Most of our family did not come right after the "famine". This is what I though at first but as I found earlier and earlier records I found more and more coming earlier. The earliest records arethe hardest to get and find. In Illinois for example from the censuses it seemed most came around 1870. But with city dir, voter registration and other info I found 1/2 of those it seemed came in late 1860 came around 1850. In NY they show up earliest of all. I hav e a feelig that alof of the earliest were in New York city for atime but left for bettr conditions. NY in the 1850s was a hell hole.
Almost all the our immigrants were laborers, and most of these are found in the cities. In Chicago they worked in pork packing, slaugterouses, laying track for RR, construction. I'e been surprised at how many worked for the RRs and not just as laborers even the first generation. New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, and Wisconsin. I'm looking to see if this wasn't randon. My gr grandpa and his brothers-in-law laid track in wi, and Illinois. The in-laws all(4 of them)ended up in varioys RR jobs in Chicago. The 2nd gen of my Normiles were RR engineers, whenthey weren't bootlegging.
And like all the Irish our 2nd generations here were much more integrated into
the whole society. I was surprised at first at the number of Judges, soldiers, lawyers, politicians
and others but this was realy typical of the Irish by the 1890s.
One of the thing that motivated me originally was wondering why the
Norm* family seems so spread out in the US today. My brother and I had looked up all the Normiles
on the internet a few years ago. We seem to be everywhere but nowhere in large numbers. This seemed like some dark conspiracy against us at first.I now know this
is because of the way the later generations have spread out. My 3 brothers and
no longer live in Chicago. Our cousins for the most part are also out of
there. If you look at 1900 though there are really only a few places where most of the family lived. Boston area, Ny City, Binghamton NY, parts of Pennsylvania, Cleveland, southern Ontario, Chicago and Rock Island Ill.
Those who show up in more unusual places Missouri, Colo seem to often be following relatives. When I found the California death index I saw that most had moved form other places to Calf. This spreadig out seems to start with 2nd gen and early 1900s
I've tried to use census info and other stuff to figure out where in Ireland the various grouping came from. This all to figure out the mystery of where my gr grandpa came from. I'm gonna put what i find on here later. If anyone knows where their family came from and where they ,settled and when that would be something I'd like to know too.