Fran, and list I grew up in eastern Connecticut, near, but not in, Jewett City. A succinct answer to your question is provided in a book called "Cry of the Famishing: Ireland, Connecticut and the potato famine", by Neil Hogan (1998), Pub. by the Connecticut Irish-American Historical Society. From p. 9, in the first chapter, "Connecticut in 1845," - "Scattered throughout the state were textile mills that taken together formed the state's largest industry, employing nearly 10,000 workers ... the majority of mills were scattered in small towns. Killingly had 16 small cotton mills employing 650 workers; Plainfield, seven cotton and four woollen mills employing 412; Sterling, four cotton mills employing 173; Thompson, nine cotton mills employing 445; Griswold, nine cotton mills employing 310." - note that Jewett City was the industrial borough within Griswold town. As you note in your own family, larger mills later opened in Rhode Island and New Bedford - many workers migrated, seeking more or better paying work. French Canadians largely supplanted the Irish in fabric mill work after the Civil War. My own ancestry combines the two, (somewhat as a result of this). Paul Keroack Fran Weeks <fifi36@comcast.net> wrote: Hello list members. I'm very curious to know why so many Irish immigrants who came to the east coast of the United States went to Jewett City, Connecticut...my own Sullivans included. What was the attraction in this small town that drew so many of them, I wonder? My family was there in 1873, when my great-great uncle Stephen was born. There were many other Sullivan families there, although I don't know if they were related to mine. My Sullivan family eventually moved on to Rhode Island before settling in Massachusetts. This family worked in the textile mills in various places before settling finally in New Bedford, but I've never figured out why they and so many others went to Jewett City. Anyone know the answer? Thanks. Fran Weeks ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to IRL-KERRY-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message