Irish John Smith (Continued)

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Nothing is known about her children who were in Ireland at this time. Were they staying with relatives or friends?  Many immigrants left their children in poor houses until they were able to send for them from overseas.

Irish John Smith stated that he immigrated to the USA in 1850 with his brother Owen and sister Bridget.  The National Archives contains thousands of ship manifest records for Irish immigrants who immigrated to America between 1846 and 1852.  Five manifest records contain all three Smith names (Bridget, Owen and John).  There is only one record which seems to fit and the one we are convinced shows when the Smith children immigrated to the US.  There are three reasons why we believe the following record is correct:

1)  The record shows three Smith children (ages 11, 8 and 4) traveling together on the same ship.

2)  This record is the only one which shows all three Smith names traveling together in 1850.

3)  The ship manifest records appear to list names of travelers in the order they came aboard ship.  One name, Terence Green, appears immediately before the children’s' names.  We think this may be significant.

They traveled on the Centurian which showed 249 passengers on board. The ship left Liverpool and sailed to New York City and arrived there on July 18, 1850. Liverpool was a common starting point for poor Irish immigrants from Ulster and surrounding area.  When the ships docked they had to submit documents to the 'Collector of the Customs for the District of New York' showing who was on board, where the immigrant was from, age, any deaths and other pertinent information.  Ellis Island comes much later, and there was no formal naturalization procedure in place.

 One point of interest in the ship record is the fact that John is listed as the second oldest child.  From his age and when the ship landed it would appear that he was born in 1842 and not 1841. Owen’s age suggests he was born in 1845, which is the same birth year he mentioned in a later census.

In 1850 the Smiths lived on Walworth Street in Brooklyn.  It was common for Irish families to live together with other groups of people in one or two room quarters.  At Walworth Street Irish John lived with his two siblings, mother, Uncle Terrence Greenan and Thomas McCabe. We believe Terrence Greenan is the same person as Terence Green whose name appears on the immigrant ship's manifest records.  'Green' is another variation of the surname 'Greenan'.  Thomas McCabe is unknown.  The family lived in the 11^th Ward of Brooklyn, Kings County, New York.

The Smiths lived on Walworth Street, which bordered Clinton Hills.  In those days, Clinton Hills was an area of Brooklyn where the wealthy lived.  Many of the Irish living along the Clinton Hills boundary served these rich folks as their maids, groundskeepers, and other related service occupations.

Walworth Street is roughly six blocks long and located in East Brooklyn.  It is now a light industrial section of Brooklyn, and was one of the areas  where the Irish immigrants settled.  St. Patrick’s Catholic Church began construction in 1848, and was the first Catholic Church constructed in East Brooklyn.  This would have been the same church that Catherine and her family attended while living in Brooklyn.

The Move to Wisconsin...

 Irish John thought he was 4 years old when he arrived in Brooklyn. According to his obituary he moved to Wisconsin when he was 12 years old.  This would be 8 years later or 1858.  We don't know why the family moved to Wisconsin.  Not much is known regarding their mother Catherine.  It is not clear whether she also moved to Wisconsin or died prior to this move.  From Frank Smith we understand that the kids moved together to Wisconsin.

In 1857 there was a huge bank crash that caused a recession which consequently caused thousands upon thousands of New York Irish to lose their jobs. Huge riots broke out in New York City where discharged police officers, Irish and German immigrants, and members of street gangs such as the Dead Rabbits, Blackbirds, Bowery Boys and Roach Guards participated in a mass riot.  At about the same time a new law caused all grog houses to close on Sunday.  Thank God for the Germans!  The Germans, and not the Irish, took the lead by rioting against the Sunday closures.  Against this backdrop of anarchy it was no wonder the Irish began moving out of New York to other parts of the country.  One place where many people moved to was Wisconsin.  Wisconsin grew from 305,000 people in 1850 to 730,000 by 1857. 

Most Irish stayed in the same port cities where they landed.  Immigrants crowded together in tenements with multiple families living together.  Many tenements did not have indoor plumbing or running water.  Sewage collected in outhouses and rats were prevalent, carrying and spreading disease, often to children.  In 1857, 2/3 of New York City's deaths were children under age 5, mostly Irish.  There were also epidemics of typhoid, cholera, tuberculosis and pneumonia throughout East Coast cities.

In 1860 Irish John stated that he lived with the John Bryan family in Wisconsin.  John Bryan was a farmer who lived in Dane County, Wisconsin.  Dane County is where Cross Plains is located.  Mr. Bryan was a farmer who owned real estate valued at $3,000 and property valued at $2,333.  He was married to Elizabeth, who was born in England. Their children in the order of birth were Mary E., Sarah A., John W., George E, and Joseph H.  All these children were born in Wisconsin.  In 1860 they had two farm laborers. One was Daniel Wellington, 30, born in England and John Smith, age 17, born in Ireland living with the family.  John Smith’s mailing address was Pine Bluffs, Wisconsin.

There were Smiths living in Madison and surrounding area.  Other records showing the whereabouts of Catherine, Bridget and Owen at this time have not been found.

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