P. W. Mulqueeny
grocer, screwman, watchmaker, piper
b. County Clare, Ireland Jan. 6, 1848
d. New Orleans, Louisiana Dec. 29, 1926
Participants in Old St. Patrick's Day Celebrations
"St. Patrick's Day celebrations in New Orleans years ago are recalled by these photos. ... No. 3 is the late Patrick Mulqueeny, father of Thomas Mulqueeny, an organizer of the [AOH] order in New Orleans, with the Irish union pipes with which he enlivened many a Hibernian frolic...."
New Orleans LA Times-Picayune March 17, 1935 Section Two p. 2 column 3
From the Louisiana Division/City Archives & Special Collections, New Orleans Public Library
P. W. Mulqueeny was an amateur piper. He was born in County Clare and emigrated to the United States when he was about 20 years old and spent the rest of his life in New Orleans. Mulqueeny was very active in social and political organizations and became a well-known figure in the city. Years after his death he was described as "the only man in New Orleans who could play the Irish union pipes," and for most of his almost sixty years in the city this was probably true.
According to his Petition for US Citizenship, Patrick William Mulqueeny was born in 1848 in County Clare, perhaps in a Moy townland (there are two, Moy Beg and Moy More). His death certificate says he was "The Son of Thomas Mulqueeny, and Mary Cotter, Both Natives Of Ireland." P. W. emigrated in 1868 and settled in New Orleans. His mother Mary may have travelled with him or joined him soon after. She lived with him until her death in 1904. Mulqueeny married Catherine Kelly in 1873; they had two children, Thomas and Mary. Catherine died in 1903.
In the 1870s and 1880s Mulqueeny worked as a warehouseman for a wholesale grocer, and later in his own neighborhood grocery store. His store and his residence were at the same address. Earliest newspaper references are to his activities in Irish organizations. Some examples: he was Recording Secretary for the Hibernian Benevolent and Mutual Aid Association, President of the Irish Land League of the Third District, and a great supporter of the Ancient Order of Hibernians.
From 1876 to about 1882 Mulqueeny was active in the Mitchel Rifles. This was a combination militia, social club and shooting club, and the members were Irish or Irish-American. In August 1877 Lieut. Mulqueeny came in 2nd in a rifle shooting contest held with other "military organizations." The Mitchel Rifles were named in honor of John Mitchel (1815-1875) and formed shortly after his death. Mitchel was an eloquent advocate for the complete separation of Ireland from Great Britain. As a British citizen he was convicted of "Treason Felony" in 1848 and spent many years in exile, some of them in the United States. During the American Civil War (1861-1865) Mitchel supported the Confederacy and defended slavery. Members of the Mitchel Rifles wanted to honor the Irish patriot; probably the Southern and Confederate connections made Mitchel's name even more appealing.
In the 1890s Mulqueeny worked as a screwman, stowing bales of cotton into ships. Cotton bales weighed about 475 pounds each. Once in the hold, the screwmen moved the bales to the best locations and compressed them with jackscrews. The goal was to fill every cubic foot of the hold with cotton. This was skilled labor, and in New Orleans, at least, union organized. The Screwmen's Benevolent Association, one of the strongest labor organizations in New Orleans, fought for better pay and working conditions and controlled who was hired. This was a whites-only organization which also struggled, sometimes with violence, against the employment of black screwmen. Mulqueeny was active in the Association. In June 1895 Mulqueeny was one of 21 Association organizers indicted by a federal grand jury for "attempting to impede international commerce...." The indictments were a coda to white screwmen-led rioting and murder earlier in the year, when black screwmen from Galveston, Texas were brought in to take the place of the whites. I have been unable to find out the result or consequences of the indictment. Mulqueeny is listed as a screwman in city directories through 1900.
In the 1890s Mulqueeny was active in politics and efforts for civic improvement. As examples, in 1892 he ran unsuccessfully for the Louisiana House on the reformist Anti-Lottery Ticket. He signed the charter for the Municipal Improvement Association, 1897, to establish, among other things, a free public library.
The earliest mention of Mulqueeny as a musician is from October 1890, playing pipes for an AOH festival. He played with another piper, John Coleman, who was likely active on pipes for a couple years, then took up the concertina. From this time forward Mulqueeny is mentioned in newspapers about once a year playing pipes, mostly for events sponsored by Irish social, fraternal and religious organizations. He occasionally played music for exhibition dancers. There are but one or two references to engagements in theatrical productions; none for public dances. All his known engagements were in New Orleans. In later years he played gigs with fiddler Thomas Giblin.
One interesting performance was at a meeting of the "local branch of the Irish Republican Brotherhood," November 1894:
- Mr. P. W. Mulqueeney called the meeting to order....
- Mayor Fitzpatrick followed with an address appropriate to the occasion, after which music was furnished by Mr. Mulqueeney with the Irish pipes, Mr. Keegan (flute) and John Coleman (concertina).
- Keegan is an old Confederate, and takes pride in exhibiting the flute on which he played the last roll call for Gen. Robert Lee before the surrender at Appamatox [correctly spelled Appomattox]. He is a master of the instrument.
- A most enjoyable time was spent by all present until the wee small hours of the morning.
- The Irish Republican Brotherhood has 250 members in this city. The local branch was organized fifteen years ago.
In 1898 Mulqueeny played pipes at a few entertainments for the benefit of St Cecilia's Church. Among the performers was Jas. F. Marron, actor, comedian and dancer. Marron danced to Mulqueeny's playing. From this came an acquaintance or friendship with Marron's brother John H., a vaudevillian and piper. John Marron travelled widely, and was described in 1899 in Pennsylvania as playing on a set "108 years old ... made in the county Sligo, Ireland, and presented to Mr. Marron by a friend named Mulqueeney, who is a noted piper at New Orleans, La." Mulqueeny was seldom mentioned as piper or musician in newspapers outside of New Orleans. This is one of only three such citations I have found.
Mulqueeny's work as a screwman ended around 1900. He worked for the next decade or so at the US Mint in New Orleans. A directory of federal employees lists him as a workman in the Refining Department; the 1910 US Census has his occupation as "scale adjuster mint." After 1910 most city directory entries list him as a watchmaker, but a few years have him listed as jeweler, building superintendent, or watchman.
In 1910 Mulqueeny and daughter Mary went to Ireland for a three month's tour.
Mulqueeny was widely known and apparently well loved. Friends gathered at his home, January 1926, to honor his eightieth birthday, and he was presented with a gold-handled umbrella. He died at his home of kidney failure not quite a year later. Obituaries described him as a watchmaker by trade, and one obituary described him as "one of the best known Irish-American citizens of New Orleans."
P. W. Mulqueeny was buried at Saint Roch Cemetery #1, New Orleans, Louisiana.
Selected References
"Gay Times and Great Parades Recalled by St. Patrick's Day" [the only piper in New Orleans] New Orleans LA Times-Picayune March 17, 1935 Section Two p. 2 column 7, p. 4 column 5
GenealogyBank.com
"The Indictment Against Screwmen" New Orleans LA Daily Picayune June 28, 1895 p. 9 column 7
World Newspaper Archive
"Irish Bagpipe Player Mourned by Many Friends" [obituary] New Orleans LA Times-Picayune Jan. 12, 1927 p. 6 column 2
GenealogyBank.com
"Joint Festival and Games of the A. O. H." [earliest mention of Mulqueeny playing pipes] NY Irish World and American Industrial Liberator Oct. 18. 1890 p. 3 column 1
19th Century US Newspapers
"Loading Cotton." [the work of screwmen] Globe City AZ Arizona Silver Belt June 29, 1895 p. 4 column 2
Library of Congress Chronicling America
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84021913/1895-06-29/ed-1/seq-4/
"Militia Marksmen." [Mulqueeny 2nd in shooting contest] New Orleans [LA] Times Aug. 27, 1877 p. 1 column 4
GenealogyBank.com
"Municipal Improvement Association" [charter] New Orleans LA Daily Picayune July 15, 1897 p. 14 column 1
19th Century US Newspapers
"Off to the Old Country" [his tour of Ireland] NY Irish American Advocate June 4, 1910 p. 1 column 5
New York NY Irish American Advocate 1911 - 0192.pdf
"An Old Bag Pipe." [presents set of pipes to John Marron] Shenandoah PA Evening Herald Sep. 29, 1899 p. 1 column 3
Library of Congress Chronicling America
http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn87078000/1899-09-29/ed-1/seq-1/
"P. W. Mulqueeny Feted" New Orleans LA Times-Picayune Jan. 16, 1926 p. 15 column 4
GenealogyBank.com
Russell, Anthony "John Michel-flawed hero" History Ireland Ireland's History Magazine 2016 [accessed Jan. 2020]
https://www.historyireland.com/18th-19th-century-history/john-mitchel-flawed-hero/
"Sons of Erin." [plays at Irish Republican Brotherhood meeting] New Orleans LA Daily Item Nov. 24, 1894 p. 4 column 6
GenealogyBank.com
"St. Cecilia's Church." [performing with Jas. F. Marron] New Orleans LA Daily Picayune Aug. 26, 1898 p. 3 column 3
19th Century US Newspapers
"St. Patrick's Day to be Observed" [representative gig with fiddler Thomas Giblin] New Orleans [LA] States March 16, 1923 p. 25 column 3
GenealogyBank.com
"Wearing of the Green" [about the Mitchel Rifles] New Orleans [LA] Times March 18, 1876 p. 8 column 1
World Newspaper Archive
Nick Whitmer
January 2020