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Irish Immigrants

Clinton County’s Irish Immigrant Legacy

May 11, 2023 by Helen Allen Nerska Leave a Comment

John McGaulley's TruckMany people from Clinton County, NY have ancestors from Ireland or Canada. In the 1850 census, in the Town of Ausable, one in four people were born in Canada or Ireland. In the Town of Clinton, every other person would have been born in Canada or Ireland. In the whole of Clinton County in 1850, only half could claim to be born in New York, as was the case for the Town of Black Brook. [Read more…] about Clinton County’s Irish Immigrant Legacy

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History Tagged With: Beekmantown, Black Brook, Canada, Catholicism, Champlain, Chazy, Clinton, Clinton County, Clinton County Historical Association, Immigration, Irish History, Irish Immigrants, Mooers, Nativism, Town of Ausable

Vannie Higgins: ‘Brooklyn’s Last Irish Boss’

April 14, 2023 by Guest Contributor 1 Comment

Brooklyn Rum Runner and Gangster Vannie HigginsVannie Higgins (1897-1932) was a notorious Brooklyn gangster and rum-runner. He was born Charles Van Wyck Higgins in 1897 in Bay Ridge, son of Daniel and Helen (Nellie) Higgins. As a young boy he was involved in street corner brawls, then moved up the ladder to assaults, robbery and grand larceny. Although he had an extensive police record, he was usually able to squeeze out of any jail time. [Read more…] about Vannie Higgins: ‘Brooklyn’s Last Irish Boss’

Filed Under: History, New York City Tagged With: Brooklyn, Crime and Justice, Genealogy, Great Meadow Correctional Facility, Irish Immigrants, Legs Diamond, liquor, Manhattan, New York City, Prohibition

Massacres & Migrants at Sea: Deadly Voyages To New York

January 11, 2023 by Jaap Harskamp 1 Comment

Diagram (1787) of the Liverpool-launched slave ship BrookesThe 1840s brought about a transformation in the nature of transatlantic shipping. With the development of European colonial empires, the forced transportation of African slaves had become big business.

Liverpool was the focus of the British slave trade. As a result of crusading abolitionist movements and subsequent legal intervention, the brutal practice declined there during that decade. But more or less simultaneously a new form of people trafficking took its place. [Read more…] about Massacres & Migrants at Sea: Deadly Voyages To New York

Filed Under: Arts, History, New York City Tagged With: Abolition, Art History, Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic World, British Atlantic, British Empire, Immigration, Irish Immigrants, Legal History, London, Maritime History, natural disasters, New York City, Slavery, Transportation History

The Riot in Ogdensburg, 1871

November 6, 2022 by Richard White 5 Comments

Andre Massena Baron De Camin article from the Ogdensburg Daily Journal Aug 19 1871On Friday, August 18th, 1871, “The Riot at Ogdensburg” was the New-York Tribune’s title for its detailed review on the rapid rise of an Irish mob three days earlier – which the paper labeled “a formidable riotous element” – in the small, quiet port of Ogdensburg on the St. Lawrence River.

For two days, the mob’s threat of violence, and violence itself, was so intense that the mayor deputized nearly 100 men to restore law and order. [Read more…] about The Riot in Ogdensburg, 1871

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History Tagged With: Irish Immigrants, Nativism, Ogdensburg, Religious History, riots, St Lawrence County, St. Lawrence River

1899 And The Making Of New York City

April 26, 2022 by Jaap Harskamp 5 Comments

original St James Hotel on Broadway & 26th StreetOn August 31st, 1901, Polish-American anarchist Leon Czolgosz booked a room in Nowak’s Hotel at 1078 Broadway.

Six days later he made a trip to Buffalo, site of the Pan-American Exposition where President William McKinley was due to speak. He shot him from close range. [Read more…] about 1899 And The Making Of New York City

Filed Under: History, New York City Tagged With: Architecture, Auburn Prison, Crime and Justice, Fires, Irish Immigrants, Jewish History, Manhattan, New York City, Oscar Hammerstein, Performing Arts, Sing Sing Prison, Theatre, Theodore Roosevelt, Transportation History

William Paterson & The Constitution of the United States

April 14, 2022 by Peter Hess Leave a Comment

Washington_Constitutional_Convention_1787William Paterson was born in County Antrim, Ireland, in 1745. His family immigrated to America when William was two years old. Arriving first at New Castle, Delaware, the family settled for a short time in New London, Connecticut. At first, his father traveled around the country selling tin ware, moving the family several times. He eventually settled in Princeton, New Jersey where he became a merchant and manufacturer of tin goods.

Paterson attended local private schools and eventually the College of New Jersey (Princeton) where he received a bachelor’s degree in 1763 and a master’s degree in 1766. Showing an interest in law, Paterson apprenticed with Richard Stockton, who later signed the Declaration of Independence. Paterson practiced law in New Bromley, South Branch. In 1779, he settled near New Brunswick at Raritan Estate, all in New Jersey. [Read more…] about William Paterson & The Constitution of the United States

Filed Under: Capital-Saratoga, History, New York City Tagged With: Albany, American Revolution, Irish Immigrants, James Madison, Legal History, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Political History, Supreme Court

“Labor’s Slaves in the Adirondacks”: Building the Adirondack Railroad

March 26, 2022 by John Warren 8 Comments

Gainesville Midland track maintenance crew, CA 1890The St. Lawrence & Adirondack Railroad, also known as the Mohawk & Malone – eventually owned by the New York Central and called the Adirondack Line or the Adirondack Railroad ran directly through the Adirondacks from Herkimer (near Utica) to Malone connecting the rail lines along the Mohawk River to the Main Trunk Line running into Montreal. The line is often attributed to William Seward Webb, but it was the men who actually built the line that are the subject of this essay.

On March 29, 1892 a Boston Globe article titled “Labor’s Slaves in the Adirondacks” reported that Utica “resembled Washington during war times, hundreds of penniless and destitute Negroes are camped out tonight in the temporary places of shelter given them, and the citizens of Utica are consulting as to the best means of returning them to their homes.”

The Globe told readers that all night, “runaway slaves” had been coming into town. One hundred and fifty of them, mostly black laborers from the Deep South, but some recently arrived European immigrants as well. [Read more…] about “Labor’s Slaves in the Adirondacks”: Building the Adirondack Railroad

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Mohawk Valley, Western NY Tagged With: Adirondack Scenic Railroad, Adirondacks, Black History, Black River, Boonville, Crime and Justice, Franklin County, Herkimer COunty, Immigration, Irish Immigrants, Labor History, Legal History, malone, Mohawk & Malone Railroad, New York Central RR, Oneida County, railroads, Saranac Lake, St Lawrence County, Transportation History, Tupper Lake, Utica, William Seward Webb

The First Kennedys: Roots of an American Dynasty

February 26, 2022 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

the first kennedysPatrick and Bridget Kennedy arrived in the United States following the Great Famine — penniless and hungry. Less than a decade after their marriage in Boston, Patrick’s sudden death left Bridget to raise their children single-handedly.

Her rise from housemaid to shop owner in the face of rampant poverty and discrimination kept her family intact, allowing her only son P. J. to become the first American Kennedy elected to public office — the first of many. [Read more…] about The First Kennedys: Roots of an American Dynasty

Filed Under: Books, Events, History Tagged With: Boston, Irish History, Irish Immigrants, Massachusetts, Massachusetts Historical Society, Political History

Niblo’s Garden, Yiddish Broadway and the American Musical

August 31, 2021 by Jaap Harskamp 3 Comments

Vauxhall Gardens at Broome StreetIn cities with growing populations and increased prosperity during the eighteen and nineteenth centuries, the demand for amusement venues rose dramatically. Leisure became an economic factor and show biz took off with a bang.

Urban pleasure gardens were recreational spaces that featured landscaped grounds, lights, fountains, grottos, music, and theater. Offering a variety of entertainments, they were open day and night. [Read more…] about Niblo’s Garden, Yiddish Broadway and the American Musical

Filed Under: Arts, History, New York City Tagged With: art, Art History, Cultural History, Immigration, Irish Immigrants, Jewish History, Music, Musical History, Performing Arts, Revolutions of 1848, Taverns, The Bowery, Theatre, womens history

Irish Immigrant, Medal of Honor Winner Terrence Begley Being Honored in Albany

August 17, 2021 by Editorial Staff 1 Comment

Terrence Begley cenotaphThe Friends of the Albany Rural Cemetery will hold a ceremony on Saturday, August 21st to dedicate a military marker for Irish immigrant Civil War Medal of Honor recipient Terrence Begley.

Begley was born in Ireland and raised in Albany. He enlisted as a private in the 7th NY Heavy Artillery regiment, an Albany regiment, on February 11th, 1864.

[Read more…] about Irish Immigrant, Medal of Honor Winner Terrence Begley Being Honored in Albany

Filed Under: Capital-Saratoga, Events, History Tagged With: Albany, Albany Rural Cemetery, Cemeteries, Civil War, Grand Army of the Republic, Irish History, Irish Immigrants, Military History

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