On 8 August 1923, Margaret and Johanna Power of Rock Street, Tralee, Co. Kerry, Ireland, were "detained in military custody" by the Minister for Defense under the Public Safety Act of 1923. The two sisters were sent to Kilmainham Jail in Dublin, along with others from all over Ireland. Of those detained, it was declared "that the public safety would be endangered by the prisoners being set at liberty." Margaret and Johanna were active members of the Cumann na mBan, the women’s auxiliary of the Irish Republican Army; they were distant cousins of mine. I happened upon their story as I was researching the Slattery line of my heritage.

A Clue in a Will
Daniel T. Slattery, my immigrant ancestor, came from Ireland to America in 1882. He lived in New York City, where he worked as a butcher. As was typical of the Irish who emigrated, Daniel stayed in touch with his family in Ireland. My link to the Power family came through locating Daniel’s will, proved in 1948 in Queens County, New York. Daniel continued his habit of sending money home to Ireland even after his death: In his will, he left a bequest to his sister, Sister Mary Dominic Slattery of Presentation Convent, Tralee, Co. Kerry. It was in these records that I discovered that Daniel had been born in Tralee.

Having learned this vital piece of information—Daniel’s place of origin in Ireland—I began searching Irish records, building a picture of the Slattery family in Tralee. In the annals of Presentation Convent, Sister Dominic was listed as the daughter of Thomas Slattery and Margaret Kissane, born in 1865 in Tralee, and baptized at St. John’s Roman Catholic church. Sister Dominic passed away at age ninety-six. Present at her death was an M. Power of Rock Street, Tralee.

Letter to Ireland
I wrote to this M. Power at Rock Street. The reply was very long in coming. The Irish generally do not move around their country the way Americans do; they tend to remain in the place their family has always lived, which gives them an identity as "the Slatterys of Tralee," as opposed to, say, "the Slatterys of Cork City." The letter was passed from the present owners at Rock Street to the Power relations in Ballyvelly, Tralee. The current residents of Rock Street knew the Power family because they had lived in Tralee for generations, as had the Powers.

John Power of Tralee responded to my letter, stating that he was a cousin to M. Power and that he had known Sister Dominic Slattery as well. Sister Dominic was the sister (and Daniel T. Slattery the brother) of Catherine Slattery, who married Patrick Power; Catherine and Patrick were Margaret and Johanna Power’s parents. Sister Dominic and Margaret were aunt and niece.

Visiting Tralee a year later, my family and I met with John Power and his wife in the old Power residence in Ballyvelly. To our delight, John’s wife brought out the family scrapbook, filled with Slattery and Power memorabilia. Here I learned the story of the Power sisters and their involvement in the Civil Uprising of 1922 and their father’s leading role in the establishment of the Land League and Gaelic Athletic Association in County Kerry. Original family papers included Margaret and Johanna’s arrest paper and a handwritten copy of Margaret’s "If Winter Comes: Memories of Kilmainham and the North Dublin Union," describing her stay in that notorious jail.

The Cumann na mBan
The organization to which the Powers sisters belonged, the Cumann na mBan, was a strong force in Kerry. The organization supported the independence movement by dispensing food and drink to the men, conveying dispatches and arms, purchasing guns and ammunition, and warning the volunteers of impending danger. The women established and staffed a mobile first aid station, and they sent food and clothing to those captured and sent to prisons. The women of the Cumann na mBan became the eyes and ears of revolutionary Ireland.

"Our mode of transportation to Kilmainham," Margaret reminisced in her memoir, "was an open lorry [truck], and as night had fallen on our arrival there, we had no idea what the outside of our new abode looked like. When we got inside, the interior looked grim and foreboding, and our spirits by now were sinking to zero. . . . We spent, in all, about six weeks in Kilmainham."

Kilmainham Jail
The jail had been officially opened in August 1792, and within a few months of opening it had held eight prisoners charged with high treason against King George III. Inmates over the years included the United Irishmen of the 1798 Uprising, the Young Irelanders of 1848, the Fenians of the 1860s, the Land Leaguers and the Invincibles of the 1880s, prisoners of the Easter Uprising of 1916, and those involved in the Civil Unrest of the 1920s. In 1916, the signers of the Proclamation of the Republic and all the leaders, with two exceptions, were shot by firing squad in the stone-breaking yard of the prison. This led to the Civil Uprising, in which the Power sisters were arrested, and the division of Ireland in 1922. One of the last prisoners to be held within the gray stone walls in 1923 was Eamon De Valera, later to become president of the Republic of Ireland. Kilmainham formally closed its doors in 1929, to be reopened as Kilmainham Gaol Museum on Easter 1966.

A trip to Dublin with my family was highlighted by a tour of Kilmainham Jail. Over the jail’s imposing gate is a striking bronze sculpture, The Five Devils of Kilmainham, which shows the demons of Crime being restrained by the chains of Law and Order. Thick stone walls create a dark, dank interior; the entire effect is one of gloom and despair.

On 28 February 1968, Margaret Power, who had become a National School Inspector, died in Tralee. The obituary in John Power’s scrapbook read: "A keen nationalist . . . she was the daughter of Patrick Power, a Fenian and Land Leaguer . . . she was co-editor and proprietor of The Invincible, a type-written newssheet produced during the Troubled Times by her and her sister, Johanna Power, and others."

Following the Path
We genealogists and family historians are keen to unravel the mysteries of the past, never quite knowing where the search may lead. By taking a clue and following its path, I was able to piece together the fabric of my Irish ancestors’ lives, and some of Ireland’s troubled history has taken on a more personal meaning for me and my family now. Learning about our ancestors’ world and visiting places that were important in their lives make their histories even more immediate.

For Further Reading
Kelly, Freida. A History of Kilmainham Gaol, The Dismal House of Little Ease. Dublin: Mercier Press, 1988.

Kilmainham, The Bastille of Ireland. 1961. Reprint. Dublin: Kilmainham Jail Restoration Society, 1982.

Kilmainham Jail address:
Kilmainham Gaol and Museum
Inchicore Road, Kilmainham
Dublin 8, Ireland, (01) 535984
Open for tours by appointment.

Suzanne McVetty is a professional genealogist specializing in Irish, New York City, and Long Island research. She is also a consultant, lecturer, and teacher of genealogy. She is a founding member and president-elect of the Genealogical Speaker’s Guild; past editor of the Board for Certification of Genealogists Newsletter; and a 1991 recipient of the Grahame T. Smallwood, Jr. Award of Merit from the Association of Professional Genealogists.