November 1850
Dear Children,
Gold! That was all anyone talked about in town in 1848. One day it seemed Sag Harbor was the charmed town I traveled across the ocean to and the next day it had changed forever. By the time the Gold Rush in California was over, hundreds and hundreds of men left on what seemed like a moment’s notice. The timing of the discovery of gold coincided with the waning of the great whaling industry in Sag Harbor. For many years we enjoyed enormous prosperity from our thriving trade. The height was in 1847 when there were about 70 whaling ships stationed in Sag Harbor. We were so fortunate to arrive here at the height of its glory, for even one short year later it was a different story. Over fishing was causing the whales to become scarce and the voyages were now longer and more expensive than in the past. Whales used to be spotted offshore here, but lately our ships have to sail as far away as Africa to find them. Now the voyages last for years, instead of months.
I have heard some say the number of men fleeing Sag Harbor for the Gold Rush was as high as 500. It was hard to tell, with so much commotion happening at once. Six whale ships sailed away from Sag Harbor to California, and there is little expectation that they will ever return. The supporting businesses have started to slow down, like the coopers who make the large casks for whale oil, the blacksmiths, and the sail makers. The ups and downs of the whaling industry did not affect our livelihoods as farmers as badly as those businesses, but we felt the downturn. Maybe the slow times were not all bad luck. Between 1847 to 1850, Terry and I welcomed six of our brothers, sisters and in-laws to Sag Harbor from Ireland. This group was able to get a foothold here because most of them chose to live in town and take advantage of the new opportunities opened up by the departure of so many residents.
Terry’s brother Francis was a natural for town living. Frank was not what you would call the practical type, and he never met a stranger. It was not long before he seemed to know most everyone in town. Along Division Street, whenever an extra pair of hands was needed, Francis was always there with a smile and a chuckle. Like his sister and brother, he was educated, and like Cath, a bit of a free-thinker. He could be seen talking with Jason Hoopete, a Montauk Indian, along the water front when he probably should have been working. They would talk of the evils of slavery, which Frank said was a sin against God. It was Frank who brought our dear friend into our lives, Patrick Mulligan and his family. He was beloved by his fellow Irishmen, but he made friends with the old-line Yankees too, like young Henry Halsey. From the day he set foot on American soil, Frank dreamed of becoming a United States citizen. He put his book-learning to use studying at the circulating library on how to become a real American.
Frank came with his lovely, but remote wife Isabella. The poor thing had a harrowing journey over as she was in the family way. Little Mary is healthy, thank God. Bella complained that Frank was always chattering with the neighbors instead of working harder. She said they needed to save for the little Mary’s future. Frank just laughed over her worries, telling her that everything would be alright. After all, she had him to take care of her. It didn’t seem to satisfy Bella, but she was so private and proud that she would never let on. Maybe the shock of finding Cath, her dear friend, gone when she got here contributed to her sadness. Cath could always make her laugh.
Another of our clan who chose to live in town was my other big brother, Charles. He got work as fisherman, which surprised us all. We Irish are a land loving lot, and Charles was a farmer’s son. While he didn’t have a silver tongue like Frank, he managed to talk his way onto a ship when most of the crew absconded to California. This was fortunate, as Charles did not have anything saved to put down on a farm, like John and Terry were able to when times were better in Ireland. It was the same reason Frank had to go from odd job to odd job. Charles married a sweet Irish girl, Mary, within months of arriving, and they were soon expecting a baby. When our younger sister Ann Fee came from Ireland in November 1848, it was just as Charles and Mary were about to become parents. Charles was so happy to see his favorite sister that they named the new baby Ann. Within a year, little Annie had six cousins to play with. There were John and Elizabeth Fee’s three, Jane, Charles and John, know as Jack. Francis and Bella had Mary, and there was our own little Frankie, named after big loquacious Frank, and baby Mary Ann.
The newly arrived big Ann Fee came with a coincidence. One of her shipmates was Edwin Irwin, Jr. whose parents, Edwin Sr. and Huldah live here in Sag Harbor and go to our church. They struck a friendship on board and I have a feeling that perhaps it may become more than that. Charles had company on his voyage also. He came with Patrick Leonard, who also settled in the area, just over the channel in Shelter Island. He is a shoemaker, and we already had several here in Sag Harbor, like Frank’s friend and neighbor, James Corcoran. Ann helped make arrangements for the next sister in our family, Jane, our Jennie, to come six months behind her. The date came and went and we heard nothing. May turned into August and still we had no word of her. Ann put an advertisement in The Sag Harbor Corrector, our local newspaper, on August 29, 1849, but like all the Fees, she couldn’t write English, only Gaelic, and had to sign it with a mark, instead of her signature. I was lucky that Terry taught me to write English after we married. She had the newspaper add a line at the end, “New York city papers will perform an act of benevolence by noticing the above.” Well, that did the trick and word got to Jennie, staying in New York city with people she traveled with. Once she received the stagecoach fare we sent, it took three days for her to make the trip home to us.
The baby of the McGuirk family, John, arrived alone in 1849. He had the sunny disposition of that position in the family and he loved to tease and joke. His tall build and dark brown hair made him the talk of several girls in town, but John showed no signs of settling down. For him it would have to be just the right girl, as beneath his charm he was sincere and serious. There was never any question of John staying in town, and he found work as a laborer on a farm a bit north and west of our place. Like Charles and Frank, he had no savings from the terrible times in Ireland, but he impressed his employers with his willingness to work. It took a lot of catching up for John to feel at home. Not finding Cath here was a bitter disappointment for him. She mothered him and it was a comfort he sorely missed. He was only 16 when Terry left home five years before and they had to get to know each other again. He has stayed behind in Ireland hoping things would improve as he helped the older relatives. As they passed one by one and linen exports were down, he knew it was finally time to go.
I was so grateful to have more of our family here. Now our new world was even more of a home, but there was pain amid the joy. In my heart, I knew the immigration of our brothers and sisters was different from our own, only four and five years before. They had been through something monumental that we only heard about. It was the Great Hunger, and I saw that it changed my family. It was a look in their eyes. They had seen terrible sights of people starving, destitute, and hopeless. I’ll always thank God that none of our family had to go hungry, but that did not protect them from what was happening to the whole country. While the suffering was less in upper Monaghan where we lived because the linen business was able to continue, it was impossible to avoid altogether. I saw that our newcomers did not jump in to their new lives with the energy and enthusiasm that we did just a few short years ago. They wanted to stay in Ireland and would not have come here if they had the choice. Of course, we missed home, too, but we wanted to leave and came freely to the United States with few reservations. They felt forced out, with lingering resentments and fear of their prospects here. With their hearts left behind in the Emerald Isle, and the fresh memory of horror, it was going to take a lot longer for our brethren to find a home. How ironic that our family members came just as so many fled Sag Harbor looking for riches somewhere else. We found what we were looking for, but now it was our challenge to show our loved ones that they had indeed struck gold.
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