History - In 1800, the Act of Union was passed, combining Great Britain and Ireland into one United Kingdom. The Catholic Emancipation Act followed in 1829 chiefly due to the activities of the Irish politician Daniel O'Connell. During the 1830s and 1840s a new nationalist movement, Young Ireland, arose. A rebellion that it launched in 1848, however, was easily defeated. The second half of the 1840s was one of the grimmest periods in Irish history. Due to the great famine caused by the crop failure of Ireland's staple food—the potato—millions died or emigrated. The second half of the nineteenth century saw increased nationalistic demands for self-government and land reform, most notably in the activities of the Home Rule Movement under the leadership of Charles Stewart Parnell. (Source)
Immigrants - As the passage from Britain to the Canadian Maritimes was substantially cheaper than that to the United States, many Irish immigrants came first to Canada, landing at Quebec, Montreal, or Halifax, and then sailed or even walked down into America. After about 1840, however, most immigrants sailed from Ireland to an American port. Whereas most of the Irish Catholic immigrants during the eighteenth century became engaged in some sort of farming occupation, those in the subsequent century tended to remain in such urban centers as Boston, New York, and Philadelphia or in the textile towns where their unskilled labor could be readily utilized. The immigrants were impoverished but usually not as destitute as those who came during the famine. Many readily found jobs building roads or canals such as the Erie. Still, times were tough for most of them, especially the Catholics who frequently found themselves a minority and targets of discrimination in an overwhelmingly Protestant nation.
It was the cataclysmic Potato Famine of 1845-1851, one of the most severe disasters in Irish history, that initiated the greatest departure of Irish immigrants to the United States. The potato constituted the main dietary staple for most Irish and when the blight struck a number of successive harvests social and economic disintegration ensued. As many as 1.5 million individuals perished of starvation and the diverse epidemics that accompanied the famine. A great number of the survivors emigrated, many of them to the United States. From the beginning of the famine in the mid-1840s until 1860 about 1.7 million Irish immigrated to the United States, mainly from the provinces of Connaught and Munster. In the latter part of the century, though the numbers fell from the highs of the famine years, the influx from Ireland continued to be large. While families predominated during the Famine exodus, single people now accounted for a far higher proportion of the immigrants. By 1880 more single women than single men were immigrants. It has been estimated that from 1820 to 1900 about four million Irish immigrated to the United States. (Source)
Second only to Germans, close to 4.5 million Irish settled in the U.S. between 1830 and 1920. The main Irish influx in Wisconsin occurred between 1840 and 1860 and they were the largest English-speaking group to settle in the state. Unlike other immigrant groups, the Irish did not move immediately westward after arriving in the U.S.: the average Irish immigrant had spent seven years in the U.S. before moving to Wisconsin. In 1860, the Wisconsin's Irish population numbered 49,961; 41,907 in 1880; and 23, 544 in 1900. Irish immigrants were more likely than other groups to move from county to county and from state to state in search of available land for farming. The great immigration of Germans after 1860 also led the Irish to leave Wisconsin as German immigrants were more willing to endure the hardships of clearing land for farming. Many Irish worked in the lead region both in the mines and in support industries such as lumbering, smelting, and rail construction. Others settled in the southeastern counties and in the city of Milwaukee. In 1850, 4,350 Irish lived in Milwaukee, primarily in the Third Ward, working as laborers, domestics, and artisans. The Third Ward lost most of its Irish inhabitants after a fire in 1892. (Source)
The Passage - There were uncountable, untold stories of the evils and sufferings endured by those crossing the sea. The passage took from three to six weeks or more. The bulk of Irishmen, who had little more than their own food and bedding and more frequently with but a few articles of furniture, traveled steerage in overcrowded ships. Lack of sanitation, impure water, and spoiled food often brought illnesses such as cholera and typhoid fever, which claimed many victims especially among the women and children. Storms not only aroused terror among the seasick passengers but also caused some ships to spring leaks and others to sink with heavy loss of life. Often there were instances of highhandedness and even cruelty toward emigrants on the part of the captain and members of the crew. Although numerous complaints were made concerning ill-treatment on board ship, not all reports were bad. At times, acknowledgments of fair and kind treatment signed by the passengers were tendered by the captain and crew.
By the 1850's there was some improvement in conditions as a result of the efforts of the emigration societies, better and more efficiently enforced regulations, and increased interest on the part of clergymen. Furthermore, after 1855, the decline in the number of passengers caused shipping companies to Fortunately, some of the stories of passage were preserved by the families who braved that voyage. Ella Whelan provides one such story about the Barnes family. (Source)
Personal Glimpse By Ella M. Whelan, 1948
Among the very early settlers in the North Lake/Monches/Erin area was the Barnes' family. James Barnes and his wife, Lissy Holt, at the ages of sixty with their son, Holt Barnes, left their home at Bury Lane, Lancashire, England, on July 6, 1848 on the sailing vessel De Witt Clinton, a ship of 1166 tons register. The cost of passage was thirteen English pounds and ten shillings. They landed in New York on Saturday, August 26th, after a passage of six weeks and two days. Four hundred and fifty passengers in all arrived. On the passage, one old man, one woman and four children died.
- The passenger contract ticket is still preserved in personal family records. The ticket made the following provision:
- Water and provisions according to the annexed scale will be supplied by the ship as required by law and also fires and suitable hearths for cooking. Bedding and utensils for eating and drinking must be provided by the passengers.
- Meager rations were provided as stipulated in the contract ticket. Each adult passenger was granted three quarts of water a day (for drinking, cooking and washing) and a weekly ration of three pounds of biscuit, and three and one-half pounds in all of flour, oatmeal or rice, or a proportionate quantity of potatoes.
Young Holt Barnes kept a diary during the journey, which is treasured by some of his relatives. It is notable as much for what it omits as for what it mentions. He repeatedly mentions the porpoises, the weather and his mother's sickness. He scarcely mentions the children who died on the crowded vessel, and makes no comment on the deadly diet which they received. Here are a few notations from his diary:
- Thursday, July 13th, 1848. Wind against us. One knot an hour. Afternoon very hot and calm. Sent back three men and a girl stowaway.
- Friday, July 14th, 1848. Eight and one-half knots an hour, morn. Afternoon, three and one-half knots. Mother very sick first time, and I felt rather dizzy, as well as father. Saw some young whales.
- Wednesday, August 16th, 1848. Fine calm morn. Passengers uneasy about landing. Afternoon dropped anchor for want of wind and not expected to land but steam tug came and towed us in and we landed after a passage of six weeks and two days about 4 o'clock P.M., with 450 passengers and crew. Died on our passage, one old man, one woman and four children.
From New York, the Barnes came by way of Albany, the Erie Canal and the Great Lakes to Milwaukee.
Cead Mile Failte
(Source)
Settlement - In the early 1840's , the southwestern corner of Washington County, WI was settled by a group of Irish immigrants who had not been attracted to the locality as laborers, but rather with the intention of settling on the land. These Irishmen located chiefly in what became Erin Township as well as in Monches, part of Merton Township. These two neighboring townships offer an example of how the Irish community is not defined by boundaries and roads, but rather by culture, relationships and tradition. Erin, whose early history is identical with that of Monches, was the most Irish agricultural town in Wisconsin in 1850 and 1860. (Source)
Articles on the history of the Irish in Wisconsin -
Article 1
Article 2
Irish Dancers
Sources
http://www.erintownship.com/immigration.htm
http://www.everyculture.com/multi/Ha-La/Irish-Americans.html
http://www.ilw.com/articles/2001,0830-AILF.shtm
http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/turningpoints/tp-046/?action=more_essay
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