Cootehill girl who rocked America

Patricia Smith from Drumgreen, Cootehill, has been championing the cause of the prolific writer, translator, newspaper editor, publisher and business woman, Mary Anne Sadlier (nee Madden) from Church Street, Cootehill, who made a major impact on communities in Canada and America. The little girl from Cootehill emigrated to Montreal in 1844 and went on to have an amazing effect on both the people of Canada and America. Although Mary Anne preached that women should stay at home and tend to their families, she managed to produce 60 books, edited a weekly newspaper, ran a business and was far more famous than her husband. She read French fluently and also translated at least 16 French novels and religious works and ran her husband's publishing business single-handedly for ten years after his death. Patricia Smith is now calling on Cootehill Town Council to erect a fitting tribute to Mary Anne Sadlier in the town. She has given a number of talks to the Cootehill Arts Festival on the life and times of Mary Anne Sadlier and also addressed the Breifne Historical Society on the subject. Mary Anne Sadlier was born on December 31, 1820 and her father Francis Madden was a respected merchant and a man of refinement and literary tastes. He encouraged her literary aspirations and her first efforts were printed in a London magazine, while she was still a young girl. Her mother who loved poetry passed away when Mary Anne was a child. Mary Anne Madden it would appear was an extremely capable woman of high intellect and ability. As a young girl, she received tuition from the local Presbyterian Minister in Cootehill. Both he and his wife were struck by her bright and lively intellect and were deeply interested in helping her to develop her abilities and for some time she had the freedom of the Minister's library in Cootehill. Her literary abilities were evident from early on when she started to contribute poetry to The Nation and a London magazine, La Belle Assemble. Left without opportunity in Cootehill during the famine and without any family, Mary Anne left Ireland in 1844 and emigrated to Montreal. Loving adventure, Mary Anne soon made her way in Montreal and it is believed that she did some domestic service at the outset before soon finding her feet and contributing to various journals such as the Literary Garland in Canada. She was soon to progress on to be a teacher and from there moving in very exclusive circles. He articles and books soon followed and her first book in 1845 was called 'Tales of Olden Times'. Relatively little is known about the personal details Mary Anne's life, as she never wrote an autobiography and did not leave a collection of letters. Some letters written to her by her friend Thomas D'arcy McGee, the Irish-Canadian poet and statesman, have been preserved in the Public Archives of Canada. In 1845, Mary Anne met James Sadlier in Canada. He was from the New York publishing firm D&S Sadlier. The Sadliers had emigrated from Tipperary to New York and had learned the book binding and publishing trade. Sadliers had established their business in 1836 on Carmine Street and it became a major Catholic publishing firm and remains to this day. Her marriage to James appears to have been a very happy one and they were blessed with six children - two sons and four daughters. Not only was their marriage a success, but proved to be a remarkable and close partnership in the field of publishing. They lived for 14 years in Montreal and Mary Anne continued writing novels and she was also a correspondent for the New York Tablet and the Boston Pilot and McGee's New York-based American Celt. Her most productive literary years spanned from 1846 until the death of her husband in 1869. In one of her early poems 'The Village Bell', Sadlier wrote an elegy to her lost homeland. The Sadlier's home in New York became a hub of literary activity and she enjoyed the company of the brightest Irish writers in the United States and Canada including New York Archbishop John Hughes, editor Orestes Brownson and McGee. The novels of Mary Anne Sadlier offered a critical counterpoint to the standard American methods of interpreting women's fiction, together with the American immigrant experience. Sadlier's novels are far from sentimental or simplistic with just happy endings, and many offer harsh critiques of many aspects of American Society of which its citizens are so proud and casts a dark shadow on the promise of emigration and assimilation of Irish immigrants. This remarkable and very bright woman wrote no less than 60 volumes from domestic novels to historical romances to children's catechisms.In 'New Lights' or 'Life in Galway' written in 1851, she was one of the first American writers to address the Irish Famine. In all, Sadlier's novels present a panoramic narrative of the trans-Atlantic voyage west of millions of immigrants.Sadlier tried to provide survival guides for displaced immigrants in an often hostile environment. Poverty was indeed a real problem for Irish immigrants. Of the 45,000 people who accepted outdoor relief from the New York Association for improving the condition of the poor between 1854 and 1860, nearly 70% had been born in Ireland. Also, in some of her earlier novels, Sadlier presents the impossible double bind of Irish women who must obey the orders of their church, as well as their husbands, even when those demands are in direct conflict. McGee was her closest friend, a poet, Irish nationalist exile and Canadian statesman known as one of the founding "Fathers of Confederation" who helped bring about Canada's independence. McGee and Sadlier shared an interest in a "national poetry" that would not only capture the spirit of a people, but inspire them to political and national independence. She also founded a home for friendless girls, the Foundling Asylum and the home for the aged. In 1895, Notre Dame University awarded Mary Anne Sadlier the Laetare Medal for literature. In 1902, a year before she died, Mary Anne received a 'special blessing' from Pope Leo XIII in recognition of her illustrious service to the Catholic Church. She passed away in 1903 at the age of 82 years. Sadlier's novels are now out of print and can be read only in a handful of libraries. Some of Sadlier's novels are available online and it is hoped this will help to get them back into circulation. Patricia Smith who has an amazing collection of books at her home, gives pride of place to two bound copies of the 'New York Tablet' newspaper, which was edited by Mary Anne Sadlier from Cootehill. One of the bound copies dates from 1860 to 1869 and it is amazing to read through the pages to see first hand the talent of Mary Ann Sadlier. Ballyjamesduff is known the world over for Paddy Reilly and his writings and he is immortalised with a fitting memorial sculpture in the square in the town. Patricia feels strongly that Cootehill should now seriously considering putting a memorial plaque in place to recognise the amazing legacy and imprint a little Madden girl from Cootehill left on the literary and journalistic world in New York for decades A room in Cootehill Courthouse could be turned into an information centre on the town's famous daughter, suggests Patricia. While Mary Anne's legacy endures in her published literary works, Patricia Smith also feels her remarkable accomplishments and career for any woman at any time, but particularly in the 19th century, is something that should be recognised in her native town of Cootehill.