Martin Munroe's Papers - Michael J. and Sadie

This picture is of Michael John Munroe and
his sister Sarah (Aunt Sadie) taken in
Akron, OH in the 1950s

michael munroe wrote on 9/15/2007:
I asked about Sadie because one of the great sadnesses of my father was that my Grandad reported making a bonfire of Martin Munroe's personal papers after his death. I don't know if any further explanation was ever given for the motivation for the bonfire.

[Munroe's of Galway and Delaware p.4] ". . .So much that we do not know might have been revealed to us had my father not made a bonfire of his father’s (Martin’s) papers when he and his sister Sadie were moving out ofthe family home after his father’s death.[7]. . ."

[Munroe's of Galway and Delaware p.16] ". . . My father was a good steady worker after he grew up, and he never missed a day’s work, however ill he might feel, if he could drag himself out of the house in the morning. Being male, he was allowed privileges, particularly as he grew up and became, as he did, the financial mainstay of the family in his father’s old age.

The two men talked a lot apparently, since my stories of Martin came mainly from my father. After all, for twelve years, from Bridget’s death in 1898 to Martin’s in 1910, they lived together, the only two men in the house, though there was always at least one girl there as housekeeper—Kate, until her marriage, and Sadie throughout this period.

Only occasionally did a story regarding Martin’s temper slip from my father, as, for example, on an occasion when my son Stephen made a remark I considered insolent and I raised my hand to strike him. "Don’t do that, John," my father interrupted. "The boy is too big for that. My father hit Pat and he ran away. . ."

[ footnote Munroe's of Galway and Delaware p.24] 7. Martin’s Letters from his brothers, his passport, and his naturalization papers were all destroyed in this fire."

It could have been a desire for finality, or could indicate how difficult he had been during his lifetime, I really don't have any indication at all.

However, since my Grandfather was not one to keep a lot of paper around, and as I doubt that he could have suspected, at that time, that he would have a son with a great interest in history, - it could have been much like school children making a bonfire of their school papers at the completition of a term. . ."

michael munroe