Forgetting Ireland

Nonfiction, History, Americas, United States, State & Local, Fiction & Literature
Cover of the book Forgetting Ireland by Bridget Connelly, Minnesota Historical Society Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Bridget Connelly ISBN: 9781681341132
Publisher: Minnesota Historical Society Press Publication: March 17, 2003
Imprint: Borealis Books Language: English
Author: Bridget Connelly
ISBN: 9781681341132
Publisher: Minnesota Historical Society Press
Publication: March 17, 2003
Imprint: Borealis Books
Language: English

Forgetting Ireland is both a history and mystery, a story of western Ireland's Connemara coast and of Graceville, a small town in western Minnesota. In 1880, at the height of Ireland's second famine, a ship of paupers was sent from Galway to take up land granted them by a Catholic bishop in Minnesota. There they encountered the worst winter in the state's history and nearly froze to death in shanties on the prairie. National and international newspapers featured their plight as the welfare scandal of the year, and priests and politicians traded accusations as to who was responsible. The immigrants were at last removed from the colony; their name became the town's shorthand for lying, drunken failures.

By chance more than a century later, Bridget Connelly, who grew up in Graceville, discovers her Connemara past. As Connelly uncovers the deliberately suppressed history of her family's emigration, she exposes an old scandal that surrounded the settling of the land around Graceville, one that pitted Masons, Protestants, Germans, and Yankees against Irish Catholics — and one that set lace-curtain Irish against the Connemara paupers. She also learns of an archbishop who was, according to farmer lore, 'worse than Jesse James'. In this compelling combination of history and memoir, Connelly tells stories of an epochal blizzard, a famous Irish bard, an infamous Irish woman pirate, feuding frontier communities, and an archbishop's questionable legacy. She also learns why her family tried so hard to forget Ireland.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Forgetting Ireland is both a history and mystery, a story of western Ireland's Connemara coast and of Graceville, a small town in western Minnesota. In 1880, at the height of Ireland's second famine, a ship of paupers was sent from Galway to take up land granted them by a Catholic bishop in Minnesota. There they encountered the worst winter in the state's history and nearly froze to death in shanties on the prairie. National and international newspapers featured their plight as the welfare scandal of the year, and priests and politicians traded accusations as to who was responsible. The immigrants were at last removed from the colony; their name became the town's shorthand for lying, drunken failures.

By chance more than a century later, Bridget Connelly, who grew up in Graceville, discovers her Connemara past. As Connelly uncovers the deliberately suppressed history of her family's emigration, she exposes an old scandal that surrounded the settling of the land around Graceville, one that pitted Masons, Protestants, Germans, and Yankees against Irish Catholics — and one that set lace-curtain Irish against the Connemara paupers. She also learns of an archbishop who was, according to farmer lore, 'worse than Jesse James'. In this compelling combination of history and memoir, Connelly tells stories of an epochal blizzard, a famous Irish bard, an infamous Irish woman pirate, feuding frontier communities, and an archbishop's questionable legacy. She also learns why her family tried so hard to forget Ireland.

More books from Minnesota Historical Society Press

Cover of the book Mexicans In Minnesota by Bridget Connelly
Cover of the book Alone at the Top by Bridget Connelly
Cover of the book Tell Me True by Bridget Connelly
Cover of the book Lake Superior's Historic North Shore by Bridget Connelly
Cover of the book Her Honor by Bridget Connelly
Cover of the book Long Hard Road by Bridget Connelly
Cover of the book National Register of Historic Places in Minnesota by Bridget Connelly
Cover of the book Answering 911 by Bridget Connelly
Cover of the book Scoop by Bridget Connelly
Cover of the book The Brides of Midsummer by Bridget Connelly
Cover of the book The Nearly Departed by Bridget Connelly
Cover of the book Beneath The Surface by Bridget Connelly
Cover of the book Red Earth White Earth by Bridget Connelly
Cover of the book The WPA Guide to Minnesota by Bridget Connelly
Cover of the book Anishinaabe Syndicated by Bridget Connelly
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy