In 1882 an Irishwoman died suddenly in a large house in Bordentown, New Jersey. She was Fanny Parnell, younger and favourite sister of Charles Stewart Parnell. Her death, at the age of 33, was unexpected - that morning she had entertained John Dillon and Willie Redmond, then walked her two dogs and joined her mother Delia for lunch, before retiring for a rest.
There were immediate plans, both in the US and at home, for a large funeral in Ireland, but her brother Charles said: "No. Wherever you die you should be buried." After a long funeral procession, visiting Philadelphia, New York and Boston, her mother's relations, the Tudors, allowed her coffin to be placed in their family vault at Mount Auburn Cemetery in Boston and there it has remained ever since.
Ladies' Land League
Fanny Parnell achieved high political status during her short life. She was the founder of the Ladies' Land League, yet today she hardly appears in the history books. At Mount Auburn there was no headstone over her grave. So it was fitting that on April 9th, 2001, the Irish Ambassador to the US, Mr Sean O hUiginn, unveiled a memorial stone of Wicklow granite, taken from the Parnell homeplace at Avondale, Co Wicklow.
This event, organised by the Parnell Society, took place on a sunny day with an audience of Irish, British and American people, gathered to honour a remarkable woman. As well as being a political and social activist Fanny Parnell was an influential poet and writer - her Hold the Harvest was described as the Irish peasants' Marseillaise and her pamphlet The Hovels of Ireland was a hard-hitting attack on landlordism.
At the ceremony, Prof Donal McCartney, Emeritus Professor of Modern Irish History at UCD, painted a moving picture of her short life and her innate hunger for justice, highlighting the organising and management skills which she deployed in Ireland's cause. He told us how she arranged for Famine Relief Fund boxes to be placed in post offices all over the US, devoting at least 10 hours a day to the work.
In his address, the ambassador said the jury was still out on the differences of opinion between Parnell and his sisters. Fanny's and Anna's views might have had more validity, he suggested. Did Parnell sell the Land League short in his dealings with Gladstone? Should he have concentrated more on the separatist current in Irish history, which they shrewdly foresaw was the tide of the future?
These matters are still being debated by historians. Mr O Uiginn also referred to the sexism which prevented the sisters being taken seriously as political partners and strategists by the establishment of nationalist Ireland, and he made the point that he was representing a woman President of Ireland. "I think this later fact was perhaps too daring to be included in Fanny's dream," he continued, "but I think of all the things that we have invoked here it was what would give her shade the most satisfaction."
Two readings
The event ended with two readings: Fanny Parnell's poem After Death, written in the year she died, which evokes the resurrection of her nation, followed by John Boyle O'Reilly's poem, The Dead Singer, dedicated to Fanny and read by Pat Power, a local historian from Arklow. Perhaps the thought we all carried away was: "The singer who lived is always alive, we hearken and always hear."
The Parnell Society continued its exploration of Fanny's life by visiting Bordentown, New Jersey, where her grandfather, the naval hero, Admiral Stewart of Old Ironsides fame, lived. Following his death in 1869, Fanny and her mother Delia returned to live in Bordentown.
Fanny managed the farm and ran the household impeccably - Davitt said it was the most hospitable and welcoming house he had ever visited. We were very excited to find the house in which she lived and died still standing, even if closed up since the 1970s and now looking neglected.
The local historical society hope to gain possession of it and we envisage returning in a few years' time to find it restored and open to the public.
The only member of Fanny's immediate family to attend her funeral was her oldest brother John Howard Parnell, so we continued our American odyssey by going south by train, re-enacting a journey that he and Charles Stewart took in the early 1870s. We visited the city of Valley, Alabama, where John ran a peach farm for 12 years. He is remembered as a kindly employer and his methods of production were copied later by others (much more successfully), so the success of peach farming in Georgia owes a lot to a Wicklow man.
Peach tree
We were entertained by Valley Council and the local Cobb Memorial Archives who had put great research into our visit. One of the highlights of our Valley visit was meeting descendants of the Merna family who had left Rathdrum to help John Howard in this enterprise, but who, unlike him, stayed on to become highly respected members of the community. We planted a peach tree in honour of John Parnell and sang, "O have you been to Avondale?" We also left a crest of the Parnell coat of arms with Mayor Leak, who had declared April 18th as Parnell Day in of Valley.
Our Parnell Summer School from August 12th to 17th this year is set in the magical family home of the Parnells at Avondale, Co Wicklow. The theme is: "Economy and Society - Choices for Ireland in the New Century." Maybe some family ghosts would have something to say on this? Do come and join us.