Athlone woman’s part in Arc de Triomphe ceremony

An Athlone resident who was instrumental in helping her sister-in-law discover a family link to Wolfe Tone last year, was a guest at a recent ceremony celebrating the historic mutual military support between Ireland and France in Paris.

Colette Feery accompanied her sister-in-law Catherine Mulawka, and her sister Cecelia, to the Arc de Triomphe where they were honoured to participate in the historic ceremony to remember the unknown soldier and the many unknown Irish soldiers who died for France in the heroic Légion Irlandaise of Napoleon’s Grande Armée.

The poignant ceremony culminated in a flaring of the eternal flame under the monument. This year is 100 years since the flame was first lit. Each evening since 1923, the flame is first lessened before ceremonially renewed again in memory of an unknown soldier and all who died fighting for the country. Wreaths were also laid by the Irish Ambassador to France, Niall Burgess, and the French Ambassador to Ireland, Vincent Guerend at the foot of the flame.

US-based Catherine, who is a regular visitor to Athlone, was invited to the event as a descendant of Wolfe Tone because of his military assistance to France by Niall O'Connor from Cremona Heritage, a centre dedicated to celebrating longstanding French/Irish connections from the 16th to the 19th centuries, notably in La Brigade Irlandaise and later, Napoleon’s Irish Legion.

Back in November last year, Catherine made the jaw-dropping discovery that she is a direct descendant of the so-called 'Father of Republicanism', the 1798 patriot who is remembered every year at an annual graveside commemoration in Bodenstown, Co Kildare.

She visited Belfast with Colette, who has been a huge part of her successful search to trace her family tree, to walk in his footsteps of her famous ancestor, and learn more about Tone, a founder of the United Irishmen from Sean Napier, a Belfast-based historian and businessman. And it was through Sean the invitation from Cremona Heritage came.

Born and raised in Buffalo, New York, Catherine, who has lived in Columbus, Ohio for several years, expressed her pride at being involved in the French military ceremony which involved her rekindling the flame at the Arc.

“I was fortunate to meet many people during the trip including several members of the French military. However, the highlight was not only meeting Niall O'Connor (from Cremona Heritage) in person, but also the Irish Ambassador to France, Niall Burgess, and the French Ambassador to Ireland, Vincent Guerend. Rekindling the flame with the two ambassadors was truly an honour,” she said.

Following the ceremony, there was a reception at the Irish Embassy, attended by approximately 100 people, including many Irish and French dignitaries.

“I brought my sister Cecelia, who participated by presenting one of the wreaths to HE Burgess, and Colette Feery, my sister-in-law. Colette was instrumental in my initial ancestry hunt over multiple trips from 2013-present.

Without the assistance of the Feery family (from Sarsfield Square) during those trips, uncovering my family tree would have been more difficult, if not impossible,” Catherine said in tribute to her Athlone-based family who travelled with her during the hunt to sites like the National Library in Dublin, Rothe House, sites in Cobh, the library in Kilkenny, among others over at least ten trips.

“My brother-in-law Joe initially took me to several venues, and eventually taught me to drive on the left so I could navigate more easily around the country. Each of the Feerys assisted me in some way, including driving me around, housing me, feeding me, and taking me for a pint when I was overwhelmed with the task at hand! I feel that discovering the link to Wolfe is as much their success as it is mine. What is so wonderful about our connection to the Feerys is that we are all not only family, we are friends.”

Her connection to Wolfe Tone was first discovered on a visit to the National Library, when the documentation of the marriage of James Tone, the grandson of Wolfe Tone's brother William (born 1749) was first spotted, making William her great-grandfather, nine generations back.

As there are no direct descendants from Wolfe Tone, all ancestors are through his father or mother's family, and her connection is on her mother's side via Julia Tone, Catherine's great-grandmother.

Since her initial “surreal” discovery of her links to Theobald Wolfe Tone, Catherine has made another interesting discovery, a link to American actor Franchot Tone, whose fourth wife was the famed actress Joan Crawford. His career highlight was playing Ensign Byam in the 1935 movie version of the Mutiny on the Bounty.

With more and more information coming to light, Catherine's search doesn't stop here, and she intends to read more of the storied life of her famous descendant and to keep digging into the archives. Her family are so taken with her research success that her nieces and nephews are entertaining the idea of incorporating Tone into their future children's names as a way of keeping the family tree growing.