen was a TV and radio star, a columnist who wrote about theater and film, the rich and famous, but more than anything, she was a crime reporter who, at the time of her mysterious death, was investigating the JFK assassination. She was as tough as she was brittle, as brave as she was bitchy. At a time when few women had a career, Dorothy Mae … [Read more...] about Wild Irish Women:
The Reporter Who Wouldn’t Go Away

Wild Irish Women: Mother Jones

By Rosemary Rogers, Contributor
April / May 2017

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Irish-born American labor leader Mother Jones was once known as the "most dangerous woman in America." The editors of the socially-conscious magazine Mother Jones, explaining the woman Mother Jones to their readers, write: “She was a badass who fought for the underdog, battled child labor, and was sometimes referred to as ‘the most dangerous woman in America.’” She was also a … [Read more...] about Wild Irish Women: Mother Jones

Elizabeth O’Farrell – A Fearless Woman

By Rosemary Rogers, Contributor

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An Irish nurse and member of Cumann na mBan, Elizabeth O’Farrell performed nursing and courier duties, delivering dispatches and ammunition to rebels over the days of the Easter Rising. She further risked her life to deliver Pádraig Pearse’s terms of surrender to the British forces on Friday, April 28 and stood with him when he surrendered to General Lowe later that day.It may … [Read more...] about Elizabeth O’Farrell – A Fearless Woman

“Sure Shot Mary”

By Rosemary Rogers
December / January 2017

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New York City police officer and detective Mary Agnes Shanley (1896-1989) was the first policewoman to use a gun in an arrest. She made over 1,000 collars in her career and, at just 160 pounds, had the strength to subdue an adult male.Born in 1896, Mary Shanley and family left the poverty of Ireland for the mean streets of Manhattan. Growing up it seemed to her that it was the … [Read more...] about “Sure Shot Mary”