Bridget Finn: Milwaukee Melodeon Player

Just as Irish cultural activities organized by the Ancient Order of Hibernians (AOH) in Milwaukee began to wind down in the late 1930s, notices began appearing for a “Mrs. D. F. Finn,” who provided accordion music for local gatherings. Decades passed before a 1961 Milwaukee Journal feature finally brought her musical life into sharper focus.

Her son, John J. Finn, was an active Milwaukee bagpiper and AOH member who helped coordinate the division's final St. Patrick’s Day banquets and summer picnics before the local chapter went dormant in the 1940s. For both the July 1938 Hibernian picnic at Holy Hill and the 1940 St. Patrick’s Day banquet, Finn recruited his mother to play melodeon for the festivities.

Born Bridget Connor in County Cork, she emigrated to Milwaukee in 1911. There she met and married fellow Cork native David F. Finn.

Bridget stepped back into the local press in 1961 in a feature titled "Memories Garnish Simple Dinner." The piece highlighted a reunion dinner she hosted for travel companions from a 1960 tour of Europe. Ever the entertainer, she prepared a repertoire of traditional songs representing each country they had visited, accompanying the singing on what the article termed an "Irish concertina."

A surviving microfilm photo from the article suggests that the instrument was not a concertina at all, but rather a classic single-row, four-stop melodeon. The feature noted:

The instrument has recently returned from the Italian music house where it was repaired after "my grandchildren got it out of condition," Mrs. Finn said. She squeezed out a tune, then stopped to explain, "My son found it for me in this country, but it's like that one I used to play in Ireland." A label said "Made in Germany."

By the time the article ran, Bridget was widowed, and her son had relocated to Florida, where she later joined him before passing away in 1976.

While no commercial or field recordings of Finn’s playing are known to survive, her background mirrors that of another early immigrant, female melodeon player: Mary Ellen Conlon, the older sister of recording pioneer Peter J. Conlon. Both women were raised in large households (Bridget was the tenth child in her family) and had already developed their playing styles in Ireland before bringing their music to America.

The Ward Irish Music Archives welcomes any further information, family recollections, or photographs related to Bridget Finn’s life and music. If you have details to share, feel free to contact us through this website.

Jeff Ksiazek
Published October 29, 2026