The Wearing of the Green
words found in a Burl Ives songbook
song sung by Patricia Lynne Grace Cummings
The songs on this website are best enjoyed
with a PC that has external speakers.
My niece, Audrey Winterer, had a chance to travel through Europe, including Ireland, in 1991. She lived in Germany for 5 years, attending the university there. Here she is seen, standing in front of an ancient stone dwelling in Ireland. photo courtesy of Audrey Winterer.
Pat wearing green. High school years.
"The Wearing of the Green" was a favorite song of my father, John E. Grace, a descendant of the McSweeneys and the Graces who came to America from County Kilkenney, Ireland. I often heard this song while growing up in Manchester, New Hampshire.
The song was supposedly-written by Dion Boucicault and was performed by Burl Ives. See our song file, "The Ould Orange Flute," for more about Burl Ives.
The key words in this song, perhaps, is the name "Napper Tandy," who was an Irish patriot in the eighteenth century. His full name is James Napper Tandy (1740-1803).
My grandfather, John Augustine Grace, stands on the left, in front of the trolley car he drove in Manchester, New Hampshire.
The Irish were met in Boston with signs that said, "Irish Need Not Apply." Out of work, and with little opportunity at the time they emigrated to the U.S., many turned to drink. My grandfather, on the other hand, was hard-working and a family man.
Formal portrait of John Augustine Grace, my grandfather
Teresa Loretta McSweeney Grace
My grandmother, Teresa Loretta McSweeney Grace, worked in the Teddy Roosevelt's White House as a pastry chef before marrying John A. Grace and having seven children, my father being one of those kids. Many Irish girls worked in American mills or as domestics in the nineteenth century. My grandmother was keen on saying that she was "lace curtain Irish, not shanty Irish."
I am happy to be Irish!
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Copyright 2009. Patricia Lynne Grace Cummings. Quilter's Muse Publications, Concord, NH pat@quiltersmuse.com