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Birth in Dublin, Ireland
My name is Marie and I was born just before the potato plague.I remeber much of my childhood in Ireland. I use to play along the bluffs by the sea in the summer and go into town to sell potatoes with my father. At night my father would tell me and my brother about our mother. She died when I was two and James, my brother, was nine. It was a good life, a hard life at times, but a good life none the less. But it was not to last. -
The potato famine begins
My father had just harvested the potato crop the day before and we all planned to go into town the next morning to sell some potatoes. What we didn't sell we kept for ourselves.. When we arrived the whole place was in chaos. My father saw a friend of his and asked what was going on I didn't hear his response but my father seemed upset. He quickly turned around our wheelbarrow of potatoes and told my brother to pick me up and run home. That night he told us that a potato famine had come. -
Ellis Island
<ahref='http://www.udel.edu/soe/deal/IrishImmigrationFacts.html' >Irish Immigration </a>
Our trip took three months. Constant storms came upon us and our ship was forced to stop. Finally we reached Ellis Island. I was terrified when I learned that I was going to be separated from my father and brother for a mdeical inspection. I didn't like it when strange people poked and proded me but soon I was pronounced healthy and reunited with my family. Soon we were on our way to a new life in America. -
Leaving for America
For a long time our small farm was spared from the potato blight. We storred our potatoes and rashioned them out amoung the three of us. But eventually our crops were infected with the mysterious pluage. My father decided that we would leave for America where there was no shortage of food. I was sad to leave Dublin but I knew that if we did not leave we would starve to death. On a chilly November morning we borded a leaky ship and were on our way to America. -
Mill girl
By the time I was eight I was helping support my family by working in a mill. I moved to Maine and worked in a factory from dawn till dusk. At first I thought the job was a dream come true. But soon I saw how harsh the conditions were. I saw girls get scalped and children loose fingers. Sometimes others coughed up blood. I was fortunate, nothing terrible happened to me. I made some friends in the mill and learned to read and write in my free time. -
Civil War Nurse
I worked in the mill for eleven years. I might have worked there longer if not for the Civil War. It took awhile for the news of the war to reach the small town where I was living and working. When I heard about the war I knew I wanted to be a part of it. I thought slavery was wrong and wanted to help the North put down the rebellion. So I joined the army as a nurse. There was a lot of grumbling that women shouldn't be nurses but the army still took me on. I helped doctors on the front line. -
Settling down
When the war was over I married a Civil War soldier and settled down in Washinton D.C. We had five children and ten grandchildren. My life was long, I lived to till 1917. (72 years old)
