Barney Farrell
piper
b. Ireland 1837
active in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 1892-1901
Thomas Farrell
piper, teacher
active in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 1905-1929
Detail of photo of the Irish Music Club, Pittsburgh, circa 1908. T. Farrell with pipes, J. Mullen in front. Fiddlers are D. Cleary and T. Stanford. Pittsburgh [PA] Post May 1, 1910 p. 2 column 1
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There were three Irish or uilleann pipers known to have lived in Pittsburgh between 1850 and 1950. They were active between 1890 and 1930. This biography is about two of them. There is a separate biography for the third, John Mullen.
Pittsburgh is a city in southwestern Pennsylvania, during the time of these pipers a center of steel manufacturing and heavy industry ("the Smoky City") and a transportation hub. It is on the west side of the Allegheny Mountains, about 300 miles (480 km) from Philadelphia. In 1900 the population was about 320 thousand.
By the 1880s there was a sizable Roman Catholic Irish community in Pittsburgh. At first living in slums and enduring the worst of the mining and manufacturing jobs, over time the Irish rose up the social and economic ladder and dispersed from Irish neighborhoods to homes throughout the city. This process was well along by 1910.
Bernard or Barney Farrell played both Irish and Highland pipes. I have seen mention of only three events where he was a piper. In July 1892 he played Highland pipes for a picnic in aid of St. Paul's Orphan Asylum and was described as "the only Irish piper in the city." In 1895 he played "Irish bagpipe" at a St. Patrick's Day celebration.
Bernard Farrell wrote a Letter to the Editor of the Irish World and American Industrial Liberator, an Irish-American newspaper published in New York, printed in the May 18, 1901 issue. He wrote about the differences between Scotch and Irish pipes. "As I have played both instruments for for most of forty years, will you permit me space in your valuable paper to describe both...." His address was 13 Main St. Rankin, PA. Rankin is about eight miles (13 km) southeast of downtown Pittsburgh. What he gave as "Main St." was Baltimore Avenue, later to become Braddock Avenue. His address was very near the main line of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. Across the tracks, the Braddock Machine and Manufacturing Co. and the Standard Chain Co. forge shop. Not a place for quiet contemplation.
The 1900 US Census entry for Bernard Farrell, living in Rankin, says he was born in Ireland April 1837, 63 years old in 1900. He was "Single." Immigrated to the US in 1887 and a naturalized US citizen. Occupation shoemaker.
Bernard Farrell's date and place of death are not known.
Thomas Farrell was active between 1905 and 1930. In 1910 he was described as "the only Irish piper in this part of the State." Little is known about his personal or work life, and there is no evidence of any connection between him and Bernard Farrell. The last reference to Bernard is 1901, the earliest to Thomas is 1905. If they were both in Pittsburgh at the same time, how could they not have known of each other? But there is no evidence for this.
Thomas Farrell played at events sponsored by Irish American organizations; the Clan-na-Gael, the Ancient Order of Hibernians, the Tenth Regiment Irish Volunteers, for examples. He played in concert settings and for dancers. There is no evidence of him playing in theatrical productions or in vaudeville.
All Farrell's engagements were in Pittsburgh, except for several in Cincinnati, Ohio, about 280 miles (450 km) west. For example, "Professor Farrell's band of Irish pipers" played at outings of the Associated Irish associations in Cincinnati four times between 1914 and 1919. Farrell cancelled a St. Patrick's day celebration in Cincinnati because of the "illness of his wife," the only sure evidence that he was married.
Caption: The Irish Music Club. The Irish Volunteers of this district, under the auspices of Company A, Tenth regiment, of that organization, will hold a picnic in Kennywood park on August 12. Irish sports and pastimes will be features of the day. The Irish Music club, whose object is to revive and make popular Irish melodies and dances, will furnish the music for the occasion.
Pittsburgh [PA] Gazette Times Aug. 2, 1908 p. 2 column 3
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An Irish Music Club was formed in late 1907 or early 1908. The club was active until at least 1935 and Thomas Farrell was a mainstay for most of these years. It was described as having 20 members in 1910, "singers and dancers" in 1911, and but "six players" in 1926. More than once Piper Tom Farrell is described as the director of the Irish Music club orchestra.
One of the first members of the club was not yet ten years old when the club began. This was John Mullen, shown to the front in the group photograph and holding a fiddle. Mullen became Farrell's piping student. An article in a Cincinnati, Ohio, newspaper, 1913, describes Thomas Farrell as Mullen's uncle. Mullen may have been a prodigy, or close to it. In 1912, at an event celebrating Robert Emmet's birthday, "Thomas Farrell, the piper, is going to introduce for the first time in public his pupil, Master John Mullen, the youngest piper in the world...." Mullen played with Farrell and the Irish Music Club until about 1917.
At concerts Farrell, Mullen and sometimes other musicians would play "Cross Roads Memories," a musical number, perhaps a medley of Irish tunes developed by Farrell.
Newspaper references to Thomas Farrell drop off in the mid-1920s. He did play on the radio at least once, Pittsburgh station WJAS, May 1924. His last known engagement was for a Clan-na-Gael event honoring the "Memory of the Irish martyrs of Easter week, 1916," in April 1929.
Farrell was known, though vaguely, to the great music collector Francis O'Neill. He compiled a list of "living performers on the union pipes" in the US in 1917. Initially he did not know Farrell's first name, but later wrote "his full name is Thomas J. Farrell."
What is known about Thomas Farrell gives every indication that he was an amateur piper. Information about his working life and personal life is uncertain. Thomas Ferrell was a common name; for example, the 1916 Pittsburgh city directory lists twelve. Which, if any, was the piper?
The best candidate is probably Thomas J. Farrell, born Ireland about 1870, died April 1, 1933 of tuberculosis. Occupation "Cement Finisher." Emigrated to the US in 1887, Irish was his mother tongue. His father named James. Survived by wife Nellie. Buried in Calvary Cemetery. This information is from a Certificate of Death and the 1930 US Census.
Selected References
"Clan-na-Gael to Observe Robert Emmet's Birthday" [Thomas Farrell introduces John Mullen] Pittsburgh [PA] Sunday Post Feb. 18, 1912 p. 3 column 6
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"Clan-na-Gael Will Honor Irish Heroes During Easter Week" [Irish Music Club of six players] Pittsburgh [PA] Catholic March 11, 1926 p. 5 column 2
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Farrell, Bernard "The Bagpipe." [Letter to the Editor about the differences between Scotch and Irish bagpipes.] NY Irish World and American Industrial Liberator May 18, 1901 p. 8 column 5
GenealogyBank.com
Fletcher, Colin The Man From the Cave Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1981 pp. 140-47 [description of Rankin and neighboring Braddock, PA in the late 1880s; Pittsburgh "the Smoky City"]
"Hear the Irish Piper." [Barney Farrell plays at orphans' picnic] Pittsburg [PA] Post July 19, 1892 p. 2 column 5
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"Hibernians to Have Dance and Euchre" [Thomas Farrell, director of Irish Music Club orchestra] Pittsburgh [PA] Sunday Post Jan. 16, 1921 section five p. 4 column 3
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"Irish Organizations Outing." [Thomas Farrell plays in Cincinnati] Cincinnati OH Enquirer June 21, 1914 p. 25 column 2
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O'Neill, Francis Names and addresses of living performers on the union pipes sent by Francis O'Neill in Chicago to Séamus Ó Casaide in Dublin, letters of June-August 1917.
Transcribed by Michael Kelly from the National Library of Ireland, Séamus Ó Casaide Collection, Ms. 8116 (7).
O'Neill, Gerard F. Pittsburgh Irish: Erin on the Three Rivers The History Press, 2015 160 p.
"Robert Emmet's Birthday" [Cross Roads Memories] Pittsburg [PA] Press March 6, 1914 p. 8 column 7
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"Sons of Old Erin Will Revel in Hibernian Melodies, Dances and Folk Song."
[Meeting of the Associated Irish Organizations, June 28, 1913; Thomas Farrell is John Mullen's uncle] Cincinnati [OH] Commercial Tribune June 29, 1913
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Brought to my attention by David Tuohy.
"St. Patrick Honored." [Barney Farrell plays] Pittsburg [PA] Post March 19, 1895 p. 2 column 5
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"St. Patrick's Day to be Celebrated in Style" [singers and dancers in the Irish Music Club] Pittsburgh [PA] Post March 5, 1911 section two? p. 6 column 6
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"To Honor Martyrs" [Thomas Farrell's last known engagement] Pittsburgh [PA] Post-Gazette April 22, 1929 p. 4 column 3
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"... Will Hold Annual Entertainment Next Thursday...." [Thomas Farrell only Irish piper in this part of the State; 20 members in Irish Music Club] Pittsburgh [PA] Post May 1, 1910 p. 2 column 1
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Nick Whitmer
October 2019; addition October 2021