When it comes to Irish America, certain names spring to mind Kennedy, O Neill, and Curley testify to the proverbial footsteps of the Gael in Boston. However, few people know of Sister Mary Anthony O Connell, whose medical prowess carried her from the convent to the Civil War battlefields, earning her the nickname the Boston Irish Florence Nightingale, or of Barney McGinniskin, Boston s first Irish cop, who proudly roared at every roll call, McGinniskin from the bogs of Ireland present Along with acclaim or notoriety, many forgotten Irish Americans garnered numerous historical firsts. In...