IRISH-NEW-YORK-CITY-L Archives

From:
Subject: [IRISH-NYC] Bricks and Fires
Date: Wed, 2 Jul 2003 20:20:10 -0400

Hello:

We are wondering whether anyone here has ancestors whose experiences were like
those of ours.

In researching New York (as it is now--mainly Brooklyn) Irish ancestors, we
have encountered the difficulties all of us have experienced with confused or
missing records. But patterns emerge. One is that some of our Irish
immigrant ancestors worked in the brick factories of Westchester County before
coming to Brooklyn. We have articles from the library in Peekskill documenting
unbelievable hardships of punishingly long hours and low wages, but apparently
many Irish Famine refugees did begin their stays on American shores in those
factories. Has anyone else found this history in their families?

Another branch seems to have had what may also have been a common experience.
This family was living in St. John's, Newfoundland, in July, 1892, when a great
fire consumed much of that city. They lost everything, fled to Boston, but soon
turned up in Brooklyn.

We don't know very much about the histories of these families prior to the fire
or the brick factories, yet we are getting the impression that their
experiences were shared by many others. Does anyone have more information about
ancestors who may have been caught in these same events? It may help some of us
learn more about those who could turn out to be common forebears.

Carol and Jack McGann in Florida
Searching Irish immigrants in 19th-Century Brooklyn: McGann, Lambert, Kennedy,
Cannon (born England), Carr, Lavely (born England), Young

This thread:

• [IRISH-NYC] Bricks and Fires by