The next Irish genealogy roundtable at the Maine Irish Heritage Center will be Saturday, August 4, 2012, 10AM to 2PM...bring your genealogy, photos, lunch, whatever....come one, come all!

AOH MASS AT WESTERN CEMETERY

The Ancient Order of Hibernians will host their 14th annual Mass atthe Famine Memorial in the Catholic Ground at the Western Cemetery (Portland)on Sunday, August 12, 2012, at 1 PM. A reception will follow at St. Patrick'sChurch on Congress Street.
The Famine Memorial stone was dedicated in August 1999 by the localAOH to honor the more than 1,200 Irish Catholics buried on the Catholic Ground,most without headstones The service will also remember an Gorta Mor, the Great Hunger, the Irish potato famine in Ireland(1845-51), in which at least 1.2 million Irish perished due to hunger anddisease. This famine was in actuality an "artificial" famine broughton by callous landlords, corrupt and apathetic British bureaucrats, and anextremely inefficient land system.
Most of the Catholics buried in the Catholic Ground were famineemigrants or their children, who died during the "Famine Decade" of1845-1855. They were mostly all communicants of nearby St. Dominic's Church(now the Maine Irish Heritage Center) where more than 500 Irish emigrantsjoined the church in "Black '47," the worse year of the Great Hunger.

The Maine Irish Heritage Center (MIHC), the old St. Dominic Catholic Church, has been quite busy, as usual! DNA testing and analysis, aiding genealogists and local historians, genealogy roundtables, cohosting the Saltwater Celtic Musical Festival, guided historic walks of the West End...these are just some of the things that have been going on here at the center!

Portland AOH

Ancient Order of Hibernians, Div. 1 Portland, prepping for St. Paddy's Day Parade in the West End

The Daniel O’Connell O’Donoughue Div

Division 1, Portland, Maine

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

June 2012 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       The next regular monthly meeting of Division 1 will take place on Monday, June 4th,   at 7:30 PM at Saint Patrick’s Church on Congress Street (near the West Gate Shopping Center) in Portland. The meeting will be held in the room below the church where the Knights of Columbus hold their meetings.  There is an entrance on the corner of the church near the shopping center. Parking is available in the back. Our July meeting will be held on Monday, July 9th, at St. Patrick’s Church.                                        

If you need to contact us:

      

Mail being sent to the division should be addressed to; Division 1, AOH, PO Box 1811, Portland, ME 04104. If you prefer you can contact the division by

email at divoneaoh@cs.com or the Division President at mjudebark@gmail.com or at 207-761-7912. The new president is Matthew Jude Barker, PO Box 8421, Portland, ME, 04104.