On Monday, June 30, The Foxford Admiral William Brown Society of County Mayo will be meeting in Philadelphia’s City Hall at 3 PM with city officials, representatives of the Argentine Embassy to the US, the Argentine Naval attache to the US, representatives of the Irish Government from New York’s Consul General’s Office and the Mayo Association of Philadelphia.
Thanks to two local Irish historians, the Society recently discovered the missing links in the saga of Brown, who is considered the “father” of Argentina.
As a 10-year-old from County Mayo, Brown arrived in the new world in Philadelphia in 1787. Within three weeks of his arrival, both his father and his brother suddenly died. Brown accepted a job from an American captain and received his early naval training on the Delaware River. “He rose to unbelievable heights, helping the Argentinean Government fight off their aggressors and became the Admiral of the Argentine Navy,” says Maureen Brett Saxon, president of the Philadelphia Mayo Association.
Monuments to Brown have been erected to the Admiral in Foxford, Dublin and Buenos Aires. “The Admiral Brown Society believe such a tribute also belongs in Philadelphia,” says Saxon. “ They would like a monument which would be made in Argentina to be shipped to Philadelphia by the Argentine tall ship, Fragata Libertad, in the near future.” The Philadelphia visit will also be part of a documentary on Brown’s life and illustrious career,
But there had always been a page missing from Brown’s journeys. “The missing link to Admiral Brown’s life was his initial entry into America,” explains Saxon. “Our own Sean McMenamin [of the Mayo Association], as well as Billy Brennan [of the Irish Center’s Library}, researched Brown’s life, knowing that indeed he did come into Philadelphia” and filled in the blanks for Society president J.J. O’Hara, who has been corresponding with the Mayo Association for months.
After the meeting, The Mayo Society will host a cocktail party at The Irish Center.
