Seeking Old Photos and Stories of Irish-Americans in Western WA
By JOHN KEANE
SEATTLE - I am collecting photos and stories of the Irish in western Washington with a view to having them published in a book. The development of the Puget Sound region is relatively recent, with Seattle's Pioneers arriving in 1851, and Seattle being founded in 1852, a scant 153 years ago.
Irish people – some Irish by birth, some Irish by descent – were involved in the development of western Washington from the very start, and have contributed every decade up until the present day. But the information on those older Irish has never been collected and published, and it's time to change that before the information and the photos all disappear.
If you have information and especially photos about anybody Irish-born or Irish-American who came to western Washington before the 1960s, whether they arrived in the 1850s or in the 1950s or in between, I'd love to hear from you.
The ideal older photos are formal, posed shots, like those taken at weddings, etc., and they are much better than the small snapshots, but even small snapshots can sometimes be copied. However, the stories are equally important and deserve to be recorded for posterity. For more information, please email me at j.f.keane@gte.net, or call me at (425) 290-7839.
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