That was a great story. Thank you for sharing it. Bob Ryan ----- Original Message ----- From: "Nan Brennan" <nan.brennan@mindspring.com> To: <irish-in-chicago@rootsweb.com>; <nir-down@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sunday, January 06, 2008 3:59 AM Subject: [NIR-DOWN] Rev Patrick McPolin mother b Co Down > Notes: This Rev Patrick McPolin parents, Patrick and Mary (? > Margaret) McPolin were from Co Down. > His father Patrick was from Cabra. > > Patrick Sr father was a street car conductor. He had at least two > brothers, John and Francis. > His father, Patrick McPolin was born 12 Jan 1892* and died in > Chicago in Feb of 1971. > His SSDI records gives 12 Jan 1892, his WWI draft reg gives 20 Feb > 1892 > He was working in the stock yards for Armour & Co in 1917. > Emigrated 1911-1913. > See post of obit : Frank McPolin Chicago 1969 > > There was another Patrick (Francis) McPolin registered for the draft > in Chicago. He was born in 1884. > He also worked for Armour and lived near the above Patrick McPolin. > This second Patrick McP was > living with his brother Owen McPolin in 1917. There is probably a > connection between these families. > > > > > x-Chicago priest recalls colorful life ; At 88, a former South Sider > who now resides in California talks of growing up a bootlegger's son, > mixing with mobsters and serving as police chaplain; [Chicago Final > Edition] Oct 24 2004 > The old Irish Catholic priest from the South Side is in his twilight > years here, a former Chicago police chaplain who still carries a > twinkle in his blue eyes and a wee bit of the brogue that his > immigrant parents brought from the old sod. > > At 88, he's spinning yarns again of the good old days in Chicago, > though he has been slowed a tad by his reliance on a wheelchair and > neck brace for a vertebra broken in a recent tumble. > > His is a life lived full and, he promises, there is more to come. > > Silver-haired and full of jest, Rev. Patrick McPolin grew up a > bootlegger's son near the stockyards, often smuggling 3 gallons of > whiskey in a copper-lined suitcase. His father, a streetcar conductor > and a partner in a speakeasy, distilled the moonshine in the family > basement. > > Seminary student > > It's a colorful if incongruent prologue to what he eventually became, > a Quigley Prep student who completed his training for the priesthood > here at the Claretian order's now-defunct seminary on the historic > Dominguez Rancho Adobe. The adobe, 11 miles south of downtown Los > Angeles, is a site whose history dates to the Spanish exploration. A > generation ago, McPolin helped restore the grounds and transform them > into a museum. > > As a Chicago police chaplain for a total of 18 years during the > 1940s, '50s and '60s, he calmed cops' tempers every time a gangster > gunned down one of their brethren. Of the 42 officers slain on his > watch, he personally gave last rites to 20 of them and then visited > their widows. > > He also remembers the horrific Our Lady of the Angels school fire of > 1958, when he helped families identify the remains of 92 children. He > recalls how residue at the fire scene oiled his hands and stained the > paper on which he kept notes. > > It's a much happier time now. After he left Chicago in 1965, he > returned here, where he had taken some of the final steps toward his > 1943 ordination, and became an administrator for the Claretian order. > > Since then, he has become known as an amateur historian, early > aviation enthusiast, and preservationist who knows how to raise funds > to restore a state and national landmark. > > "Mobsters and gangsters, I knew them all," he says of his Chicago > days. "I was a tough kid when I was growing up. They didn't believe I > was a priest. They said I knew too much. I've lived an interesting > life." > > Never did his faith waver while he was a chaplain in what was then > volunteer work. > > 'I was a priest' > > "I never took a hot fin and I never played footsie with people in > prostitution. I wanted to be a priest and I was a priest. Our blessed > Lord mixed with sinners, and why would I change the rules when He was > the example," McPolin says. > > Live among sinners he did: mobsters, pimps, gamblers, card sharps, > hustlers and, sadly, corrupt cops. > > He moved easily between the worlds of law and lawlessness because he > knew how to keep confidences. > > When he visited Taylor Street mob joints as part of his ministerial > travels and heard of plans to rob a bank, he turned a deaf ear. "They > never did talk openly about wiping somebody out, but you could sense > something was going," he said. > > He was mum on the admissions by corrupt cops too. > > Patrol officers collected payoffs for their bosses from mobsters > running bookie joints or prostitution rings, he said. The mob paid a > street cop as much as a $100 tip for making such a pickup, McPolin > said. He advised the fallen to take a day off to avoid such work. > "You need some penance," he would tell them. > > When he wasn't working his four-channel police radio, he was > fulfilling his duties as Claretian priest. > > The order, founded in Spain, is noted for its work with Mexicans and > other Spanish-speaking people in Chicago, Los Angeles and other U.S. > cities. > > McPolin's blood may be Irish, but he says his soul is Mexican. > > "I could walk into any restaurant and say, 'Quien es el dueno? Tengo > sed,'" he said. > > Translation: Who's the owner? I'm thirsty. > > "Not bad for an Irishman," he added. > > His Chicago assignments included Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in > 1943-45 and 1950-52; St. Francis of Assissi 1945-50 and 1956-58; St. > Jude Seminary in Momence, Ill., (where he was rector) 1952-56, and > Immaculate Heart of Mary Church 1958-63. He was police chaplain in > 1943-52 and 1956-1965. > > The parishes weren't far from the neighborhoods of his youth. He was > born near Emerald Avenue and 44th Place. Baptized in St. Gabriel > Church. His family then moved to 65th and Carpenter Streets. And then > to 84th and Morgan Streets. > > A stroke three years ago has left him disoriented at times. He lives > in a Little Sisters of the Poor residence in San Pedro, near the Rancho. > > But helping him negotiate the betrayals of aging is Betty Gemelli, > 68, of Bellflower, Calif., a Taylor Street native who has been at the > priest's side since 1967. > > Fading memories > > A protective caretaker and assistant who keeps the priest from > overindulging, Gemelli met McPolin when she was 7 years old and > working at a print shop on Roosevelt Road. > > After the priest's stroke, Gemelli started to write down McPolin's > fading memories and this year self-published a book about McPolin's > work at Dominguez Rancho Adobe, where he first arrived in 1939 and > became fascinated with early California history. > > "Dominguez: The Legacy of Two Fathers" describes how McPolin devoted > his later years to restoring the lush grounds and how the Dominguez > family received a 1784 Spanish land grant, or rancho, of 118 square > miles, now incorporated into 13 cities. > > The Dominguez family built the adobe in 1826 and gave the adobe and > 17 acres to the Claretians in 1924. The seminary closed in 1974. > > McPolin still remembers getting the calling at age 5, affirmed the > next year when his mother took him to her hometown in County Down, > Ireland, where the locals asked "the wee Yank" what he wanted to make > of his life. > > A priest, he told them. > > "Everything you learn is to be put to use helping people-- because > there's another life," he said. "That caught me: There's another life." > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > NIR-DOWN-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message >