Slane Hill near Tara

"Slane" is the name of a hill some ten miles from Tara in County Meath in Ireland. It was on Slane Hill around 433 AD that St. Patrick defied a royal edict by lighting a fire on Easter Eve.

King Loigaire of Tara decreed that no one should light the paschal fire on Easter eve until Loigaire himself had kindled the fire on Tara's hill, signaling the return of spring and beginning the pagan spring festival. In his attempt to convert pagan Ireland to the light of christianity, St. Patrick defied the King. Patrick lit a bonfire upon Slane Hill on the eve of the Christian feast of Easter which coincides with the pagan feast of Beltane and the spring equinox.

The King rode off in a war chariot with his retinue to arrest the mystery rebel. As the kings horses thundered up Slane Hill, Patrick calmed his few disciples and immediately set to eloquence. Patrick's gift of eloquence went to high gear. Somehow - some say through an earthquake, others say by holding up a shamrock - he convinced the King of his earnest intent and belief in the power of the Holy Trinity. It was a power that Patrick thought would be useful to the King who could only wish that his own soldiers could wield the kind of bravery through deep conviction that Patrick displayed.

The King took Patrick and his disciples prisoner and they were marched to Tara's Hill, chanting prayers. By morning light, Patrick and his men were spared and allowed to preach Christianity to the pagan army. Loigaire was so impressed by Patrick’s devotion that, despite his defiance, he let him continue his missionary work throughout Ireland. Because of this, one of the many legends surrounding Patrick credits him with the establishment of Christianity in Ireland.

After the depression was starting to abate and money began to come in more steadily, the family began to break up and get on with their own lives. Uncle Pat went to Florida and New York pursuing his singing career. He was the first tenor to star in the New York City Opera Center, and was a vast hit in the nightclubs in Miami. Leo Wint moved his family up to Scranton, PA where his people lived. Uncle Bob moved his family to their own place on Maple Avenue in Turtle Creek. Uncle Ted and Aunt Louise moved to Indiana and she started working as a cashier in a local supermarket there. Uncle Ted became a welder, but he was afraid of high places so it did not go well, and he began drinking.

Aunt Marne got into some kind of trouble and had to leave the Pittsburg area quickly. She went back to Windber where she remet Dave Morgan. She had worked for the Morgan family as a maid when she was much younger and Davey followed her around with love in his eyes. So, she found him and they got married, legally changing her name to Margaret (Hamill) Morgan and making the disguise legit. She changed her appearance quite a bit and gained many pounds to hide under. It must have worked, at least a little, for there is no mention of further trouble (whatever it was in the beginning).

Gradually, there was a lot of room left in the big old house in Wilkinsburg. The only ones left living together in that big house was my mother, the four of us kids, Aunt Bell, Marie, and Grandpa. Isabella and Marie decided to fill the empty rooms with boarders. Aunt Bell to do the cooking, and Marie and Dorothy to do the cleaning and laundry and Grandpa kept up the repairs. Grandpa moved his things down to the basement to make more room for the paying guests and to get away from the noise a little bit. The word spread along the college campus of the boarding house and the good food served there.

This was about the time that Jim returned to Aunt Bell's and left his family for good this time. Dorothy and her children were thrust into the Hamill fold and Jim just went his merry way. Aunt Bell, of course, had room for all of us and everything was okay for awhile. However, Aunt Bell started getting concerned about the propriety of having a young woman (Dorothy) around all those young male students and how it would look to the neighbors.

Now, I don't really know what happened with all this: Mom says she was "forced" out and could not take all of us with her when she went to DC and that no one in her family had room for her along with all her children. Aunt Bell says Dorothy just decided she want to have a good time and not be saddled with four small children, so she moved away. She also said that had she not taken us in to live with her, Dorothy was going to put us in a orphanage. At any rate, this is how the family broke up.

Aunt Bell kept Jim, Bob with her because they were not as much trouble as the younger children and did not require as much work. Patty went to live with Dorothy's parents in Jenners, PA. I was sent to live with Leo and Ellen Wint in Scranton. I was only able to stay there until Ellen fell down and broke her leg. She had an son, Ronald Charles Wint, who was born in 1934 and she could handle him, but she couldn't hobble around after me and cope with a tottler in her life at that time. So, Leo brought me back to Aunt Bell's house and just dumped me off without a word of regret to Bell or Marie.

Home

Chapter 4

Pictures of 4th Generation

Chapter 6