Waking the Tree

Washington DC

2 ITEMS

James Henry Brintzinghoffer Stories

1840-1886. Patrick Hassett: A Sapper from Clare

Patrick Hassett, my 2nd great-grandfather, was born around 1840 in County Clare, Ireland. The population of Clare peaked in the year after his birth – 286,394 souls. By the time he left, 42% of that population was lost to famine or emigration. Just a year after coming to America, he was among the first to…
Margaret Teresa Costello Stories

1903-1997. Margaret Teresa Costello

My grandmother, Margaret Teresa Costello, was born to John J. Costello, a blacksmith, and Honora Brown in Newark, NJ on the 3rd of August 1903. Her father would died of kidney failure when she was not yet 3 years old, and she grew up in her mother’s boarding house on Plum St. in Newark.