I couldn't open the reference I'd sent earlier so thought I'd copy and paste what I was trying to share: > Transcending the Myth of Irish-American Experience: > Inishowen Immigrants in Woburn, Massachusetts by Marie E. Daly > > Popular media has portrayed the myth of Irish-American experience as > the story of starving paupers fleeing Ireland in coffin ships and > arriving unwanted in East Coast cities such as Boston. Never straying > from their dockside slums, they worked as canal diggers and > longshoremen, until the ward boss procured them jobs on the police > force or at the gas company. The myth holds that their descendants > still live in three-decker houses in ethnic ghettos where they march > exuberantly on St. Patrick's Day. > > In reality, the story of Irish emigration to America is much more > complex. The experience of Donegal immigrants in Woburn, > Massachusetts, once a small, industrial community situated among rural > farms, provides an alternate view of the Irish-American myth as one > shaped by the dynamics of the particular local environment. > > History of Woburn, Massachusetts > With a current population of 36,000, Woburn is a suburban city located > about twelve miles northwest of Boston. In 1850, it was mainly an > agricultural town with a population of 3,800 persons. In the span of > 150 years, the town was transformed into a manufacturing city, and > then into a suburban, residential city with a substantial base of > technological, research, medical and financial, and even dot-com > businesses. > > Established in 1642 by English Puritans fleeing religious persecution, > Woburn was initially part of Charlestown, and named for the town of > Woburn in Bedfordshire, England. In the eighteenth and nineteenth > centuries, the town saw major portions split off into separate towns > of Burlington, Wilmington and Winchester. The remaining town of Woburn > was informally divided into North Woburn, West Woburn, East Woburn or > Montvale, and the South End. The inhabitants took part on the rebel > side in the American Revolution, and participated in the battles of > Lexington and Concord in 1775. The construction of the Middlesex Canal > in 1803, which went through Woburn, had a substantial impact on the > growth of industry in the town. Operating more than 50 years, the > canal was 27 miles long and linked the hinterlands of New Hampshire > with Boston, enabling the movement of raw materials and finished > products to markets. The coming of the railroad, which crossed Woburn > on the east side of town, rendered the canal obsolete, and spurred the > growth of industry toward that part of town. 1 > > The Tanning Industry > In 1756, David Cummings established a small, family-run tannery on the > west side of Woburn, a business his family was to carry on for the > next 150 years. Woburn was linked with the tannery business for just > as long, and at one time was one of the largest centers of tanneries > in the country. Several factors led to the tremendous growth of > Woburn's tanneries in the 1850s - a growth in the national economy, > the proliferation of boot and shoe manufacturers in the town, and a > growing demand for leather with the nation's increasing population. > The arrival of Irish labor was the largest factor for industrial > growth in New England. Irish immigrants went wherever there was a > river or brook large enough to power a mill wheel. They settled in > Massachusetts communities such as Clinton, Hopkinton, Hinsdale, > Hopedale, and Saxonville. Clusters of immigrants from certain counties > set up a century-long process of chain migration to these towns. In > Clinton, they were from County Mayo; in Waltham, they were from > Athenry Co.; in Galway, they were from Sneem Co., Kerry; and in > Woburn, they were from Donegal. 2 > > The Cummings family continued over generations to produce leather, and > in the nineteenth century John Cummings expanded his family's tannery > business in the western section of Woburn, along a major stream. > Another tannery had been built near Horn Pond in 1825 by Abijah > Thompson, who later passed the business to his son-in-law, Stephen > Dow. The western section of Woburn subsequently was dubbed > "Cummingsville," and the Water Street area was dubbed "Thompsonville." > In addition, young tannery managers broke away and established their > own businesses, so that by 1860 the population of Woburn had increased > by sixty percent in one decade. According to census records, there > were 6,300 people living in 988 houses, and the Irish comprised about > 25 percent of the town's population in that year. The tanneries and > town continued to grow through the decades so that by 1884, there were > 26 tanneries employing 1,500 men, producing $4.5 million of leather. > In 1888, the town had changed its charter and incorporated as a city. > 3 > > When the railroad began to run through the south end and east side, > new tanneries were constructed in these areas, thereby shifting the > location of new immigrant housing to those parts of the town. The > tanneries underwent a process of consolidation, which suppressed wage > competition and generally lowered wages in the late nineteenth > century. Labor unions were formed and with strikes and threats of > strikes, wages increased. New immigrant labor, consisting mostly of > Italians and Greeks, was brought in. 4 Tanneries declined during the > Depression, and never recovered. By the 1970s, the last tannery, owned > by John J. Reilly, closed. > > The process of tanning was initially labor-intensive, and involved two > types of work: tanning and currying (or preparing the tanned leather). > Tanning was a chemical process that treated hides with increasing > concentrations of solutions to remove hair, and to "tan" the hides. > Currying involved splitting the hides and scrubbing and scraping the > rough flesh off. 5 > > The work was dangerous, since the employees worked with toxic > chemicals and dyes containing chromium and arsenic. The workers moved > around on planks between large vats of acid, and if anyone fell in, it > was sure death. The beam house, where the hides were prepared for > tanning, stunk to the high heavens. The workers absorbed the odors in > their clothing and hair, and a Woburn tanner could clear out a trolley > car in Boston, no matter how much he tried to wash out the smell. A > nurse at the Beggs and Cobb tannery lost twenty pounds in her first > two months of work at a tannery, since the stench made her lose her > appetite. The tanneries constantly looked for technological > innovations to mechanize the processing. Large machine run brushes > were used to scrape the flesh off. The air was full of dust, and > outside, the coal-powered tannery boilers emitted clouds of coal dust > which settled around the workers' houses. 6 Woburn's death records > reveal that many tannery workers died of kidney disease from their > exposure to the chemicals, from pulmonary disease from the dust, or by > accident. > > Inishowen Immigrants in Woburn > Immigrants from Inishowen were not the only Irish in Woburn, and > Woburn was not the only destination for people born in Inishowen. But, > according to census and naturalization records, Woburn contained a > significantly large concentration of Inishowen immigrants, comprising > about 50 percent of the city's Irish population. Other Irish > immigrants came from Monaghan and Louth, and from the Aran Islands in > Galway. Specific tanneries would recruit immigrants from certain > counties. J. J. Reilly recruited people from the Aran Islands. 7 > Cummings and Dow recruited people from Donegal. > > Inishowen immigrants, particularly from the parishes of Carndonagh and > Clonmany, had been coming to Boston since the late eighteenth century. > Their presence increased substantially in the 1830s with the > establishment of major shipping routes from Derry to Saint John, New > Brunswick. Many of the New Brunswick Irish ended up in New England. > The 1860 census shows that Inishowen people lived initially in the > North End of Boston, in the streets around St. Mary's Parish. Later, > they settled in Charlestown, East Boston and Roxbury. In 1840, there > were few Irish immigrants living in Woburn. But by the second half of > the 1840s, a number of Donegal emigrants came to West Woburn, and > among them were Philip McEleny of Carrick, parish of Carndonagh; John > McLaughlin of Tullynabratily, parish of Clonmany; and John N. Doherty, > the son of Dennis and Grace Doherty of the Isle of Doagh parish of > Clonmany. 8 > > These first Donegal settlers in Woburn were farmers in West Woburn and > tannery workers in the Water Street area near Horn Pond, the location > of the Dow tannery. Dow built "tannery houses,"-- spare, wooden > boardinghouses -- for their employees. John McLaughlin ran a boarding > house off Water Street. Beginning in 1850, there was a large influx of > Donegal emigrants, particularly in the Water Street district and > Cummingsville. By 1870, many of these tannery workers had purchased > their own land and built their own houses, many of which still stand > today. 9 Although the immigrants were initially poor, many climbed to > the ranks of homeowners within twenty years of their arrival. > > Not all of the Donegal Irish in West Woburn were Catholic. Alexander > Porter, James Henry Graham, and the Cassidy family were members of > Protestant churches in Woburn. Born in 1871, James Henry Graham was > the son of John Graham and Sarah Ray, and belonged to the Orange > Order. 10 There was no evidence or tradition of animosity among the > Donegal immigrants of varying religious affiliations. > > For several years, Catholics in Woburn had to travel eight miles to > Cambridge to attend Sunday Mass. But in 1843, Fr. James Strain > traveled out from East Cambridge to say Mass in the town hall. He was > succeeded by Fr. Manasses O'Doherty from 1846 through 1849. 11 A > native of Inishowen, Fr. O'Doherty had been assigned first to St. > Mary's Church in Houlton, Maine, and then St. John's Church in East > Cambridge, and he subsequently established St. Mary's, St. Peter's, > and St. Paul's churches, all in Cambridge. 12 In fact, Fr. O'Doherty's > presence and encouragement may have attracted Inishowen people to > Woburn in this time period. Although St. Charles' Parish had been > established in Woburn in 1843, the first regular pastor, Fr. John > Quealy of Co. Waterford, was not appointed until 1856. For many years, > some Donegal immigrants in Woburn continued to go into St. Peter's > Church in Cambridge to have Fr. O'Doherty marry them and baptize their > children. St. Charles' Church was built in 1853 along Main Street, > near the center of town, so the West Woburn Donegal Irish were not > necessarily under the eagle eye of the priest. Although the church was > important to the West Woburn Catholics, distance may have prevented > the pastor from assuming the traditional dominant role, as in other > nineteenth-century Catholic parishes. > > Furthermore, St. Charles' Parochial School was not built until 1884. > Woburn required that all children between the ages of 6 and 16 attend > school, and before 1884, that would have meant public school. 13Even > after 1884, many Catholic schoolchildren attended public, not > parochial school. In the nineteenth century, most of the Irish > children attended school at least through the age of 14 or 15 years. > But truancy was a problem, and in 1868, the truancy rate was 10 to 15 > percent. 14 The 1870 census shows that the literacy rate among Donegal > men was around 70 percent, and among Donegal women around 30 percent. > Although many people attended classes at night, quite a few of the > older immigrants remained illiterate all their lives. By 1880, census > records indicate that the literacy rate among the newer immigrants had > risen, so that most could read and write. During the Civil War, a > number of Irish immigrants in Woburn enlisted in the Union Army. > Woburn's Yankee inhabitants (descendants of the original English > immigrants) were strongly abolitionist in the 1850s, and had advocated > for the repeal of the Fugitive Slave Act. Like other towns in > Massachusetts, Woburn was initially reluctant to recruit soldiers from > the ranks of the recently arrived Irish immigrants. However, by 1862, > the Irish began enlisting in greater numbers. 15 Several Irish > immigrants in Woburn enlisted in the 39th Massachusetts Regiment, and > they saw heavy action in battles at Laurel Hill and Weldon Railroad, > Virginia in 1864. Private Michael Finn, Sergeant William McDevitt, > Private Peter Doherty, and Private Philip Doherty were all wounded. > While William McDevitt and Philip Doherty recovered from their wounds, > Peter Doherty died at a Washington, D.C. hospital. Michael Finn died > in Confederate custody, as did several other Woburn men, who died of > starvation and disease in Confederate prison camps. 16 The support of > the Union cause in the Civil War was a major factor in the Irish > gaining acceptance in American society, an assertion supported by the > letters of the 39th Regiment Woburn enlistees. > > The sale and consumption of alcohol became a major political issue > dividing the old Yankee prohibitionist community and the Irish > newcomers. By 1866, there were 159 arrests for drunkenness, liquor law > violations, and assault and battery. In 1870, there were sixty > establishments selling liquor illegally, all run by Irish immigrants. > Given the tradition of distilling liquor in Donegal, it is not > surprising that some of these "shebeens" were run by Donegal > immigrants. The political issue of completely banning the sale of > alcohol or regulating the sales through a licensing system was debated > and voted on at many town meetings and elections, until the Irish > attained a majority in the late 1890s. After that, the issue went away > until the 1920s. 17 > > Later Immigration > Donegal emigrants continued to come to Woburn throughout the > nineteenth century, and the numbers that came in the 1880s and 1890s > may have exceeded the numbers of Famine emigrants. The tannery > businesses continued to thrive, so that by 1884, there were 26 > tanneries employing 1,500 workers. 18 The people who arrived thirty > and forty years after the Famine were undoubtedly related to the > earlier immigrants - nieces and nephews, cousins and friends. But they > moved into a different neighborhood: the South End. The Dow tannery > burned down in 1893, and the Cummings tannery in 1901, leaving > hundreds of people out of work. The focus of the tannery industry > shifted to the east side of Main Street, closer to the railroad. As > Dow and Cummings had done, these tanneries built boarding houses for > their workers, which were plain, spare domiciles, usually situated in > the immediate vicinity. With the major tanneries gone, West Woburn > reverted to its agricultural past, and this time with many > greenhouses. Among the later immigrants in West Woburn was Alexander > Porter, born in Donegal in 1865, who came directly to Woburn at the > age of eighteen years. After working as a farm hand, he later bought > his own farm, and eventually had eleven greenhouses along Burlington > Street in West Woburn. 19 > > The 1900 census indicates that Donegal immigrants of the late > nineteenth century lived in new housing built along newly subdivided > streets off Main Street. Even 120 years later, many of the houses are > still quite attractive. Although the prospect across Main Street was > grimly industrial, the neighborhood looked out in the other direction > over the sylvan landscape of Horn Pond. One of the Donegal emigrants > who came in this period was Dennis Dever, the grandfather of Robert > Dever, the recent mayor of Woburn. Dennis Dever emigrated in 1889 > through New York, and lived initially on Stoddard Street. 20 His son, > Philip was on the city council for many years. > > By the late nineteenth century, the Irish had prospered in Woburn, and > were participating more fully in the business and social life of the > city. Many of the older Donegal immigrants had turned to other > occupations such as farming, or running small commercial > establishments, such as hotels, restaurants, and stores. They ran for > political office, joined the police force and the fire department, and > worked in Woburn municipal departments. The first Irishman was elected > to the Board of Selectmen in 1881, and two more were elected the > following year. By 1885, an Irishman, James Maguire, was Chairman of > the Board of Selectmen. By 1887, a new bank had been organized with > Irishmen on the board, and its first loan was to a James Callahan. 21 > > Donegal emigrants continued to settle in Woburn in the early part of > the twentieth century, usually around the South End area. By 1920 > though, the first and second generation Irish were spreading out > around Woburn, moving into new housing and different neighborhoods. At > the tanneries, other immigrants from Italy, Greece, and Turkey joined > them. The 1920 census shows a number of Donegal immigrants who had > arrived in the period from 1900 through 1910. Some continued to arrive > in the teens, but emigration dropped sharply during World War One. > Throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries Donegal emigrants > moved from one community of compatriots to another in the Boston area > - the North End, Charlestown, Woburn, East Boston, and Roxbury. The > Devers reportedly owned a couple of apartment buildings in the North > End, where they would put up newly arrived greenhorns until they found > themselves jobs and places to live. Among these rotating families was > James McEleny, who immigrated to Boston in 1916 from Glack, parish of > Carndonagh, and lived in Roxbury before coming to Woburn to work in a > tannery. 22 His grandson, John McEleny, is a well-known lawyer in > Woburn, and author of the most recent history, Woburn: A Past Observed > . As long as the tanneries thrived in Woburn, and young men and women > left Ireland to seek their fortune, Inishowen emigrants continued to > arrive in Woburn. > > The tanneries suffered a great decline during the Depression, and the > incentive for new immigrants to settle in Woburn lessened too. > Unfortunately, later census material is not yet available to review > the birthplaces and arrival dates, so obituaries are the only other > source of data. As the population of the area expanded, many people > moved out to neighboring towns such as Stoneham, Wakefield, and > Reading, among them the Dever family of Cummingsville. In the 1950s, > Woburn evolved into a suburban, bedroom community, as many young > families moved into new housing in the postwar period. New high tech > businesses sprang up along Route 128, which runs through North Woburn. > New immigrants from Puerto Rico and the Caribbean came to Woburn in > the 1950s and 1960s, and St. Charles' Church began having Spanish > masses for them. Today, the city's economic base is a mixture of 40 > percent residential, 13 percent industrial, 10 percent open space, 4 > percent commercial and 2 percent agricultural. 23 Some descendants of > Donegal immigrants still live in the city - a recent mayor (2001) was > a Dever, the former chief of police was a McEleny, and the current > head of the library is an O'Doherty. There are still Doherty and Kelly > descendants in Cummingsville. The tanneries are gone, replaced by > high-tech companies and dot-coms, financial and medical facilities, > and shopping malls. But the tanneries left deadly remnants of their > presence - toxins, such as arsenic and chromium, which have polluted > the soils and rivers of the city. In the early 1980s, a chemical > company and a tannery allegedly contaminated the drinking water with > industrial solvents, tetrachloroethylene and tricloroethylene. This > resulted in a highly publicized case that was documented in a book, A > Civil Action 24 and later portrayed in a movie starring John Travolta. > The water is now safe to drink, and the largest, "superfund" > contaminated site in North Woburn has been largely paved over, and is > the location of new industrial parks. The city is known for its > excellent school system and library, and is a desirable place to live, > convenient to public transportation, shopping areas, and workplaces. > > Conclusion > The saga of Irish emigration to Woburn and other New England mill > towns was one of long duration, one in which Irish skilled labor > enabled the expansion industries and the growth of wealth. Inishowen > emigrants came as young men and women seeking their fortunes in the > New World, and less as unwilling paupers driven from their homeland in > coffin ships. In fact, some left home despite the opposition of their > parents. Within 15 years of their arrival, they had been accepted by > many as valuable contributors to the Union cause. Within twenty years, > many had purchased land and built their own homes. Within 35 years, > they had attained political power. While they did not occupy the > rarified air of Boston Brahmin society, they were not the > ditch-digging, ignorant gangsters portrayed in the media. The process > of assimilation was accelerated in small American communities such as > Woburn, where the Irish and Yankee inhabitants were engaged in social > and political dialogue, and where the Irish did not withdraw into > parochial, urban ghettos. Their economic progress was limited as long > as Woburn remained a one-industry city. But with the failure of the > tanneries, Woburn inhabitants could choose among many occupations. > With access to good education, the Woburn Irish could move up into > white-collar jobs, and move into the middle class. At this point in > time, the descendants of Irish immigrants have been fully integrated > into American life, and wonder about their families' lives in a time > and place long forgotten. > 1.John D. McElhiney, Woburn: A Past Observed. Woburn, Mass.: Sonrel > Press, 1999. > 2.Dorothy G. Wayman, David I. Walsh: Citizen-Patriot. Milwaukee: Bruce > Publishing Co., 1952. Kristen A. Peterson and Thomas J. Murphy, > Waltham Rediscovered. Portsmouth NH: Peter A. Randall, 1988. Jeffrey > Wills, ed., The Catholics of Harvard Square . Petersham, MA: St. Bedes > Press, 1993. > 3. John D. McElhiney, ibid . > 4. Marie Coady, "The History of the Labor Movement in > Woburn,"August1999. www.yeoldewoburn.com > 5. "All About Woburn-No. 17", Woburn Weekly Budget, 12 Oct. 1860. > "Cummingsville", The Woburn Advocate , 10 Feb. 1871. > 6. Interview with "Stitch" Farrey, May 2001, former employee of John > J. Reilly tannery; and interview with Dorothy Hogan, Feb. 2001, former > nurse at the Beggs and Cobb tannery. Marie Coady, "The South End in > 1900," Mar. 2001. www.yeoldwoburn.com > 7. Interview with "Stitch" Farrey, May 2001, former employee of John > J. Reilly tannery > 8. Naturalization records, U.S. Circuit Court, vol. 22, p. 489, vol. > 14, p. 304, vol. 37, p. 178. > 9. Federal census records, 1850 - 1880. > 10. Woburn Daily Times Souvenir Edition, 9 Feb. 1923. > 11. Woburn Daily Times Souvenir Edition, 9 Feb. 1923. > 12. Jeffrey Wills, ed., ibid. And Journal of Bishop John Fenwick, 1840 > - 1842 . Boston: Archives of the Archdiocese of Boston. > 13. Woburn Daily Times , 13 Aug. 1923. > 14. John D. McElhiney, ibid . > 15. John D. McElhiney, ibid . > 16. Letters in The Woburn Townsman , 3 June 1864. The Woburn Public > Library also has an index card database of information on Woburn men > in the Civil War. > 17. John D. McElhiney, ibid . > 18. John D. McElhiney, ibid . > 19. Woburn Daily Times Souvenir Edition, 9 Feb. 1923. > 20. Naturalization record, U.S. Circuit Court, vol. 292, p.147. > 21. John D. McElhiney, ibid . > 22. Interview with John D. McElhiney, June 2001. > 23. Woburn Mass. Dept. Of Housing and Community Development Profile, > Economic Development, www.state.ma.us./cc/woburn.html > 24. Jonathan Harr, A Civil Action . New York: Random House, 1995.