2025 Hall of Fame Inductees

Patrick “Paid Een Og” Boyle
Patrick “Paid Een Og” Boyle was born in 1819 on Arranmore Island. He, his wife Ellen O’Donnell, and six children lived overlooking the Greene’s at Scraigathoke on Arranmore. Their children were all born on Arranmore.

Two boys and his wife died on Arranmore. One son was hauling lobster pots with Paid Een Og from a small boat. This son climbed up a cliff to collect eggs from a bird’s nest which was unattended at the time. While climbing the cliff, the bird returned and swooped down, startling the young boy. He lost his footing and fell to his death. A second son was mentally impaired. During the wake of the first son, this second son wandered off from the house. After a long search by family and friends, his body was found drowned in a bog-hole.

Shortly after the death of these two sons, Paid Een Og’s wife Ellen drowned herself off Arranmore due to her immense grief from the loss of her two young boys.

Paid Een Og’s sister-in-law, Sophia O’Donnell and husband Anthony O’Donnell, were living on Beaver Island when word reached them of Ellen’s death. Sophia and Anthony sent for Paid Een Og and the remainder of his family to come to Beaver Island. His daughters Bridget and Hannah had left Arranmore earlier, and were already living on Beaver Island. Paid Een Og built a home on the road which now bears his name. Later in life he lived in St. James Harbor by the point with a daughter and her family.

Daughter Bridget married Patrick “Paddy Hela” Boyle at Holy Cross Church in 1871. She immigrated around 1870. Their children were Daniel “Turner” who married Maggie Gallagher; Edward; Ellen who married Patrick “Paddy Mary Ellen” Gallagher; Cecelia aka Julia who married Frank Skopp, Hugh “Denemy” who married Mary Melvina McDonald; Mary Ann who married Francis “Ket” Gillespie; Bridget “Bid” who married Hugh O. Boyle; Francis and Hannah who died young; Sophia who married Nels LaFreniere; and William “Brutz” who married Elizabeth O’Connor.

Paid Een Og’s third son was Patrick “Paddy the Rat”. After leaving Arranmore, he was on Beaver Island for some time. He then married Anna Libbey and eventually moved to Escanaba. Two of his daughters, Mary and Rose, married Beaver Islanders: Martin Burns and fiddler Patrick Bonner.

Daughter Mary married Dominick Gallagher at Holy Cross Church in 1874. Their four children, Francis, Daniel, Mary, and Dominick, were all born on Beaver Island. They ended up moving to Escanaba.

Daughter Hannah married John Johnson. Their children were Peter; Nellie who married James “Shing” Martin; Elizabeth who married Frank Dunlop; Cornelius; Mary who had son James “Leonard” with Michael McCafferty; and Alice who married William Belfy.

There is a possibility Paid Een Og married a second time after arriving on Beaver Island.

Death 1897: Paid Een Og went drinking one winter evening. At that time of his death, he was living in the harbor with his daughter and her husband. They would leave a light on so he could find his way home. He had been attending a party in town and began walking home. His eyesight had deteriorated in his later years, and he must have slipped off the dock into the freezing lake, drowning. His body wasn’t recovered until after the harbor thawed in the spring or summer. His death is recorded as 1897. He was buried in Holy Cross Cemetery (location unknown, but probably in the oldest section in the north middle section).
(Biography courtesy of Mary Beth Greene Nelson)