Ruth had a strained childhood. Her father did not make much money by peddling fruits and vegetables, and there was little left to spare after it was spent on Harold and Rebecca's seven children. Although Harold had moved to Limerick, he kept in contact with his friends from the country. Ruth married Daniel O'Connail, the son of one of Harold's old friends. For a few years, they lived quietly on O'Connail's small farm. When the Famine hit, Daniel was forced to give up his farm and move to the city to work as a leather worker. Thankfully, he and Ruth survived the Famine more easily than many others in Ireland but, Daniel would always resent the British, who, in his opinion, had been the cause of all of his trouble. Daniel became an active member in the local group of petty terrorists named the Ribbonmen. At night, he would engage in small vandalistic acts such as killing cows and "roughing people up." Daniel even took part in the failed rising of 1848, in which he fought alongside other peasants against 46 Irish Constabulary in Co. Tipperary.(1) He had made a special trip just for the occasion.

By 1848, Ruth and Daniel already had a daughter, Mary, and two sons, named Emmet and Simon. When Daniel left to participate in the rising, Ruth was terrified that he would either be killed or sent to Australia. Thankfully, Daniel escaped, but anxious terror would become an everyday part of Ruth's life.

Despite Ruth's efforts to limit her children's exposure to their father's Republican activities, they affected each of Daniel and Ruth's five children in some way. Mary pretended that her family's problems didn't exist, and she married a leather worker from her father's shop. Emmet came to see his father as a hero and a tragically oppressed man, so when he was old enough Emmet joined the newly formed Irish Republican Brotherhood. Simon had sympathized with his mother's constant fear, and he vowed to work against such people as his father. Simon emigrated to the United States and became a policeman in New York. Jonathan became a gambler and a heavy drinker in an effort to escape the memories of his tense childhood as well as his present situation. Finally, Laura chose to escape her memories and her family's problems by becoming a nun.

Due to her delinquent children, Ruth was looked down upon by other members of the neighborhood. Even though Mary, Simon and Laura had ended up as somewhat successful adults, the village people never acknowledged this and only concentrated on Ruth's failures.

Daniel's Republican activities eventually caught up with him. The local Irish Constabulary found out about Daniel's clandestine activities, and he was carted off to Tasmania with a shipload of prisoners. Nobody ever heard from Daniel again, although it was rumored that he had been doing relatively well on his own small sheep station.

After Daniel left, Ruth was forced to move in with Mary and her husband. Although Ruth was proud of Mary, Simon, and Laura, she would always lament the loss of Jonathan, Emmet and her husband.

In Ruth's last few years of life, she came down with Alzheimer's (then undiagnosable) and forgot most of everything. Often, she could not recognize where she was, what year it was, and who she was talking to. She would often mistake Mary's husband Jeremiah for the long-gone Daniel, and she would plead with him to stop his Fenian silliness "for the sake of the children." She also mistook Mary's children for her own sons who had emigrated to America. She would grab them at random and hold them as though they would disappear at any moment while murmuring incoherently.

Caring for her mother was a huge burden on Mary, who also had to see to the taxing duties of housewife. When Ruth quietly slipped away in her sleep one night, Mary secretly gave thanks. Her mother was now at peace, and Mary herself could live much easier now.