SNIPPET: A lovely image -- In the spring of 1940, Daniel and Julia O'NEIL decided to participate with their growing family in Boston's annual Easter Parade. Mrs. O'Neil was an accomplished seamstress; so, in the weeks leading up to the parade, she created matching outfits for her several daughters. On Easter Sunday they caught the attention of a news photographer, who snapped their picture. The photo of her beautiful Irish Catholic girls walking in size order (smallest to largest) in matching outfits was sent out over a news service wire. Suddenly and unwittingly, the O'Neils became the poster family of Irish American upward mobility, Catholic respectability, and solid family values. And every year, it got better, as the family gave birth to one baby girl after another, each of whom took her place in her matching Easter outfit.. In all, the O'Neils had a dozen children - the eldest was a boy , followed by ten girls, and then finally another boy. They marched every! year from the 1940s through the early 1960s and always made the papers.

Jean.. Many of the O"Neil girls still live in the Boston area...I watched them growup myself...my mother sort of copied them to a point as there were five girls in my family....we were known as the "Kelly Girls" ;-) A couple of years ago there was a "reunion" of the living O'Neil family and they paraded down Commonwealth Avenue on a sunny Easter morning as they had done 50 years ago. It was wonderful to see them again as we felt as though we knew them from so many years ago. One of the local TV stations did a special and interviewed the girls and they brought out many of the outfits and made comments. It was a terrific show.... Thanks for bringing back some great memories of the good old days! Best from Boston, Maureen At 09:22 AM 8/26/2002 -0700, Jean Rice wrote: >SNIPPET: A lovely image -- In the spring of 1940, Daniel and Julia >O'NEIL decided to participate with their growing family in Boston's annual >Easter Parade. Mrs. O'Neil was an accomplished seamstress; so, in the >weeks leading up to the parade, she created matching outfits for her >several daughters. On Easter Sunday they caught the attention of a news >photographer, who snapped their picture. The photo of her beautiful Irish >Catholic girls walking in size order (smallest to largest) in matching >outfits was sent out over a news service wire. Suddenly and unwittingly, >the O'Neils became the poster family of Irish American upward mobility, >Catholic respectability, and solid family values. And every year, it got >better, as the family gave birth to one baby girl after another, each of >whom took her place in her matching Easter outfit.. In all, the O'Neils >had a dozen children - the eldest was a boy , followed by ten girls, and >then finally another boy. They marched every! > year from the 1940s through the early 1960s and always made the papers. > > >==== IrelandGenWeb Mailing List ==== >This list is sponsored by the IrelandGenWeb Project - >http://www.irelandgenweb.com