Forgotten Irish: Irish Emigrant Experiences in America

by Damian Shiels

Overview

On the eve of the American Civil War, 1.6 million Irish-born people were living in the United States. The majority had emigrated to the major industrialised cities of the North; New York alone was home to more than 200,000 Irish, one in four of the total population. As a result, thousands of Irish emigrants fought for the Union between 1861 and 1865. The research for this book has its origins in the widows and dependent pension records of that conflict, which often included not only letters and private correspondence between family members, but unparalleled accounts of their lives in both Ireland and America. The treasure trove of material made available comes, however, at a cost. In every instance, the file only exists due to the death of a soldier or sailor. From that as its starting point, coloured by sadness, the author has crafted the stories of thirty-five Irish families whose lives were emblematic of the nature of the Irish nineteenth-century emigrant experience.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780750980876
Publisher:	The History Press
Publication date:	10/06/2016
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	288
File size:	788 KB

About the Author

Damian Shiels is an author and historian, who was part of the National Museum of Ireland team that created the award winning 'Soldiers & Chiefs' military history exhibition. He is a specialist in military archaeology and has published and lectured internationally on topics such as conflict archaeology, the post-excavation process and archaeology and social media.

Damian Shiels is an author and historian, who was part of the National Museum of Ireland team that created the award winning 'Soldiers & Chiefs' military history exhibition. He is a specialist in military archaeology and has published and lectured internationally on topics such as conflict archaeology, the post-excavation process and archaeology and social media.

Read an Excerpt

The Forgotten Irish

Irish Emigrant Experiences in America

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By Damian Shiels

The History Press

Copyright © 2016 Damian Shiels
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-7509-8087-6

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CHAPTER 1

Wives and Parents

The death of a spouse or child as a result of military service has a profound impact on all those left behind. For some Irish emigrant families, the loss was an event that irretrievably altered their futures, casting a long and dominant shadow over them in the years to come. For others, it represented another hardship in what was already a struggle for survival. 'Wives and Parents' examines the stories of both. Here we learn of one mother who spent her life searching for her mentally disabled boy, stolen away into the army, and of another who despaired of her fate should her son fall in battle. We hear one Irish woman describe the harsh realities of her life on the prairies of the Midwest and of another who made her home on one of Ireland's remote offshore islands. Here too are the stories of those who, though they never left Ireland, still had cause to recall with sadness far-off locations in both the United States and Nicaragua.

The Garvins: Limerick and New York

'My poor Con; I must go and find him!'

In late 1863, details of a sensational case began to emerge in the newspapers of the Union. It was a story that would be told and retold for decades to come, and was ever-after remembered by all who had come into contact with the particulars. At its centre was an intellectually disabled boy from County Limerick, who had been stolen from a New York almshouse and sold into the Federal army. For months his frantic mother would haunt the Union forces like a spectre, searching relentlessly for her son. The case would eventually involve such figures as the Mayor of Troy, the Governor of New York, the secretary of war and the head of the secret service. But the most notable individual to take a personal interest was none other than President Abraham Lincoln. The events are so remarkable as to seem the stuff of fiction; in reality they are some of the most compelling and heartrending of the Irish emigrants' experiences in the United States.

Virtually all the contemporary documentation regarding Cornelius Garvin called him an 'idiot'. This was a term used in the nineteenth century to refer to someone with an intellectual disability. The precise nature of Cornelius' (or Con's) disorder is not known, but whatever it was, one of the ways in which it impacted him was that he was easily led, and was quick to do what others told him. Con was born in the townland of Grange Hill, Grange, County Limerick in 1845, the son of Matthew and Catharine Garvin. His parents had married in Grange around 1838, where Matthew farmed a 'large and productive' piece of land. All that changed with the Famine, which brought a reduction in fortunes that forced the Garvins to seek the emigrant boat. They left for America via Liverpool in 1849, sailing aboard the JZ captained by John Zerega. After a voyage of eight weeks, the family of Matthew (35), Catharine (32), Mary (8), Con (4) and Matthew Junior (8 months) landed in New York on 10 January 1850. They initially settled in Troy, New York, but soon headed west for Chicago where they spent five years before returning to Troy around 1855. It was here that Matthew passed away, dying in 1860. Young Con received some schooling with the Christian Brothers, but financial constraints meant he had to give up his education. Instead he embarked on a series of jobs associated with the wood and paper industry, including a stint at Orrs Papermill on Troy's River Street, a position with wood dealer Patrick Brandon, and finally occasional labouring piling lumber and working on the city docks, for which he earned between $1 and $2 per day. He used to give this money to his mother, who would use it every Saturday to buy provisions for the family at John Warr's 'Choice Wines, Teas and Family Store' on 278 River Street. Although Con was able to function in the community, all was not well with the young man. From about 1861 it became readily apparent to everyone that Con was struggling, and his ability to undertake work diminished rapidly.

As Con's condition grew worse, his mother Catharine did her best to support the family by working as a cleaner in Troy's banks on First Street. But Con was becoming more and more of a handful. Her son had taken to wandering away from their Fourth Street home late at night, often being taken into the station house by the police for safekeeping. This became such a regular pattern that when Con went missing, Catharine would go to the station house in the early hours of the morning and wait for him to be brought in. Wartime brought with it new dangers for Catharine. During one of his wanderings, Con encountered a recruiting officer, who for $2 induced him to enlist. He was swiftly taken off to the military barracks in Albany to become a soldier. A distraught Catharine, not knowing where Con had gone, placed a missing-persons advertisement in the newspapers. Thankfully, Con's condition was such that he was soon deemed unfit for service and released. The officer who took the decision had seen the advertisement and made sure that the boy got home. Unfortunately, the episode would prove a harbinger of future woes.

Catharine was unable to both work and to provide her son with the care he needed. Having no option but to seek help, she sent Con for medical examination in the hope he might be cured, as he had 'lost the use of his mental faculties'. Con went to Troy's Marshall Infirmary, an institution that specialised in patients with mental illnesses. Con spent six months as a patient, after which the infirmary determined that he was 'incurable and partly idiotic' and discharged him to the care of the Rensselaer County Almshouse (also sometimes referred to as the Rensselaer House of Industry). Catharine took every opportunity she could to visit her son. Then, one day in September 1863, Catharine arrived at the almshouse to be greeted with shocking and extremely upsetting news – her boy had disappeared.

The disappearance of 'idiot boy' Con Garvin would soon become a media sensation, as would Catharine's desperate efforts to find him. First, fearing he may have drowned, she spent a number of days combing the banks of the Hudson River looking for his body. When nothing turned up, Catharine decided to check the barracks in Albany to see if he had once again been taken into the army. Upon arriving there she met an officer who recognised her description of Con; he informed Catharine that he had indeed been enlisted, and had passed through on his way to Riker's Island, New York, bound for service in the 52nd New York Volunteers. It was quickly becoming apparent that the young man had fallen foul of unscrupulous substitute brokers, who had effectively 'sold' Con into the federal army in order to receive the financial bounty then available for recruits. Catharine wasted no time and set off immediately after her son.

Catharine knew she would have to get a high-level military authority to order Con's release from the army. They didn't come any higher than Abraham Lincoln. In October 1863 the Limerick woman travelled to Washington with the intention of taking her case to retrieve Con directly to the President. Securing a letter of recommendation from Judge Abram B. Olin, a former New York congressman, she headed for the White House. Soon afterwards she recounted what had occurred to journalists, who in the style of the period attempted to capture her Irish accent in their transcriptions:

Judge Olin, God bless him, gave me a fine letther, an' with it I wint to see ould Lincoln. Whin I called at the front door, a man who tould me that he was the President's Secretary, asked me what I wanted. I told him me sthory, and he said that justice must be done you, Mrs. Garvin. Here's a note to the War Office. I thanked him, and then inquired for the War Office, which I soon found. I gave the man there me note, and told him me business, but he only humbugged me. I again wint to see Lincoln, but couldn't get a peek at him – och, it's very hard to see the ould fellow! The Secretary gave me another note to the War Office, which made the fellow there trate me decent. Whin I told me story – how my poor crazy Con had been sold from me – he said: 'When you get home, take a pistol and blow the man's brains out, that sold him!' – an' faith, I'll do it yet! He telegraphed to Alexandria to know if poor Con was in the Fifty-second regiment, an' got an answer saying that he was not. I thin got a pass to go to Alexandria meself, to see after me lad. I wint there, and found the Colonel of the Fifty-second regiment, who treated me kindly. An' I ses, 'It's I that's glad to meet you, Colonel; do you know anything about a poor crazy boy of mine, named Con Garvin, who was sould for a sojer?' He examined his books for a while, and then he told me that Con was in his regiment as a substitute, but that on the road from Riker's Island to Washington, one hundred of his men got strayed, and among them was my poor Con! ... Sure I had nothing more to do, so I spent three days and three nights in the hospitals and camps of Alexandria, thinking that I could find some one who saw Con. I happened to come across a member of his regiment, who knew him well, an' sure 'twas I that was to talk wid him. Con told him on the Island that he had been sold for $400 from the County House, at Troy, by a man ... connected with the House! Do you see! He was taken out of the coal shed in the night time, without a coat on him, and taken to New York. An' that's the way they made $400 on my poor boy Con! Oh, the rascals! As sure as there's a God in Heaven, I'll shoot that fellow ... who sould him.

By November articles seeking Con's whereabouts were being placed in newspapers across the north. On 19 November, the Washington DC National Republican, describing Con as about 18-years-old, with dark hair and dark eyes, reported he had been 'decoyed from the House of Industry' in Troy and enlisted in the 52nd New York. The article repeated the theory that Con had strayed away from the group of recruits on their way from Riker's Island to Washington, and stated that he could not be found by either the officers or his mother, who had 'twice traversed the route to find him'. The paper felt that he was 'doubtless in some institution for idiots or insane persons in Washington, Baltimore, or Philadelphia'. They were wrong.

The months passed, and Catharine became increasingly desperate at the lack of news. Then she received a report that Con had been seen at Mitchell's Station, Virginia in United States uniform, which suggested he was still in the army. Her time was thereafter spent searching the faces of the army of the Potomac for her boy; her efforts were broken only by brief returns to Troy or Washington DC, in order to earn sufficient money to continue her search or to appeal for the administration's support. It was said that as she made her way around the troops, she 'carried always in her apron a large number of letters, and other memoranda, from prominent officers and others, given to aid her ... 'Apparently, although she was illiterate, she was always able to place her hand on the correct document as she required it, and having finished her story would often leave for the next regiment saying, 'My poor Con; I must go and find him!' Meanwhile, word of the outrage continued to spread countrywide, and it was increasingly suggested that it was those who had been entrusted with Con's care who betrayed him. In March 1864 the following 'information wanted' advertisement was published:

INFORMATION WANTED of the whereabouts of Cornelius Garvin, a lunatic, and late an inmate of the County House at Troy, New York, from which he was taken in September last, and sold for a substitute by John Ar[i]s, the keeper of said place. He is five feet seven inches high, black eyes, black hair and dark complexion. Supposed to be a member of the 52d New York State Volunteers. Any information sent to Mrs. Garvin, at Troy, New York, will be thankfully received by his distressed mother.

Some other states in the Union were quick to capitalise on the story, which was particularly damaging to New York, as it suggested that underhand techniques were being employed in order to fill the state's manpower quota for the army. From 1863 onwards each state was periodically required to fill a quota of enlistments into the military; failure to do so brought the threat of draft. As a result, competition for recruits could be high. On 16 March 1864 the Cleveland Morning Leader in Ohio ran the story under the headline 'How New York Fills Her Quota', stating that Con's fate was an 'illustration of the manner in which the State of New York is filling her quota. It ought to attract the attention of the War Department'. By April 1864 the mayors of Troy and New York, no doubt influenced by both the pleas of Catharine Garvin and the terrible publicity surrounding the incident, joined the hunt for Con. They offered a $100 reward for any information on him. It was now an accepted fact that he had been 'taken from the county house in Troy and sold in New York City for a substitute in the 52d New York Volunteers'.

On 4 April, Mayor of Troy James Thorn wrote about the case to New York's Governor Horatio Seymour detailing Catharine's efforts:

To discover and retrieve him [Con] is the sole purpose to which this devoted mother has consecrated her time, her energies, her life. She has made two journeys to the Army of the Potomac – has visited every regiment in which her son Cornelius has been likely to be found – has met with kind treatment and sympathy from all – even the President of the United States consenting to grant her an interview and hear her story. Undaunted by the fruitless result of her search thus far, Mrs. Garvin has determined to continue it ... Mrs. Garvin is well-known to myself and other citizens of Troy as a woman of unblemished character; and the great blow which she suffered in the loss of her son at the hands of bounty brokers or traffickers in human flesh has developed traits of heroism in this humble woman which will long remain as living proofs of a mother's love ...

Time was fast running out for Catharine to locate Con before the start of the much-anticipated 1864 Union offensive. After the Overland Campaign finally commenced on 4 May, Catharine found herself wandering through federal hospitals in search of news. On 16 May, while searching Queens Street Hospital in Alexandria, Catharine encountered Corporal Townsell J. Chapman (recorded in the rosters as Townsend) of the 52nd New York Volunteers. He had been wounded at Spotsylvania on 10 May, and gave the following statement:

Queens Street Hostal [sic] Virginia May 16th 1864

I certify that I have seen Cornelius Garvin in the 52d N.Y.V. ten days ago in Company I. Capt George Digen [Degener] gave him a different name so that his mother could not get him when she was at the Regt last Winter I being at the same Regt in Company H. Signed

Townsell J Chapman

Finally, this appeared to represent some solid information. Con was still in the 52nd New York, but was under an assumed name. Chapman was also suggesting that there was complicity on the part of Con's captain, who had intentionally concealed the young man from his mother when she came looking for him. Catharine must have hoped that her boy would be more fortunate than Corporal Chapman; the 24-year-old died of his wounds in Alexandria on 29 July.

It was around this time that Catharine's plight once again crossed the desk of the most powerful man in America. This was likely prompted by a direct appeal to the president from famed New York Democrat Fernando Wood, who penned the following lines from the House of Representatives on 26 April 1864:

Dear Sir,

The bearer Mrs Garvin is a poor woman in search of her son, who is deranged and attached to the army – any aid you can give will be truly charitable.

Very truly yours Fernando Wood.

This prompted Lincoln to compose a note for the attention of Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, which was eventually passed to Catharine:

There is reason to believe this Cornelius Garvin is an idiot, and that he is kept in the 52nd N.Y. concealed & denied to avoid any exposure of guilty parties. Will the Sec. of War please have the thing probed?

A. Lincoln May 21, 1864

On the same day that Lincoln wrote this, yet another member of the 52nd New York reported seeing Con. The first lieutenant of Company I, William Von Richenstein, stated that he had seen 'the son of Catharine Garevan [sic] at the camp of 52 Regt some fourteen days ago'. This statement, coming from an officer, placed Con in the ranks at the start of the Overland Campaign.

(Continues...)

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Excerpted from The Forgotten Irish by Damian Shiels. Copyright © 2016 Damian Shiels. Excerpted by permission of The History Press.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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Table of Contents

Contents

Acknowledgements,
Preface,
A Note on Conventions,
ONE Wives and Parents,
The Garvins: Limerick and New York,
The Murphys: Monaghan and Illinois,
The Donohoes: Galway and Massachusetts,
The Coyles: Donegal and Pennsylvania,
The Kennedys: Offaly and Ohio,
The Ridgways: Dublin and Washington DC,
The Duricks: Tipperary and Vermont,
The Galvins and Horans: Roscommon, Kerry and Massachusetts,
TWO Community and Society,
The O'Donnells: Donegal and Pennsylvania,
The Keegans: Wicklow and Pennsylvania,
The Delaneys: Laois and Pennsylvania,
The Bowlers: Cork and New York,
The Madigans: Kerry and New York,
The Conways: Offaly and New York,
The Dalys: Kildare and New York,
The Nugents: Dublin and Illinois,
The Murrays: Dublin, Down and New York,
The Martins: Derry and New York,
THREE A Life in Letters,
The Kellys: Galway and Massachusetts,
The Finans: Sligo and New York,
The Welchs: Ireland and Maine,
The McIntyres: Ireland and Pennsylvania,
The Sharkeys: Ireland and New York,
The Tiernans: Roscommon and New York,
The Carrs: Derry, New York and Illinois,
The Devlins: Tyrone and Indiana,
The Mangans: Dublin and Illinois,
FOUR A Death in Letters,
The Cochrans: Londonderry and Pennsylvania,
The Finnertys: Galway, Merseyside and Illinois,
The Hands: Louth and Pennsylvania,
The McNamaras: Ireland and New York,
The Cairns: Dublin and New Hampshire,
The Carrolls: Ireland and New York,
The Welshs: Ireland and Pennsylvania,
The Scanlans: Ireland and New York,
Epilogue – The Forgotten Irish,
Bibliography,
Notes,