Our unusual Irish ancestors – the poets, madmen and scoundrels who hail from Ireland

World explorers, famed criminals and revolutionaries – The Irish are represented throughout history and modest to boot

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Joseph Brant, the Irish-Indian Mohawk leader inducted Fitzgerald into the Seneca nation of the Iroquois League.

Photo by Google Images

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We also ran South America for a while for the Spanish and then helped to kick them out. In Chile and Peru Ambrose Higgins (1720-1801) worked his way up from humble clerk to become Viceroy of Peru, the most prestigious post in the Spanish Empire. Though he was politically progressive, he was known locally as “The Shrimp” because of his short stature and red complexion, which usually became redder when he thought about his son, Bernardo, who eventually earned the title “Liberator of Chile” by fighting with Bolivar for the liberation of South America from his father’s regime. Cork man, Daniel Florence O’Leary (c1802-1854) later joined Bernardo and Bolivar in the struggle for independence from Spain. Not all the Irish in South America were fighters. Cork woman Eliza Lynch (1834-1886) was a lover: specifically the lover of Francisco Solano Lopez who was a dictator of Paraguay.

Their rule together was so controversial that Paraguay’s neighbours invaded resulting in a massacre of the population. Lopez was killed and Lynch thrown out but not before she, definitely maybe, buried a vast treasure somewhere in the Paraguayan jungle that remains lost to this day.

In sports, the Irish have provided many of America’s best boxers, Olympic athletes, and sporting traditions. For example, Tipperary man, Matt McGrath threatened to hospitalise the American team flag carrier at the 1908 Olympics if he dipped the American flag as he passed the royal box. This threat gave rise to the tradition that the American flag is never dipped at an Olympic ceremony. The Olympic gold medal winning hammer thrower, Pat O’Callaghan (1905-1991) could have been Tarzan when he visited Hollywood after his Olympic win. But with typical modesty, he turned it down, allowing Johnny Weissmuller to get the role.

Surprisingly, our impact on America hasn’t been all good. Mary Mallon (1869-1938) brought typhoid to New York, infecting many of those who came into contact with her, earning her the name “Typhoid Mary”, and not because of her contributions to a cure but because of her role in improving our understanding of the transmission of that disease. Mary had a life-long aversion to washing her hands and hygiene in general.

The list of Irish turning up around the world is endless. We are found at the North and South Poles, from Seattle to Moscow. Just squint your eyes when looking at the 1969 moon-landing photos, fake or not, and you just might see a guy in a green astronaut suit standing behind Neil Armstrong. These are just a few of the 189 unusual Irish lives that I have written about. Check if you have any unusual ancestors hidden in the musty attic of Irish history.

Visit David Slattery’s Facebook page for more.

** David Slattery is a full-time writer and an Associate Fellow at the Graduate School of Creative Arts and Media at The National College of Art and Design in Dublin.

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