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Juliette Johnston
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Professor Oltman
3/13/21
Although her Irish brogue is not as strong as her extended family, my grandmother, Mae Prisk (Kelly) holds her Irish heritage close to her heart. On any given day, she wears a shamrock brooch on her sweater and her home emits the smell of corned beef on any random Sunday, even if it is not March 17th. She was born in County Mayo, Ireland in 1931. County Mayo is located in West Ireland and is one of the biggest counties in the country. Mae was born Maeve, but casually goes by Mae. Her memories of her early life in Ireland are fond. Her grandparents from her mothers side were living in the same area as her and her family, as well as more aunts, uncles and cousins. She would compare this living situation as living in a compound or apartment building. Her mother and aunts took care of the children, cleaned clothes, and prepared food for the multiple families. Maes father and two of her uncles worked in agriculture while her other uncle was a horse and carriage operator, who took villagers where they needed to go. She remembers this particular uncle being paid more than her father. He had bought her father and uncle their own radios, which was a huge and expensive gift at the time. Mae remembers her father would play this radio in their home. She said this was a happy time and her parents were in love. She remembers her father spinning her mother to the songs on the radio as she did laundry. He brought this radio overseas to America when they immigrated. Laundry was done in a bucket and hung all around the house. I asked Mae about education in Ireland but, she was not of school age while she was living there. She recalls that school was expensive and most people could not pay to attend. Her cousins were older than her and did not attend school.
Around the time of her birth, Ireland had a depressed economy. The economic war with Britain was happening in 1932 and the Irish government was working on starting an industrialization program. She recalls industrialization beginning in the East at first, and then spreading to the rest of the country. She recalls the East coast of Ireland to be more advanced than the West. The dominating political party in Ireland at the time was the Fianna Fil. Fianna Fail translates to Soldiers of Destiny in Gaelic, and were considered to be the Republican party. Fianna Fil had a massive following from the beginning, averaging more than two fifths of the vote since 1927. The partysand its organizational ability, enabled it to dominate Irish politics for the following 42 years. In 1937 a new constitution was formulated and moves were made towards keeping Ireland neutral in the upcoming war.
The largest group ever to immigrate to the United States was the Irish. Today, there are over forty three million people that are of Irish descent in the United States. My grandmother is ninety years old this year and sometimes her memory goes in and out. I used a lot of tactics to jog her memory, like pictures, historical events and people. We discussed how important catholicism is to people of Irish descent. My grandmother went to church religiously more than once a week until she could no longer walk there, so I can see how important religion is in Irish heritage. She enrolled all of her children in catholic school even when she could barely afford it. My mother, who is my grandmothers seventh child, was the first to ever send her children to public school in my family.
Another topic that Mae was interested in talking about was the Irish potato famine. She was full of information about this tragic time in Irelands history. The famine began in 1845, 86 years before she was even born. The fungus infestation ruined potato crops for years to come. The potato was a main food source for the population and had a catastrophic impact on the population. The Potato Famine resulted in the death of roughly one million Irish from starvation and related causes, with at least another million forced to leave their homeland as refugees. This caused a huge wave of immigration. This meant that Ireland lost a quarter of its population during those terrible years.Whatever crops the Irish could produce went directly to the British leaving the Irish hungry and poor. Some even tried eating the only thing they could, rotten crops, which made them sick and resulted in entire villages being wiped out by cholera and typhus. Mae says that this famine still had effects in the 1930s. She said even after the decades that passed, the Irish were still not fully healed from the famine. She said agriculture was never the same. Many people who relied on agriculture as their job were forced to do something else. She said she believes the Potato Famine is the reason that Irish families had so many children, to try and rebuild the population that was lost.
Mae Prisk (Kelly)left her home country at the age of 6 with her parents and two siblings who were one and three at the time. Their main reason for leaving Irelad is because they needed more money to support their family. I asked her if they left for better living conditions as well, but she insisted her living conditions were not terrible or unbearable. They had heard such life changing stories about people from their area who had taken the journey to America. Mae says that her family talked about America like it was sunshine. She remembers her parents being young at the time of their departure and kept comparing me to them. She said her mother was just like you, so young. She said there was much talk about migrating to America by her family members, but there was a halt in their actions when her mothers father passed away. This held their process up for about three months. Mae says her parents and her aunt and uncle were the only ones who decided to continue with their journey. Her mothers mother stayed in Ireland with her other aunt and uncle. She did not mention much about her fathers parents. Maes mother had cousins who had already immigrated to America and had told them they would be able to find jobs in Bayonne, New Jersey. She described it as a town outside of New York City with lots of work for men on the ports and boats since it was surrounded on three sides by water. She does remember that her family was worried about being underskilled or undereducated, but decided it was worth the risk. They traveled by boat, but she says she does not remember their trip. They arrived in June of 1936. They did not get separated on their trip because she remembers being on Ellis Island with her parents, two siblings (Mildred and Walter), and her aunt, uncle and two cousins.
She describes Bayonne as a very Irish Catholic town. Her family and her aunt and uncles family stayed with their cousins in Bayone for many months, sleeping on floors and in hallways. She said this was rough for her because it was so cold and there was no room. Her father began working construction for someone he met and her mother cleaned houses for minimal money. Soon, they were able to afford a one bedroom in the area. Mae went to a free cathoilic school with her siblings and cousins. Her mother ended up having five more children in the next decade (Fred, Al, Florence, Mallie, Cubert) and they moved into a two bedroom on First street in Bayonne. Mae stopped going to school at the age of fifteen to take care of her younger siblings. Money was still very tight. She recalls getting only a few garments of clothes each year, mostly hand-me-downs. Her family stayed close knit over the years and were involved in St. Andrews church in Bayonne. In her late teens, Mae worked at the factory for Maidenform Bra company and worked her way up to an office job. She met someone at the age of 21, a man who worked at a gas station that her brother worked at. Thomas Kelly came from a big family who were from Ireland as well (County Cork), but they did not know each other prior.They were married soon after and had eight children together. They stayed in Bayone, New Jersey. The family grew, but stayed close knit. I am happy I was able to learn this information from my grandmother and it has made our relationship much deeper. I am grateful to know this information about her while she is still here. Without asking these important questions, I do not think I would ever know the stories of her childhood and her journey to America.