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Francis Cassidy and Julia
Brennan
By
Don Cassidy
--Francis (Francie) Cassidy was born in
Auglem in
1869. He came to Boston as a young
man and
worked his way up to responsible
position in
a Boston hotel. Julia Brennan was
born in
Clare Morris in County Mayo in 1876;
she
came to America at the age of seven and
was raised
by her sisters in Watertown. By
all accounts she was an exemplary woman.
In 1905 Francie decided to take the family to Auglem to live in a
small farm near his parent’s home. At the time, he was thirty-six
and Julia was twenty-nine and they had three children ( Marion,
Frank and John.
Joseph, Agnes Julia, Alphonses, Eileen, Donald and Ita were born there
in their tiny cottage. Agnes Julia died in 1914 at the age of 7 and
is buried at Clar.
In 1914 World War I broke out and in 1916 the IRA staged the Easter Rebellion;
in 1919 the "Troubles" began. In response to Irish Army military
actions, the British government unleashed the Black and Tans, an army of terrorists from
British prisons, to torture the Irish people. Young Frank returned
to Boston in 1915 and may have served in the U.S. Army in France.
The family returned to Boston in May 1921. In June the "Troubles"
ended in Ireland. Eventually, the Cassidys achieved prosperity
in Boston and Ireland became a free country.
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