This year 2022 marks 175 years since Black 47, a year when vast quantities of food were exported from Ireland while the Irish themselves were allowed to starve in their millions.
I would now like to add an account of my ancestors John Molloy from Athenry Co. Galway and Joanna Arundel from Clonakilty Co. Cork to these chronicles.
John and Joanna married in Lawrence Massachusetts in the 1850s. They were part of the tide of Irish immigrants that washed up on American shores during the Famine years. Lawrence was a newly formed community of immigrants with the Irish being possibly the first of many nationalities to settle there. The majority of new arrivals worked as labourers or in the textile mills. Unfortunately the Irish were subject to massive prejudice and my ancestors decided to return to Ireland. Taking into account the conditions that forced them to flee their homeland and travel aboard coffin ships to an unknown land, the decision to return was surely not taken lightly.
Following their return to Ireland, my ancestors went on to settle and rear their family in Athenry and lived into old age in the land of their birth.
Breda Alcorn.
| Additional Information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Date of Birth | 1st Jan 1827 (circa) | |
| Date of Death | 1st Jan 1901 | |
| Spouse (First Name/s and Maiden/Surname) | Joanna | |
| Place & Date of Marriage | Lawrence Massachusetts in the 1850s | |
