New York Irish History Roundtable - Journal Articles

In the long period of Irish settlement in New York there have been thousands of organizations formed by immigrants and their descendants for a wide variety of purposes.

Most of these organizations sought members from people of Irish birth or background regardless of their Irish place of origin. But like groups among contemporary immigrants from Germany and Italy, some organizations were founded to appeal to immigrants from a specific part of their homeland. For the Irish the most frequent geographic breakdown for these societies was... [Read Full Article]

With the end of warfare between England and France in 1815, the Atlantic was again relatively safe for travel to America, and by 1816 it was clear that immigration to this country from Ireland was increasing dramatically. Among leaders of the Irish in New York City, some of whom had been exiled from Ireland as a consequence of the failed United Irish uprising in 1798, there were concerns that these post-war immigrants succeed in their new homeland and become vital supporters of the American republic.

As a consequence, men like Thomas... [Read Full Article]

Through the middle of the nineteenth century, England had long held that a person born under British jurisdiction never ceased to be a British citizen - once an Englishman always an Englishman. The massive migration of the 1800s, however, began to weaken belief in the continued feasibility of this concept. The following study traces how activities of the Fenians helped bring the issue of naturalization to a head in the years immediately following the American Civil War.

An article in the December 16, 1865 issue of the... [Read Full Article]

I thought it would be nostalgic and spiritual experience. Early in 2008 the New York Irish Historical Roundtable sent me an e-mail invitation to attend a St. Patrick's Day Mass in Gaelic at St. Patrick's Old Cathedral on Mott and Prince Streets in Manhattan. My family had longstanding connections with this church. As a Capuchin-Franciscan priest, I thought I might be able to con-celebrate the Mass and, at the same time, investigate family history and remember family members who had attended the church long ago.

My interest in... [Read Full Article]

Frank McCourt's eventual acceptance of his role as member of the Irish diaspora manifests itself not as a leaving behind of place, but as an acceptance of a dual sense of spatial identity. It is when he accepts that both Limerick and New York are crucial elements of his identity that he embraces his status as an Irish-American.

Aoileann Ni Eigeartaigh is a Lecturer in the Department of Humanities, Dundalk Institute of Techmology. She is a researcher in the Centre for the Study of Culture and Society and is vice-chair of the Irish... [Read Full Article]

In the post-Civil War period in New York City, the Irish were poorly paid for their work, lived in squalid tenements, and were despised by the so-called natives. In the Manhattan parish of Saint Stephen's, the Irish had a champion in their pastor, Doctor Edward McGlynn. He knew their ills because he lived among them. His parish was crowded with Irish immigrants because it was in Manhattan, where their ships docked, and if they had no relatives already here it was where they lived and tried to find employment.

Edward Mc Glynn in... [Read Full Article]

The New York City Guide was written as part of the Federal Writers' Project and published by the Works Progress Administration in 1939. It has since become an important source for wellwritten information about life in the city during that period. Originally published copies have become collectors' items.

Pat Willard's most recent book is America Eats! On the Road with the WPA: The Fish Fries, Box Supper Socials and Chitin Feasts that Define Real American Food (Bloomsbury USA, 2008). Her previous books are Pie Every Day,... [Read Full Article]

Ed. note: "Profiles" will appear from time to time in New York Irish History to celebrate the experiences and accomplishments of members and friends, and to bring these to the attention of readers. With this issue, we present profiles of two Roundtable members, Jim McCartin and Father Donald Forrester.

Jim McCartin BY ELEANOR HYDE Jim McCartin was a well-known member of the Roundtable who died in 2004. Eleanor Hyde knew him as a friend and fellow author for more than 40 years.

Jim McCartin was an almost-but-not-quite;... [Read Full Article]

Editor's Introduction - the following extracts are from Memoirs of William Sampson, a collection of letters and other writings composed by the famous Irish and American attorney, William Sampson. They are largely concerned with his participation in, and observation of, the United Irish uprising in 1798.

These selections are from an 1832 edition published by Whittaker, Treacher, and Arnot in London. The extracts here focus on events immediately before and after Sampson's exile to America because of his activities in the... [Read Full Article]

In the mid-1950s, the hamlet of Leeds in Greene County, some 120 miles north of New York City, employed a traffic cop to direct the flow of summer vacationers to Mass at St. Brigid's Catholic church. By 1959 a new church four times its size was erected to accom - modate parishioners.

On Labor Day weekend, 1964, Murphy's in nearby South Cairo hosted an impromptu session of traditional music that lasted four days. As Andy McGann, Joe and Seamus Cooley, Bobby Gardiner and oth - ers soaked through their shirts playing... [Read Full Article]