Griffin/Saunders Family of Knocknaboley Wicklow

Vin McCabe, also known as V.L. McCabe, was born in Hegton Township, Grand Forks County, North Dakota on February 18, 1912. Vin and his parents, Frank and Dolores Griffin McCabe, immediately moved to Paintearth County , Alberta, Canada where Frank homesteaded. Because of the hardships of living on the Canadian prairie farm (for example, their sod home burned down, Frank's father died in North Dakota and Dolores' health was poor), the family returned to live in Larimore ND in 1915. Vin and his family moved to Rio Hondo, Tx in 1918 - taking a month to drive their car, which Frank had converted to a auto/camper, from North Dakota to Texas.

Vin was a bright precocious child, according to his mother. He could read and write before he went to school and he was musically talented. His mother, who played piano, said he could listen to his sister practice the piano and then sit down and play the music on his on. He did not like music lessons, so he did not become a skilled musician. In later years he would demonstrate his skill on the harmonic for his kids and grandkids.

Vin went to college at St. Edwards College in Austin Texas from 1928-1930. When the depression hit, his father Frank, who had prospered as an agribusinessman, suffered financially and Vin did not return to college. He worked at different jobs during the 1930s, including truck driving, produce buying, and a stint in the CCC in New Mexico building roads.

Vin married Edna GANN in San Benito Tx on June 25, 1939. They lived in Rio Hondo until WWII broke out when Vin went to Houston Tx to work in the shipyards as a winch operator. His family joined him in Pasadena Tx until the end of the war when they moved back to Rio Hondo in 1946.

About 1946, Vin became a longshoreman and he spent the rest of his life as an enthusiastic ILA union member. For most of his career he was an ordinary union member working on the docks but, because of his intelligence and reputation, for many years he was also a member of the governing council of the ILA in the Gulf Coast. For a while he was also the local ILA president in Brownsville, and he ended his carrer as the business agent for the local.

Vin was a strong, muscular man who was able to withstand the rigors of loading ships in Port Brownsville and Port Isabel. He was known for his skill on a ship's cable winches, but he was also respected as a man who could carry his load working in the hot, difficult environment of a ship's hold. Loading cotton bales into ships was the most lucrative but physically demanding task at Port Brownsville; Vin had few peers who could match his pace loading 500 pound cotton bales into 120 degree ship holds. A good worker like Vin could work 12-15 hour days, seven days a week, loading cotton from July through November and make enough money to survive during the slack time that followed when a longshoreman often could find work only 2 or 3 days a week).