Elizabeth Creely is a writer, and public historian who lives in San Francisco’s Mission District. She has explored almost every type of environment California has to offer: urban, coastal, riverine, grassland, desert and montane.
She works for the Consulate General of Ireland, is occasionally a contributing writer to Mission Local, a bilingual, local independent online news site that covers the Mission District of San Francisco and a member of the San Francisco Department of Memory, which produces the annual city-wide event, San Francisco History Days.
This blog features an new essay (hopefully) every two to three months (and perhaps longer during a shit-tastic years like 2020). I like quality more than quantity, and try to write substantive, research-based and highly personal essays that reflect the best of my conversations, childhood memories, discoveries and reflections of California.
What’s Dinnshenchas mean, you ask? It’s a type of place-naming literature from early Irish literary culture. This blog takes its cues from the concerns of the original poems and prose of the metrical Dindshenchas: naming place, person and thing with an eye to understanding the mythic.
Etain of the bright country was bourne
to the West, though proud was her birth…
Rath Esa, stanza 90
Poems from the Dindshenchas: Text, translation, and vocabulary
edited by Edward Gwynn
Elizabeth Creely 
Elizabeth, I noticed this on the Orange County Historical Society website: “Nov-67 Reminiscences in the Book Business – Bunster Creely.” Would you happen to know if this lecture – I assume – is in among your grandfather’s personal papers ?
Thank you. Jonathan Starr in Los Angeles.
Jonathan, can you send me the link? I have some of his papers here and some down south.
Hello Elizabeth,
I am writing a book about my aunts and uncles who emigrated from West Cork, Ireland to SF in the early 1900s and I want to access information about about what life was like in SF from 1910 to 1940, especially for the Irish.
I’d be grateful if you could recommend any books or articles that would be helpful
Many thanks in advance for any help you can give
Con
Elizabeth,
I was born in July 1953 in San Francisco to Robert Vincent and Margaret Creely at St. Joseph’s hospital, like my 5 siblings.
My grandfather, George, was the last of 7 children born to James and Mary Creely. I believe these were also your greatgrandparents. Sketchy. I heard but bits and pieces growing up in the bay area.
I’ve read some of your writing.
I’d love to hear more and, perhaps, meet sometime.
Thank you for your research.
Michael
Hey, cousin! 🙂 Indeed, this is our family I’m referring to. So happy you found this and are checking in! I’d love to meet you sometime as well. Do you ever get up to the Bay Area?
I’ll send my contact info to your email. Let’s chat.
Elizabeth,
I recently read your “Shamrock Isle at the Panama Pacific International Exposition and the end of the Irish Village” and very much enjoyed it. Well written and carefully researched. Helpful too because there seems to be little info out there about the SF Irish Village. Very good of you to give comparisons between the Irish Villages in Chicago & St. Louis.
I’m doing research on people who played the Irish bagpipes, now known as uilleann pipes. One or two of them supposedly played at the Irish Village at the Panama-Pacific Exposition. Did you come across any mention of Tom Ennis, Pat Touhey [in San Francisco] or any other pipers?
All the best,
Nick Whitmer
Ithaca NY
Nick, thank you for your kind words! I appreciate them. It’s true that there is not much that’s been written about that particular village, but it’s an interesting example, particulary given the historic moment and global tensions of that era. Off the top of my head, I don’t recall either Pat Touhey or Tom Ennis being mentioned as appearing at the Shamrock Isle, but that doesn’t mean they didn’t-there is no ephemera I’ve been able to locate from the SI, and all of the info I have comes from newspaper accounts. The Bancroft Library has one very slim file on the SI, with nothing of substance in it.If I find anything, I will certainly let you know. Again, thank you.
Hello Elizabeth
I am researching sculptures in churches with unusual face coverings. I found your photo taken at Hogsthorpe church. Please can I have your permission to use your photo in my article which will be published in the Friends of York Minster Annual Report. There is a similar carving in the Chapter House in York Minster. You also state in your article that there are twenty such carvings in England. Where did you get that information?
I hope you will give me permission to use the photo.
Thanks
Paul
York Minster tour guide
Paul, absolutely you can use my photo! So glad you came across it. It’s inside St. Mary’s in Hogsthorpe. As far as the fact of twenty similar carvings, I’m fairly certain the church warden told me that…if you find differently, let me know and I’ll edit the post …i’m afraid I took his word for it!
Thanks for your interest. Would absolutely love to visit York and the Minster someday.
Warm regards and happy Christmas.
Hello Elizabeth –
I’m seeking to trace my Irish lineage, and have a few clues at the moment. It seems my grandmother, Margaret Welch, was born to mother Mary Olive Creely (husband to J. Creely?), and Olive Creely was born to a mother whose maiden name was Harrigan. Is this your family tree? Hoping to get some solid answers on names, as well as where in Ireland the Creely’s and Harrigan’s might have come from!
Thanks in advance,
Joe Dart
Hi, there! Yep, you are in the right place! This is my family tree and this blog is a place I park my stories about our Creely/McCarty family. First off, Olive Mary Creely was born to Edward John Creely and his wife Margaret Harrigan Creely. Working from memory, I think Olive married a Mr. Welch and had at least two daughters, including your grandmother, I guess!
The Creely’s were from South Armagh and left in 1849 and were in CA by 1851. The McCarty’s were from Cork and would have left at the same time. Not sure about the Harrigan’s but the 1900 US Census record has the date of departure for individuals..
Where are you? If you want to email me, drop me a line at creely12@gmail.com. Good to hear from you!