Historical Society Will Celebrate The Season Of Irish Americans

They came as unskilled laborers and as skilled craftsmen; they came as individuals, in family groups, and as time went on, they came in boatloads. They were the Irish, and they came to America for many reasons: some to escape British rule, some for religious freedom, some for economic opportunity, and most of all to escape the great famine brought on by the potato blight of the 1840s.

Newtown Historical Society will offer a program entitled “The Irish in the Danbury Area” Monday, March 12, at 7:30 pm, in the community room of C.H. Booth Library. Phil Gallagher will be the guest speaker.

While the United States had always known Irish immigrants, after seemingly unending failures of the potato crops beginning in 1845, when the situation in Ireland became emigrate or starve, more than 1.6 million Irish arrived on our shores. They arrived hungry and poor, often with little skill or training, but with a great desire to make a new life and a willingness to work for it.

Faced with an anti-immigrant, anti-Catholic reaction, the new arrivals were often pushed to the fringes of society in both geographic and social terms. Friction often developed between old Yankee settlers and the rapidly multiplying new residents.

As many towns in the Northeast, Newtown felt this friction in several ways, not least in the battle for control of the town’s schools. By the election of 1912, however, all five of Connecticut’s Congressmen were of Irish background, signaling a successful assimilation, if not always social acceptance.

But the assimilation did not come easily. The social isolation and strong ties to the homeland caused the Irish immigrants to cluster together and maintain their own customs. Mr Gallagher has identified the first St Patrick’s Day celebration in Danbury as occurring in 1863. The Civil War gave the Irish both employment in the army, and a chance at acceptance as soldiers and veterans.

Mr Gallagher will examine the history of the Irish in the area in the near-century from 1830 to 1920. He will look at reasons for settling in this area, the occupations the new settlers pursued, their influence on the economy and political structure, and will offer biographical insights of some of the notable Irish Americans of the area, including Newtown’s Patrick Troy, a lynchpin of the town’s burgeoning Irish population.

Mr Gallagher is a retired high school social studies teacher. He is a Bethel resident and has served the town through numerous offices, including several terms as selectman. He is also a past president of the local, county, and state branches of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, and is currently a member of the national board of the organization, and serves as archivist of the Connecticut branch.

Newtown Historical Society programs are free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served following the program.

For further information, call the historical society at 426-5937.