Ballykilcline Rising: From Famine Ireland to Immigrant America

by Mary Lee Dunn Maguire

In 1847, in the third year of Ireland's Great Famine and the thirteenth year of their rent strike against the Crown, hundreds of tenant farmers in Ballykilcline, County Roscommon, were evicted by the Queen's agents and shipped to New York. Mary Lee Dunn tells their story in this meticulously researched book. Using numerous Irish and U.S. sources and with descendants' help, she traces dozens of the evictees to Rutland, Vermont, as railroads and marble quarries transformed the local economy. She follows the immigrants up to 1870 and learns not only what happened to them but also what light American experience and records cast on their Irish "rebellion."

Dunn begins with Ireland's pre-Famine social and political landscape as context for the Ballykilcline strike. The tenants had rented earlier from the Mahons of Strokestown, whose former property now houses Ireland's Famine Museum. In 1847, landlord Denis Mahon evicted and sent nearly a thousand tenants to Quebec, where half died before or just after reaching the Grosse Ile quarantine station. Mahon was gunned down months later. His murder provoked an international controversy involving the Vatican. An early suspect in the case was a man from Ballykilcline.

In the United States, many of the immigrants resettled in clusters in several locations, including Vermont, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, and New York. In Vermont they found jobs in the marble quarries, but some of them lost their homes again in quarry labor actions after 1859. Others prospered in their new lives. A number of Ballykilcline families who stopped in Rutland later moved west; one had a son kidnapped by Indians in Minnesota. Readers who have Irish Famine roots will gain a sense of their own "back story" from this account of Ireland and the native Irish, and scholars in the field of immigration studies will find it particularly useful.

256 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2008

Reviews

[Rob · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ballykilcline Rising, by Mary Lee Dunn, chronicles the Irish immigration to America, which was put into motion by an oppressive British government, whose paltry support forced starving Irish--from the potato famine--to take a hard stance of a rent strike. These Irish, persecuted people, were evicted and forced to American shores. No quit in these Irish immigrants; they--by carving out a niche with relentless work ethic--helped shape the United States of America.

This true account of Irish immigrants made me realize the resiliency and labor-intensive tenacity of Irish Americans, which is still in place today in the 21st century of America. Prior to my reading of this book, my schema for Irish American history and heritage was clueless until becoming aware of this account of superb people. I grew up around German and Swedish and Norwegian protestants, but this book brought me into the world of Irish American Catholics, and I was given a plethora of respect for such people.

In my lifetime, I have had negative experiences with some Irish Americans, whom have inflicted me with pain, causing me to make--in jest--flippant remarks concerning Irish Americans. After reading this book, I realize the error of that thinking--whether half serious or not. Having been maligned by certain people of Irish heritage, I should have perceived them not as a representation of all Irish--but rather misguided people who happened to be Irish (albeit poor representatives of such a genuinely noble lot). Ballykilcline Rising not only corrected my past biases rendered by bullying and inappropriate behavior at the hands of a small segment of Irish descendants, but the book also affirmed what was lurking in the back of my unconscious mind; that is, my fondness and appreciation for some dear Irish American friends I have secured in my lifetime, along with a respect for the Irish and Catholic heritage. Such affinity was always on the edge of my consciousness, particularly from my devotion to Irish musicians such as U2 and Van Morrison for most of my young adult and adult life. There, too, is that Bruce Springsteen guy, of some Irish descent, who is one of the hardest working persons in the entertainment business, of whom I idolize.

Ballykilcline Rising has opened my eyes to the contributions of the Irish in America, enough so to make ensuing St. Patrick's Days more reverent to me (in addition to one of my favorite restaurants in the past, an Irish pub and eatery). Read Ballykilcline Rising and wear the green, even if you're not Irish--just being American, influenced by the contributions of the Irish Americans, is enough in this regard.