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Bridget Ceallaigh's Immigration
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Bridget Ceallaigh was Born
I was born in a small town in Ireland. I was the oldest of five kids. We also owned two dogs and a horse. My family lived on a small farm, living off the money we earned selling our produce. By the time I was eighteen we had ten people/animals living at our house and were pretty low on money. Then the potato famine hit our farm. -
Immigrated to America
My family and I, Bridget Ceallaigh, were suffering because of the Irish potato famine. Our potato crops were starting to fail so I decided to move to America where we had heard there were lots of job opportunities. I was eighteen years old when I left Ireland. My family was already low on money but we had just enough to send one person to America, so I volenteered to go in hopes of buying a farm. Then I could send the money I earned back to my family so they could soon join me in America. -
Arriving in America
After a long torturous trip to America I finally spotted the Statue of Liberty at Ellis Island. I can still remember how overjoyed everyone was, cheering, crying, hugging, believing in the promises waiting for them in America. In all the commotion my suitcase, containing a few pairs of clothes and money to help buy the farm, slipped from my hand and was seized by a nearby shipmate. I lost my money, my clothes, and my chance at starting a better life; all I had was the shabby clothes on my back. -
Finding a Job
I searched for awhile before I finally got a job working at a clothes factory. The pay was low, about two dollars a week, and the work was tedious but I needed the money. I was living in a small tenement with nine other strangers. We had a small dirty bathroom, three lumpy beds, and a few extra blankets for people sleeping on the floor. We took turns sleeping on the bed and floor, not that one was much better than the other. -
New Life
I was getting pretty used to my new life: working long hours, coming home to a run-down tenement, and sending letters to my family every once in a while. Our letters only got to each other about half of the time since we had to rely on random people to deliver them, but from what I could tell my dad had gotten a new job and my family was doing o.k. They'd be fine even if I never got the farm I came to America for and they were even trying to save money for me to come back to Ireland. -
Homestead Act
I felt bad that I had let my family down; instead of me bringing them to America they would soon be bringing me back to Ireland. Then I found out about the Homestead Act. It was on a flyer by our front door I asked one of my roommates about it, she said that it was true and she was going to go and get her free land in a few days. All you had to do was promise to live on and improve the land for at least five years. -
Getting my new land
A few weeks later I had moved onto my new land. There were about ten acres of good farming space and a small two room cottage with a sink and small but comfortable bed. I planted some fruits and vegetables and within a few months most of the plants were fully grown so I could sell them. Soon I started saving a lot of money and eventually I had enough for two tickets to America. -
My Family Comes to America
My dad and oldest brother came to America first so they could help me on the farm. Since we all worked really hard we were able to plant a lot more than I had the last year. With them for company it felt like the harvesting season came really quickly. We picked everything we had planted sold most of it to our neighbors and people living in the city. This year we had enough money for the rest of my family to come. -
A Whole Family
The rest of my family arrived in America a few months later. We were finally living together again, but now we were in America, the land of opportunity. For many years we lived happily on our farm. We even started earning extra money and soon we could buy a few horses and dogs since we had to leave our old ones behind in Ireland. Even though my first experiences in America weren't very good, I ended up having a much better life than I could have in Ireland.
