Michael Ginty came to America with his parents and siblings in the mid 1840's. Patrick and Mary Ginty had 6 children when they settled in LaSalle Co, Illinois, leaving behind poverty and starvation of the potato famine in Ireland. However, their lives were still far from easy. Another child was born in 1848, and a Cholera epidemic took the lives of the parents and their only child born on American soil. The oldest child, Daniel, Married by then, moved his family west. Young Michael,then only 11, took a job driving boats on the canal. He did this for many years before joining the army. He became a Captain in the union army before the age of 21. He eventually married and settled in Kansas.
I often think of this story, how his parents sacrificed everything for a better life for their children. I don't know what happened to the other children, but at least two of them went on to make something of what their parents gave their lives for, and their generations that followed have flourished. I share this story with my children often, and I hope they pass it down to their children too!
Captain Mike is still in our hearts today.