1. Joseph McGarrity was an Irish-American political activist best known for his leadership in Clan na Gael in America and his support of Irish Republicanism back in Ireland.
23 Facts About Joseph McGarrity
1. 2.
Joseph McGarrity's family grew up in poverty, motivating his need to immigrate later in life.
3.
Joseph McGarrity grew hearing his father discussing Irish politics, including topics such as the Fenians, the Irish Parliamentary Party, and Irish Home Rule.
4.
Joseph McGarrity immigrated to the United States in 1892 at the age of 18.
5.
Joseph McGarrity is reputed to have walked to Dublin before boarding a cattle boat to Liverpool disguised as a drover, and then sailing to America using a ticket belonging to someone else.
6.
Joseph McGarrity settled in 4900 Wynfield Ave West Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and became successful in the liquor business; however, his business failed on three occasions, twice due to embezzlement by his business partner.
7.
Clan na Gael had been heavily involved with the Fenian Brotherhood that Joseph McGarrity had grown up hearing about, and by the latter half of the 19th century had become a sister organisation of the Irish Republican Brotherhood.
8.
In July 1914 Joseph McGarrity became Chairman of the American Volunteer Fund.
9.
Joseph McGarrity was the founder of the Philadelphia chapter of Clan Na Gael.
10.
When Eamon de Valera arrived in the US in 1919 they struck up an immediate rapport and Joseph McGarrity managed de Valera's tour of the US.
11.
Joseph McGarrity persuaded de Valera of the benefits of supporting him and the Philadelphia branch against the New York branch of the Friends of Irish Freedom organisation led by John Devoy and Judge Daniel F Cohalan.
12.
Joseph McGarrity became president of the American Association for the Recognition of the Irish Republic.
13.
Joseph McGarrity christened his newborn son Eamon de Valera McGarrity, although their relationship became strained upon De Valera's entry back into Dail Eireann in the Irish Free State.
14.
Joseph McGarrity was opposed to the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921.
15.
Devoy and Cohalan resisted this but Joseph McGarrity saw the Clan's connection with the IRB as vital.
16.
Joseph McGarrity did not support the founding of Fianna Fail in 1926 and opposed the party's entry into the Dail in 1927.
17.
In 1933 Joseph McGarrity was left almost bankrupt after he was found guilty of "false bookkeeping entries".
18.
Joseph McGarrity's livelihood was saved when he became one of the main ticket agents in the US for the Irish Hospitals' Sweepstake.
19.
Joseph McGarrity was a personal friend of Joe McGrath, one of the founders of the Sweepstake.
20.
The sweepstakes allowed Joseph McGarrity to turn his fortunes back around.
21.
Joseph McGarrity is alleged to have met Hermann Goring in Berlin in 1939 to ask for aid for the IRA, which led indirectly to "Plan Kathleen".
22.
Joseph McGarrity was a lifelong friend of fellow Carrickmore native and avid Republican, Patrick McCartan.
23.
Joseph McGarrity remained an unrepentant physical force republican all his life.