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Born
I was born in my mom and dads house by the shore in Ireland. I was named James Patrick after my grandfather. My parents said many of the people in the village came to see me. My parents had allready had a boy that died when he was 2, but I was not born yet. I wonder if that brother had survived, would it have changed my future? -
My Parents Die
My parents die from eating bad fish. I suddenly have no food and no where to sleep. I get a job working for a farmer just outside of the village. I worked for him all day, and he would give me three meals, a blanket to sleep outside under, but no pay. It was just enough to keep me alive. -
My boss dies from the potato famine
I am now 21, and I have been working on the farm for 15 hard years. My boss dies from the vicious potato famine. I instantly have no food and no shelter. I had to sleep behind the pub, and steel food from nearby farms. I decide this is when I must go to America.I use my life savings to start betting on fights in the pub, and start saving the money to take to America. -
Go to America
I finally had enough money to take a ship to Ellis Island. I brought with me the only cloths that I had for the past 5 years, 40 dollars, and my mother and father's wedding rings. The ship ride was one of the worst expieriences in my misserable life. I became very sick, I blieve because I was sleeping on the ground with the rats. There was one point on the voyage that I considered jumping off the ship to put me out of my misery, but I decided against it. The voyage took 4 months. -
Arive In America
Aftar my miserable voyage, I finally arived on Ellis Island. I passed the health inspection and the legal inspection. The first thing I did Is get a hotel. I started betting on fights at the pub close to where the hotel was. The income of money from the bets wasn't very good. -
Beaten Up
After being in America for 3 weeks, a terriable event occurs. After a night of betting at the pub, I am beaten up.I had two broken ribs, and bleeding. The reason the man beat me up was not because he didn't like me, but because he new I was carrying a lot of money with me. I almost had all of my money with me that night, except for a littel which I left at the hotel incase somthing like this were to happen. The next morning I went to the hotel and got my money and left. -
Get Job At Fish Factory
After living on the streats for over two weeks, I finally found work. I worked in a fish processing plant, cleaning the guts out of the fish. I wasn't paid good money at all for what I did. I worked long days, for little pay. I had no place to sleep for awhile, but eventually got another hotel, one that was close to the factory.I kept that lousy job for 13 years. -
Homestead Act
I was 36 when the Homestead Act was passed.The Homestead Act gave the applicant free farmland. The applicant must be 21, and farm the land for 5 years. I knew that I would qualify for this, so, I started saving to go west. I decided that I would farm wheat in Nevada. I started saving money, again. -
Purchace Items For the West
I was ready to move west, and start a new chapter in my life. I first purchased a horse, for the long ride there, and to help carry things on the farm. Next, I bought 100 pounds of wheat seed, to grow my wheat when I arrived. I also bought a shovel to plant the wheat. I headed for Nevada to get my free land! -
Indian Attack
After a long while of riding, I came across trouble, Indians. The main reason they attacked me was because of my horse. They wanted my horse, so they snuck up on me, and attempted to spear me. I had no idea that they were Indians, because they were behind me. I knew it was them when I heard their Indian calls.My horse was very fast and was able to escape unscaved. That was the second closest time to being killed. -
Get Land and Build Home
After the long journey I finally arrived. I got 80 acres of land in the middle of a beautiful valley. The first thing I did was buy some lumber from a tree cutter, and build a small house. I coud tell that I would have a great life from then on. I set to work preparing my land to be planted. -
First Crop
After 4 months, my wheat was ready to be harvested. It took me a few months to harvest enough to start selling it. I was able to sell it to many peole that were passing by that were moving further west. There was a very small town a few miles north of my land where I sold my wheat. I also traded my wheat for other food. I had a great life living on my land, and farmed it for the rest of my life.
