UPDATE MARCH 2, 2012: The Irish Mission at Watson House Project intends to use the historical Mission premises for the permanent exhibition of Irish women’s emigration, a center to study the records which we plan to digitize, a family research center and a space for a regular series of symposia on Irish immigration and Battery Park area heritage. The exhibit was opened on … [Read more...] about The Mission Girls
Immigration
100th Anniversary of Celtic Cross at Grosse Île
“Children of the Gael died in the thousands on this island having fled from the laws of the foreign tyrants and an artificial famine in the years 1847-48. God's loyal blessing upon them. Let this monument be a token to their name and honour from the Gaels of America. God Save Ireland.” - Inscription on Celtic Cross, Grosse Île, Canada August 15, the Feast of the Assumption, is … [Read more...] about 100th Anniversary of Celtic Cross at Grosse Île
The Polish Connection
Since Poland joined the EU in May 2004, two million people have left the country. An estimated 250,000 of them have come to Ireland where they now amount to five percent of the population. In fact, so large is the Polish contingent in Ireland that when the two countries recently met in a soccer match in Croke Park, penalty scorer Stephen Hunt remarked that it was like a home … [Read more...] about The Polish Connection
The Tragedy of the Hannah
In April 1849, a ship carrying Irish immigrants hit an iceberg in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. John Kernaghan writes on the incident, and of plans for a documentary as Quebec celebrates its 400th anniversary. The crew of the Nicaragua could scarcely credit their eyes when they closed on the iceberg in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Some 120 Irish immigrants clung to a bit of frozen … [Read more...] about The Tragedy of the Hannah
A Thousand Welcomes?: Asylum in Ireland
“I lost three of my four children. My son is the only thing I have left,” says a mother, her voice choking with emotion. “In Nigeria, it was all gangs, armed robbers, hired assassins. You were either in or out,” remembers a young man who escaped the violence. “There was no peace in the Congo. You never knew what would happen. You’d hear bullets – grr, grr – during the … [Read more...] about A Thousand Welcomes?: Asylum in Ireland