The Gallaghers of Ballinrobe

ENTER AUNT CATHERINE
Aunt Catherine's mother, Kate Heraty, was born
near Croagh Patrick in County Mayo, Ireland, in 1879.
After immigrating to America, she married William E.
Oliver on Nov. 24, 1909, at the Church of the Nativity in
Media, Pa. William had been born in Mount Vernon, N.Y.,
on June 23, 1871. He was a barber and Kate a seamstress at
the time of the wedding. Both were living in Elwyn,
Delaware County, Pa., before the marriage.
Their third child, Aunt Catherine, was born April
29, 1913. Her early years were hard ones for the family.
Her father took sick a few years after she was born and
would eventually be hospitalized with paralysis for several
years before he died April 22, 1921. Catherine and her
older brother and sister, William and Patricia, lived with
nearby relatives for a time before their mother was remarried,
to Angel Rodriquez, who had emigrated from
Santander, Spain, in 1916. The new marriage helped
stabilize the family, and Patricia and Catherine were able to
return home. But by that time William had gone to stay
with the family of Kate’s mother, Mary (Connor), near
Westport, Ireland. Kate and Ange would have two children
together, Edward and Joseph. The family would soon move
into the City of Philadelphia, living on Perk Street by 1930.
The standard of living for Aunt Catherine and her
family gradually improved during the 1920s and 1930s, and
by 1935, the family moved to 1011 47th St. As a young
woman, Aunt Catherine enjoyed spending time with her
girlfriends. She especially enjoyed taking trips with them to
Atlantic City, N.J., which was among the most popular
resorts in the country. Around 1940, mutual friends
introduced her to Pat Gallagher of Cornaroya.
Uncle Pat and Aunt Catherine married Jan. 4,
1941. Uncle Tom was the best man. The wedding party
included Aunt Catherine’s sister Patricia, her brother
William and her favorite cousin, Marie Heraty. After the
wedding, Aunt Catherine’s mother threw a party for the
newly married couple. Their daughter, Mary Kathryn, can
remember being told it snowed that night and that most of
the party-goers had to spend the night at her grandmother’s
house.
The couple would move to Aunt Catherine’s
mother’s 47th Street home soon after the marriage. The
plan was for Uncle Pat to fix up the large house, while his
mother-in-law and Ange moved to 515 Van Kirk St. in
Philadelphia. It was during that time that Uncle Pat would
have had to register for the military draft. The Selective
Service card lists his address as 212 Greenwich St. in
Philadelphia, but that was crossed out and 47th Street
inserted. The card shows he could always be reached at the
nearest pay phone, at the northwest corner of Second and
Tasker.
Uncle Pat became a U.S. citizen on April 17,
1942, the day after he joined the military.
THE SEABEES, MARY KATHRYN
Uncle Pat, at left in
his official U.S.
Navy photo and
above having some
fun while deployed
in the South Pacific,
served overseas
from Oct. 20, 1943,
until July 30, 1945.
In March 1942, as America was ramping up for
war in the wake of the Pearl Harbor attack, the Navy
formed an outfit called the Seabees. The construction
battalions consisted of tradesmen who could be deployed
individually or in units as the specific project’s scope and
scale dictated. The Seabees received their basic training
with the U.S. Marine Corps, and some Seabees would often
accompany landing forces. Uncle Pat liked to tell his nieces
and nephews the Seabees were the ones who would have
the coffee and donuts waiting for the marines when they
landed.
Uncle Pat would have cut an impressive figure in
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