false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1175191907m/490569.jpg 490569 1 Robert O'Rourke, bastard son of a Belfast rectory scullery maid, came to America in 1820. He started life in a nation that was experiencing the ups & downs of the dawn of the Industrial Revolution by working in one of Lowell's first mills until anti-papists drove him north in 1821. He fled to Dover, New Hampshire, to start life anew. There he married into one of the town's oldest families, earning his father-in-law's respect & his brother-in-law's hatred. Years passed. He amassed holdings in textiles, bricks, land, lumber, railroads & new inventions from Bangor, Maine, to Chicago. He also learned who his father was & what wealth & power the man left him. His life was entwined with historic happenings as inhabitants of a boisterous new nation strove to cope with government struggles, world recognition & the slavery question. As O'Rourke built his dynasty, even joining the '49 Gold Rush, family members, business associates & friends sought to find a place in the life of this melancholy man. All of these people were caught up in the events of a fast-changing country in the years before the agony of secession & civil war. 478798 4 2000 The O'Rourkes: An Toiseach-The Beginning 0 0 1 0 490569 0595001742 9780595001743 0 0 0.00 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1175191907m/490569.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/490569.The_O_Rourkes_An_Toiseach_The_Beginning 0 0 false Tue Oct 20 12:12:36 -0700 2009 Tue Oct 20 12:12:36 -0700 2009 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=490569