Irish American Mom

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Brave Hearts By Jean Mahoney – Book Giveaway

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Brave Hearts, by Californian author and fellow Irish American, Jean Mahoney is a novel of tenacity and resolution, bravery and love, recounting the story of her family’s American journey.

The complete title immediately resonated with me, and I just knew this novel would be a perfect fit for our Irish American Mom Community.

 

BRAVE HEARTS: A San Francisco Story:

The Grit and Dreams of an Irish Immigrant Family

 

I’m thrilled to introduce you to this unforgettable story of grit and determination, set in the colorful San Francisco Bay area and to offer a copy as a prize for a lucky reader to win.

Before I share details of how to enter for a chance to win, let me first tell you a little bit about the book and its author, Jean Mahoney.

 

About The Book – Brave Hearts:

 

Five generations of the author’s Irish American family inspired this saga which spans centuries and recounts the plight of these intrepid immigrants, and stalwart settlers of the American West.

The cast of characters from this devoted family includes survivors, artists, homemakers, lovers, business owners, dressmakers, house painters and farmers.

Beginning with an ocean crossing from Ireland in the 1840s, the family experiences the 1906 earthquake, a devastating train wreck, farming, drought and family tragedy with remarkable resilience.

Poignant, harrowing and ultimately triumphant, Brave Hearts tells a quintessential American story and Irish immigrant tale through the unique lens of a talented writer.

 

About The Author Jean Mahoney:  

 

Jean Mahoney is a San Francisco native, grew up in Palo Alto, and has studied San Francisco and the greater Bay Area history for decades.

She is a writer, poet and award-winning educator whose writing has appeared in the Santa Cruz Sentinel and Sisters Singing: Blessings, Prayers, Art, Songs, Poetry and Sacred Stories by Women.

She taught public school in Santa Cruz for twenty years, and worked as a pioneer in environmental education. She lives in Santa Cruz, California.

 

Interview With Jean Mahoney:

 

I recently sent Jean some questions about her inspirations for writing this immigrant family saga.  She kindly replied and I’m delighted to share her answers with you today.

 

Q:  Brave Hearts is a wonderful account of the Irish immigrant experience. Why did you think it is important to share this story?   

 

A:  I think it is important to share my ancestor’s immigrant stories for two main reasons.  First of all I see that many Americans do not know the stories of their families who first came here.

I did  find and come to know facts, ship’s records, census records and such, but wanted to write about their times and why they would leave their homeland.  I wanted to get the feeling of my ancestors’ realities so I wrote in their voices at times in various chapters.

The second reason is that there is so much negative talk about immigrants in the news of our papers in this country.  I wanted to reinforce the fact that all of us who call ourselves American (except the Native Peoples who have been here for over 9,000 years) are newly immigrated here.

 

Q:  Did your own family history and ancestral heritage inspire you to write Brave Hearts?

 

A:  Yes, my own family history influenced these tales and my mom encouraged me to write these stories.  I learned of their stories  beginning when I was about 8 or 9 and  I lived with my grandparent’s tales in my heart over my whole life.

My mom was the main source of her family’s stories.  My grandmother saved a scrapbook dating from the late 1890’s with clippings and stories of her own life and times.  In those days local papers in small towns  (even in San Francisco!) wrote about their residents and so it was easy for my Grandma, Charlotte Lynch, to cut out articles and paste them into the pages as a record of her life.

Then my mother, Barbara Mahoney, told me the stories of her parent’s lives throughout her long life of 97 years.   My grandparents lived through some intense times and had many adventures. My mom told me most of theses stories and we would review them together after I had written them. She then gave them her stamp of approval.

Q:  The byline to your novel is – “The Grit and Dreams of an Irish Immigrant Family.”  This resonated with me especially the word ‘grit,’ since I always look on my Irish ancestors as gritty, determined people. Was your novel created to honor the courage, determination and grit of the Irish people who came to America to escape the poverty and hardships of Ireland?

A:  Yes, my novel was truly written to give people who live now the reality of why my great great great grandparents had to leave Ireland.  As you will see in the book, the first chapters are about the Irish famine told from their points of view. It lays out the reasons they had to leave their  homeland where their ancestors had been living for thousands of years.

The poverty, illness and starvation they faced in those black years of the late 1840’s was just too much to go on living in Ireland.   So they moved to America- a new country with plenty of land and food to be able to settle and thrive.

My father’s Irish cousins in County Kerry told us when we visited them that the Irish back in those famine days had a saying, “There’s hope from the sea, but there’s no hope from the grave.”

 

Q:  This novel is based on stories of your own Irish American family. What kick started your  interest in learning more about your family and what inspired you to share their stories with the world?

 

A: I think I have always been interested in family history from when I was a small girl and found my grandma’s scrapbook in our hall closet.

I myself saved news clippings of important events over my lifetime too.  My mom was a story teller, and as she told me stories of her family she said, “You really ought to write these down.”

So I did.  It took almost ten years to compile the stories into a book that begins in the 1850’s and ends in the 1950’s.  There are 5 generations included.

 

Q:  In the Irish American Mom Community we believe in recording our forefathers’ immigrant tales as heirloom gifts for future generations. Upon completion of your manuscript did you feel a sense of accomplishment and family pride?

 

A:  When the book was completed and published in January of 2019 I felt so proud that my ancestor’s have a place in the world now and their stories are shared.

As you will see from reading “Brave Hearts” my ancestor’s had some real trials to live through which they did successfully at every turn.

This does not  mean that life was easy for them at all, but the book shows that even though every life has challenges there are good times as well.

Q:  Do you have any advice for others who wish to record their family stories? Or perhaps you have words of encouragement to help people start their own genealogical journeys.

 

A: My words of advice for people wanting to record their family stories, is to begin by using several methods.  If  you have relatives of an older generation- talk with them, record them and get the timbre of their voices.

The  internet is invaluable for online resources of towns records, church records and  census records in so many countries now.

Each county in Ireland does an excellent job of helping with websites and putting documents on line now.  We are lucky to live in this era when documents such as ship’s records, etc are so much more available than just 20 years ago.

Also, visit the countries where your ancestors came from and walk their streets.  There is nothing like walking those streets, in their towns, and breathing in the air they breathed.  If you know of any living relatives in other countries, visit them.  I have found that my Irish cousins are so happy to see me, and know my life and times.

 

Praise For Brave Hearts:

 

Here is what some other writers have to say about this wonderful historical book.

 

“Brave Hearts is such a vivid account of the Irish immigrant experience that as a college librarian I would enthusiastically recommend it to students of California and US history. As a reader, I recommend it for the sheer pleasure of a page-turning family epic, brimming with love and heartache, adventures and reversals of fortune. The resilience of these brave hearts is inspiring!”

~ MARY CAMILLE THOMAS, author and Librarian, Foothill College

 

“Jean Mahoney has brought the immigrant experience vividly to life in this warm, authentic, humorous, historical fiction saga of her Irish ancestors and the early days of San Francisco. The tales, trials and triumphs of Charlotte, Philip, their children and everyone they encounter will live on forever and deeply touch the hearts and minds of readers.”

~ KATE AVER AVRAHAM, author of Joey’s Way and What Will You Be, Sara Mee?

 

“Brave Hearts is not only a San Francisco story, it’s an American story.  Author Jean Mahoney writes about her people who, with dreams aplenty, made San Francisco and the California Delta their home. But as you read, you may find this is also your story. So many of our parents, grandparents,and great grandparents did exactly what Mahoney’s ancestors did—they took a chance and came to new shores for freedom from oppression to create a new home through hard work and wit and tons of determination. Sadly, there could be no better time for this book than now when our government is making life for new immigrants and potential immigrants unbearable. Sit down with a cup of tea, open the book, and settle in for Mahoney’s engaging, imaginative family tale.”

~ PATRICE VECCHIONE, co-editor of  Ink Knows No Borders:

Poems of the Immigrant and Refugee Experience

 

“Jean Mahoney has a gift for bringing the voices of her Irish ancestors to life. We witness their struggles, loves, joys and pain. What a pleasure to meet these wonderful courageous characters through her lively historical fiction. Mahoney’s exquisite attention to detail brings the early history of the San Francisco Bay Area vividly to life.”

~LAURA DAVIS, author of The Courage to Heal

Where To Purchase Brave Hearts:

 

Publication Date: January 10 , 2019

ISBN: 978- 0 -9845074- 1 – 2

Price:  $19 .95 – Original Trade Paperback (168 pages / 98 color illustrations)

Publisher:  Sisters Singing Publishers 

Contact:  Carolyn Brigit Flynn (Email –  [email protected] )

Learn about the book and order here.

 

The Giveaway:

 

One lucky reader will win a copy of Brave Hearts by Jean Mahoney.

To enter just leave a comment on this blog post by noon on Sunday, April 7th, 2019.

Any comment will do. What you write does not affect your chance of winning, but if you need inspiration why not tell us about your family’s journey to America, a little snippet of your own immigrant tale.

A winning comment will be chosen randomly. Remember to leave your e-mail so that I can contact you should you win. Your e-mail won’t be published, just used to contact our lucky contestant for mailing of the prize.

The winner will be announced on Sunday, April 7th, 2019, at the bottom of this blog post.

You may check out Irish American Mom’s complete terms and conditions for sweepstakes’ entries by clicking here.

Many thanks to everyone who supports this book giveaway.

Jean and I would really appreciate it if you could share this post with family and friends who might be interested in this story of the Irish in America.

And many, many thanks to Jean for sharing her work and inspirations with us today.

 

Winner Chosen On April 7th, 2019:

 

Good news! Our winner has been chosen randomly using the Pick Giveaway Winner Plug-in for WordPress. 

Congratulations to …..

 

Maureen Null

 

I’ll email Maureen to let her know she is our winner and arrange for Jean to mail her prize.

Many thanks to all who entered this little giveaway.

I have so enjoyed reading all of your comments and learning about where your ancestors came from in Ireland and where they settled in America. I find these immigrant tales fascinating. 

And thanks again to Jean for sponsoring the prize for this contest.

 

Slán agus beannacht,

(Goodbye and blessings)

 

Irish American Mom

Famine Memorial At Ireland Park, Toronto

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On Toronto’s waterfront you will find a poignant tribute to Irish immigrants, who made the harrowing transatlantic journey to Canada to escape starvation and disease during the Great Irish Famine of 1845 to 1850.

When we think of Irish immigration to North America we may initially recall those who made the arduous journey to the United States, but many more crossed the Atlantic to Canada, where landing regulations were far less stringent than in America.

Here are some interesting facts:

  • 1.2 million Irish immigrants arrived in Canada from 1825 to 1970.
  • It is estimated about 600,000 arrived between 1831–1850.
  • By 1867, the Irish made up the second largest ethnic group in Canada, after the French
  • In 1867, 24% of Canada’s population were Irish or of Irish descent.
  • The 2006 Canadian census revealed that the Irish made up the 4th largest ethnic group in Canada.
  • In 2006, 15% of the country’s total population or 4,354,000 Canadians claimed full or partial Irish descent.

In the summer of 1847 a mass influx of immigrants came to Ontario, with a total of 38,560 Irish Famine survivors arriving in Toronto from Ireland, at a time when the city’s population was just 20,000 strong.

With each passing day during the summer months, hundreds more Irish migrants arrived in the city of Toronto putting increasing pressure on the city’s health services to meet the needs of these seriously ill and impoverished people.

The calamity grew worse when Dr. George Grasett, the chief medical officer at the Emigrant Hospital, died of fever in July.  New sheds to house the immigrants were under construction, but when workers started to fall ill from fever they downed their tools.

By the end of 1867, the death toll in Toronto reached 1,186 migrants.  

Ireland Park was created as a Famine Memorial on the waterfront in Toronto.

Here is how it is described on the Ireland Park website ….

“Ireland Park is a centre for reflection, contemplation,

and recognition of the past and the possibilities for the future.”

 

In 1997, on the 150th anniversary of the Famine, the Irish sculptor Rowan Gillespie, unveiled his ‘Departure’ series of famine sculptures, which are located beside the River Liffey in Dublin.

These deeply moving statues in Dublin inspired Canadian, Robert Kearns, to invite Rowan Gillespie to create a new group of sculptures to be located on the Toronto waterfront.  These Canadian sculptures depict the arrival of the Irish immigrants from Dublin in Canada.

The adjacent Canada Malting Company grain silos tower over the northern side of the memorial, creating an artistic contrast between the hungry plight of the immigrants and the old grain repositories, symbols of abundance.

Image Credit

This wonderful historic tribute creates a poignant artistic connection between Toronto’s waterfront and the banks of the River Liffey in Dublin.

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It is important to note that a total of seven sculptures stand on the dockside in Dublin, but this number is reduced to five on the Toronto waterfront.

This bears witness to the tragic loss of life in coffin ships crossing the North Atlantic, and in fever sheds erected on the island of Grosse Isle, Montreal and on the waterfront in Toronto.

Image Credit

Bathurst Quay, where the memorial is centrally located on the Toronto Waterfront was renamed Eireann Quay.

Despite being centrally located in a bustling city, Ireland Park is a contemplative place, designed to allow visitors embrace the solemnity of this emotional and heartrending memorial .

The park was designed using stone to represent a bare and craggy landscape like that found in the west of Ireland.

Image Credit

This is a stirring, emotional and evocative place. 

It is a tribute to all those who made the voyage to a new land and visitors are called to remember their destitute ancestors arriving on Canadian shores from a ravaged land.

Image Credit

From devastation, hope was born again in this new land.

The sculpture of the ‘Irish Madonna’ beautifully depicts these sentiments.

Congratulations to the people of Toronto for creating a lasting legacy for their descendants to help share the history of Irish migrants to their city. 

I hope Ireland Park will inspire migrants of every nationality and visitors from all over the world for years and decades to come.

 

Slán agus beannacht,

(Goodbye and blessings)

 

Irish American Mom

 

Many thanks to a reader from Toronto who gave permission for these photos to be used in this blog post, and for sharing the name the ‘Irish Madonna’ for the sculpture of the pregnant Irish woman.

Many thanks also to the photographers who shared their works on Wikimedia under a Creative Commons License, allowing me to use their photos with credit on this website.

If you have photographs of another famine memorial in Ireland, America or around the world we would love if you would share them with us here in the Irish American Mom Community.  You can upload your photos here.

The Hunger Man: A Novel of the Great Hunger

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Irish-American author Scott D. Pomfret draws on a rich vein of faerie realism in his new book, The Hunger Man.

This novel places the Great Irish Famine in stark relief, making it a compelling retelling of Ireland’s defining disaster.

Book cover for The Hungerman by Scott D. Pomfret

On behalf of Waterford-based publisher Ninestar Press, I’m delighted to introduce you to Scott, and his new novel.

Before we delve into a synopsis of the plot, let me first hand you over to Scott, a Boston based attorney, who will share his family story and love of Ireland.

 

Scott Pomfret’s Irish Connection:

 

Blame my Irish grandfather, a native of County Tyrone but a long-time dweller in Ballsbridge Dublin, for my love of words.  He was a man of extraordinary erudition — an Irish minister of education, a fluent Francophile, a devotee of Japanese culture, a scholar of Saint Patrick, and a poet and playwright to boot!  He even had a play produced at the Abbey Theater!

While he cannot be held responsible for my novel The Hunger Man, my grandfather’s spirit inhabits it a bit.  One of my fondest memories of his mischievous spirit was a trip we took to visit sites and sights outside of Dublin.  It was not terribly far, but we were four Irish American children under the age of ten and I am sure driving him crazy.

Scott D. Pomfret's Irish grandfather from County Tyrone
Scott D. Pomfret’s Irish grandfather from County Tyrone

He pulled over in the yard of a Protestant church and we spilled out on the gravel.  He said it was a well-known fact that Catholic children who ran three times counterclockwise around a Protestant Church would meet the Devil Himself.  He raised his eyebrows.

My brothers and sister and I cocked our heads and cowered, half-stepped in the right direction and then held ourselves back, caught among skepticism, fear, giddiness, and the urge to self-destruction!  We urged him to admit it was merely a fable, but he only shrugged and assured us if we were so confident, we should not hesitate to give it a whirl!

I visited Ireland dozens of times between birth and age sixteen.  I remember: bottled milk topped with cream at my grandparents’ door; my grandfather’s being one of the “Doors of Dublin” on the famous poster; a trip to Belfast at the height of the Troubles that I insisted upon at age ten or so; miniature golf with my cousins; the port of Dún Laoghaire; the endless delays at Shannon Airport; the pilgrimages to the Book of Kells; the rashers; my grandparents’ neighbor’s children’s great disappointment that our Boston accents weren’t much thicker.

Scott Pomfret's mother when she first came to the USA
Scott Pomfret’s mother when she first came to the USA

I published a poem at age eight that was still folded in my grandparents’ books long after I stopped visiting as regularly.  Perhaps on account of that poem, my grandfather gave me my first collection of Shakespeare — a gorgeous, gilt-edge, leather bound volume I have to this day, scarcely dared open for fear of soiling it!

I ultimately got my Shakespeare elsewhere, but my grandfather also gave me Cecil Woodham-Smith’s The Great Hunger, the most famous if not entirely most accurate of the histories of the Famine.  For many years, The Great Hunger lingered unread on my shelves until in the late 1990s I finally plowed through it.

I immediately began planning what was then a screen play — a straight but disastrous love story — but soon tabled it for other projects.  In 2013, I picked up the pieces of that story and fashioned an outline of a novel.  And then for the next two years, I read every book or account of the Famine I could get my hands on, including as much first-hand stuff as I could track down.

While at work on the history, my grandfather’s mischievousness tickled something in my brain.  How wonderful it would be to write a novel anchored in Irish History, but deploying a homespun distinctively Irish brand of Garcia Marquez’s magic realism.

I read every tale of the Faeries and other characters of Irish folklore and literature I could lay my hands on.  I read Heaney and Yeats and Kavanagh and Mahon and Grennan and all the great Irish poets to sharpen mainly my sense of rhythm and humor.  And soon I had the mischievous voice of Ciaran Leath, the main narrator of The Hunger Man, and also the makings of a “Faerie realism” with deep roots in the soil and culture.

What no one bequeathed me, however, was any knowledge of the Irish language.  So when I went to write my character Ciaran Leath, and wanted to litter his English with his native Irish tongue, I struggled to find the words.  Many I pulled from the historical accounts; a few I borrowed Google Translate and other online sites that speak in the various dialects of the island.  It’s my secret (and now yours) that these ancient words — Scáil and Rath and Fear Gorta– are in fact my entire vocabulary!

Two other inspirations bear mentioning.  First, I have bastardized the course of history here a bit for my literary aims.  I deliberately conflated and made coincident historical events that took place years apart to help tell a particular story.

My heroine, for example, is named Muireann O’Rahilly.  Students of Irish history will recognize in the last name one of the martyrs of the Easter Uprising of 1916.  One of my mother’s closest friends as a child, and certainly her closest as an adult, was Ann O’Rahilly, a great granddaughter of the Easter hero.

Ann and I had a special bond — she brought me to my first Shakespeare play and watched me perform the part of MacBeth in fourth grade.

She was a collector of antique books, which she bequeathed to me when she passed all too soon from cancer.  I had the honor of being the executor of her estate and I return that honor in making, from her memory, a part of my heroine.

The other inspiration for my heroine was my cousin Muireann O’Sullivan, a doctor in real life, an extraordinary and quirky spirit, who was perhaps the first person to recognize I was gay (or at least not much interested in women!). 

She, too, passed too soon from cancer, leaving a wonderful husband and daughter, and my character is a tribute to her spirit.

Jacinta Famine Museum
Scott and his family at the Quinnipac University Irish Famine Museum

Recently, I had the chance to travel with my mother, her brother, his wife/my aunt, and my father to Ireland’s Great Hunger Museum at Quinnipiac University in Connecticut.

Primarily a collection of art inspired by or arising out of the Famine and the Irish diaspora, the Museum is a showcase for the best fruits of the otherwise withering blight. 

I hope and pray that The Hunger Man does one-hundredth the part to honor the tough bastards who survived … and those that did not.

 

About The Hunger Man:

 

Weaving fabulist elements with Irish history, The Hunger Man tells the story of a clan of Irish revolutionaries, the O’Rahillys. After attacking a British food convoy in early 1845, the O’Rahillys kidnap a young English officer named Julian Hawke. This first act of overt rebellion unleashes a series of events that inextricably ties the O’Rahilly clan to Hawke and to the seanachie  or storyteller Ciaran Leath, but also seals the family’s fate.

The only daughter, Muireann O’Rahilly, an aspiring physician, betrays her brothers when she yields to the strong mutual attraction between her and Hawke. Hawke tries to balance his love for Muireann and his growing love for Ireland with his duty to suppress the budding Young Ireland rebellion. Ciaran Leath, who falls in love with both Julian Hawke as well as an angelic young tinker man, foresees both the coming famine and the disintegration of his adopted O’Rahilly clan, but finds himself unheard and powerless to protect them — or himself.

Encountering spirits of the dead and other bad portents, Ciaran Leath invokes his old benefactor, the ancient Faerie Fin Bheara, but in doing so learns something devastating about himself and of what he is capable. When the O’Rahilly clan sets its sights on assassinating Queen Victoria, whom Hawke is sworn to protect, during her 1848 state visit to Cork, the stakes loom large for all involved, and the story turns inexorably toward a tragic end.

This comic, romantic, and ultimately tragic struggle against starvation, oppression, and one’s own worst impulses, plots an epic arc from London and Dublin, to Cork and New York City, and pulls no punches when addressing British indifference-bordering-on-persecution.

The Hunger Man is a lyrical, historical novel of magic, Faeries, haunts, spirits, legends, ancient kings, monsters, and lovers in a country desperate with hunger. In this clash between the British Crown and the Irish people, there can only be one survivor.

Author photo for Scott D. Pomfret

Irish American Mom’s Review:

 

When Scott first e-mailed me about his book, my knee-jerk reaction was to decline his review offer, thinking Irish American Mom’s readers might not be interested in a book with a gay sub-theme.

As I read and re-read the synopsis for Scott’s novel, I started mentally checking some criteria for featuring books on my blog.

  • Irish or Irish American Plot  √
  • Irish or Irish American Author  √
  • Based on The Great Irish Famine  √
  • Published by a Small Press √
  • Historical Fiction √

Scott’s book checked all my boxes.  I e-mailed Scott requesting a review copy of his novel. His reply touched my heart …”I’m just grateful you’re willing to take a look.”

Realizing Scott’s promotional assistance may be limited because his book is pigeon-holed within a gay fiction genre, I acknowledged my rejection of his guest post would be based upon a fear of hurting other people’s sensibilities. Refusal to help Scott introduce his novel might even border on prejudice, and that is just not who I am.

I think it’s important to feature a variety of Irish American authors, including those whose experiences are different to mine. Diversity matters in the world and on my blog. I wish to acknowledge the vast complexity of all the wonderful readers who check out my ramblings.

I feared I might not appreciate a novel featuring a gay character.  But once I started reading Scott’s fast paced, energetic book and captivating plot, I was hooked. The Hunger Man contains a warning about graphic violence. I found the descriptions in keeping with the tragic times the novel depicts.

The primary narrator of the tale is gay, but this is a  sub-theme, and not central to the subtly interrelated and fully realized story line. Reading this book, by an author who is not exactly like me, simply broadened my own perspective of the world, and Ireland’s history.

Written from three distinctive points of view, The Hunger Man is a character-driven story, allowing the reader experience Ireland’s devastation through Muireann O’Rahilly’s compassion, Ciaran Leach’s superstitions, and Julian Hawke’s bigotry.

Initially the plot moves at a carefully controlled pace to allow the author time to learn a little back story, and to become familiar with this era in Irish history.

Throughout the action, Pomfret flawlessly intertwines Irish conversational sentence structure and a Gaelic vocabulary which led me to believe he is a fluent Irish speaker. Surprised to learn he is not a Gaelic scholar, I concluded time spent in Ireland in his formative years developed his appreciation for Irish syntax and language flow.

Novels of the Great Irish Famine are inherently sad, and this is no exception. Overflowing with mythical lore, this meaningful tragedy conveys tenderness, sympathy and compassion for all the characters involved, even the misguided Julian Hawke.

But it’s Muireann’s untamed determination, strength of character and will to survive that captivated me to the very last page.

This book is a magical, mythical read that delves into the tragedy that was the Great Irish Famine. It is a captivating story told by a masterful storyteller, whose Irish roots are clearly evident on each and every page.

 

Thank You:

 

I wish to thank Scott for introducing us to his brilliant writing, and for affording me the opportunity to feature another novel of The Great Irish Famine here on my blog.

Happy reading to all!

 

Slán agus beannacht,

(Goodbye and blessings)

 

Irish American Mom

 

The Famine Pot – Irish Historical Documentary on DVD

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Last year we explored the history and cultural significance of Irish Famine Pots, the giant cast iron vessels created to cook massive volumes of soup to feed the starving Irish in 1847, the bleakest year of the Great Irish Famine.

I’m delighted to report the completion of a new documentary film about the preservation of these cast iron pots and their historical significance.

Today, one lucky reader will have an opportunity to win a copy of this DVD.

But before entering let me first hand you over to Mattie Lennon, who will tell us a little bit more about these Irish Famine Pots and this new documentary which he has completed with his friend John Cassidy ……

The Coolmountain Soup Pot, Ballingeary, County Cork

Image Credit

The Famine Pot By Mattie Lennon:

 

Most features of the Irish potato famine have been very well documented.  However, because of bigotry, pride, misguided patriotism and inherited false information, one aspect of the potato failure, the story of the humble Famine Pot, was almost air-brushed from our history.

The discovery of a broken famine pot in the townland of Cullenboy, County Donegal prompted a local historian to do some serious research on the subject.

Interviews with experts on the period, and contact with resources at home and abroad, revealed the extent to which the Quakers and organisations around the world came to the aid of the starving Irish.

The Sultan of Turkey contributed £1000. (He had offered £10,000 but since Queen Victoria had given £2,000 he couldn’t offend Royal protocol and was obliged to give less than the Monarch.)

Famine Pot in Lough Eske County Donegal
Famine pot, Lough Eske, County Donegal

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Darby’s iron- foundry in Shropshire sent fifty-six famine-pots free of charge to Ireland and it has been established that by 1847 there were 1,850 famine-pots in operation, feeding three million people in Ireland.  Over the period of the famine the Quakers supplied pots to twenty-seven counties.

At one stage, at Templecrone, Co. Donegal, there were in operation four famine-pots, being used twice a day to give out 600 gallons of soup at a cost to the local organisers of £2 10s.

Those pots were made of cast iron and many survive to this day.

The method of distribution required people to line up in front of the public Famine Pot, saucepans and pans in hand, waiting for the soup to be ladled out.  Some people saw this as debasing and demoralizing, but the alternative was death by starvation.

Information received through research has led to the setting up of the website, Irish Famine Pots, and consequently the making of a short film.

The Famine Pot is a documentary, on DVD, which tells the story of this grim period in our history.  It includes footage of areas which were worst hit by An Gorta Mór and features interviews with historians, Professor Christine Kinealy, Rob Goodbody, Dr Ciaran Reilly, Sean Beattie, Rev. Jack Lamb, Dr Gearóid Moran and Colum Cronin.

Matthew Jebb, Director of the National Botanic Gardens gives a scientific account of the nature of the potato blight.

The Famine Pot, new documentary is now available on DVD (€10 including postage) from, Irish Famine Pots. Details can be obtained by e-mail….

[email protected]

Famine Pot at Doagh Famine Village County Donegal

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The Giveaway:

 

To enter just leave a comment on this blog post by noon on Tuesday, May 31st, 2016. 

Any comment will do. What you write does not affect your chance of winning, but if you need inspiration for your entry why not tell us if your family has a story of immigration associated with the Irish Famine, or if this tragic period of Irish history is of interest to you.

A winning comment will be chosen randomly.  Remember to leave your e-mail so that I can contact you should you win.  Your e-mail won’t be published, just used to contact our lucky contestant for ordering and mailing of the prize.

The winner will be announced on Tuesday May 31st, 2016, at the bottom of this blog post.

You may check out Irish American Mom’s complete terms and conditions for sweepstakes’ entries by clicking here.

A big thank you to Mattie Lennon for sponsoring this prize. And thanks to everyone who supports this little giveaway and spreads the word about this important project.

 

Update – Winner Chosen, May 31st 2016:

 

Good news. Our winner has been chosen using the randomized “Pick Giveaway Winner” WordPress plug-in.

Congratulations to …..

 

Laura Lee

 

I’ll send you a quick e-mail to let you know you are our prize winner.

Thanks to everyone who joined in and entered this little giveaway.

And a big thank you to Mattie Lennon for sponsoring this prize and for introducing us to his historical research. Wishing him every success with this DVD.

 

Slán agus beannacht,

(Goodbye and blessings)

 

Irish American Mom

Irish Famine Pots

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Famine pots are giant cast iron vessels, which were created to cook large volumes of soup to feed the starving Irish in 1847, the bleakest year of Ireland’s Great Hunger, now known as ‘Black 47’.

Famine pot Leghowney
Famine Pot, Leghowney, Donegal

Mattie Lennon, a reader of my blog, and an avid Dublin folklorist, poet and author, contacted me to let me know about a project currently underway to preserve these old pots.  The idea is the brain child of a Donegal man, John Cassidy.

But before I hand you over to Mattie, to tell us about their amazing work, let me fill you in on a little bit of history behind these pots, and their significance as a link to our Irish cultural heritage.

 

History of Irish Famine Pots

 

Famine pot, Lough Eske, Donegal
Famine pot, Lough Eske, County Donegal

The failure of the potato crop first affected the Irish in the autumn of 1845, and by 1847 Ireland was a country of homeless, starving paupers.

Prior to 1847 famine relief was provided through employment schemes. Recognizing the need for farmers to be free to work the land, the British government abandoned the work schemes, and replaced them by providing the starving Irish with ‘soup’ through the Soup Kitchen Act of January 1847.

Soup was cooked in large cast iron cauldrons which have come to be known as famine pots, soup boilers or workhouse pots. 

These durable pots were made in a Quaker iron foundry owned and run by the Darby family in Coalbrooke in the Severn Valley of England.

Famine Pot, Nenagh, County Tipperary
Famine Pot, Nenagh, County Tipperary

Initially 600 of these durable cost iron pots were supplied by the British government.  An additional 295 pots were provided by the Society of Friends or the Quakers.

The Society of Friends demonstrated incredible generosity during the Famine.  Hiring ships to bring food, medicine and supplies, they are credited with saving many lives.

Soup was made in the famine pots using a variety of recipes or  from whatever scraps the people could afford.

Famine Pot, Fahan, County Donegal
Famine Pot, Fahan, County Donegal

Nettles and wild herbs were added. The nutritional value of these soups was very questionable. Many soup recipes were lacking in nutrients, vitamins, and minerals, and over time gave rise to scurvy and other diseases.

Some were so thin or watery they caused intestinal ailments such as diarrhoea.

However, no matter how deficient these soups may have been nutritionally, a bowl of watery soup was sometimes all that stood between a poor Irish person and death.

Famine Pot, Johnny Foxe's Pub
Famine Pot, Johnny Foxe’s Pub

Many of our ancestors stood in line with an empty can in hand, eager to have it filled with soup, brewed in these famine pots.

No matter how degrading it may have been for them to join the line of impoverished Irish men, women and children, this soup was a last resort to help quell the pangs of their empty stomachs.

These pots tell an important story from our past.

Famine Pot, Ballyvaughan Workhouse, County Mayo
Famine Pot, Ballyvaughan Workhouse, County Mayo

However, despite the desperate need of the Irish people for this soup, instructions were issued by the English to discontinue the services of the soup kitchens. 

By October of 1847 all of the government soup kitchens had closed. The Irish were expected to live off the new potato harvest, which was ready to be picked in autumn of 1847.

Unfortunately this harvest was merely one quarter of a normal Irish potato harvest, and the three million people who depended upon the soup kitchens for survival were left to fend for themselves.

 

The Irish Famine Pots Project by Mattie Lennon

 

Famine Pot, Manorhamilton, County Leitrim
Famine Pot, Manorhamilton, County Leitrim

In 2011 John Cassidy found an old famine-pot, broken in pieces, in south Donegal, had it welded, restored and mounted outside Leghowney Community Hall.

Such was the interest shown by American tourists that he decided to do some research on the whole Famine-pot/Soup–kitchen aspect of the famine.

As I had worked with John on other projects he asked me to come on board for this one.

 

We found that because of bigotry, pride, misguided patriotism and inherited false information,this aspect of the potato failure was almost air-brushed from our history.

Here’s a little video of John Cassidy explaining this project ….

In conjunction with An Lár TV we are now making a documentary on the subject.

Five prominent historians, Dr. Ciaran Reilly, Fr. Anthony J. Gaughan, Professor Christine Kinealy, Dr Moran and Rob Goodbody, a Quaker historian, have all recorded interviews to camera.

We have all the raw footage and are now in need of funding for editing. 

This doumentary will be broadcast by on An Lár TV which reaches the Irish Diaspora in more than 120 countries around the world including Irish groups and clubs from the US, Canada, Spain, Switzerland, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand.

Here’s a list of some of these clubs and groups ….

  • Ireland Calls Radio Show, New York, USA,
  • Irish Defence Forces Veterans.
  • Turkey/Paris Gaels GAA Club, Paris, France,
  • London Irish Association (Hammersmith and Wimbledon),
  • The Irish Canada Monument Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada,
  • The Irish Sports and Social Club, Vancouver, Canada,
  • The Irish Association of Toronto, Canada
  • The Tara Association, New Jersey, USA
  • Little Shamrocks, New Hampshire, USA
  • The Irish Association, Christchurch, New Zealand
  • Cedar Valley Irish Cultural Association, Iowa, USA
  • The Ulster American Society, Pennsylvania, USA
  • The Irish community of Gridley, California, USA.
  • The Irish community of Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
  • The Irish Association of South Africa.
  • The Irish Club, Basel, Switzerland.
  • The Irish Club, Brussels, Belgium.
  • The Costa Gaels GAA Club, Marbella, Spain.
  • The Irish Club, Marbella, Spain.
  • Gaelic Athletic Association Toronto Canada.
  • The Uruguay Ireland Association, Montevideo, Uruguay.
  • The Tolosa Gaels GAA Club, Toulouse, France.
  • The Irish Community of Auckland, New Zealand.
  • Auckland GAA, Auckland, New Zealand.
  • The O’Neill Malcom Branch, Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Eireann, Washington D.C.,
  • St. John’s Avalon Harps GAA Club, Newfoundland, Canada.
  • Tasmanian Gaelic Football Association, Hobart, Australia.
  • The Friendly Sons of St. Patrick, Iowa.

 

The target market for this documentary is Ireland and abroad, mainly the USA.

We are also  hoping to get the documentary into schools in Ireland and around the world.

 

A Note From Irish American Mom:

 

John and Mattie have created a wonderful website called Irish Famine Pots to explain their fantastic work.

You can also learn more about Mattie and read some of his writings and poetry on his own personal website.

A big thank you to Mattie and John for undertaking this ambitious and culturally significant project. I look forward to viewing this documentary and hope the will keep us posted on their progress and dates for release of the film.

 

Update September 2016:

 

john-cassidy-and-kevin-omalley
The photo above shows John Cassidy presenting a miniature famine pot to Mr. Kevin O’Malley, U.S. Ambassador to Ireland at his residence in the Phoenix Park, Dublin.  The Ambassador’s ancestors emigrated from County Mayo, one of the worst affected areas during the Great Irish Famine.

John was invited to a tree planting ceremony to remember the 15th anniversary of 9/11. The original tree was found in the basement of one of the towers. It was nursed back to full health and was replanted at Ground Zero. One of its stems was flown to Ireland and was planted at the Ambassador’s residence in the Phoenix Park in September 2016.

Slán agus beannacht,

(Goodbye and blessings)

 

Irish American Mom

 

Image Credits – All photos published courtesy of Mattie Lennon and John Cassidy from the Irish Famine Pots website.

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