Instructions

The Straw That Broke the Camel’s Back?

Was there one event which finally convinced our Monaghan County ancestors to leave Ireland and travel the ocean blue seeking new opportunities elsewhere?  Once the repressive Penal Laws were repealed our distant kin held much optimism for their future and the future of their children.  In so many ways their very being improved each passing year until the famine years of 1842 to 1850.  Yes, there had been other famines but the Great Irish Famine was long, deep and sapped the Irish soul as no other previous event had.

The last Provost of Monaghan was Arthur Gamble Lewis.  He was agent for the Rossmore estate, and married the widow of the Honorable Richard Westenra of Ballyleck.  Colonel Lewis boasted of his great missionary labors in County Monaghan.  Before coming to Aghabog, Lewis claimed the land was infested with an ungodly lot, and these heathens could only be saved by Lewis spying on his tenants, controlling the school and converting the masses. 

Griffith Valuation shows Lewis' name listed once for Aghabog Parish, and that is in Rossnaglogh East as either an owner or renter.  That made him a close neighbor to our Smyth ancestors.  He was an agent for Lord Rossmore during the famine years, and Catholics soon discovered Lewis' peculiar attitude toward Papists.  Catholic tenants would be evicted for little or no reason.  Catholic parents were evicted for refusing to send their children to his Protestant school, refusing Protestant bibles or religious tracts.  Lewis evicted at will even during the height of the Irish Potato Famine.  So what were you supposed to do if you and your family had just been tossed out of your home? 

Perhaps the following news item answered our question.  In 1849 Terence and Mary Greenan were charged with taking forcible possession and assigned a court date.  Normally this charge was levied against Irish who had been evicted but later tried to re-enter their old ho`mes.  As the Greenans were arrested during the winter, one assumes they sought shelter for themselves and their children.

 

Northern Standard; Monaghan Town; County Monaghan; Ireland; March 3, 1849; page 2

 

Terence and Mary Greenan were “Irish” John Smith’s uncle and aunt.  Unlike most cases heard that month, the case against the Greenans were dismissed.  It is possible Terry Greenan, like so many others charged with this crime, worked out an agreement with the landlord, and the case was ultimately dropped. 

Just a thought here, but was this the straw that broke the camel’s back so to speak?  Think of all that happened since 1845.  Terry’s brother-in-law, Peter Smyth, died; four crop failures out of five years; evictions’; and many more depressing events.  Life in America couldn’t be much worse and possibly better many Irish must have thought. 

New laws during this time period were in some cases ridiculous.  The following news item explains the Irish Curfew Bill and one conundrum.  The law stated no one was allowed to leave his house after a certain hour at night.  How then could those dispossessed of hearth and home comply once evicted? 

Northern Standard; Monaghan Town; County Monaghan; Ireland; May 9 1846; page 4