Irish Famine Years- McGinnis and Donahue’s….. What Might They Have Endured

 

Between 1811, when John McGinnis was born, and 1836, the year of his immigration to Canada, Ireland suffered thru at least 8 years of famine, as well as epidemics of Typhus in 1817 and Cholera in 1832.  He was but 25 when he entered Canada in 1836.

One might easily assume that within these events lies the reason for the man to emigrate to Canada.  He was no different than many others before and most especially those that followed him as a result of the “Great Famine Years” some ten years later.

Although we commonly think of but one devastating Irish famine as occurring between 1845 and 1849 there were smaller harvest failures in 1816-18, as well as others when many died from malnutrition and disease. This was a European famine period that certainly reached the Island of Ireland as well.  Then comes the year 1821 and it begins once again

The following list might help to bring all the years of suffering in Ireland into better focus.  At least those years that our ancestors had surely experienced.  Famine was not new to Ireland in the 1800’s for records reflect occurrences long before.  Nature as well as political events both took their toll on the Irish people.  The famine periods only added to the stress and misery that an Irish Catholic especially had to endure.  Protestants suffered greatly as well but they did not have to deal with the same prejudice that the Catholic population also had to deal with.  In reality, people of all faiths suffered through what nature brought their way.  The divide rested not entirely between religious differences, but between gentry and the common people, between the rich and the poor.  The Catholics being the dominant religion, especially of the poor, simply due to numbers took the brunt of the suffering.

1811- John McGinnis Sr. born in Ireland, assumedly in County Monaghan

1816- Thomas Donahue born in Ireland, assumedly in County Galway

1817- Famine and typhus in Ireland

1821- Margaret McCarron McGinnis born in Ireland

1821-1822- Famine strikes Ireland again

1825- Mary McKeough Donahue born in Ireland

1830-1834- Famine stalks Ireland again

1832- Cholera epidemic in Irish towns

1836- John McGinnis emigrates to Canada; Famine strikes again

1841- The population of Ireland is 8,175,000

1843- Margaret McCarron, future wife of John McGinnis Sr. emigrates to New Brunswick, Canada

1845- Thomas Donahue emigrates to the U.S. and joins the U.S Army. This is the latest probable year for his immigration based on his enlistment record.  He may have arrived perhaps two or three years earlier.  No actual arrival record has been found.

1845-1849- The Potato Famine; the major famine period that drove so many out of their homeland.

1850- Mary McKeough latest probable year of immigration the the U.S based on the year of her marriage to Thomas Donahue.  Her actual arrival year has not been determined but there are immigration records suggesting her year of immigration was about this time.

1851- The Irish census immediately after the famine in 1851 counted a population of 6,552,385, a drop of almost 1.5 million in 10 years, or 20%, while the rest of Europe continued to increase in population.  Famine and immigration both contribute to the decline.

Early Irish Education Under British Rule- The Possible Donahue Story

The US census for 1860, 1870 and 1880 for Thomas Donahue lists him as being unable to read or write.  The 1870 entry for his wife Mary McKeough does not reflect her literacy but her entries for1860 and 1880 reveal that she too was illiterate. What might have been the conditions that faced so many of the population of Ireland that found so many of the immigrants landing on North American soil unable to read or write.

The Irish had it rather difficult to find a decent Catholic education in Ireland itself certainly during the childhood of these two ancestors. Catholic schools were forbidden under the law beginning in the early 1700’s up until 1782 when the law was repealed. 

The purpose of the law was to force the Catholic parents to send their children to free Government schools where they were proselytized and encouraged to abandon their faith.  The Catholics throughout the country defied the edict and would not allow their children to attend .  The statistics prove out that the defiance of the law had a near total impact among the Catholic congregations of the entire country.

Private, clandestine if not secret schools began to take over the education of the Catholic children and they became known as the Hedgeschools.  The name originated from the fact that the schools were hidden from the authorities and were conducted anyplace they were able to find secret hidden space, often literally in the shadows of field hedges or within the walls of ancient ruins, decaying, crumbling monasteries', churches or remote barns.  The result was that most of the classes were conducted in an open air classroom .

These hidden schools were even then not available to all for the secret schools did require a compensation to be collected from the parents for the pay of the teachers.  Not all peasants could afford what little payment was required.  Thus the birth range of Thomas and Mary Donahue found Ireland only beginning to bring the Catholic schools out of hiding and it is easy to assume just why the two parents came to North America unable to read or write.

The following is a link that adds more detail to the education difficulties that existed in Ireland for many decades:

The Hedge Schools - Irish Cultural Society of the Garden City Area

Due to lack of education and the difficulty for such individuals to eventually gain any significant property the poor of the country were caught in a seemingly never ending state of poverty that lasted over generations.  Once born into poverty one would find it extremely difficult to escape the influences that perpetuated in every day life that forced one to struggle their entire lives.  e

Emigration was a way out of such a life to those of the mental and physical and financial capacity to accept the challenge and leave their homeland.

In the case of Thomas Donahue and his wife Mary just what circumstances they experienced we cannot document but it is easy to surmise that they both most likely came from the class of people that were caught in the struggle that was most certainly passed on to them from their parents, also raised in poverty at some level.  That to me is the most likely cause of the lack of education for these two ancestors.

 

Mary McKeough Donahue

About 1825-1900

 

Mary Donahue hinted at the above scenarios in a sworn affidavit late in her life as she was attempting to claim her right to a veterans widow pension following the death of her husband.  Thomas was on a meager Mexican War veteran's pension at the time of his death which suddenly left Mary with no income and only her children to support her, one, Alice, 21 years of age, still at home tending to her mother’s daily needs.  The following is an extract from one affidavit in March of 1899 and it tends to paint a picture of her early life that leads me to believe that she indeed was of a poor class of Irish citizens:

“That this affiant claimant never made a claim for pension other than those described above- had no reason to do so, so long as her late husband was alive.

That she thinks it almost impossible to furnish the date of her birth because she was born in Ireland 74 years ago, and that at the time of her birth and a number of years thereafter there were no schools there [unreadable] and were unable to get any kind of an education, but so soon as about old enough had to work, and learn to work was the only education they were able to get.

That her parents died when she was not quite six years old, was taken to an uncle who raised her and her uncle and his folks spoke no other language than regular Irish.”

All this really does not confirm any definite circumstances of Thomas and Mary during their upbringing in Ireland but it certainly allows me to connect what is known of Irish history and the probable culture they endured as they were growing up.  They must have experienced prejudices and poverty that none of their descendants have had to endure.