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Railroad History ArchiveRecent Gifts and AcquisitionsThe Louise Gaffney Flannigan PapersLouise B. Gaffney Flannigan was born on June 14, 1867, in New Haven, Connecticut, in a house on Portsea Street (possibly 272 Portsea Street; some of her writings indicate that is her address in later life). As the sister and then wife of railroad men, Louise was the "poetess" of the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen Lodge #201, in New Haven, Connecticut (also referred to as the Elm City Lodge), whose members were employed by the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad. Louise wrote poems and memorials to those who died in the line of duty, or in celebration of their heroism and fortitude. Some of her writings were published in such magazines as The American Federationist and The Railroad Brakemen's Journal, and in the local newspaper, the New Haven Register. A Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen Lodge, #388 (possibly number 336), in Needles, California, was named in honor of Louise Gaffney Flannigan. Louise married Francis J. Flannigan (Frank), a railroad brakeman, in 1889. Louise and Frank had seven children - Frederick, Isabel, Elvira, Frank, Viola, Rhetta Louise, and Virginia. Frank Flannigan was born on March 21, 1864, in Ireland. Family legend describes his early life in this way: Frank came to the United States through Canada and was put into an orphanage in New York City. He ran away from the orphanage and "went out west" to join the army. On a train going west he met a man named Dave Medill who befriended him. Medill told him that when he got out of the army to come to New Haven, Connecticut, and he would help him get a job on the railroad, the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad . Frank did just that -- when he got to New Haven, Medill helped him find a room and board and sent him to the Portsea Street address where he met Louise. Frank died in a railroad accident on February 11, 1915. His death is described, again through family legend, in this way: The railroad switched its warning system for incoming trains from bells to electric flashing lights. Frank did not know the switch had taken place that day and did not hear a train coming and was crushed to death by the train. This took place at Union Station in New Haven, Connecticut. Family legend also has it that Louise's brother Fred, known as "Gaff" (and referred to frequently in her poems and writings), went off to fight in the Spanish American War (1898-1899) but came down ill with diptheria and "Louise brought him home to die." Little is known about Louise's life after Frank's death, except that she died on May 2, 1949. Both Frank and Louise are buried at St. Bernard Cemetery in West Haven, Connecticut. The Louise Gaffney Flannigan Papers consist of 51 poems and writings written by Louise, mostly in the late 1880s, in her unofficial position as "poetess" of the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen Lodge #201 of New Haven, Connecticut. Most of the poems were written in memorial to railroad brakemen who died in the line of duty or in celebration of their work. Interesting items in the collection include an undated jingle Louise wrote in praise of Solution Soap; a report of a visit Louise and her husband Frank made to a Chicago, Illinois, home for "crippled" brakemen, with a request for donations from the members of the New Haven lodge; a 1895 poem written on the "terrible sea disaster of the Steamer Elbe" which sank in the North Sea off of the coast of England; and a ten-page description of a train trip Louise and her husband Frank took in 1897 from New Haven, Connecticut, to California, where she describes the journey in great detail, including her impressions of Indians. The Papers were donated in June 2007 by Mr. Timothy F. Flannigan (Louise's great-grandson), of Northford, Connecticut. The Papers were previously held by Mr. Flannigan's great-aunt Viola, daughter to Louise. For more information about the collection please see the finding aid at http://doddcenter.uconn.edu/asc/findaids/flannigan/MSS20070066.html See our other recent gifts here.
This page is maintained by L. Smith.
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