Nellie Regan (left) and Minnie Foley were life-long best friends. They were both born in Fisherville, New Hampshire in the mid-1870s and grew up in Tara Township, Minnesota. Their fathers immigrated from Kilmichael, County Cork together in 1864 – click here to read my latest column on page 26 of Irish Lives Remembered online genealogy magazine about the Regan and Foley families. This is one of my favorite family photographs and earns the best friends a place on my list of Irish American Favorites.
When I was young, this was one of those photos that could spark a number of great stories from my grandma, Minnie’s daughter and the master of the Boiled Dinner from Day Three. Grandma would say how her mother and Nellie were “great pals”. Even when they lived two hundred miles apart, they made a special effort to get together.
I have a couple more favorites up my sleeve related to Nellie and Minnie and their special connection. I might even share one or two recipes! I love the photo below. Nellie (left) and Minnie together again, just a bit more relaxed than the studio photo from forty-odd years earlier.
Can’t believe an entire year has passed since I posted this in honor of my great-grandmother’s birthday last year. Hope your 2013 is off to a good start — thanks so much for reading. Now, better get to baking that spice cake… Continue reading →
By now you must all know how much I love letters, so let’s take another look at the Stephen Owens Collection. Discovered at the Old Skerries Historical Society in County Dublin in the late 1970s by well-known Irish Emigration historian Kerby Miller, this is a small collection of letters sent from Stephen Owens of Clontarf, Minnesota in the USA to his niece Celia Grimes in his native Skerries, County Dublin, Ireland. The letters are from the first few years of the twentieth century.
I began to look at the letters of Stephen Owens in an earlier post (click here to get caught up.) I will pick up the action with a letter dated July 20, 1900.
Mr. Owens starts right out with the weather (typical Irishman and Minnesotan!) It is the hottest and driest summer in over twenty-five years in Minnesota. No rain and scorching heat have left the farmers with little in the way of grains to cut come harvest time:
Corn and potatoes are Pretty good but the American likes to live on flowers instead of potatoes.
Mr. Owens writes of his younger cousin, a daughter of his Uncle John, who works for a family in Lynn, Massachusetts. He had a letter from her in which she describes her employer and their summer holidays in New Hampshire. She wants very much to come out West to visit her cousin which leads Mr. Owens to write, “I would like to see all my friends before I Die, God bless us all.”
The next letter to Celia is dated April 1, 1902. Mr. Owens tells her of the new priest in Clontarf and how the beloved Father McDonald died of consumption. He goes on to tell Celia that she may miss her brother who recently left home for America, “but it is 49 years last February since I seen your Mother, my sister Eliza.” All those years later, Mr. Owens still misses his sister and family. He even misses Celia, and she was not even born when he was last in Skerries!
In a previous letter Celia must have told her uncle that there is something of an Irish language revival in Skerries because he writes:
Skerries is a great old Town. It is getting very patriotic. I am glad to hear the young People are learning their Country’s language. It is a good sign…
The last letter from Mr. Owens in the collection is dated November 10, 1903. The tone of this letter is less than up-beat. He has been ill for five weeks and sometimes is unable to stand for the pain in his back and legs.
Mr. Owens is pleased to hear that Celia was reunited with her brother who came back from America, and he comments on the latest wave of migrants from Ireland:
…you sent 11 people out from Skerries lately. Them is the kind that is wanting, Old People is only in the way here in America they don’t want them. I suppose it’s that way in every country…
Mr. Owens is clearly facing the fact that he has reached the twilight of his years and he has apparently given up the notion of returning to Ireland to see all of his old friends and family – “I think when we meet next it will be in heaven.” It was another two years before Mr. Owens passed away in December 1905.
I contacted the Skerries Historical Society to see if they had the originals of these letters – I only have copied transcripts. Maree Baker, the librarian at the Society got right back to me and said that they did not have the original letters. She sent along a couple of items from the Grimes family that are part of their collection – a photo from the late 1920s and two memorial cards. Celia’s brother James is on the left in the photo and Maree said Celia could be one of the women to the right.
The first time I visited Ireland in 1988, I was struck by the number of derelict farmhouses dotting the countryside. “Why doesn’t someone just tear those old houses down?” I wondered. “That’s what we do in the good ol’ USA…we don’t leave houses to fall down on themselves. If we don’t want or need them, we get rid of them and build something new and better…”
Abandoned house near Ballyedmond, County Laois (all photos by Regan McCormack)
This sentiment came from a teenage girl from the city who spent more time in the countryside during six weeks in Ireland than she had in sixteen years back home – in the “good ol’ USA”. I thought I was so smart…
Fast-forward twenty years and I am closer to home, driving the country roads of Tara Township, crisscrossing its thirty-six square miles in Swift County, Minnesota. My maternal great-great-grandparents were among the pioneer 1870s settlers of this township on the vast prairie of Western Minnesota. This was my first visit to Tara. I had traveled three thousand miles from home on a number of occasions to visit Ireland, my “ancestral homeland”, yet I had never bothered to drive a few hours west to see where my people settled when they came to Minnesota.
Granted, as far as vacation destinations are concerned, Ireland is a bit more attractive than Western Minnesota, but it turns out, the two places have some things in common.
There are the obvious similarities in place names in this part of Minnesota. Bishop John Ireland established several colonies of Irish Catholic settlers with names like Avoca, Kildare, Tara, and Clontarf. Hundreds of Irish families from cities and communities in the Eastern United States seized the opportunity to own land and live in a community with its own church and priest, surrounded by fellow Irish Catholics.
The Depression came early to rural communities and persistent crop failures and changing farming practices combined to make farming unviable for most small farmers. My relatives moved to Minneapolis, as did several other Tara families. Some of the original Irish settlers had left Tara even earlier, moving further West, always in search of better land.
So, I wonder why I was surprised to find this in Tara Township?
Section 22 of Tara Township – the McMahon place
On nearly every section of land in the township stands an abandoned farmhouse, or at least a grove of trees planted by the original settlers to protect a house. And this in the “good ol’ USA” where we tear things down!
Folks in Ireland and Tara Township have the same reaction when I ask them why they don’t simply tear down the abandoned houses. They shrug and say that they are no bother and they can be used for storage. That is the practical response, but I wonder if there is something a bit more sentimental lurking beneath?
The abandoned houses got me thinking…A similar hopelessness that drove millions of Irish to America during the 19th and 20th centuries could be seen in rural Americans who fled the farm for the city in the 1920s. Major difference, of course, is there was not a famine like Ireland experienced, however there was tremendous poverty, crops failed miserably, families were split up, and life changed permanently and dramatically.
I am rather ashamed of my sixteen-year-old self for not being as smart as she thought she was. She should have realized that the same reason this stands today in Ireland…
Near Ballyedmond, County Laois – 2011
might be why this…
Cahir Castle, Tipperary – 2011
and this…
Rock of Dunamase, County Laois – 2011
and this…
Johnstown, County Kildare – 2009
are still here today. I doubt that the farmhouse ruins will have the staying power of the castles and abbeys of centuries gone by, but in the meantime they can remind us from where we came. Whether it is a farmhouse in Ireland or Tara Township, Minnesota.
Now, if I could only get Jimmy to fix up this old house…
Two Jimmy McCormacks at old family house in Ballyedmond – 2009
Minnie was my great-grandmother, and according to my grandma she absolutely hated the nickname “Minnie”. Please forgive me, Great Grandmother, but I think it is a cute name, and since your real name Mary is shared by at least 75% of the women in your family tree, I chose to call you Minnie.
Minnie Foley was born in Fisherville, New Hampshire on January 2, 1875. She was the fourth of five children born to Patrick Foley and Mary Crowley (their eldest son did not survive infancy.) Patrick emigrated to the United States from Kilmichael, County Cork in 1864. Mary came a year earlier in 1863, also from County Cork.
Minnie was baptized on January 24, 1875 at St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church in Concord, New Hampshire. John Foley and Mary Casey were her godparents.
Three years later, Minnie and her family moved west to Clontarf, Minnesota with several other Irish families from the Concord, New Hampshire area, including the Regan family. John Regan and Patrick Foley emigrated together in 1864 from Kilmichael. The families settled on farms in Tara township. Minnie and Nellie Regan were best friends from a very young age.
First-Generation American Girls: Minnie and Nellie in about 1886
My grandma told me that Minnie worked hard her entire life, and that included working on the family farm in Tara Township while she was growing up. Her sister Maggie worked inside, while Minnie and her younger brother Jackie worked outside. My grandma confessed, she wasn’t sure where Minnie’s older brother Tim worked!
The McMahons, an Irish family from County Fermanagh, lived about a mile from the Foleys in Tara. Minnie married Thomas McMahon at St. Malachy Catholic Church in Clontarf on June 28, 1904. Minnie’s sister Maggie and Tom’s brother Frank were their witnesses. I imagine Minnie and Hoosie (as Tom is referred to in Minnie’s autograph book) having secret meetings over hay bales and missing chickens during their courtship…
Minnie and Tom raised seven children and after giving farming all they had the McMahons moved to Minneapolis in 1925.
When she died in 1945, Minnie was living with my grandma, her husband John Regan, and their new baby (and my mother) Eileen. My grandma said that Minnie was smitten with Eileen. Minnie would say that she had never known a baby to sleep as much and as well as little Eileen. Minnie marvelled at how Eileen would even fall asleep with a bottle in her mouth.
In many ways things came full circle for Minnie. Also living with my grandma in 1945 was Neil Regan, Nellie’s older brother and my grandpa’s father. Eighty years earlier Patrick Foley and John Regan had journeyed to the United States. After Fisherville, New Hampshire and Clontarf, Minnesota, the families came together again in Minneapolis…a long way from Kilmichael.
In my grandma’s recipe book are a few recipes attributed to Minnie, her “Ma” – I think I will make “Ma’s Spice Cake” in Minnie’s honor today.
Several years ago, my mother received a trio of photographs from her cousin Lorna. Lorna knew that two of the photos were her great-grandparents (see below), but she had no idea about the identity of the woman pictured above. All that Lorna could offer was, “Well, I am sure she’s one of the Foleys…”
Do you think she could be this guy’s mother?
Patrick T. Foley
This is my great-great-grandfather Patrick Foley who arrived in America in 1864. He came from Kilmichael Parish, County Cork and settled in Fisherville, New Hampshire before heading West to Clontarf, Minnesota in the late 1870s.
Or, could the caped woman be this lady’s mother?
Mary Crowley Foley
Mary Crowley married Patrick Foley on November 13, 1869 at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Providence, Rhode Island. Mary also came from County Cork. Patrick and Mary’s photographs are tin-types.
I really can’t tell who she is, nor do I know where the photo was taken. If anyone has input or information regarding these photos, please leave a comment. I would love to know more about the costume in the first photograph, and if you see any resemblance.
To one of my favorite Irish American couples…my great-grandparents Annie Hill and Cornelius Regan. They were married 100 years ago today, February 21st, at St. Malachy Catholic Church in Clontarf, Minnesota. Annie came from Kill Parish in County Kildare in 1899 and settled in Clontarf, Minnesota. Neil was born in Fisherville, New Hampshire, his parents were Mary Quinn from County Clare and John Regan of Kilmichael, County Cork.
Annie Hill and Cornelius Regan - February 21, 1911
I wanted to write about Irish fraternal organizations and societies that emerged in nineteenth century America as the population of Irish immigrants grew, but then I realized I really don’t know anything about the subject. Instead, I will share some thoughts on the Irish immigrant experience, with a bit on Irish-American organizations.
When I was in Concord, New Hampshire early in October, the parish secretary of St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church pointed to a house where Mass was said in the days before the church was built and the parish established in 1869. She said that the Irish (who were more or less the only Catholics in Concord at the time) had to be careful because they could be evicted for having a priest say Mass in their home.
St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church - Concord, NH (photo by Regan McCormack)
My great-great-grandfather came to live in Concord shortly after arriving in America in 1864. His name was Patrick Foley, and he came from Kilmichael Parish in County Cork (see the last post.) Patrick Foley could read and write, and at various times served as doorkeeper, secretary, and president of the St. Patrick’s Benevolent Society in Concord.
Another one of my great-great-grandfathers, John Regan, came from Kilmichael Parish in County Cork as well and settled in Concord. He could neither read nor write, and very likely couldn’t even speak English when he left Ireland. If the people of Concord were intolerant of Catholics, one can imagine they did not have much time for non-English speakers. Organizations such as the St. Patrick’s Benevolent Society and the Ancient Order of Hibernians (the AOH, who had a branch in Concord) would have been very important in helping new immigrants adjust to life in America and help protect their religious rights.
My great-great-grandfathers moved west to Clontarf, Minnesota in the late 1870s as part of Bishop John Ireland’s Catholic colonization efforts. Most of the early settlers were fellow Irishmen and women who had worked for ten years or more in the crowded cities on the East coast or farmed small plots of rented land, saving what money they could for a chance to own land and live in a community where they had their own church and their own priest.
St. Malachy Catholic Church Clontarf, MN
The AOH hall still stands in Clontarf, Minnesota and serves as St. Malachy Parish Hall. On the prairie of Western Minnesota, the goals of the AOH began to shift. They could turn their attention toward selling insurance policies and planning St. Patrick’s Day programs now that they were free to practice their religion.
What does any of this mean to you, as you search for your Irish relatives who came to America? Not sure, exactly, except I hope it contributes to your understanding of what life was like for Irish immigrants in America.
The AOH still exists today. There are a number of local branches throughout America. Go here for a list. Maybe your relative was once a member, or your cousins still are…
I just returned from a trip to New Hampshire. New Hampshire is a state located on the East coast of the United States, north of Massachusetts. My sister and I conducted research on several families who came from County Cork in the mid-1800s and settled in Concord, New Hampshire before moving west to Minnesota.
New Hampshire State House - Concord
Our first stop was the New Hampshire Historical Society research library. We scoured the city directories and looked through other pertinent items in their collection. We made some interesting discoveries, and along the way I was struck by a common pattern of Irish migration.
From the city directories it was very clear how the Irish came to the US. They immigrated in waves, joining relatives who had previously settled in a certain area. Given this pattern, the new arrival would have a place to stay, possibly a job waiting for them, and a community of family and fellow Irishmen ready to welcome a new member to America.
This is a key thing to remember when researching your relative who came to America: most often emigrants followed a path made by previous family members or neighbors. Of course this was not always the case, but the migratory patterns of Irish coming to America are somewhat predictable.
Does anyone have a story to share, perhaps one that would prove the exception to my “theory”? Please leave a comment.
I received the first inquiry and have found some promising results that I will share with Margaret. She made it easy – she had some names, dates, and the place where they lived in America. If you have a similar query, please don’t hesitate to ask me for help.
I would also be interested in hearing from anyone whose relatives settled in New Hampshire. All over the state are towns named after towns or counties in Ireland, including Derry, Dublin, and Antrim. The mills of Manchester and Concord, as well as the building of the infrastructure they required, created hard-laboring jobs for new immigrants. The story was the same in most major American cities and towns during the Industrial Revolution.
The Irish in America 