LAWRENCE: Professor talks about Irish emigration

Thomas Callahan Jr., like millions of Americans, claims his ancestors came to the United States from Ireland.

By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
   Thomas Callahan Jr., like millions of Americans, claims his ancestors came to the United States from Ireland.
   But who, exactly, were those ancestors and why did they come here? That’s what led the Rider University history professor to research his roots and to write a book about it.
   Mr. Callahan offered glimpses into his book — “I’m Sending You a Shamrock to Remind You of Home” — and the reasons why millions of Irish men and women left their homeland for the United States.
   ”Leaving home is a persistent theme in Irish history,” Mr. Callahan said. Before a young Irish man or woman left for the United States, a wake was held for the departing relative who was sailing west across the Atlantic Ocean, he said.
   ”The west was a symbol of death,” he said during a talk at the Lawrence Library. “That person would never be seen again (by the family members that were left behind). Millions of Irish scrambled to leave for a better future. For many, there was no other choice.”
   That’s because even after the famine of the 1840s, Ireland was still a rural country and lacked a strong industrial economy. There were weak prospects for young men to inherit or own land because of the trend against farm subdivision — and owning or renting land was necessary for a young man to marry and begin a family.
   Women faced declining marriage prospects, too, but for different reasons, Mr. Callahan said. The woman’s family had to prepare a dowry, and often there was only enough money to provide for one dowry. The other daughters had to find work, usually as maids.
   More Irish men and women could see that there was no future in Ireland. Letters from friends and relatives who had already emigrated to the United States reinforced the notion that “men with strong backs” and women with domestic skills who were willing to work as maids would have a better life there, he said.
   Many of those immigrants lied about their age, Mr. Callahan said. They presented themselves as younger than they were to make it easier to find work, nor did they always pay attention to how old they really were anyway, he said.
   The earliest wave of immigrants crossed the Atlantic Ocean in “coffin ships” — so named because a large percentage of the passengers died before the six-week journey was over, he said.
   The mortality rate was about 20 percent — “that was not good odds,” he added. Their final destination was determined by the cost of the ticket. They often landed in Canada, and walked to the United States.
   While earlier waves of immigrants crossed the Atlantic Ocean in “coffin ships” in the 1840s, he said, newer steamships reduced the six-week trip to about seven to 10 days. The fares were also lower. Sometimes, it appeared that “whole neighborhoods” moved across the ocean, he said.
   ”Millions of Americans speak about their Irish heritage, but they know little about their families,” Mr. Callahan said.
   In the history classes he teaches, he often asks students with Irish surnames about their heritage, but only draws blank stares. It’s a reaction that he understands all too well.
   ”I can sympathize. Not so long ago, I was in the same boat,” Mr. Callahan said.
   History focuses on important figures, such as kings, the wealthy or government leaders, because they leave a written trail behind, he said. The average person does not leave behind such an extensive paper trail, he said, but it is possible to find it “if you know where to look,” he said.
   It was a vacation to Ireland in 1982 that sparked his interest in his heritage, Mr. Callahan said. He began tracing his family’s history in the “dark ages,” before the Internet and Ancestry.com made research easier. It was difficult and took much sleuthing to recreate the family’s story.
   Mr. Callahan spent several years tracing his family’s history from a farm in Ireland to northern New Jersey and upstate New York. He began by following the route his grandmother, Catherine McCormack, had taken to the United States in 1897. She followed her four brothers here and later married Patrick Callahan.
   Mr. Callahan said his father, Thomas Callahan Sr., was the fourth of nine children born to Patrick and Catherine McCormack Callahan. He said he knew very little about his family or its roots, because they never talked about it.
   ”Within 50 years, we forgot out Irish heritage. We had become simply Americans,” he said.
   Form an historical perspective, Mr. Callahan said he was struck by the “relentless” emigration from Ireland in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Between 1856 and 1920, more than 3.5 million people left in search of a better life.
   Fast forward to the 21st century, and very little has changed.
   The Irish economy — the “Celtic tiger” — experienced a boom in the early 2000s, but by 2008 it fizzled out.
   The forces that lured the McCormack family and others across the ocean in the 1800s are still at work.
   ”The exodus of shamrocks still goes on,” Mr. Callahan said.