Andrew "Andy Mary Ellen" Gallagher

Summary

Andrew “Andy Mary Ellen” Gallagher (1878–1939) was a Beaver Island fiddler and singer recorded by Alan Lomax at Saint James on August 24, 1938, and the husband of Elizabeth “Lizzie” Greene, whom he married in 1907. He was the son of Barney (Bernard) Gallagher and Mary Ellen Roddy Gallagher — the source of his nickname — and died on Beaver Island on October 11, 1939. This record merges two article stubs seeded from separate source episodes: the Library of Congress’s 1938 field-recording catalog, and a 1973 Beaver Beacon reminiscence paired with the Holy Cross Cemetery index.

History

The Library of Congress catalog lists “Gallagher, Andrew E.” as a performer on two items recorded at Saint James on August 24, 1938: “Don’t Judge a Man by the Clothes That He Wears; Boring for Oil” (AFS 02267 A), shared with Emerald Gallagher, and “Peddler; Temple House; Bobolink; Devil’s Dream” (AFS 02272 B), shared with Patrick J. Bonner.¹² Neither catalog record by itself establishes kinship, residence, or a fuller biography. The Library of Congress’s own 2018 Folklife blog post, “Caught My Ear: ‘Sentenced to Death’ by Andrew Gallagher,” identifies this 1938 singer as locally known as “Andy Mary Ellen” — the direct bridge to the man documented in island sources.³

A August 1973 Beacon “Island History” reminiscence, written by or about his widow, says Andrew Gallagher married Elizabeth Green in 1907 and died October 11, 1939.⁴ The Holy Cross Cemetery index independently lists “Andrew ‘Andy Mary Ellen’ Gallagher,” 1878–1939, husband of Elizabeth “Lizzie” Greene and son of Barney and Mary Ellen Roddy Gallagher — agreeing on spouse, nickname, and death year.⁵ A Helen Collar transcription of Beaver Island church records independently agrees on parents, spouse, and the exact October 11, 1939 death date, but gives his birth year as 1876 rather than the cemetery’s 1878; that discrepancy is unresolved and the cemetery’s 1878 is retained pending an original parish or civil record.⁶

Significance

Two of Gallagher’s performances are among the Library of Congress’s Alan Lomax field recordings from Beaver Island’s 1938 fieldwork, part of the project’s documentation of the island’s Irish-Arranmore musical tradition. The convergence of the LOC’s own nickname identification with the island’s cemetery record and a contemporary’s reminiscence is an unusually complete identity bridge for a Beacon-era figure.

Evidence and limits

The identity bridge rests on the Library of Congress’s own nickname attribution (“Andy Mary Ellen”) tying the 1938 recording performer to the locally documented Andrew Gallagher, corroborated independently by the Holy Cross Cemetery index (spouse, parents, death year) and the Helen Collar church-records transcription (parents, spouse, exact death date). The Collar transcription’s 1876 birth year conflicts with the cemetery’s 1878; this is flagged, not resolved.

Not the same man as Andrew Gallagher, son of Dominic Gallagher. The two are easily confused and have been checked against sources. This Andrew died on Beaver Island on 11 October 1939; the other was alive in Chicago in 1952, named in his father’s obituary as the son he had lived with for three years. Their parents are different couples — Bernard “Barney” Gallagher and Mary Ellen Roddy here, Dominic Gallagher and Catharine Ruddy there. A third, then-living Andrew Gallagher, retired to Williamsburg, Virginia, writes to the Beacon’s “Mail Bag” in the same August 1973 issue that carries this man’s widow’s reminiscence.

Added 2 August 2026 · revised 5 August 2026. Recent changes