From and Over the Water - To Urban Living -- to build a life that lasted.

"Mom, is it okay if I get a lot wet? "

As soon as Meghan Anne made it out to the rock, her cousin and brother left -- and anyone who is or has a child who is a younger sibling, understands exactly how and why that happened.

And, yes, the poor child was, as I remember, drenched.

Ireland is an island. I say that because, for some very odd reason, I forget that fact. Somehow, potatoes and farming are what I think of when I imagine Anne's home country. But that image fails to convey how evident the water was to us all when we were in County Mayo. The water was a massive part of the scenery and dominated the senses.

This next photo shows a building - I remember wishing with all that I was for it to be Anne's former home - it is not - but notice the water in the background.

Anne grew up on an island, near the sea. When she left her home, she spent 3 months at sea -- and then spent the next 20 years on another island (Manhattan) living in tenements. Anne went from living near family, cousins, and likely running through the grass on the hills in my photo - to walking city streets, and possibly, seeing very little of either grass and with the East River nearby rather than the Atlantic Ocean.

Early in Anne and John's marriage - I find them living at 194 E 25th Street (25th Street and 3rd Avenue) in the 18th Ward of New York City. The 18th Ward went from 15th Street - north to 25th Street -- and started on the west side at Third Avenue and extended eastward to the river.

In this Ward, in 1870, lived 40,724 people.  The Nolans and their five children were some of those people. By 1858 - Maurice was a newborn; in 1860, Thomas joins the family and quickly passes. Also in the 1860 decade, Anne and John welcome four more children - Stephen, John, Mary, and Ellen (Nellie). I have yet to find the family in the 1870 census -- which is making me INSANE - so I am not certain yet if they were still in New York City or if by 1870, they had moved to White Plains. (see my residency research thus far)

The Nolan's neighbors on 25th Street included the Emanuel family from Scotland, the Toffe's from Ireland, and the Steinke's (a cabinet maker) from Hanover (Germany).

Those 40,724 people lived in 1,323 tenements. Tenements were wood structures, built quickly, in the back of city blocks. Clothes lines ran out of windows. Rooms were small and few -- the Nolans probably had 2 or 3 for their entire family. Sewage systems were inadequate and much like Anne's trip over on the Emma Prescott, lice was common. Water was not available in most buildings; bathrooms were also outside.

I've been reading Hot Corn: Life Scenes in New York to get more of a sense of what the day to day life may have been like for Anne and John and their growing family. The stories read a lot likely a poorly written Dubliners (which perhaps describes this blog too) in that they are intimate and tragic -- detailing despair, alcohol abuse, poverty, and loneliness. As I turn each page, I see each story at nighttime - as if no light ever entered the streets where these Irish lived.

Living as they did, I marvel at what was accomplished. Each of the Nolan children learned to read-- something their parents could not do. All but one lived past their baby years; clearly these children were kept healthy and grew strong. The family remained together until 1880 and I find them living near each other through the 1930s - this leads me to believe that those strong bonds of family were based on a solid upbringing from Anne and John.

How did Anne and John accomplish this? What did they draw upon when sad, frustrated, or worried? Consider the noises and smells of Anne's childhood -- and imagine the contrast with her life in New York City. Having just had corned beef and cabbage in my home, I can quickly recall that smell. Combine that smell with sauerkraut from the Steinke's apartment and I supposed, some whiskey? Is this appealing to you? Could you have raised children in that environment?

The images of drunks in the street, of financial hardships and the constant temptation of drink are so frequent - the reality of it must be accepted. Did John or Anne struggle with these demons? Did the children know and see this despair? Were they frightened?

Or, did the reality of childhood break through? Did big brothers Maurice, Stephen, and John run ahead and try to evade young Mary as she ran to catch up?


When you next visit New York, consider a visit to the Tenement Museum, where you can experience a tour of an Irish immigrant's tenement home; the family you will meet is recovering from the loss of a child (as the Nolan's also did.)

The Historical Atlas of New York City:
A Visual Celebration of 400 Years of New York City's History
by Eric Homberger

Irish Immigrants

I've gotten way off track with our story; the research process gets so interesting and the hunt for "real" records is tantalizing -- but let me get back to our timeline.

Anne arrives in New York City, alone, in 1847. The time period is pre-American Civil War and -- (while Nan's story nods to the Irish Potato Famine) - pre-famine. Anne left her family and her father just as the Irish were starting to leave Ireland; each year after Anne left, more Irish left their homes.

Irish Leaving Ireland - estimates per year (from R.F. Foster Modern Ireland: 1600-1972)

• 1825: 7,000
• 1830: 55,000
• 1837: 18,000
• 1844: 85,000
• 1847: 170,000
• 1853: 250,000

Most of these departing Irish ended up in America; the next largest group landed in England (as John Willy Gagan's family seemed to - his parents were born in Ireland but he was born in England). As I mentioned in an earlier post, 1/2 of the Irish arriving in America landed in New York City. Initially, immigrants were processed through Castle Garden (as Anne would have been) and later, immigrants went through Ellis Island --(so far this is the only mistake I've found in Nan's story- she refers to Anne as spending a few days at Ellis Island)

Edward Robb Ellis, in The Epic of New York City, explains that the Irish arriving in New York were not well received. He explains "The Irish, arriving in droves, lacked money and education and skills. They were met with contempt by Native New Yorkers". (p. 231)

Irish initially settled in Five Points - the intersection of the following streets of New York - Anthony, Orange, Cross, Little Water, and Mulberry. Today Mulberry remains - the other streets are renamed Worth (Anthony), Baxter (Orange), Park (Cross) and Little Water is gone. This part of New York, in the 1850s opened onto a triangular park -- called Paradise Square.
The visuals from Gangs of New York seem to be accurate - as heart breaking as that is to hear.

Ellis explains that New York, well before the famine immigrants arrived, was already home to many, many Irish. Life for these people was hard; poverty was rampant - 1 in seven citizens of New York lived in poverty in 1846. Many Irish were in prison. The area was violent - but remember, Ireland (according to Kerby Miller) was also a violent place. Gangs did exist and were predominantly men; however, I am reading that the famous Civil War/ draft riots included participation from the ladies as well.

Anne arrives in New York into this culture; while Ireland may have been violent, somehow I think the world that Anne left in Kilcumnin Point Parish was not. John, from Wexford (south-eastern Ireland) may have been a bit more of an urban-leaning lad - but he is consistently listed as a farm laborer so I wonder if he, too, was a rural, small town person.

Anne and John seemed to have missed much of the drama and despair we see depicted in most narratives about Irish New York City. Anne did not live in Five Point's, but rather landed in Hell's Kitchen.

Anne arrived early enough that descriptions of the Hell's Kitchen she would have known sound rural "an enclave of rural peace and solitude; its green meadows... hospitable to lowing herds, barefoot boys, and strolling lovers. " Hells' Kitchen: The Riotous Days of New York's West Side by Richard O'Connor It is in 1855 that the area becomes commercial (with slaughter houses and the corresponding boarding houses to house workers -- being built). A few years later, in 1860, we see the Nolan's elsewhere, living on the East side of New York City (in the 18th Ward) - likely in a tenement given the volume of neighbors surrounding them. So, as Anne arrived pre-Civil War, pre-massive influx of Irish, she also arrived pre-Hell's Kitchen!

I will do some more research. But, what I have deduced today, is that to see Anne and John as famine immigrants misses part of their story. While they certainly left Ireland when it was clear their way of life was dwindling, and the potato blight had begun, their reasons for coming to America were probably many -- and opportunity was likely a driving factor.

Anne seems to have found a secure place and was not subject to much of the horror we read about other Irish women suffering - given her early marriage to John and the rapid child bearing, she probably spent much of her 20s and 30s in the house, raising babies and managing growing children.

I feel relief; and perhaps, I am projecting my need to know Anne was not a victim of horrible poverty and driven to horrific deeds is driving this post. But, I think on some points, I stand on solid (albeit muddy) ground.

The Epic of New York City: A Narrative History by Edward Robb Ellis
Hell's Kitchen: the Riotous Days of New York's West Side by Richard O'Connor
Modern Ireland: 1600-1972 by R. F. Foster