Between 1985 and 2022, Bloomington resident, Michael (Mike) Whelan corresponded with his Irish relatives, residing mainly in Danville, County Kilkenny and Dungarvan, County Waterford, Ireland, via letters, photographs and greeting cards. Mike’s grandfather, Joseph Francis Whelan, Sr. (O’Faolain in Gaelic), was born in 1884 in Dungarvan and emigrated to the U.S. to become a boilermaker helper/apprentice in Bloomington.
During the Spring of 1905, Joseph boarded the Ivernia and, while aboard ship, met Anne Mary Roughneen, who was also emigrating to Illinois to become a family maid. Arriving in Boston, they made their way to Bloomington and found work. They married and had three sons: Joseph, Jr., Owen Patrick (Mike’s father), and Maurice (pronounce Morris) Michael. The family remained in Bloomington and never returned to Ireland. Anne Mary died in 1953 and Joseph, Sr. in 1967. Two generations of this Whelan family are buried at St. Mary’s Cemetery on West Washington Street.
Scope
The collection includes Mike Whelan’s grandfather’s 1908 Declaration of Intention (Immigration and Naturalization Document), numerous hand-written letters, pictures, programs, newspaper articles, a news magazine, as well as greeting cards, postcards, and a 2002 Picturesque Yorkshire Salmon Calendar. The majority of correspondence is addressed to Mike and wife, Cheryl, who lived in Chicago and Bloomington. Three of the earliest correspondences are addressed to Joseph Whelan, Jr. (Mike’s uncle). The collection also includes several Irish family research guides.