Hugh Whelan

The life of "Edward Hickey Whelan" -- a Catholic Irish-American immigrant at the turn of the 19th Century. From Ireland to Nebraska to San Diego, Edward directly participated in the fascinating and tumultuous Irish-Catholic and anti-immigrant politics of his day. Settling in Nebraska at a time influenced by Fenian General John O'Neill, Edward went from the US Army to Jesuit Creighton University where he lived through the the virulent politics of the anti-Catholic and anti-Immigrant American Protective Association. Edward would later campaign with William Jennings Bryan and interact with Eamon de Valera, president of Sinn Fein and later Ireland's head of state.