52 Ancestors - FRESH START: The American Dream

“Land of milk and honey” – that’s how millions of Europeans and Asians viewed America in the 1880s when my own Irish ancestors left their home in Croom, Limerick to start a new life in New York City. Their reasons for immigrating have been lost to time, but likely the Sheehan sisters and brother experienced conditions much like other immigrants had.

ECONOMIC REASONS

Irish tenant farmers being evicted from their home
Wikimedia Commons - in public domain

The great potato famine in Ireland predates my Irish immigrants by 40 years, but a second famine swept through Ireland in the 1870s. Many tenant farmers never fully recovered and were unable to pay their debts. Some were forced from their homes by merciless landlords, many absentee at that, who raised their rents without regard for their tenants’ conditions or ability to pay.

I have been unable to pin down my 2X great-grandfather Daniel Sheehan, but I suspect he was among the tenant farmers struggling to keep his head above water. A couple records in an Irish database available through Find My Past show a Daniel Sheehan from Castletown, Croom, Limerick in and out of jail, perhaps from debt, perhaps from drunkenness. Right name – right place but his was a common name, so I cannot be certain of the facts surrounding his life.

RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION

Russian Jews and German Lutherans certainly had reason to flee their countries due to government-sanctioned persecution. Similarly, Catholics in Ireland were subject to British law that for years deprived them of the right to own land, vote, and speak their own language. Whether this was a factor driving the Sheehans to America, I cannot say.

TRAVEL

If immigrants were escaping poverty, they surely did not travel in high style. Steerage would have been their temporary home on a steamship. For a voyage of maybe two weeks, they shared a toilet with 45 people, slept on straw-filled mattresses, and endured cramped quarters with no sunlight or ventilation. A ticket for the privilege might have cost them a year’s salary or even a life savings.

Steerage class
Wikimedia Commons - public domain

SERIAL IMMIGRATION

I do not know exactly WHY my ancestors came to America, but I do know that somehow Daniel and Bridget Sheehan managed to save enough money to offer a fresh start to one child every couple of years. (I am assuming they were responsible – I really have no idea if they were even still living at the time.)

• Johanna immigrated in 1883 when she was about 22 years old.
• John immigrated PROBABLY about 1884 or 85 at age 21. His whereabouts are still eluding me.
• Mary Theresa (my great-grandmother) arrived in 1886 at age 17.
• Elizabeth came in 1888 at age 17.
• Margaret immigrated sometime between 1893 and 1896 depending on which record you believe. She would have been 20 or older.
• Finally, the baby Delia arrived in 1897 at age 18. 

A FRESH START

Family historians always bemoan the loss of the 1890 Federal Census. Fortunately, the state of New York conducted a State Census in 1892. In it, I found my great-grandmother living in Brooklyn earning a living as a cook prior to her marriage in 1893 to John Joseph Killeen, himself an immigrant.

Unfortunately, Elizabeth seems to have missed that census. I can’t find her although she should have been in it. Johanna was already married. Since she arrived between censuses, I do not know what she did to make her way in the two years between immigration and marriage.

Margaret and Delia arrived well after the 1892 census. I could not find Margaret in the 1900 census, unless her date of birth was reported incorrectly. There was a Margaret Sheehan working as a maid for a family in Manhattan. Another Margaret Sheehan worked as a waitress. Neither the dates of birth nor immigration match those of MY Margaret Sheehan.

When Delia came to New York, she lived with John and Delia Hogan, identified in the 1900 census as her uncle and aunt. I have yet to figure out how that is possible. Perhaps claiming Delia as a niece was easier than explaining the real relationship. She appeared to have no job in 1900, but she showed up in 1905 as a laundress.

LINGERING QUESTIONS

Yes, lingering. I want to know MORE about the Sheehans.

• Except for Johanna and John, the girls were just kids when they boarded that steamship, although I suppose that at the time they were considered full-blown adults. The Sheehans did not immigrate together, but did they travel in the company of cousins or family friends?
• Had they arranged for a place to stay ahead of time? Was there family waiting for them like the Hogans who took Delia in?
• Why did brother Denis stay in Ireland?   

Despite the lingering questions, it is a relief to know that all the Sheehan sisters found work and husbands as well as a good life in America.

Wendy

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