Ireland--Our Land

 For the past couple of weeks I have been posting about a collection of dresses from the early twentieth century at the Sutherland Springs Museum. This week's post is more about the two women who may have worn the dresses: Gertrude Teresa Kickham Kendrick and her daughter, Mary Elizabeth "Mae" Kendrick Hodges.

Gertrude Teresa Kickham was born in Mullinahone, Tipperary, Ireland 25 March 1843. One genealogy source says that she was the inspiration for the poem "St. John's Eve," written by her uncle Charles Kickham an Irish revolutionary, novelist, poet, journalist and one of the most prominent members of the Irish Republican Brotherhood. Gertrude's daughter, Mary Elizabeth remembers her Uncle Charles visiting Texas. This must have been sometime between 1875 and 1882, the year that Charles died. Here's the poem, "St. John's Eve" --

Yes, Gertrude, I remember well
That St. John's Eve, three years ago,
When, as the slanting sunbeams fell
Across the mountains all aglow,
Upon the lonely bridge we turned
To watch the roseate, russet hue,
Till faint and fainter still it burned
As if 'twere quenched by falling dew.

Then up the sloping hill we clomb,
And backward looked with pensive eyes,
Along the vale, our own sweet home,
The dearest spot beneath the skies ;
Dear for the golden hours that were
When life's glad morn all radiant shone,
Fondly dear for loved ones there,

The sun glides down behind the hill ;
The shadows deepen while we gaze ;
The chapel, the Old Home, the mill,
Are hidden in the twilight haze.
The wayside shepherd on the height
Waits our approach, nor seems to heed
His vagrant flock throng out of sight —
Adown the winding road they speed.

Deep learn'd was he in Gaelic lore,
And loved to talk of days gone by;
(A saddening theme, those days of yore !)
And still he turned with sparkling eye
From Druid rites and Christian fane,
From champion bold and monarch grand,
To tell of fray and foray when
His sires were princes in the land.

When to the Well-mile bridge we came,
You pointed where the moonbeams white
Silvered the stream ; when, lo ! a flame,
A wavy flame of ruddy light,
Leaped up, the farmyard fence above,
And, while his children's shout rang high,
His cows the farmer slowly drove
Across the blaze, he knew not why.

Soon round the vale— above, below,
And high upon the blue hills' brows
The bonfires shine with steady glow,
Or blink through screening orchard boughs.
And now, in my lone dismal cell,
While I that starry scene recall —
The fields, the hills, the sheltered dell—
I close my eyes and see them all.

My dear-loved land must it be mine
No more, except in dreams, to see ?
Yet think not, friends, that I repine
At my sad fate — if sad it be.
Think not the captive weakly pines,
That from his soul all joy hath flown.
Oh, no ! the 'solemn starlight' shines
As brightly as it ever shone.

And though I've had my share of pain,
And sunken is my cheek and pale.
Yet, Gertrude, were it ours again
On St. John's Eve, in Compsey vale,
While loitering by the Anner stream 
They to view the mountain's purple dome
Waiting to see the bonfires gleam
All round our quiet hill-clasped home —

We'd talk of bygone blissful hours —
And oh ! what blissful hours I've known !
It was a world of smiles and flowers,
That little home-world of our own.
And happy thoughts each heart would fill —
What else but happy could we be,
While Hope stood smiling on the hill
And in the valley, Memory ?

In 1875 she married John Kane Hendrick, who had just returned from military service in the United States. He had emigrated to the U. S. some time around 1855, serving in U.S. 5th Cavalry for 15 years, both in Camp Cooper in West Texas, and under Gen U. S. Grant at Appomattox. In 1870 he retired from the military and returned to Ireland. There he married Gertrude, and brought her to live in Stockdale, Texas. They had three children: Mary Elizabeth, Angela, and Veronica. John died in 1883, only a couple of years after their third child was born. The circumstances surrounding his death are unclear. One source purports he was murdered by an imposter Catholic priest, who served as priest at St.Mary's Church in Stockdale around 1882-85. In 1885 the church was notified in writing that Rev. Daine was an impostor and should no longer be allowed to perform the duties of the priest. John was buried Palm Cemetery, Stockdale, Texas.After her husband died, Gertrude returned to Ireland with her children, living in Blackrock, where her Uncle Charles also lived. She returned to Texas sometime before 1900, when she purchased the old Tiner Place. She died in Sutherland Springs in 1904 and is buried in the Palm Cemetery in Stockdale. 

The Sutherland Springs Historical Musuem has a letter from Kathleen O'Mullally in Tipperary, Ireland to Mary Elizabeth Hendrick Hodges in Sutherland Springs, Texas.

 The black border around the letter indicates that the writer of the letter is in mourning about the death of a loved one.

Here is a transcript of the letter

 One source reports that Jack Jackson in his book, The Soloman B. Jackson Family in Wilson County, Texas, says that "a number of letters written from Brooklyn and Dublin by John and his wife Gertrude have survived." It would be wonderful to read those letters and know a little more of the amazing story.

          Mae's story will be continued in the next blog.