Reads Poems

Family

I grew up in the midst of 50 or so first cousins dristributed between the families of my mother (Conlin) and father. Two of my mother's seven sisters became nuns the others married men named: Conlin women married men named Bennett, Crawford, Heintz, McCabe, and Walsh; my father's two sisters married men named Hall and Barry!

Descendants of Dennis and Mary O’Donoghue

The family of Frank J. (1885-1941) and Mary Berenice Swift Read (1890-1960) descends from Dennis and Mary (unknown maiden name) O’Donoghue, who were born in Ireland in 1780 and 1782. Their son:

  • Dennis Donoghue (1803-87)(dropped the ‘O!) married Elizabeth Cronin (b. 1821), Feb. 21, 1841, in County Kerry. Of their 12 children, a daughter
  • Elizabeth “Bessie” Donaghue married Charles Read of Westerloo, Ontario (1847-1911), who reside in Holyoke, MA by 1870, then settle in Springfield, where one of their six children,
  • Francis Joseph (1885-1941) meets Mary Berenice Swift (1890-1959), ward of cousin Mary Reilly. They marry in Maysville, KY, return to Springfield, then move to Toronto, and finally to Syracuse in the 1920s.

Thanks to cousin Chip, here are April 2026 additions to the Read Family Album:

Elizabeth Donohue Read, c. 1890
Elizabeth Donohue Read, c. 1890
Ellen Bracken Swift, c. 1892
Ellen Bracken Swift, c. 1892
Mary Berenice Swift, age 19
Mary Berenice Swift, age 19
Nana, Elizabeth, David J. at SU 1941
Nana, Elizabeth, David J. at SU Law graduation 1941
Phil Read and Mother, Toronto 1942
Phil Read and Mother, Toronto 1942