The Gallaghers of Ballinrobe

Young John O'Brien served as an altar boy at St. Paul's Church. At right, he and Patsy are with their mother, sitting
on the ledge of the fountain at the Josephine Gardens in Wilmington's Brandywine Park.
Florida signaled the end of their travels. Soon after Patsy
was born in 1939, Aunt Delia had had enough of moving,
and the family settled briefly in Stanton, Del. Patsy was
baptized in the nearby Josephite mission church. A son
John was born on Christmas Eve in 1940, by which time
the young family had moved to an apartment in a house on
Fourth Street in Wilmington.
A very early memory from Patsy comes from
when she was walking home from Mass at St. Anthony's in
Wilmington with her father. As they passed a nursing home,
there were bells ringing and 3-year-old Patsy asked why.
“Oh, they're just angels ringing the bells in Heaven,” Uncle
Mike explained. When they got home, they found Aunt
Delia in tears. She told them she had just gotten word that
one of her parents had died back in Ireland. (Patsy is not
sure if it was her grandfather or grandmother, but both
passed in 1942.) Right away, Patsy says, she connected the
death with the angels' bells and shared that with Aunt Delia.
“I remember my mother picking me up and hugging me,”
she says. It was a comfort for Aunt Delia.
In 1943, the O’Brien family bought a splendid
three-story house at 610 N. Van Buren St. The home would
become at least a temporary residence for Uncle Tom, who
initially stayed with Uncle Pete after arriving from Ireland
in 1940, and Aunt Ann in 1949. It is possible Uncle Jim
lived across the street, at 611 N. Van Buren, in late 1949 or
early 1950. That was the home of Mary Mahan, another
native of County Mayo. She lived there with her brother
Thomas, a blacksmith’s helper, and rented rooms to
augment their income. Plenty of Irish immigrants settled in
the area.
In those early days of the Gallagher family
reuniting in Delaware, Aunt Delia eagerly welcomed each
new arrival at her home. Patsy can remember sharing a
room with Aunt Ann. She also recalls Uncle Jim visiting
frequently and often sitting on the porch with her father.
Uncle Jim was there that first Christmas looking on in
amused wonder as Patsy played with a rag-doll gift from
her mother that was as big as the 10-year-old recipient.
“I think my mother was so good,” Patsy
remembered about those days on Van Buren Street. “She
never got excited about things. She was steady at the helm.
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