(If you only knew) The Half of It

Speculation ran rampant within the family as to whether or not my grandfather, Richard Feeney, had been a member of the Irish Republication Brotherhood, prior to immigrating to the United States in 1908. Throw in some alleged gunrunning activity for Clan na Gael, the IRB's American counterpart, upon his arrival in New York and this hardly fit the image of the kindly old man everyone loved and admired. Then again, that talk could have all been a bunch of blarney and he simply came to America...