This is my Great Grandfather, Robert Emmet (although there is some dissent within
the family about this, claiming "Arthur" is his middle name. Indeed, turn-of-the-century
Chicago city directories list him as "McKenna, Robert A., engineer", but I always
thought his Ulster accent made it seem as if he was saying "A", when he meant
"E") McKenna II. He's the guy on the far right.
Robert II was born in 1874 in Enniskillen, Ireland. He emigrated to the US around 1890, getting employment with the Illinois Central RR. He was a big drinker, used to run his train non-stop from downtown to Flossmoor (then last stop on the line), unintentionally. He abandoned his family for five years or so (he dropped out of the city directories from about 1905 to 1911), and my grandfather spent time in an orphanage. Or so I seem to recall hearing.
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