From Famine to Feast The Story of the Irish in Erie 1850-1950

Abstract

There is an old Irish proverb which says a raggy colt often made a powerful horse. When most Irish immigrants came to America in the nineteenth century, they were raggy colts. They were weak and thin from hunger, young and inexperienced. Yet, they came to the country with the desire to better themselves. Most of these immigrants started their lives in America at the bottom of society—the men and women were laborers and servants, respectively, and their religion, Catholicism, was ill-regarded in an overwhelmingly Protestant country. However, within a century the Irish had risen to the top of society. They came to dominate many city governments and to heavily influence and greatly strengthen the Roman Catholic Church in the United States. Also, they came to hold more diversified positions in the workforce, becoming firemen, policemen and a host of other professions. In effect, they had become powerful horses.