Irish Immigration by Chase Lambert

Abstract

This research paper is about the lifestyle of Irish immigrants in America and Ireland. This analysis will reveal the hardships that Irish immigrants had to endure not only in America but also in Ireland. Also, this examination will reveal the daily routines Irish immigrants went through to survive. Irish immigrants took the hardest jobs for the lowest wages that Native Americans did not want to take just to survive. For example, a hard working job Irish immigrants chose to do was working in the coal mine. I analyzed four books to discover information on Irish immigration. I learned that coming to America and trying to start a new life was not easy as one might consider. The immigration of the Irish displays the courage that one must have to embark one the journey to America. Irish immigrants have made a contribution to making America a successful, strong nation.

Irish Immigration

“The future is not set, there is no fate but what we make for ourselves.” ~ Irish proverb

           

Imagine one and one’s family embarking on an adventure across the Atlantic Ocean while on an overcrowded ship anticipating a new life for one and one’s family. Finally, Irish immigrants see land and begin to get anxious knowing that there is hope for a better life once the ship docks, but when it is time for people to start filing off the ship, objects are thrown in the direction of the Irish immigrants and vulgar sayings yelled at them. In addition, the Irish immigrants forced to enlist in the army as soon as they placed their feet on United States soil. No group was considered lower than the Irish immigrants in America during the 1850s. “Approximately 3.5 million Irishmen entered the United States between 1820 and 1880” (Immigration: The Irish). Many Irish immigrants migrated over as indentured servants, domestic workers, and laborers. Also, convicted criminals were forced to move from Ireland to the British colonies in America. The three major factors that led to the migration of Irish citizens to America were scarcity of food, a religious battle, and overpopulation in Ireland. Irish immigrants had to endure a harsh lifestyle not only in Ireland before their emigration but also in the United States after their immigration.

            The scarcity of food was one of the three major reasons Irish citizens migrated to America. During the year 1816, food shortages in Ireland caused Irish emigrates to journey to America. In addition, the main food source in Ireland was the “white” potato or Irish potato, and the potato famine was the main food shortage that caused a large wave of emigration to the United States. “Additionally, over 50,000 people died of diseases: typhus, scurvy, dysentery” (Irish Potato Famine and Trade). Furthermore, the potato was no longer Ireland’s greatest export, but the people were. “Since Ireland could not export any potato during the time of the potato famine, farmers of Ireland were forced to export corn, wheat, barley, and oats to Britain, which left the potato as the sole dietary staple for the people and their animals” (Irish Potato Famine and Trade).

            The Andean Mountains is where the ‘white’ potato originally originated.  It is speculated that the Spanish transported the potato back to Europe during the sixteenth century. Potatoes, once thought to be poisonous since the potato was categorized into the same family of the poisonous nightshade, became the staple of European diets. After the emperors of Europe found the potato to have nourishing value, the emperors ordered the potato to be planted. By 1800, the potato had taken root and ninety percent of the Irish population was dependent on the potato. The potato blight which caused the Great Famine of Ireland, results from an ‘airborne pathogen’ that spreads rapidly among crops ‘during precise weather conditions’. In 1845, the potato blight destroyed 40% of the Irish potatoes and the following year, approximately 100% of the crop was ruined (Irish Potato Famine and Trade).

However, “Prime Minister Lord John Russell oversaw famine relief efforts approved of Irish farmers planting corn instead of potatoes. Indian corn was purchased because doing so did not interfere with private enterprise. Moreover, it had the immense advantage of being cheap, one of the cheapest foods on which a human being could keep alive” (Woodham-Smith 55). Nevertheless, corn lacked a sufficient amount of nutrients that potatoes had. Many Irish people suffered from scurvy and dysentery. In the same manner, the lack of food caused many men, women, and children to board overcrowded ships called “coffin ships.”

            Depending on the skill set of the captain of the coffin ship, it could take roughly forty days to three months to arrive at Quebec, Canada, which is where the first coffin ships landed while on the journey to America.  Coffin ships were unseaworthy and overly crowded and nearly always contained insufficient rations of drinking water, food and sanitation. The ships were supposed to be inspected for disease and any sick passengers removed before arriving in the St. Lawrence River. If passengers were sick, the passengers were to be taken to a quarantine facility called Grosse Isle (History Place).

However, as more and more ships of Irish immigrants started to embark on the journey to America, lines of coffin ships started forming down the St. Lawrence River.  As a result of the passengers having to wait in extremely long lines, the healthy Irish immigrants exposed to the sick passengers would sometimes also become ill with typhoid. With people dying on board the coffin ships while floating in the St. Lawrence River waiting for their ship to be inspected for diseases, people on board started to dump the dead bodies into the St. Lawrence River. “Many pauper families had been told by their landlords that once they arrived in Canada, an agent would meet them and pay out between two and five pounds depending on the size of the family. But no agents were ever found. Promises of money, food and clothing had been utterly false. Landlords knew that once the paupers arrived in Canada there was virtually no way for them to ever return to Ireland and make a claim. Thus they had promised them anything just to get them out of the country” (History Place). Additionally, coffin ships represented how desperate Irish people were to leave Ireland. For example, Irish emigrants must be desperate enough to risk their life knowing that their ship might not make it across the Atlantic Ocean or the fact that one might take the risk of getting ill and dying during the journey to America. However, if a passenger could survive the journey across the Atlantic Ocean and pass the inspection, a passenger would have to endure the hardships of being a despised immigrant in America.

The lifestyle of Irish immigrants in America consisted of labor in factories, building roads, building canals, and building bridges. “Similarly, it is indisputable that a massive flux of famine immigrants crowded into low status manual work” (Kenny 187). Irish immigrants often entered the workforce by taking the basic jobs and the most dangerous jobs that most other workers tended to avoid. For example, a dangerous job one could find an Irish immigrant doing was working the coal mine. “If young Irish immigrants typically found more opportunities in the U.S. than in Ireland, they were also subjected to more physically hazardous and exhausting work than was the norm at home” (Kenny 192). Irish immigrant women would also labor, as servants, domestic workers or millworkers. Irish men took the place of uncooperative workers who were demanding higher wages from their employers, by working for less. The Irish immigrants’ willingness to take a low pay wage led to discrimination and prejudice from the Native Americans against the Irish foreigners. “Ads for employment often were followed by ‘NO IRISH NEED APPLY’” (Kinsella). Because of the constant discrimination against the Irish, Irish immigrants were kept at this poor standing by only being offered the lowest paying and most backbreaking jobs available, leaving the higher paying jobs for Native American citizens. However, if Irish immigrants would have farmed for their occupation in America instead of taking jobs from the Native Americans, one could wonder if the experience for Irish immigrants might have been a little easier. “Older people ought to adhere to the occupation to which they have been accustomed from early life. Thus, for instance, the majority of Irish people have been accustomed to agricultural labor; and to abandon it in America is, in most cases, the certain road to poverty and dependence” (Byrne 33).  Most Irish immigrants who settled in Baltimore worked for the Baltimore and Ohio railroad (Irish Railroad). Irish immigrants did any labor to attempt to make the living conditions for their family better.

Living conditions for the Irish immigrants were not so magnificent. “The Irish who came after 1830 had to create their own community, evolve their own tradition, and produce their own leaders” (Shannon 32).  All major towns had their "Irish Town" or "Shanty Town" where the Irish immigrants gathered together (Kinsella). Irish immigrants were forced to live in cellars, partly because of poverty but also because Irish immigrants provided a bad reputation for the neighborhood. The cellars that one could fine Irish immigrants living would have mold covering the walls. “The Irish lived by an unstable, unformulated compromise between the neighborly code of the old country village and the individualistic code of the open American society” (Shannon P.33). As a result, Irish male immigrants had to adjust their personality from an aggressive person to a mellower individual. Additionally, as soon as Irish immigrants stepped onto American soil some Irish immigrants were grabbed by land owners and were forced to live there and pay the amount of money the rent would be. Many Native Americans would use to their advantage the fact that the Irish immigrants were illiterate and easily manipulated. Irish immigrants were not accustomed to plumbing and running water. Furthermore, Five Points was a geographic location in central lower Manhattan in New York City where one could find majority of Irish immigrants.

Margaret Brown was born by her parents who were two Irish immigrants. Margaret Brown is famously known by her name “Molly” Brown. Margaret was one of the passengers that survived the sinking of the Titanic. “After Margaret’s death, Margaret was known as the ‘Unsinkable Molly Brown’. Margaret relocated to Leadville, Colorado this is where Margaret found her husband, James Brown, who was also born by Irish immigrants” (Molly Brown). Additionally, Margaret and James had two kids whose names were Franklin and Kathy. “Margaret helped others board the lifeboats but Margaret was finally convinced to leave the ship, Titanic, in Lifeboat number six” (Doherty). She would later be regarded as a champion for her efforts to get Lifeboat six to go back to search for survivors. Molly Brown was nicknamed "The Unsinkable Molly Brown" by historians because she helped in the ship's evacuation, taking an oar herself in her lifeboat and protesting for the lifeboat to go back to try to save more people.

The lifestyles that Irish immigrants had to endure not only in America but also back in Ireland were unbearable. Concurrently, there were three main factors that left the Irish immigrants no choice but to make their journey to America were overpopulation in England, a religious battle, and scarcity of food. In addition to, the Irish hardships did not end there, but reoccurred when in America by having to do unbearable jobs and live in cellars of basements that flooded whenever the tide would come in if the immigrants lived by the beach. It is amazing how much obstacles Irish immigrants had to overcome to have a place in America. Irish immigrants have made a contribution to making America a successful, strong nation.