Social Notes Freeport
"Patrick Touhey ... has sold his home on North Bayview ave. ... will leave in September to tour the country with his show."
Long Island Daily Press Aug. 17, 1922 p. 8 column 6
Fultonhistory.com newspaper index

Touhey house at 117 North Bayview Ave., Freeport, sold to Arthur H. Kerns and wife, Sep. 5, 1922. Nassau County Liber Deeds vol. 740 pp. 57-59, deed 20091.
The house was purchased August 6, 1919, see above.
Presumably from here the Touheys moved to 1175 Grand Concourse, Bronx, NY where Pat Touhey was living at time of death. See probate proceedings, March 26, 1923, below.
-----

1175 Grand Concourse, The Bronx, circa 1940. From NYC tax records, and from the internet, through Barry O'Neill, Dec. 2018.

1175 Grand Concourse, Bronx, NY is at the south west corner of the intersection of Grand Concourse and East 167 St.
More than one real estate Website alleges that the existing building at 1175 Grand Concourse was built in 1922. If so, it was a new and well-appointed apartment house when he lived there.
Apartments.com
www. realtor.com
Accessed Sep. 2018
This building is just outside of the border of the Grand Concourse Historic District.
"For nearly half a century, having a residential address on, or in proximity to, the Grand Concourse was a strong indicator of success."
Most, Jennifer L. Grand Concourse Historic District Designation Report October 25, 2011 NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission p. 5
http://s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/lp/2403.pdf

Jackson Chabot told me about the Historic District and the Designation Report, Dec. 2018.
-----

NYC Chateau Hall Nov. 11, 1922
Glenamaddy Ball This Saturday Night
'Preparations for the annual ball of the Glenamaddy Men are now "all set." ...
'Dr. James E. Cuffe, Palmer's School of Chiropractic, Davenport, Iowa, as a pupil of Patsey Tuohy, of Kiltimagh, Co. Mayo, will be present to meet many friends, who wish him success.
'The music for Irish exhibition competitions and American music is by Prof. P. J. McNamara; Irish dance music by Eddie Burke, the Cloonfad piper.'
NY Advocate Nov. 11, 1922 p. 2 column 4
Fultonhistory.com newspaper index

Our man? No. An email from Michael Kelly April 21, 2023:

Incidentally one of the dancing judges on the night was Dr. James E. Cuffe, Palmer's School of Chiropractic, Davenport, Iowa, 'a pupil of Patsey Tuohy, of Kiltimagh, Co. Mayo'. The reporter ([James A.] Hayden presumably) obviously had piper Touhey on the brain! There was indeed a famous dynasty of dancing masters named Tuohy of Kiltimagh whose pupils included fiddler Michael Coleman (and my own father back in 1926!) but there was no Patsey or Patsy in that family.

Kiltimagh is not near Pat Touhey's birthplace in Galway.
-----

Death of Patsy Tuohy Irish Piper
"We regret to have to record the death of Patrick Joseph Tuohey, the celebrated Irish piper. Prof. Tuohey was a native of Galway and made his name a household word in and off the stage in this country. He lived for a good many years in Jersey City and lately moved to the Bronx. He was the greatest Irish bagpiper of them all and transmitted such feeling and spirit into his music as captivated every one who came within hearing of his pipes. He will be buried Saturday from his home in the Grand Concourse."
NY Advocate Jan. 13, 1923 p. 2 column 2
Fultonhistory.com newspaper index

James Touhey lived in Jersey City circa 1904-17, not Patrick.
-----

Obituary Pat Touhey
"Pat Touhey, 57, of the team of Touhey and Burke, died Jan. 11. He had been suffering from liver trouble for some time, but was able to be about. He was confined to his home but one day prior to his death. Mr. Touhey was noted as an Irish piper, having been born in Ireland, and coming to America at an early age. The team of Pat and May Touhey played for years in vaudeville."
Variety Jan. 19, 1923 p. 21 column 5
Internet Archive
http://www.archive.org/stream/variety69-1923-01#page/n108/mode/1up

This date is incorrect. Touhey died January 10 according to the probate petition filed at the Bronx County Surrogate Court.

The Passing of Patrick Touhey
By Michael Carey
Irish World Feb. 3, 1923 p. 6 column 5
From microfilm at NYPL
Apparent source of most info about Touhey's early life.
Reprinted in An Píobaire vol. 1 no. 16/17, Aibrean 1974, p. 11
Na Píobairí Uilleann
http://3.248.59.149/data/PIOBAIRE/PIOB0116_17.PDF

Clipping of this article is in one of Francis O'Neill's scrapbooks.,
There are two scrapbooks, in the possession of Mary Lesch as of 2020.

Carey wrote a letter to the editor of the Advocate, March 29, 1924, about the release of a phonograph record by Touhey, see that entry, below.

Michael Carey published a similar memorial tribute to William F. Hanafin in the Irish World Dec. 1924.
-----

Probate proceedings for the estate of Patrick J. Touhey began in the Bronx County Surrogate Court, Bronx, NY, March 26, 1923. As of 2014 the Court's file number for this proceeding is 156P1923 These papers are still on record with the court.

From the documents Touhey's death date is verified as January 10, 1923. He was recorded as living at 1175 Grand Concourse, Bronx, NY at time of death. Same address for his wife Mary G. Touhey. She was his executor and sole heir. His property was worth more than $1,000. Mary Touhey's actual signature occurs 2 or 3 times among the documents.

Will and probate petition filed March 26, 1923. The will was accepted as valid June 22, 1923.

Touhey filled out a will at East Haddam, Ct. on June 17, 1915. There were three witnesses. As part of the probate proceedings the witnesses swore to documents attesting that they indeed witnessed the will. These probate documents also gave the current residence of the witness, and how many years the witness had known Touhey "before the execution of said instrument."

The witnesses:
Fred H. Eckhoff Freeport, L. I. ten years
Anna M. Eckhoff Freeport, L. I. ten years
Paul J. Messer East Haddam, Ct. twelve years

For more about the witnesses and the will, see above, June 17, 1915.
-----

"The will of Patrick J. Touhey of the vaudeville team of Touhey and Burke, who died Jan. 10, filed for probate last week in the Bronx County Surrogate's Court, gives his entire estate of "over $1,000" in personality, after all debts are paid, to his widow, Mary G. Touhey, of 1175 Grand Concourse, the Bronx, and, without bonds, names her also as the executrix.
"Mr. Touhey, survived only by his widow was a former resident of East Haddam, Conn., and it was there that he made his will, June 17, 1915. He was 57 years old, a native of Ireland, and came to America at an early age. For 35 years he was a vaudeville actor. The Touhey and Burke partnership continued for 14 years. The team of Pat and May Touhey played for years in vaudeville. The exact value of the estate left by him will not be known until it is appraised for inheritance taxation by the court."
Variety Apr 19, 1923 p.11 column 1
Lantern Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research
University of Wisconsin-Madison
http://lantern.mediahist.org/catalog/variety70-1923-04_0116
-----

Excerpt from letter from Francis O'Neill to Henry Mercer May 7, 1923

"In former correspondence you mentioned your desire to have a set of Irish Bagpipes for your Museum. When I learned of the death of the famous "Patsy" Touhey last January, I took steps to find out if the pipes could be bought. His widow put a price of $300.00 on them, and later refused to sell them at all."

From the Collection of the Mercer Museum Library of the Bucks County Historical Society, Doylestown, PA.
-----

Letter from Mary Touhey to Henry Mercer, July 18, 1923
Mercer wrote her a letter asking if she would be willing to sell Pat Touhey's set of pipes to his museum in Doylestown, PA. From her reply:
"I am sorry I did not hear from you before this as we might have come to some agreement, in placing the Pipes in the Museum, I think it would have been an excellent place for them.
"[p. 2] I am afraid it is too late now, the man that has them is a cripple + I don't believe he would part with them, I will give you his address + if you care to write to him you may do so.
"Yours very truly
"Mary Touhey"

From the Collection of the Mercer Museum Library of the Bucks County Historical Society.

"The received history within the uilleann piping community is that Patsy Touhey's pipes were handed over to Michael Carney at the time of his funeral."
Caoimhin MacAoidh "Henry C. Mercer and Aspects of Traditional Irish Music" unpublished draft, footnote 12 Received Dec. 2018.
-----

Widow Receives All Touhey's Estate
Late Member of Vaudeville Team of Touhey and Burke, Leaves only $1,000.
"The will of Patrick J. Touhey, of the vaudeville team of Touhey & Burke, who died on January 10 last, recently filed for probate in the Bronx County Surrogate's Court, leaving his entire estate of "more than $1,000" in personality, after all debts are paid, to his widow, Mary G. Touhey of 1175 Grand Concourse, the Bronx, who, without bonds, he named also the executrix, was yesterday submitted as such.
"Mr. Touhey, survived only by his widow, was a former resident of East Haddam, Ct., and it was there that he made his will on June 17, 1913, and had it witnessed by Fred H. and Anna M. Eckhoff and Paul J. Messer, all of whom signed in the presence of Marion H. Watrous, a notary public.
"Mr. Touhey was 57 years old, a native of Ireland, and came to America at an early age. For thirty-five years he was a vaudeville actor on the Keith and Loew circuits and during this theatrical career had been connected with the famous Four Cohans for several years. He later became a member of the team of Touhey & Burke, Irish comedians and bagpipe players, which partnership continued for fourteen years.
"The team of Pat and May Touhey played for years in vaudeville."
NY Morning Telegraph July 22, 1923 p. 10 column 5
Fultonhistory.com newspaper index
-----

Touhey is mentioned as source for the tune "The Croppies' March," p. 47
' "Patsy" Touhey Mss.' is mentioned as source for four tunes on pp. 160-61.
O'Neill, Francis Waifs and Strays of Gaelic Melody 2nd ed. 1924?
-----

NYC Imperial Hall Feb. 1924
With the Poets
'Reminiscences of Cloonfad
'By Eddie Burke.
'The Cloonfad Ladies of New York extend their annual call
'To the one night of the season at Old Imperial Hall,
'Where the music of Irish pipes and fiddles to "encore"
'Will take you back in spirit to the happy days of yore.
... [five verses]
'The Irish music of the night will set you all aglow-
'It's played by Michael Carney of Irishtown, Mayo,
'The man who would laugh to break his heart to see the town go mad
'When he tunes up Patsy Tuohey's pipes for the people from Cloonfad.'
NY Advocate Feb. 16, 1924 p. 2 column 1
Fultonhistory.com newspaper index
-----

Ads in newspapers nationally for "New Victor Records" including a side by Touhey, "The Maid on the Green Medley of Irish Jigs...." a 10 inch 78, number 19271. ["The Maid on the Green," "Jackson's Jig," "A Drink of Water."]
Typical ad:
"Out Tomorrow"
Evening Leader Corning, N.Y. March 13, 1924 p. 5 column 1 tu+
Fultonhistory.com newspaper index
-----

A New Tuohy Record Released
"It will be of interest ot the readers of The Advocate to learn that the Victor Company has released a bagpipe record made by the late Patsy Tuohy. This record is a medley of jigs played in Tuohy's inimitable style.
"Anyone who loves Irish music will be thrilled by Tuohy's playing as reproduced on this record and his other two records, two reel medleys. Another Tuohy record remains to be released.
"The bagpipe has always been the favorite instrument of the common people of Ireland, and it is the musical instrument almost invariably mentioned in Irish fairy lore. Indeed, the bagpipe, fiddle and flute, in the hands of traditional performers, are the only instruments on which classical Irish music can properly be played. Considering that the art of Irish harp playing appears to be irretrievably lost, the bagpipe must now be looked upon as the national instrument of Ireland.
"Patrick J. Tuohy was a native of Loughrea, County Galway; born February 26, 1865; died in New York January 10, 1923. He was a marvelous performer on the Irish pipes.
"Michael Carey
"37 Palisades Ave., Yonkers, N. Y."
NY Advocate March 29, 1924 p. 5 column 5
Fultonhistory.com newspaper index

Carey wrote a memorial tribute to Touhey in the Irish World Feb. 3, 1923, see that entry, above.
-----

Obituary.
Mr. Edward Boyle.
"WILMINGTON, September 3-The death of Edward Boyle on August 26, at 1409 Chestnut Street, is much regretted by his family as well as by a large circle of friends and acquaintances. For over a generation he was a member of the Irish-American Association and the Ancient Order of Hibernians. Mr. Boyle was born in County Tirconaill about sixty-two years ago, and came to this country in his early manhood.
"Mr. Boyle was an accomplished musician and played on the violin and Irish bagpipes. He also became proficient in the making of the pipes, and built a number of sets and repaired numerous ones for people in all parts of the world. His house was a Mecca for all interested in the Irish pipes, and the leading bagpipers of the world visited him, among them the celebrated Patrick Touhey, the greatest in the United States. Mr. Touhey died several years ago. Mr. Boyle was always in demand at Irish balls and picnics in this State and in Philadelphia, and also played at private affairs when called on.
"He is survived by his wife, Mrs. Mary A. Boyle, and three children: Miss Mary E. Boyle, of this city; Timothy J., of Atlantic City, and John A. Boyle, of this city, besides six grandchildren. One sister, Mary Boyle, of this city; and a brother, John Boyle, of Philadelphia, also survive.
"Beannacht De lc n-anam."
NY Gaelic American Sep. 13, 1924 p. 4 column 6
Villanova Unversity Digital Collection
https://digital.library.villanova.edu/Item/vudl:613653#?c=&m=&s=&cv=3&xywh=1107%2C1822%2C1145%2C864

Brought to my attention by Barry O'Neill.
-----

Tribute to William Hanafin
By Michael Carey
'As might be expected in the case of one of his truly Irish musical temperament, Billy Hanafin, while still a young man was lured by the appeal of the Irish pipes, that instrument so fascinating to the heart of the Gael, and which even the fairies are credited with favoring to bewitch their intended victim. One of his early tutors on the union pipes was the late inimitable Patsy Touhy, who had a great admiration for him, and who told the writer that "Billy Hanafin is as fine a fiddler as I have ever heard." Due to his inborn aptitude and taste for Irish music and to his expert coaching by Patsy Tuohy, he became a fine performer on the Irish pipes.'
Irish World Dec. 13, 1924 p. 11 column 3
From microfilm at NYPL
-----

NYC East 55th Street Lyceum Feb. 21, 1925
At the Cloonfad Ladies' Ball
"Two sets of Irish pipes, famous for their antiquity, will be on exhibition at the 10th annual dance of the Cloonfad Ladies.... These pipes were once the property of the late Patsy Touhy, the greatest Irish piper that ever lived, and John Reilly, the famous piper of Dunmore, Co. Galway. Michael Carney the famous piper of Irishtown, Mayo, will play selections on both these instruments."
NY Advocate Feb. 14, 1925 p. 2 column 3
Fultonhistory.com newspaper index
-----

Irish Bagpipes That Are 200 Years Old
Proud Possession of Eddie Burke, Famous Cloonfad Piper
'(From The Harlem Home News, Sunday, Feb. 15, 1925)
...
'When he came to the United States, Burke met Patsy Twohey, famous Irish piper of the last generation, who gave him much encouragement and frequently played on the Burke bagpipes. He also met Michael Carney, 90 Bergen street, Brooklyn, to whom he says much credit is due for the revival of Irish music in this country.
...
NY [Irish American] Advocate Feb. 28, 1925 p. 7 column 2
Fultonhistory.com newspaper index

Nice article with photo of Eddie Burke. Brought to my attention by Michael Kelly, March 2017.
-----

Patrick Touhey's grave, St. Raymond's Cemetery, Bronx, NYC. Taken Feb, 1998 by Dan McNamara. He gave permission to use this image in email of May 5, 2014.
-----

Stockley, W[illiam] F. P. Essays in Irish Biography Cork University Press 1933 191p.
"Dr. Henebry" pp. 131-91

"[p. 131] Asked to recall Dr. Henebry-who that knew him but should have pleasure in recalling one so appealing to mind and heart-I was shown, on the same day, the Chicago Captain Francis O'Neill's Irish Folk Music. To him, Alfred Graves bore witness, concerning Irish folk song: "Mr. O'Neill; for long the distinguished chief of police in Chicago. This folk-song enthusiast, beginning by setting down the Irish airs learnt at his Irish-speaking mother's [p. 132] knee, and then through a course of years tapping the memories of fellow-countrymen who had drifted to Chicago from all the four corners of the Green Isle, has succeeded in putting together some 1,850 airs, of which at least 500 have never before been in print. The great value of this collection consists in the number of instrumental airs which it contains." And to me that day, in Mr. O'Neill's book, the passage was pointed out, with Dr. Henebry's comment, on the piping of Patrick J. Touhey; who, but yesterday, was still piping, and drawing the soul out of Chicago, surely; if, in his playing, comes forth the humour of this man, with the wonderful face, even in repose; enigma, fun and wit, of sensitiveness without sentimentality, perhaps of unuttered passion; to make him loved of the kindred Dr. Henebry.
"But of Touhey's playing, through phonograph, Dr. Henebry, characteristically, thus spoke:-
"It is the superior limit of Irish pipering. ... [Here Stockley quotes the well-known passage in Irish Folk Music, pp. 113-14. He interpolates a phrase:] The Homeric ballads and the new Brooklyn Bridge - Dr. Henebry was an American citizen, sir - are great, but Patsy Touhey's rendering of 'The Shaskeen Reel' is a far bigger human achievement. ...
"[p. 152] How this professor of pipes and fiddles hated his aforesaid piano, 'great Tin Cans,' with their blurring of intervals; just as if blue, red, green, could have no shades. ... On the whole, Irish fiddling did make [p.. 153] one hear quarter tones, nay quarters quartered; and the Irish fiddler scorned our inability to detect subtle distinctions in notes. And when he had got to the America, where he found Touhey the piper, he had uttered sounds of joy; that

"Lovers of Irish music will be surprised and delighted, as I was, to discover that there exists in Chicago a lively activity in this matter-of piping and fiddling-and in the right direction. An influential and numerous body of experts devote their leisure time to the cultivation of traditional Irish music in this city.

"I was astonished at the wonderful proficiency of the players, and the inexhaustible extent of their repertoire. All the reels, hornpipes and doubles I had learned to fiddle as a boy, together with all the airs I had learned from my mother, were there, and a thousand others. I have learned, he concluded, as to this Chicago scene, much of the music of Ireland, and heard it often, but never yet better than that played by the Chicago pipers and fiddlers at Captain O'Neills.

'Michael Joseph Carney [a remembrance]
...
'Mike and Patsy Touhey were close friends. Mike told me just to hear Patsy tune up the pipes was enough to make you quit playing. I am sure he was being modest for as far as I could see there was not much between them, only their style. Mike played a strong reed as you can tell from his records and Patsy played a weak reed which allowed him to do that intricate fingering without any hindrance. ...'
'Thomas Busby, New York.'
An Píobaire vol. 1 no. 10/11 Aibrean 1973 p. 86-7
Na Píobairí Uilleann
http://3.248.59.149/data/PIOBAIRE/PIOB0111.PDF
-----

'From Michael T. Scanlon 15955 Nelacrest Road, East Cleveland, Ohio 44112.
' "Yes I know most of the older generation you mentioned: Mike Carney, Mike Gallagher, Eddie Mullaney, Dominick Doyle, and Billy Hannafin of Boston; not forgetting the one and only Lean O'Nolan, who loved the things, and who could do anything with them except play them. ... I left the one and only master until last, of whom some high church official once said, He can take you up to the gates of heaven with his piping, and then dash you down to the gates of hell." Of course I am speaking of Patsy Touhey. He was left-handed and had small fingers, never rolled his music, but put in the tricky little notes, half grace, and deceptive pseudo flats that would drive a normal player (if there is such a man) out of his mind. Tom Ennis was good, but nothing like Touhey. They were both born in Chicago, and were proteges of Captain O'Neill when he had the club in Chicago. ... "
'About the first of September, Mr. Scanlon plans to move to 349 School Street, Stoughton, Massachusetts.'
The Uilleann Piper vol. 1 no. 3 June 30, 1974 pp. 2-3
Na Píobairí Uilleann
http://3.248.59.149/data/IRIS/00103_1974TUP1-3.pdf
-----

Notes from conversation [with Jim Lavin, Paddy Lavin's brother] Sept. '76.
'→ Paul Bradford, a bank President (exe [formerley]) in Ithaca met Richard O'Brien, uncle of the man at the end of the boreen in Cahirciveen. He knows story of O'Brien (in Ithaca 8 years) meeting Touhey in a restaurant there.
...
'J. L. had high opinion of Touhey in that latter would put in an ornament sparingly but accurately. He had played it and it would be gone. Like a builder says J. L. who pounds in the nails, and you don't know that they were there'
Barry O'Neill notebook no. 3 [beginning], 1970s, pp. 24-5
-----

[Conversation with] Shawn [Sean] Folsom August 30, 1977
...
[Line across page. Unclear if some or all following comments are from Folsom]
...
'Patsy Touhey at 1915 Exposition
'Kids used to call Touhey "Oh By Jesus" This acc[ording]. to a fellow lived down the street in Bronx. used it as a joke to the kids.
...
'Jack Sullivan, an old fiddler + carpenter saw Touhey at 1915 exposition.
...
Barry O'Neill notebook no. 3 [beginning], 1970s, pp. 47-51

More likely this was 1918 than 1915. See San Francisco, CA 322 28th Ave. Feb. 1918? entry, the article "Patsy Touhey Slept Here" and my comments.
-----

Notes from lost notebooks + since [is the following paragraph a part of this section of Barry's notebook?]
'Touhey did complex regulator accompaniment on Nora Chriona. Mrs. Busby learned it as a young girl. Touhey would call her "Nora Chriona" Whenever he came to a special part, & to add some special riff Touhey would shake his head [as a flourish]. Mr. Carney said that Touhey's tuning ceremony was enough to make you quit the instrument. She thought that br Mrs. Busby thought that Irish music died when Michael C[arney] died. Touhey told Carney that the concert engagements he got were not enough to keep him in practice whatever that means.'
Barry O'Neill notebook no. 4 [part 1 of 3], 1970s, p. 9 tu+
-----

"Paddy Lavin played Touhey's pipes - says so worn in a piece had to be reinstalled at the thumb." Barry O'Neill notebook no. 4 [part 1 of 3], 1970s, p. 24
-----

'Though there were several expert pipers living in Chicago during the 1930s, it was the recordings of Patsy Touhey and Chicago-born Tom Ennis that served as Joe's [Joe Shannon] early stylistic models. A vaudeville piper named Charlie McNurney had often seen Touhey play, and he told Joe a great deal about Touhey's technique. ...'
Irish Music in Chicago: an ethnomusicological study by Lawrence E. McCullough, PhD dissertation, University of Pittsburgh, 1978 p. 137

Other mentions of Touhey in McCullough's dissertation pp. 138-141
-----

Pat Touhey, his life, music; with transcriptions of playing.
Wilsbach, Thomas Aquinas
Never Was Piping So Gay: uilleann piping in the United States Univ. of Maryland 1978 pp. 72-8
masters thesis
-----

Patsy Touhey & Family, Pipers
Grandfather - Michael O'Toole 1800
Father - James 1839 Uncles - John & Pat
Patsy - born Dugharran home 1865
died New York 10- 1- 1923

Touhey Family plaque or tablet set in stone wall. Photo from Jimmy O'Brien Moran, in email of Oct. 28, 2014.

Touhey Memorial
"On Thursday 2 June in Loughrea, Co. Galway a memorial plaque will be unveiled to Patsy Touhey...."
An Piobaire vol. 2 no. 38 Feabhra 1988 p. 2
Na Píobairí Uilleann
http://3.248.59.149/data/PIOBAIRE/PIOB0238.PDF

Presumably a reference to the plaque pictured above.
-----

Seán McKiernan talks with Emma Walbridge Dec. 27, 1992
Emma Walbridge, nee Waring, was born about 1903 and spent childhood vacations in East Haddam, CT. There she became good friends with Pat and Mary Touhey. By remarkable coincidence, this connection became known to Ciaran Mac Mathuna (1925-2009) an Irish "Radio broadcaster, collector." This may have been in the 1970s. Pat Mitchell contacted her for information, and she may have sent him photographs of the Touheys. Seán McKiernan found out about her from Mitchell and spoke with her in 1992 and recorded the conversation.
Some of the above information was told to me by John Tuohy in 2016.

Items of interest in the conversation:
The photo of the Touheys in the car with a girl in the back seat, "It might well have been or my sister. My name was Waring and it was either my sister- were Mr. and Mrs. Touhey in the front seat?"
"Oh, he was a jovial person. And of course his wife danced..."
"Oh yes, he played for us once in a while. But he was on vacation there, you know." "And I never saw her dance, but he did play a little bit, I guess he practiced once in a while, but I think there was a basement to the house and he practiced there."

S: What was his wife like?
E: Oh she was a charming little lady.
S: Small.
E: And uh, she - they were fun. You see they didn't have any children and they just wanted to be with us and we used to go up to the Touhey's every afternoon we just lived down the hill. My aunt and uncle and cousin, my one and only cousin lived there just down the hill from them. And they of course they were just there in the summertime and I understand that my uncle who was there, their name was Messer, M-e-s-s-e-r.
S: He was your uncle, was he?
E: Paul Messer, yes. My aunt Susan Waring married Paul Messer. And we used to go up almost every afternoon and play croquet with them.
S: Imagine that.
E: Or sit on the terrace of the house, it was... In the morning we used to play in the sandpiles or get dirty but in the afternoon we'd dress up and go up to play croquet with the Touhey's. Or we would... And then of course he had a car, and he had a boat, just a little motorboat, and they would take us in the motorboat, or in the car, and we would drive up sometimes - the next town was about four miles north, it was called Moodus. And we'd just ride up and back again and there was not much place to go, I think they left their car there all winter long because they were traveling, you know. They were always traveling.
S: And I presume they would drive in to New York then, would they?
E: I doubt if they even took it down to New York. They probably lived in a hotel or in rooms and then travelled around the country with their wonderful little performance, he with his Irish harp and she with her Irish jig.

S: And what age a man would he have been in those days? [10:09]
E: What age would he have been? Well I was a little girl in the, from the, let's see - until I went away to college I used to go up there and so that would have been, let's see... He had grey hair, but she had black hair, and he had a little gray, you know; he had quite Irish features...
S: What was his accent? Would his accent have been Irish or American, would you think?
E: Would you say that again?
S: The way he spoke, his accent.
E: No, no it wasn't an accent at all, because if I were - I would have noticed it if they spoke differently from the other people, you know. I didn't notice any accent. Except that we knew them very well and I didn't think anything about it.

S: Well tell me, you weren't actually from East Haddam yourself.
E: No, we're from Brooklyn, New York. I was raised in Brooklyn, as was my aunt Messer, Susan Waring Messer. She was raised in Brooklyn. She went up to East Haddam for a vacation and met Paul Messer and married and lived up there.

"Well you recall many things of my childhood to me. Lovely location on the river, on the Connecticut River. Beautiful. At a bend of the river. And you could sit on their porch and look up up up toward Hartford, which is the capitol."
"But they were such - they were such a - pleasure to us, the Touheys were for all that vacation time. For many weeks we used to go up to their house almost every afternoon and they wanted us to, you know, because they would sit out on the terrace on their porch and we'd go up and then we'd have a game of croquet, oh it was just a lot of fun."

E: And where did they find each other?
S: Now that I don't know. I don't even know where the lady is buried. She's not buried with him anyway.
E: Oh is that so?
S: No, I asked when I was visiting the cemetery now a few years ago and they said she wasn't. So I don't know where -
E: That's too bad because they were very close, they were very close. People didn't get divorces in those days, they learned to enjoy each other's company, you know.
-----

Ned White - Pipemaker
"In earlier issues of An Píobaire, Seán Donnelly and Geoff Wooff have written articles about the Coynes and Harrington, famous pipemakers who flourished in the 1840s and 1850s.
"Edward W. ('Ned') White was one of the few pipemakers in the next generation. According to O'Neill he was from Loughrea, Co. Galway, and emigrated to Boston in the days of the Famine. In the early 1859s White taught young Coughlan, the first owner of Dan O'Dowd's Egan pipes. After Egan's death (1860/61) White started his own pipemaking workshop in Roxbury.
...
"The available information would put White's birth year back to around 1820, or perhaps earlier. O'Neill states that Patsy Touhey knew White well in his old age. Touhey came to South Boston in 1868 and moved to New York around 1880 (he is not in the 1881 Boston directory). The assumption that White died in 1879 or 1880 fits well with this information. It is quite possible that young Patsy was introduced to the local pipemaker in Boston by his father who died in 1875. The Touhey family came from the same area, near Loughrea, as Ned White.
An Píobaire vol. 3 no. 20 September 1994 pp. 18-20
Na Píobairí Uilleann
http://3.248.59.149/data/PIOBAIRE/PIOB0320.PDF

White is mentioned in Irish Minstrels and Musicians p. 160, etc.
-----

"Seán Mac Chiarnáin [Seán McKiernan] , Corcaigh agus Conamara appears on this issue's cover. Seán's pipes are Patsy Touhey's Taylor set, formerly owned by Michael Carney and latterly Tom Busby. Photo by Peter Laban, taken at NPU Tionol, Westport, Co. Mayo, 1994."
An Píobaire vol. 3 no. 33 December 1997 pp. 1, 2
Na Píobairí Uilleann
http://3.248.59.149/data/PIOBAIRE/PIOB0333.PDF
-----

Andy Conroy 1913 - 1999
[Appreciation]
"When I last visited NPU headquarters there was a special evening held in Andy's honour, during which he played the famous Patsy Touhey - Mike Carney (Taylor) pipes, which I now have the great honour of playing and owning (insofar as anyone 'owns' anything in this life) thanks to the generosity of Mr. and Mrs. Tom and Anna Busby.
...
Seán Mac Chiarnáin, Carna, Gaillimh."
An Píobaire vol. 4 no. 2 Sep. 1999 p. 12
Na Píobairí Uilleann
http://3.248.59.149/data/PIOBAIRE/PIOB0402.PDF
-----

Finding Patsy Touhey's Family Home
By Barry O'Neill
[An account of O'Neill's experiences, mainly in Ireland, looking for information about Touhey's ancestors. Excerpts below.]
...
'In 1972, when my friend Gail Kendall and I visited Ireland, we tried to find information about the old pipers. We were especially interested in Touhey and his ancestors. In America, we had visited some of his residences, including his summer home in East Haddam, Connecticut, and in Ireland we had the special goal of finding his birthplace.
'According to his tombstone in St. Raymond's Cemetery in the Bronx, Patsy was born in February 1865. In Dublin, the first stop was the government records office to search for the record of his birth, which would give the exact location. I was puzzled that there was no record of any Patrick Touhey who would fit. When I had searched for Garrett Barry, I had found too many of them - several were born around the right place and right time - but there were no appropriate Patrick Touheys'.
'By odd luck, in the National Library I came across a letter in an old Boston newspaper. It reported an 1888 gathering in San Francisco, where a certain Tim McCarthy gave a concert on his new Taylor pipes. (The letter is added at the end of this article. ...). After McCarthy's performance, a speaker compared him to the great pipers of memory: Charles Ferguson, Martin Moran of Mayo, the Thuathals or O'Tooles of Galway, Shanahan and James Buckley of Galway.
'This last held a clue. I had heard of the others from Irish Minstrels and Musicians and elsewhere, but who were these O'Toole's of Galway? I talked to Brendan Breathnach, who agreed it was a puzzle. O'Toole is the same name as Thuathal, but it is not a variant of Touhey. Perhaps there had been some confusion in the Anglicization of the family name. Perhaps this was why there was no Patrick Touhey in the birth records. I went back to the records office, now looking for Patrick O'Toole, born in Galway in February 1865. There he was, registered in Caherciveen.
'Gail and I visited the nearby town of Loughrea to see if any local person knew more. ... Peter Broderick ... took us out to a site on the road to Athenry where he thought the Touhey home had stood. The trouble, which we discussed, was that it was on the site of a large grave for famine victims, on the grounds of a nunnery. That did not seem to be a likely place.
'We were told that a certain farmer living nearby knew the history of the area. He was out when we visited, but his son was out working on the land, on a hill with a panoramic view of the countryside. He gave us a remarkable piece of information. He said that his great uncle had visited Niagara Falls around the turn of the century. The uncle started up a conversation with the man seated next to him on the bench, who was also from Galway. Indeed, they had been born on opposite ends of the same small road. The other man was Patsy Touhey.
'From the hill, he pointed out the boreen the two had talked about at Niagara Falls. It was most of a mile away. An older man living on it, Patrick Curley, he said, knew the history of the people who lived on the road.
'We visited Patrick Curley. For each of the sites along the road, he described the residents back to the time of the famine, and he pointed out a holy well that had produced miraculous cures. He had heard about the Touhey family, and that they used to play out at the crossroads. He knew that they had left for America in the last century, but did not know that any of them continued as pipers there. (The family emigrated in 1868, and Patsy learned all his piping in America).
'He showed us a rectangle of stones where the Touhey family had lived. It was just a few yards from the place that Peter Broderick had identified. ...
'Four years later I visited Ireland again, and found information to modify the story. Paul Bradford who had been a bank executive in Ithaca, New York, told me that he had known Richard O'Brien, the man who had encountered Touhey in America. As Bradford remembered it, the meeting had been in a restaurant in Ithaca. I tend to give more credence to this version. Ithaca has many gorges but is less known, and someone's memory is more likely to transmute Ithaca into Niagara Falls than the other way around.
'I've often wondered whether Patsy Touhey ever came back to Ireland as an adult? One anonymous person, writing as "A Plain Piper" for a publication planned by pipes historian Seamus O'Casaide, said that Touhey had never seen the skies over Ireland. The story of the meeting at Ithaca makes me more inclined to think that he did manage to visit, perhaps after this statement was made. He had such exact knowledge of where he was born.
...'
The Pipers' Review vol. 17 no. 4 Fall 1998 pp. 11-13
Na Píobairí Uilleann
http://3.248.59.149/data/IRIS/01704_1998autumn.pdf
-----

Patsy Touhey Residences in US
"These two photographs show Patsy Touhey's residences in the USA. The 'white' house, (below), at Bonfoey Road, East Haddam, Connecticut, is where Patsy and May lived from 1908 until August 1919 (two months before the famous 78s were recorded). The doorway in the second photograph (right) is that of 1175 Grand Concourse, Bronx, New York, where Patsy died and was waked, 10 January 1923. Thanks to Seán P. Mac Chiarnáin [Seán McKiernan], Cork, for sending these photographs and information."
An Píobaire vol. 3 no. 38 Jan. 1999 p. 24
Na Píobairí Uilleann
http://3.248.59.149/data/PIOBAIRE/PIOB0338.PDF
-----

Donations & acqusitions
"Received from Jim McGuire ... a portfolio of photographs of the Chicago World's Fair which includes an account of Patsy Touhey and what may be the first published image of Touhey."
An Píobaire vol. 4 no. 25 April 2004 p. 4
Na Píobairí Uilleann
http://3.248.59.149/data/PIOBAIRE/PIOB0425.PDF
-----

Seanchas
Patsy Touhey at St. Louis
[Two items:
1) An "edited version" of the John McCormack interview first published in the Dublin Evening Mail, July 21, 1904.
2) A description and illustration of a piper, probably James Touhey, from the book The Columbian Gallery, published 1894. For image and text, see entry above, 1894.]
An Píobaire vol. 4 no. 26 July 2004 pp. 24-27
Na Píobairí Uilleann
http://3.248.59.149/data/PIOBAIRE/PIOB0426.PDF
-----

Patsy Touhey
The Piping of Patsy Touhey
(NPUCD001)
"These recordings, dating from the early years of the last century, represent one of the greatest acheivements of Irish piping. The first 22 items were released by Na Píobairí Uilleann on cassette in 1986. The CD includes an additional 14 tracks acquired since then though the generosity of Tom Busby.
...
[Includes track listing.]"
An Píobaire vol. 4 no. 33 Dec. 2005 p. 7
Na Píobairí Uilleann
http://3.248.59.149/data/PIOBAIRE/PIOB0338.PDF
-----

Piping Sculpture
"Plaque of Patsy Touhey in Loughrea
"... by Jim Fitzpatrick, the Clare-based sculptor...."
With photo.
An Píobaire vol. 4 no. 33 Dec. 2005 p. 12
Na Píobairí Uilleann
http://3.248.59.149/Data/PIOBAIRE/PIOB0433.PDF

More photos of the plaque and the piper statue, which is described as being of Touhey. The plaque is signed [Séamus] Jim Connolly 1988. The statue sculptor is James McCarthy (1945-2019) from Dunmanway, Cork.
Statues - Hither & Thither [accessed March 2021]
https://statues.vanderkrogt.net/object.php?webpage=ST&record=ie296
-----

"Before my father [Brian Heaney] left for America he was involved locally with Irish music. He played the concert flute and was a member of the Kinnitty fife and drum band. When he settled in New York he became acquainted with Patsy Touhey, who hailed from Co. Galway. Patsy became ill and before he died my father bought one of his sets of pipes. The flat set was sold to a Galway man who later brought them back to Ireland. They are now in the posession of Pat Mitchell U.C.G. I still have my father's set and I cherish them in honour of Patsy Touhey and my father. They are probably the oldest set of pipes in Ireland. ..." p. 160
At the Foot of Slieve Bloom: History and Folklore of Cadamstown by Paddy Heaney, published by Kilcormac Historical Society Reprinted 2006 370 pp.

Paddy Heaney (b. 1934) claimed that his father played with Touhey "at the first Sinn Féin meeting in the Imperial [?] motel." This from an oral history interview with Paddy Heaney.
Also from this oral history interview:
Interviewer: Where did he [Brian Heaney] learn?
He learned in New York. He met Patsy Touhey, the famous Galway piper. And Patsy and him was very great. They played at the first Sinn Féin meeting in the Imperial [?] motel. Patsy's ancestors came from Galway. He was only a child and the whole family emigrated to New York. Patsy's father brought over this set of pipes with him. And the father died shortly - when they arrived. Patsy worked in a lumber mill. And he went in to a public house one night and he heard the piper. And he went home and he took up the pipes and became a millionaire. He married a girl from Galway and she was a fiddler. And used to play in the big stores in the windows. My father explained to me, what we would call supermarkets now, but in these great big stores. And they'd play in the windows all day
I: A form of busking kind of, but they weren't collecting money.
No. They were getting paid by the people who owned the [store]. This was to attract the people in.
I: And this was in New York, is it?
This was - my father lived in The Bronx. Turn of the last century. Patsy died a young man, and he had two sets of pipes. He had the old set which he got restored[?], and he had another set as well - I can't think of the name of them-
I: Who restored the pipes for him?
Ah there was pipers in New York, full of pipers, Carney was a big piper. He was from Galway too. And there was a namesake[?] me own, Pat Heaney, he was big piper in New York, and my father was trying to find out where he came from, but he wouldn't tell him - where his ancestors came from. But when Patsy Touhey died, before he died, he told the wife that my father was to get one of the sets of pipes. So my father had an old set at the time. He was delayed before he went, he was working at American Express. So he went down, and the modern set was gone, some fella came and bought it. But the old set was there. His father brought it from Galway with him. There had to be a chanter got for it. So my father wanted to pay her and she wouldn't take any money. She gave him the set, and he brought it off with him, and he went to Chicago, and he got a fellow name of Compton, he was in the Chicago police, to make a chanter. So that was the old set. I had them here.

Offaly Seventh Collection - Blacksmiths
Recorded for Irish Life and Lore of Tralee, Co. Kerry, which sells oral history recordings and books. The interviewer is probably Maurice O'Keefe.
https://www.irishlifeandlore.com accessed Nov. 2021
From Jim McGuire, 2014

I've seen no evidence that Patrick Touhey ever played in "big stores in the windows." But James Touhey did at least once, in Buffalo, NY March 17, 1897.
Paddy Heaney's comments about piping should be viewed with skepticism unless verified elsewhere.
-----

News & Events
Patsy Touhey Festival
"The first Patsy Touhey Piping Festival will take place in Loughrea, Touhey's birthplace, on 18-20 July. The weekend will include piping classes, performances, lectures and sessions. The festival will be formally opened by Gay Mc Keon in Loughrea Library on Friday evening at 6:00pm, after which Pat Mitchell will lecture on "The Life and Work of Patsy Touhey". For details contact Micahel Fahey (086-8038042) or email draoirua@eircom.net."
An Píobaire vol. 4 no. 46 July 2008 p. 5
Na Píobairí Uilleann
http://3.248.59.149/data/PIOBAIRE/PIOB0446.PDF
Féile Touhey
An account of the Festival. The article is in Irish.
An Píobaire vol. 4 no. 47 Sep. 2008 pp. 13-15
Na Píobairí Uilleann
http://3.248.59.149/data/PIOBAIRE/PIOB0447.PDF
-----

News & Events
Patsy Touhey Cylinders
"The Busby-Carney collection of cylinders recorded by uilleann piper Patsy Touhey - the largest single collection of recordings of Touhey's music - is now held at the Irish Traditional Music Archive. This collection contains private cylinder recordings made by Touhey himself and often featuring spoken introductions by him.
"A re-mastered selection from the collection has now been made available on the Archive's website http://www.itma.ie. The recordings included on the site are: [list of recordings follows.]"
An Píobaire vol. 4 no. 47 Sep. 2008 p. 6
Na Píobairí Uilleann
http://3.248.59.149/data/PIOBAIRE/PIOB0447.PDF
-----

New Publications
Poetry
"... External Affairs by Dermot Bolger (New Island Books, € 12, www.newislandbooks.ie link no good Feb. 2026). ...
"We have already featured an item from Dermot Bolger's collection in An Píobaire. ... At the time we were unaware that it formed a part of a published collection, or that Bolger has made the world of traditional music a particular focus of his work.
...

The Piper Patsy Touhey Plays in Cohen's Variety Show, New York, 1905

Somewhere between the vaudeville skits and slapsstick fare,
Amid the heat and grease-paint of Cohen's Irish emporium,

When coarse laughter stops and cat calls quieten down,
I stare towards the dark pit that contains my countrymen,

And, stripping away jaunty tricks and frilly showmanship,
I play in the style of my father who died when I was ten,

Coughing blood in a tenement amid the maelstrom of Boston,
In a flat smaller than the cabin we left behind in Loughrea.

I've told stage-Irish jokes until punters can laugh no more,
I have used darting triplets to backstitch notes that soar

High in staccato pitch before lunging down towards hell,
Like those sea voyage in steerage amidst endless swells.

With no land yet in sight and a famished land left behind.
But now amid the growing silence as I stare into the pit,

I play this slow air for my father and for my father's kind,
Who close their eyes and recognise their own grief in it.

An Píobaire vol. 6 no. 2 April 2010 p.10
Na Píobairí Uilleann
http://13.248.59.149/data/PIOBAIRE/PIOB0602.PDF
-----

"Irish immigrants performed in minstrel shows, vaudeville, and the early recording industry. Among the first Irish records were Patsy Touhey's Edison wax cylinders and 78-rpm records, such as "The Mouse in the Cupboard" in 1916. An Uilleann piper from Galway in Boston and New York, Touhey developed a vaudeville career and toured with such groups as Jeremiah Cohan's Irish Hibernia (where he played pipes for the young Irish step dancer George M. Cohan) and performed at the 1876 Philadelphia Exposition and the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair- often winding up sets with a rousing version of the fiddler's favorite "Turkey in the Straw." In addition to making commercial records, Touhey made one-off wax cylinders in his home and sold them by mail order; a customer could write and request a certain tune and pay the fee, and Touhey would sit down in front the recording horn of his cylinder machine, record the wax cylinder, and mail it to the customer. Although few Missouri fiddlers were familiar with the Irish bagpipes (Uilleann pipes), Patsy Touhey's music clicked with Missouri fiddlers such as Taylor McBaine and Bill Kearns, who listened to his commercial records in the 1920s."
Marshall, Howard Wight Play Me Something Quick and Devilish: Old-Time Fiddlers in Missouri University of Missouri Press 2013 pp. 191-92
Excerpted on books.google.com

Interesting sidelight on Touhey's alleged influence. However, with respect to George M. Cohan, the Philadelphia Exposition, and ending sets with "Turkey in the Straw," an example of repeating bad information, and unsourced.
-----

Fiddlers and flute players were also conspicuous among Clare émigrés. Fiddler Paddy Poole spent time in Chicago in the late nineteenth century. He performed occasionally with vaudevillian piper Patsy Touhey. Poole taught fiddle in Tulla after returning home in the 1920s.
Ó hAllmhuráin, Gearóid Flowing Tides: History and Memory in an Irish Landscape Oxford University Press 2016 p. 73
-----

The "Patsy Touhey" entry on Wikipedia asserts that Michael Morris was one of Touhey's pupils, with no attribution. Morris is listed in Barry O'Neill's notebooks as "Michael Morris, Boston, NY & Hessalooma[?], Galway [notebook] D [p.] 52"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patsy_Touhey accessed Feb. 2026.

In his email of July 1, 2020 Barry O'Neill recalls it was Joseph Morris of Philadelphia who took lessons from Touhey.
-----

"Keohane's [George M. Cohen's] father Jerry, himself the son of famine immigrants, was a famous traditional Irish dancer who developed new versions of jigs and reels for the travelling variety show in which his son first appeared on stage, dancing to Irish tunes played by the great uilleann piper Patsy Touhey."
Fintan O'Toole We Don't Know Ourselves: a personal history of Ireland since 1958 London Head of Zeus Ltd 2021 p. 503

Refuses to die! There is no evidence for this and in fact a bit of evidence against it.
-----

"Flute player and composer, Vincent Broderick was born in 1920 at Carrowmore, Bullaun, Loughrea, Co. Galway, into a musical environment. His grandmother was a cousin of Patsy Touhey, the celebrated piper. Both families were evicted from Lord Dunsandle's estate."
O'Connor, Mick In Safe Hands: An Illustrated History of Irish Traditional Music in Dublin (1893-1970) 2025 p. 383
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