De Valera 's mother, Catherine Coll, usually known as Kate, came to the states in 1879, at the young age of twenty-three. Like so many other Irish immigrants of that time, she had suffered from poverty, and even hunger, in her native land and saw America as a place where she could go to try and get a fresh start. She first took a job with a wealthy French family that was living in Manhattan. This is where and when she met Vivion Juan de Valera. He was a Spanish sculptor who came to the home of her employers to give music lessons to the children.
In 1881, the couple married. A little over a year later, while living at 61 east 41st Street, Kate Coll de Valera gave birth to the couple 's only child. His name was Edward, called by Eddie at first, but would become known to the world by the Irish variation of that name, Eamon.
Always in poor health, Vivion de Valera left his young family behind him and traveled to Colorado, hoping that perhaps the healthier air would help him out. Within a few months he died. Now a widow, Kate went back to work, leaving Eamon in the care of another woman who also had come from the tiny village of Bruree, in County Limerick. Later in his life, Eamon would remember occasional visits from, as he knew her, a woman in black, which ended up being his true mother.
Kate de Valera decided that Eamon would be better cared for by her family back in Ireland. Before long he found himself away from noise of Manhattan, living in Bruree in a one-room house with mud
Cited: O 'Brien Maire and Conor Cruise. A Concise History of Ireland. Thames and Hudson. London. 1972. MacManus Seumas. The Story of the Irish Race. Random House. New York. 1990. www.askjeeves.com www.biography.com www.infoplease.com http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Lobby/5598/