Kitty Curling, Joe Wall and the Philadelphia Family

The Abbey Theatre, Dublin

My grandmother was actress Kate "Kitty" Curling, member of the world renown Abbey Theatre troupe in the late 20's and early 30's. She emigrated to the United States in 1934 and married textile mill owner Joseph Wall. They had children, raised horses, hosted parties and were part of the "in" crowd in Philadelphia for many, many years.  Their son Gregory met my mother in the mid/late 70's. Gregory was a  banker in the Philadelphia suburbs and my mother was smitten like a kitten by the older, well respected and well connected Greg.

I came along shortly after that, and before I was done unpacking, Greg and my mother were done.

When I say "before I was done unpacking", I mean it. Greg and my mother split so quickly after my birth that no minister we knew would baptize me. This was the 70's, when being a single mother made a woman more of a pariah. This was also back when pregnant mothers could still smoke in the hospital. At least that's the story I get. My mom has always been a little cagey when it came to details and timelines.

Now that I think about it, I may have to check my birth certificate to make sure my birthday is my birthday.


With the acrimonious break-up, I became pretty isolated from the Wall's, from the Irish side of my family and from the heritage with which I deeply identify. It may seem odd that I identify as Irish when my mom isn't (or maybe is, we don't know), and the Irish side of the family has been distant from day one. But my mom seemed to overcompensate. She always made sure I knew I was Irish and that I came from artists - Kitty is just one of many Wall/Curling artists and creators. 

I can't imagine it's an altogether unfamiliar story. Boy meets girl. Boy and girl create a new boy. Boy splits and leaves a kid made out of shamrocks and shilelaghs.

My whole life I've been Irish, or at least half Irish (Joe's family goes back to Ireland as well). But aside from knowing generically what being Irish was, I feel like I've been chasing Ireland my whole life. As a kid, I tried to have a relationship with my dad. He wasn't interested. I never met Joe or Kitty, both passed before I was born. So the chase didn't get very far until recently.

And it started with a shot in the dark email to the guy who runs tours of Dublin's Abbey Theatre.

To rewind a little bit, my dad passed away about a decade ago. Now the only surviving Wall child is my Aunt Ann. Ann will probably come up a lot here. She was the bridge between me and the Walls. She always made sure I remembered that I was a Wall, and that despite everything, I did actually have family. She also curates whatever scant artifacts there are left of the previous generation of the Wall family, and by extension Kate and her life before Joe.

Ann is the original independent woman that don't need no man. She met her second husband in their mid-60's while on a white water rafting trip down the Colorado river.

Despite all evidence to the otherwise though, Ann won't be around forever. She recently celebrated her 82nd birthday and a long and well lived life is starting to catch up to her. Selfishly, I'm afraid the door to my history is closing. Fortunately, a small handful of minor miracles fell in place that unlocked a treasure trove of personal history for me recently.

In chronological order, those miracles are: a decision to move to Massachusetts. Stumbling blindly into a relationship with an amazing woman who makes her career as a research librarian. The librarian casting caution to the wind and booking us a trip to Ireland. An email to the Abbey Theatre - where Kate spent her pre-emigration acting career.

And oh yeah, the theatre's decision in 1996 to hire their first full time archivist.

The trip Amazing Librarian booked came and went the week after Valentine's Day this year when, coincidentally, I asked Amazing Librarian to be my first, last (and hopefully only) wife.

I'm still processing everything that happened during that trip. Which leads us to this site, Chasing Ireland. This blog, which I hope you enjoy reading, my friend Reader, is going to be where I try to process what I have learned and what I hope to continue to learn about Ireland, being Irish and being the grandson of Kate Curling.