When my great-great-grandfather Philip Power arrived in America from Cullen Castle, County Waterford in 1874, he had two sisters already here--Ellen and Mary. Mary Power married Thomas Ryan in Palmyra, NY, and they had two daughters. The oldest daughter, Catherine Ryan, married a local businessman named Riffenburg, and lived a comfortable life, her sister Ella was not so fortunate. Ella's husband left her and her 23 year old daughter Blanche committed suicide. One year after her child's death, Ella drank herself to death at the age of 46. The cause given on her death certificate was gastritis, heart failure, drinking habit.
Ella rests in St. Anne's Cemetery in Palmyra, or rather she rests just outside it as you can see from the picture. The priest in Palmyra was not amused by Ella's antics and refused to bury her in sacred ground.
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