| Irish St. Louis Gets a Gaelic Nod
By Martin Hintz
 Joseph
Charless, born in Westmeath, came to St. Louis and launched the first newspaper
west of the Mississippi in 1808. St. Louis businessman Gerard B. Allen
was born in Cork in 1813. Rev. Thomas O’Neil was the first Irish-born president
of Saint Louis University, serving from 1862 through 1868. Pat McBride
played three times for the U.S Olympic soccer team in the 1960s.
These and dozen of other notable residents of a green-tinged St. Louis
can be found within the 128 pages of Irish St. Louis by David Lossos
(Arcadia, 2004. $19.99)
Lossos was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri, a city noted for
it's ethnic diversification. "Sadly," he said, "There is not a single drop
of Irish blood in my body." All the ancestors he has found spoke German
"However, in my genetic defense, I have three grandchildren who can
proudly claim their Irish heritage," Lossos expained. As a matter of fact,
he devoted a few pages (97-99) in his Irish St. Louis book chronicling
the children’s Irish lineage. "My grandsons' ancestry has a McCarthy immigrant
family from Dublin who settled in the poor Irish neighborhood of St. Louis
called the Kerry Patch back in the late 1800s. My granddaughter has an
even more impressive Irish background, being a descendant of arguably the
first Irish Kelly to settle in New England in the mid-1650s.
Although Lossos has only a backdoor entry into Gaeldom, he acknowledged
that St. Louis is often overlooked nationally for its strong Irish heritage.
He proudly pointed out that the annual St. Patrick's Day Parade in the
city is a huge celebration of Irish-American heritage. This year's event
marks the 36th annual parade, and the 27th annual St. Patrick's Day Parade
Run, he explained. The parade will be include more than 120 units, 5,000
marchers, 15 marching bands and many giant, helium balloons. Lossos estimated
that more than 350,000 spectators were expected
"St. Louis doesn't celebrate the Gaelic link on just St. Paddy's Day,
either. Irish pubs, Irish music, Irish dance and Irish pride are evident
all year round," he added, backed up by the evidence portrayed in Irish
St. Louis.
Although Lossos is not of Irish extraction, he was contacted by Arcadia
to see if he’d be interested in the project, part of a series entitled
Images of America. "It wasn't the name ‘McLossos’ that opened that door
but rather my known interest in St. Louis history and genealogy."
"I know for a fact that I wasn't the first one contacted, and I presume
that those that refused the offer were probably much more suited to the
task in at the very least their Irish heritage. Anyway, I jumped at the
chance," said the retired engineer, who spent 30 years with IBM. Lossos
said he had both the time and aptitude to undertake the task, without the
financial need that normally accompanies three or four months of work.
For Lossos, the best part of the project was the ferreting out the photos
and stories that he needed. Typically, one led to another. "Not being Irish,
I decided to begin by obtaining the best source of knowledge of who was
Irish in St. Louis," he said.
Fortunately for him, a book had been written in 2001 entitled The
St. Louis Irish - An Unmatched Celtic Community by Fr. William Barnaby
Faherty, S. J. Lossos called the priest the most talented, prolific writer
and historian in St. Louis. Faherty is the author of some 30 books, with
his third work, A Wall for San Sebastian, made into a movie called
Guns
for San Sebastian, starring Charles Bronson and Anthony Quinn.
Lossos had met and talked to Faherty on a few occasions at the campus
of Saint Louis University. "I've always had the greatest respect for the
Jesuits. Eight years of learning from them does that to people," he laughed.
"But Father Faherty is in a class all by himself. He can talk with authority
on just about any subject."
"Anyway, I decided I had nothing to lose by calling him and telling
him what I was doing. I explained that I was putting together a pictorial
book on the Irish of St. Louis, and that, if possible, I wanted to make
him a key piece of that book," he said. Without hesitation, the priest
invited Lossos to his office the next day to freely scan dozens of his
personal photographs.
"I can say without hesitation that if you want to learn about the historical
facts of the Irish in St. Louis, buy Father Faherty's book. If you want
to learn about Father Faherty and a bunch of other notable (as well as
totally non-notable) Irish St. Louisans, buy my book," said Lossos.
Using Faherty's book as his bible, Lossos gleaned a list of people that
he wanted to include in Irish St. Louis. That led him to Irish notables
such as Helen Gannon and Joe McGlynn. Gannon is the head of the St. Louis
Irish Arts organization, Lossos explained. "She and Patrick, her physician
husband, came from Ireland in 1967 to St. Louis, expecting a short stay.
But here they still are. I've met with Helen in her home a few times, and
at her school where youngsters are learning the fine art of Irish music
and dance. Being in Helen's presence is like a trip to Ireland."
"Joe McGlynn is a lawyer by day and a proud Irishman," said Lossos.
McGlynn also serves as honorary Irish consul. Lossos subsequently got in
touch with McGlynn through the public relations firm that does the publicity
for the annual St. Patrick's Day Parade in St. Louis. McGlynn helped found
the event more than three decades ago.
"When I visited the McGlynn home, I was overwhelmed, literally, with
the photos on the walls. The prime minister of Ireland, the CEO of Aer
Lingus, movie stars and local celebrities, politicians and clergy. After
nearly wearing out my scanner, Joe had one comment for me as I was leaving.
He said that he is often asked how he gets such famous native Irish dignitaries
to fly over to St. Louis each year for the St. Patrick's Day party. He
said the answer is quite simple: He asks them," offered Lossos.
"Being paid next to nothing for this book and with absolutely no expenses
being paid, I made a rule early on. If an institution wanted to charge
me money for a copy of their photo, then that photo wouldn't get in the
book," he said.
Fortunately, Lossos only found a few institutions that were unbending.
The worst was the St. Louis Mercantile Library which wanted more than $100
per image, he said. Another source that he had expected a great deal of
help from was Anheuser-Busch brewing company. "I never got past their lawyers
to even find out what they had. Imagine, free advertising for a beer company
in an Irish book," Lossos lamented.
"On a number of occasions, I was blown away by some of the gems that
came like a bolt from the sky. For example, the ‘centerfold’ of my book
is an elongated shot of about 230 people gathered in front of the St. Louis
Courthouse downtown," according to Lossos. The photo was taken in 1921
during the visit of Miss Mary MacSwiney, sister of the late Lord Mayor
of Cork, who had died during a hunger strike in a British prison.
To reproduce the pictoral offerings in the book, Lossos scanned each
photo, usually lugging the equipment to the various libraries, archives,
and homes. In a few cases, people entrusted him with their cherished possessions
and he was able to take them home for scanning. He then sent the complete
set to Arcadia on a CD-ROM.
The entire project took only about four months. The deadlines weren't
too bad, Lossos said, and he was able to pace himself. "I found putting
the words to the pictures very time consuming. Most of them required quite
a bit of research to ensure that what I was saying was factual," he went
on.
Lossos’ personal research on his family's Irish genealogy was helpful
in his assembly of the book and his Genealogy in St. Louis website
has a great deal of Irish data on it. "Ironically, one of the people in
the Irish book, Pat Brannon, contacted me after seeing the book and asked
if I'd be interested in writing a book about his ballroom, the historic
St. Louis Casa Loma. That book is now completed, and should be on bookshelves
in the next month or so," said Lossos.
After he completed the Irish book, and during the two months it was
at the publisher, Lossos and his wife decided to visit Ireland. The sale
of about 600 of his books was enough to pay for about a quarter of his
Irish vacation, he said.
"We had a blast. One of the best vacations we'd ever had. During our
time in Dublin, we managed to get to the Guinness plant. I must admit that
I'm a Bud Light kind of guy, and lo and behold, that's what they had on
tap in the tasting room. Go figure," he chuckled.
After the book’s completion, Lossos indicated with a smile that "he
was all ready to do the Tonight Show, but they never called."
"Actually, I was quite surprised that it got absolutely zero press.
The
St. Louis Post-Dispatch is the only game in town and they never reviewed
it. They got a copy of the book a month before St. Patrick's Day and I
breathlessly looked in the book reviews every day. Finally, I decided that
they were saving it for St. Patrick's Day. Nope. The review that day was
a biography book on how Susan Smith drowned her children."
Despite lack of a financial windfall from the project, Lossos thoroughly
enjoyed every aspect of putting the Irish St. Louis book together. "I met
fascinating people, traveled, and personally learned to appreciate and
admire the Irish culture," he said.
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