Bruce Springsteen’s Rathangan, Co. Kildare, Ancestry
On Thursday, 4 May 2023, American rock legend Bruce Springsteen dropped into Riverbank Arts Centre, Newbridge, Co. Kildare, to meet with Cathaoirleach of Kildare County Council, Cllr. Fintan Brett, local councillors, Council staff and members of Kildare Library and Arts Service. Kildare County Archivist Karel Kiely, and Executive Librarian Mario Corrigan gave a presentation to Bruce on his Rathangan, Co. Kildare, roots, beginning with the emigration c.1850 from Mount Prospect, Rathangan, of Christy Geraty and Catherine Kelly, his great great great grandparents. Bruce was also shown the original parish registers, which record his ancestors’ marriage and baptisms. Asked where his musical influence came from, Bruce replied that it was from his Southern Italian ancestors but was surprised and delighted when Karel pointed out that Christy Geraty played the fife, with a drum accompaniment, at the head of all Democratic Party processions in his adopted hometown of Freehold, New Jersey. Bruce was presented with a Co. Kildare flag, a St. Brigid’s Cross wreath, a framed photograph of the Grand Canal, some local publications, including Seamus Kelly’s ‘Rambles in Rathangan,’ as well as copies of the research carried out by Karel, which he accepted graciously.
Christy and Anne Geraty’s daughter Ann married her second husband Patrick Farrell in 1873. Their daughter Jane ‘Jennie’ Farrell is the maternal great grandmother of Bruce Springsteen, as she married John McNicholas in 1897. They had three daughters, one of whom, Lena McNicholas, was the grandmother of Bruce, who born in 1949. Bruce recalled his great grandmother, Jennie Farrell, dying in 1961 when he was eleven and that his Irish grandparents, who lived on the same block, had a major influence on him. After the presentation Councillor Mark Stafford brought Bruce on a trip to Mount Prospect, Rathangan, and showed him the location of the two possible sites of the Geraty homestead guided by local resident Fergus Burke. Bruce visited Wilson’s Bridge on the Grand Canal where Christy Geraty worked, the old graveyard in Rathangan, the former St. Patrick’s Church now the community centre where Christy Geraty and Catherine Kelly were married, and where Annie Geraty was baptised. Bruce enjoyed an impromptu performance from the CPA Dance Academy and seemed at home at his last stop, the Burrow Pub.
