ABOUT US

Welcome to the Official Site for the Ancient Order of Hibernians, Myles Scully, Division One of Yonkers, New York! We are the oldest and largest Irish-American Organization in the U.S., and we are dedicated to live by our organization's motto, "FRIENDSHIP, UNITY and CHRISTIAN CHARITY." The Yonkers Division was established on November 1, 1891.

DIVISION OFFICERS


Chaplain

Fr. Senan Taylor

President
Dennis O'Brien

Vice President
Robert Eggen

Recording Secretary

Chad Ghastin

Financial Secretary
Michael Flynn

Treasurer
Kevin Hartnett

Chairman Standing
Committee

Ronan O'Brien

Marshal
Andrew Hayden

Sentinel
Justin Kennedy

NEXT MEETING


Wednesday,
Oct. 9, 2020
7:00 PM

Location:
Sprain Lake Golf Course, Yonkers

CONTACT US


A.O.H. Myles Scully
Division One
P.O. Box 1020
Yonkers, NY 10703

aohyonkers@gmail.com

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Sunday, June 28, 2015

The Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa Commemorative Sports Tournament





A.O.H. Sponsors O’Donovan Rossa Commemorative Event at Gaelic Park


The O'Donovan Rossa Tournament Flyer

     The countdown to the 100th Anniversary of the 1916 Easter Rising began yesterday at Gaelic Park in the Bronx as a large cross section the Irish Community hosted a Gaelic Football Tournament to commemorate the Centenary of the death of Irish patriot Jeremiah O’Donovan Rossa. Rossa, who was instrumental in building support and momentum for what would eventually lead to the 1916 Easter Rising died in New York City on June 29th 1915.


Barbara Jones, Dan Dennehy, and Williams Rossa Cole

     The tournament was sponsored by several Irish organizations, including The Hudson Valley Irish Center, the County Cork Association of New York, and The Ancient Order of Hibernians.  Several dignitaries were in attendance as well, including Barbara Jones - Irish Consular General, Williams Rossa Cole – Great Grandson of Jeremiah O’Donovan Rossa, and Sophie Colgan – The 2015 New York Rose of Tralee.

 
The AOH was a proud sponsor of the O'Donovan Rossa Tournament

     A stirring moment occurred just prior to the start of the event when Williams Rossa Cole recited the words of Padraig Pearse’s oration that was made at the O’Donovan Rossa funeral in Dublin in August of 1915.  “The fools, the fools, the fools, they have left us our Fenian dead! said Rossa, while Ireland holds these graves, Ireland unfree shall never be at peace.

Williams Rossa Cole reads Pearse Oration


     There were several teams from around the NYC area that participated in the tournament, including County Mayo, Manhattan Gaels, and The Wolfe Tones, who traveled all the way from Detroit Michigan to be there.

Teams assembled at the start of the O'Donovan Rossa Tournament

     Congratulations go to all who worked very hard to make this event a great success, especially AOH National Immigration Chairman Dan Dennehy, who worked tirelessly to make this event a reality. AOH Division One of Yonkers was proud to sponsor such an important cultural event!


AOH members attending the O'Donovan Rossa Tournament


     For more information of the life and contributions of Jeremiah O’Donovan Rossa, you can read this article that was published in the Irish Echo Newspaper in 2003.




Wednesday, June 10, 2015

AOH Historian's Report



A Disease That Haunted The Irish

By Mike McCormack




Cholera Outbreak in Athlone, Ireland 1832

Cholera is an infection of the human intestine and is recognized as one of the most efficient killers of all time; it works quickly to kill, often on the same day as infection. Cholera causes violent vomiting, cramps and diarrhea and is spread by contaminated excrement and handling clothing and bedding of infected people. In crowded cities, sewage-contaminated water supplies were a major source of its spread, but no one realized that until after 1854. Before that, it had arrived in America with Irish and German immigrants, crowded below decks on coffin ships with little or no fresh water or sanitary facilities for a rough six-to-eight-week passage across the Atlantic.


Depiction of Cholera Outbreak in The Five Points, NYC in 1832

It decimated the polluted immigrant slums into which many immigrants were forced to live. In June 1832, an outbreak of cholera spread rapidly throughout the crowded, unsanitary dwellings of New York’s Five Points neighborhood before spreading to the rest of the city killing 3,500 in two months. Nativists blamed the disease on the life style of the poor – namely Catholicism, poverty and drink until the disease spread uptown, where well-to-do families kept the cause of death a secret. New York’s Croton reservoir was completed in late 1842 to bring clean water to the city for drinking and street cleaning, but the Croton Water Board objected to wasting that clean water in the Five Points. A second major outbreak occurred in 1849 killing 5,017. For the next 20 years, deaths in the Five Points area was triple that of the rest of the city.


Cholera Cross in Clinton County, Illinois

In 1842, cholera also broke out in Saint Louis brought by German and Irish immigrants coming up the Mississippi from New Orleans where upon arrival; dehydrated from the voyage they drank great gulps of contaminated water. Like their countrymen in New York the Irish were forced into a filthy slum area called the Kerry Patch. As a result, the St. Louis death toll reached 4,500 in three months. The increase of immigrants in 1849 fleeing Ireland’s Great Hunger led to a second major outbreak that took more than 7,000 lives. In May 1849, the city took over Arsenal Island in the Mississippi and renamed it Quarantine Island. All ships were stopped there for inspection and those passengers who seemed ill remained in hastily built sheds until they either recovered or died, just like Grosse Isle in Quebec. Thousands were buried there before the island – cemetery and all – washed away in the spring floods of the 1860s after the city built dykes on the west side of the river and changed its flow.


Federal Mortality Census Report for 1850

However, the quarantining efforts failed to stop bacteria from infecting St. Louis’ water supply. With no other dumping site available, chamber pots were emptied into the streets and rain washed the excrement into the limestone caves beneath the city where raw sewage from the city was also dumped. It eventually overflowed into a low area near the Kerry Patch creating a putrid pool angrily called Kayser’s Lake. Henry Kayser was the city engineer who decided to divert the entire city’s waste water into the limestone caves beneath the city rather than build sewers to save money. In 1849, approximately one-tenth of the population of St. Louis died from disease.

Not knowing the true source of the disease, people blamed everything from sauerkraut to stench as thousands of new immigrants joined the prospectors who stopped at St Louis – the gateway to the west – to outfit for the journey to the recently discovered gold fields of California. Typically, cholera swept through the poorest areas first and was interpreted by the Nativist press as being due to the immigrants’ ignorance, laziness, and moral laxity. By the third week of June, cholera was killing roughly 100 people a day. Rev. John B. Druyts, Jesuit president of Saint Louis College, told the frightened students to place themselves under protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Those who survived were to chip in and buy a silver crown for her statue in the chapel. The effect of this holy resolution calmed the students. In what was called a miracle, there were no deaths within the school walls, although there were victims of the disease in almost every house around the College. In October 1849, a silver crown was reverently carried on a purple cushion to the statue.

On June 24, citizens crowded a public meeting and demanded that city officials do something or resign. The officials did what officials always do: they formed a committee. The committee not knowing the cause, immediately ordered coal, tar and sulfur pots to be burned in the streets. They banned fresh vegetables, especially cabbage believing the smell of sauerkraut was a contributing factor. They also kept public transportation out of the slums in case the disease might be airborne and ordered churches to stop all that infernal bell-ringing at funerals since it lowered the morale of the people. Then they spent $10,000 to buy slop carts and hired street cleaners, telling them to collect and dump liquid filth into the once lovely Chouteau’s Pond which had already become gray with industrial waste, creating another source of infection.


Map Depicting Cholera Outbreak in Ireland


More practical prevention came in 1850, when the city drained both Kayser’s Lake and Chouteau’s Pond – not because it eliminated a cause of the disease, but because they finally installed a sewer system – and that, unintentionally, was what finally did the job. Cholera returned again before the end of the century, but it was never again as lethal.


Cholera Localities Map - Belfast 1832

Many are the stories of sorrow in the diaries of our immigrant ancestors who were forced to endure the squalor imposed upon them as a result of the bigotry that condemned them to substandard living conditions. There are also stories of resilience that allowed them to not only survive, but to climb out of the derelict districts and set a course for their sons and daughters that made them the major contributors that the Irish are today in every field of endeavor. But while we celebrate their accomplishments and contributions, we should never forget the hardships suffered by those who laid the groundwork.





Monday, June 8, 2015

The 98th Biennial A.O.H. New York State Convention

N.Y. Ancient Order of Hibernians to Gather in Uniondale for Biennial State Convention

The 98th Biennial AOH New York State Convention Logo


     The New York State Board of The Ancient Order of Hibernians has announced that they will hold their 98th Biennial State Convention July 8th - 12th at The Long Island Marriott Hotel and Convention Center in Uniondale, NY.

The Long Island Marriott in Uniondale, New York

     The 4 day event will welcome AOH members from Buffalo to Montauk and all points in between.  There are currently over 16,000 Hibernians in the State of New York.

Current AOH New York State President James Burke (center)

     The convention will feature focus groups and workshops that will focus on Irish and Irish-American subjects and issues.  There will also be an election where delegates will select a new State President as well as other state officers.  Jim Burke, from Nassau County, is the current State President and will be completing a successful 2 year term.


Members of Division One always enjoy The New York State Convention
    
     Of course, all work and no play makes for a dull event.  There will be plenty of fun and enjoyable activities during the convention.  Delegates will be able to take part in a golf outing, as well as a night time cruise with live music.



For more information, please visit the 2015 Convention Website at:

 www.nyaoh2015.com



Or email the convention committee at:

2015convention@nassauaoh.com
 
                                         
Friday, June 5, 2015

The Commodore John Barry Memorial Medal Program 2015



Hibernians Announce Recipients of Annual Catholic Scholastic Medal Award

Commodore John Barry "Father of The United States Navy"

     The Ancient Order of Hibernians, Myles Scully-Division #1 of Yonkers is proud to announce the winners of The Commodore John Barry Memorial Medal for 2015.  The award is made available to all Catholic Elementary Schools in The City of Yonkers. The award is named after Commodore John Barry, an Irish emigrant who lived to become known as The Father of The United States Navy.

The AOH dedicated The Commodore Barry Memorial in Annapolis in 2014

     Commodore Barry received Navy Commission #1 from President George Washington in 1798, making him the first flag officer of the newly formed U.S. Navy.  The Commodore Barry Medal is awarded to a graduating student who has excelled in U.S. History/Social Studies.  The award consists of a certificate of merit along with a medal which is worn around the neck.

     The awards will be presented to each student at their school graduation ceremonies beginning the week of June 12th.


Congratulations to this years winners!

Sacred Heart School - Michael Barrett

St. Ann’s School - Jena Guilfoyle

St. John the Baptist School - Angela Ramoni

St. Anthony’s School - Jacqueline Feehan

St. Peter’s School - Rickay Channer

St. Paul the Apostle School - Julianna Miro

St. Eugene’s School - Anthony Nicolas Delfino Goncalves



Monday, June 1, 2015

President's Message June 2015



PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

Division One President Kevin Ellis







June 2015 


Brothers,

     The month of June is traditionally the unofficial end of our Division’s “active” season, (there are no meetings in July and August) and this is also the time when I look back and reflect on what we have accomplished as a group since we convened last September.  I can not properly express in word my pride and admiration of the hard work and dedication that was displayed by our members this year.  You all should be very proud of yourselves!  I have a few things to mention from this past month.

     Our Annual Charity Golf Outing was a tremendous success once again!  If all reports are correct, this years outing will be the most successful in our Division’s history.  The event will have raised just over $30,000! This is due to our members who worked so hard all year.  A special note of congratulations goes to our Past Division President and Golf Committee Chairman Tom Allison, who has managed to increase the amount of money raised each and every year.  Tom is stepping down as golf chairman this year, and I along with the entire Division membership owe him a huge debt of gratitude.  Well Done Tom!  Dennis O’Brien will be taking over the golf committee, and we wish him great success.  Dennis will know that he has our complete support going forward.

     The AOH Westchester County Board held its Convention at the Brazen Fox on May 19th.  Aidan O’Kelly Lynch has returned for a second term as County President, and I was humbled to have been chosen to serve as County Vice-President.  I look forward to working with Aidan and the rest of the board to further our organizations goals in Westchester County.  Thanks to all of the Division One members who attended the installation ceremony!

     June has only a few events and items that need to be covered.  The AOH along with other Irish organizations in the NYC area will hold commemorative ceremonies marking the 100th Anniversary of the death of Irish Patriot Jeremiah O’Donovan Rossa.  Events will include a Gaelic Football Tournament in conjunction with the GAA, as well as a mass and ceremonies in Staten Island. Details will be provided at our membership meeting June 3rd.

     The other big event will be the 98th Biennial AOH New York State Convention that is scheduled for July 8-12 in Uniondale, New York.  I know that several members from Division One will be attending the convention.  Those members attending the convention must make sure that I have their names so I can secure enough delegate credentials.  Please let me know if you are going as soon as possible. 

     The Tara Court Major Degree Team will exemplify The Major Degree of our Order at the Convention on Saturday, July 11th at 10:00am.  Our Division unfortunately has many members who are in need of their Major Degree.  I will have registration forms available.  Please do not miss this important opportunity to achieve your major degree!

     In conclusion, I would like to thank our outgoing NYS District #4 Director Mike Flynn for his service over the past 2 years.  Mike has always been a great supporter of Division #1.  Well Done Mike!

     I also would like to wish our good member Dave Miller farewell and good luck as he will be retiring and moving to Florida this summer.  Florida’s gain is truly our loss!  Dave has been a tremendous Hibernian and friend to everyone here.  Good Luck Dave and remember you are always welcome back to New York on St. Patrick’s Day to help carry our banner!


     I wish you and your family a very enjoyable and relaxing summer.  See you in September!


Yours in our Motto,


Kevin Ellis, President
Division One, Yonkers


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