Genealogy Reviews Online

My Irish Heritage

What does it mean to be Irish?  To be honest with you, I have no idea.  In fact I didn't know I had Irish ancestors until a few years ago when I started pursuing my maternal grandmother's family.  I was quite surprised when I discovered my second great grandfather (Thomas Hartford: 1826-1911) was born in Dublin and immigrated with his family to Canada sometime in 1832.  For some reason, as I was growing up, I thought this side of the family was English or maybe German, but I wasn't interested in genealogy so it really didn't matter.  I've thought hard about the times I spent with my grandmother (Anna Hartford: 1904-2001), and her family, to see if there was any indication of Irishness or Irish customs passed down through the generations, but I mostly drew a blank.

I say mostly because it's possible my family's Catholicism may be the only Irish link there is.  I always assumed my being raised a Catholic was a function of coming from an Italian family on my father's side, but because it was my mother who was so devout about church and who attended Catholic schools, I suspect this might be the Irish part coming out.  It was my mother who ensured my brother and I attended church and Sunday school - without fail.  My father was raised a Catholic of course, but was really ambivalent about the church.  It's possible I'm wrong about this though.  If religious activities are "mother centered" in Irish families like in Italian families, then my grandmother became a Catholic because of her non-Irish mother instead of her Irish father...leaving my little theory in the dust.

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Irish Controversy at the Central Park Zoo Exposed by the NY Times - in 1893

It seems like every year at the beginning of the NFL football season, here in the Washington DC area, there are newspaper articles about how offensive the name "Redskins" is to Native Americans.  When you think about it you wonder why on earth someone would give their team a name so obviously degrading to a whole group of people.   This kind of controversy is not new as shown in this 1893 article where the NY Times exposes a similar controversy about Irish names.

According to the article, officials at the Central Park Zoo had a habit of calling "monkeys, hyenas, and other forbidding-looking animals names which the Irish alone, as a race, give to their children."  Another part says "In Central Park the distinctive Irish names, such as Patrick and Michael and Bridget, are confined to animals the sight of which excites ridicule or astonishment."  Apparently there was an earlier article exposing the practice and the linked article is the aftermath - with the NY Times patting itself on the back.

If I recall correctly, by 1893 the Irish were well established in New York City, and were in many positions of influence.  Some of the powerful people who were interviewed for the article, and expressed outrage, have distinctive Irish names to include the mayor, a judge and the school commissioner.  There was even an interview with a man named James A. Bailey described as "the great circus man" who assured the reporter he would never give his animals an Irish name.  Bailey is quoted as saying "I would not permit it, as I know it might be offensive to some persons of Irish blood."  Of course, the director of the Central Park Zoo denied he had any responsibility.  He basically said it's not his fault and all of the Irish animal names were there before he took over. You'll see at the end of the article where the reporter goes in for the kill with another zoo official.

I have the feeling, however, if Irish Americans weren't in charge of the city at the time the outrage wouldn't have been so great.  Power brings privilege I guess...

And so goes another interesting exploration of the New York Times Archives...I wonder if Lisa at the Small-Leaved Shamrock would accept this as a late submission to her Carnival of Irish Heritage and Culture??

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Carnival of Irish History and Culture

The latest Carnival of Irish History and Culture is now up over at the Small-leaved Shamrock with a lot of tasty articles on all things Irish.  I intended to submit a post to this edition...I even planned it out and dug up a bunch of photos of a trip we took to Ireland, but I just couldn't seem to get time to write - maybe another time.

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More on Irish Genealogy

I just read a very interesting post on 24/7 Family History Circle about an aspect of Irish genealogy I never thought about - the immigration of the Irish to England, Scotland and Wales.  According to the article, Irish Migration to Britain by Sherry Irvine, the numbers of Irish immigrating to Britain was second only to the United States.  This really made sense as I thought about it because industrialization in England was the engine that drove the British Empire, and labor was needed to keep it going.  Since life in Ireland was still hard, and jobs plentiful a short distance away, immigration to England, Scotland and Wales seems like a logical decision for many Irish to make.  The only places I've searched for my Irish ancestors are Canada, the US and Ireland - I now have another avenue to study.         

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Irish Genealogy Resources

(My intent was to submit this for the Irish Heritage and Culture Carnival hosted by the Small-Leaved Shamrock, but I was overcome by events and couldn't get it written in time.  The deadline was 28 December and here I am writing on 29 December.  What this means is I put it off until the last day and then stuff happened as they say.  Anyway, this is what I would have submitted if I had planned things a little better)

I have a big problem with Irish genealogy.  The problem isn't with the resources available, but it's with my ancestors - they did everything at the wrong time.  Instead of coming to the US during the potato famine (1845-1849) with the majority of Irish immigrants, my 3rd great grandfather (Richard Hartford), along with his wife and three small children, left Ireland sometime between 1830 and 1832.  Additionally, instead of coming straight to the United States where there are census records available back to 1790, they went to Canada.  Even though I haven't had much luck finding my family in Ireland, and have had slow success in Canada, I have discovered the Irish Origins genealogy site (a part of The Origins Network) and a few books that really got me interested in Irish History.   

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