![]() Until 1855, Linden was known as Peddler’s Creek, after O’Meara. Patrick O’Meara, an Irish peddler, is credited with discovering lead in 1827 in Linden, a tiny community which went on to play a key role in the development of the area’s lead mining industry. But some had come to Iowa County before then. Most came in the wake of the Irish Potato Famine. Still others became teachers, doctors, and merchants. Some, like John Ross, who arrived in Iowa County in 1839 from County Tyrone, Ireland, became successful enough to own mines. Many found jobs in the mines that dotted southwest Wisconsin. Willing to Workįirst-generation American citizens had to support themselves financially. The house, sold about ten years ago by the McNeill family, is now privately owned. Descendants went on to farm there for generations. In the town of Waldwick, on a road that still bears their name – McNeill Road – they built a rock farmhouse that remains standing today. Hugh and Margaret bought a farm near Hollandale in 1848. It was as if they had died,” says their great-grandson, Bob McNeill, who grew up in Iowa County. Hugh was Irish protestant, Jane Scotch Catholic their union was deeply disapproved of by their parents. Newlyweds Hugh and Margaret McNeill immigrated to America from County Antrim, Ireland, in the 1840s, after being disowned by both of their families. “The Irish came here because they were hungry,” says Janette Hartman, curator at the Iowa County Historical Society.īut many also sought religious and political freedom. typically sought economic opportunity here, a place to raise their children free from the specter of starvation. citizens in both the 18 censuses, with about as many immigrants as from Germany and Great Britain - combined. Ireland was the top place of birth for foreign-born U.S. The lucky ones found their way to America. The blight that devastated Ireland’s potato crop beginning in 1845 had led, by 1850, to more than one million Irish citizens dying of starvation or disease. Their potatoes, the main source of food for millions of poor farmers, had rotted on the vines. Why did the Irish leave their homeland? Because of potatoes – or rather, a derth of them. Richard and Anna’s grandson - my grandfather – William Fitzsimons, born in 1869 in Iowa County, was the inspiration for Will O’Shaughnessy in my O’Shaughnessy Chronicles novels. The flood peaked in 1851, with 221,000 Irish immigrants entering the U.S. Richard and Anna, my great-great-grandparents, were among an estimated 1.2 million immigrants who entered the United States from Ireland between 18. She did, single-handedly, raising their children on a farm near Mineral Point that they had bought before leaving Ireland. He died of pneumonia, leaving Anna to finish the journey. And at a small roadside inn just ten miles out of Mineral Point, tragedy struck. Richard, though, was sick, with a deep, wracking cough that left him unable to catch his breath. Knowing they would soon celebrate Christmas in their new home in Iowa County, Wisconsin, kept them going. With no moon, only the stars led their way. The team and wagon waded through deep snow in a winter that, historical records show, was bitterly cold and snowier than normal. Seven of their eight children were in tow, the youngest just five years old. ![]() It was the second week of December, 1852.Īnna and Richard Fitzsimons headed northwest out of Chicago, on the final leg of a 4,000-mile ocean and overland journey from their native, famine-torn, Ireland. ![]() ![]() You can also download a sample chapter today. This award-winning book is available through Amazon, the publisher Little Creek Press, and many local bookstores. In Giddyap Tin Lizzie, Will O’Shaughnessy, a descendant of Irish immigrants, holds fast to his ethnic heritage while experiencing the great societal upheavals of early 20th-century America. By Harold William Thorpe and Karyn Saemannīe sure to check out the historical photo gallery at the end of this article.
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