Savarese 1
Kevin Savarese
Professor Aries
IDC 3001H
9 February 2015
For the purposes of this paper, it would be impossible to trace my family’s immigration history on my father’s side as it was well over a century ago. Therefore, I decided to interview my grandmother (on my mother’s side).
Mary Daly of Tullamore, County Offaly, Ireland decided to immigrate to New York City in 1954, at the mature age of 18. She was one of nine surviving children, and the oldest girl. Her life in Ireland was one of relative poverty, and in addition to helping the family work the farm, she was able to complete high school. In the process, she gained secretarial skills (specifically typing and shorthand) that would provide a basis for finding work in America. When I interviewed her this past week, she said her reason for coming to America was employment. In Ireland, “there were no real possibilities at a decent job” and although her father had made her promise not to immigrate to America before he passed, she knew that he would forgive her.
In the 1950s, the inspections upon arrival in America were no longer a major aspect of the immigration process. Rather, my grandma was able to get vaccinated and inspected at the Dublin Consulate, where she also received her papers for immigration. In order to emigrate, she needed to have a sponsor in the country to which she was going. She had relatives willing to sponsor her in both America and Australia, but chose her aunt Rose in New York City. With her immigration to America in order, she boarded the ship The Georgic, on October 7th, 1954. During her nine days on the ship, she found that she knew nobody, but did encounter people from a village near her home. The entire crossing of the Atlantic Ocean, she was violently seasick, making the journey memorably miserable.
On October 16th, 1954, she arrived in New York City at Pier 7. Her only possessions were underwear, a coat, and “the smallest suitcase you ever saw.” Before she had left, her grandfather John Foley gave her five pounds, or the equivalent of fourteen dollars. She never used this money, however, she sent it back to her family as soon as she received her first paycheck. Her aunt Rose and cousin Pauline took responsibility for her at the pier and brought her to their home in Park Slope. She recounted this day to me in vivid detail: they brought her to the subway where she encountered the first non-white person she had ever seen. The two of them were sharing a pole on the train, and she was uncomfortable with how close this complete stranger was to her. She took the train to the 9th street and 7th avenue stop in Brooklyn, which means she took the F train as that stop has belonged to the F train since 1940. She settled in with her relatives at 522 9th street and lived there for three years, until she married the man she met at St. Saviour’s Parish on 6th Street and 8th Avenue who would later become my grandfather (it is worth noting that my grandfather also emigrated from Ireland to Park Slope, Brooklyn in 1954, arriving on December 5th).
My grandma began working at DuPont exactly ten days after she arrived in America, and my grandfather worked on the piers. Despite their low salaries, they were able to buy a house in which to start a family with the help of relatives. They purchased 460 57th street in1957 for $14,500, and later sold it for $16,500. Since then they have purchased three houses in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, selling one of them to my uncle along the way. The two houses they still own are worth near a million dollars each (a big change from the original fourteen dollars she came over with).
What is most remarkable to me is the fact that Mary Daly was the first of her siblings to emigrate, and had limited contact with them once she arrived. She built her own life in America and supported her family in Ireland, paving the way for her younger siblings to make the trip later on. The first time she returned to Ireland was right before she was to be married in 1957. She didn’t tell anyone that was going to be returning, and surprised her Ursula on her birthday. On the way to the farm, her brother Paddy spotted her on a bike ride and thought he was hallucinating. She called her return home “priceless, the best thing I ever did in my life.”
My grandma came to America with her eyes set on opportunity, and following five decades of what she considers pure “Irish luck,” five children, and seven grandchildren later, it’s fair to say that sheintegrated well to American culture. She is a very well known member of her block and of her church community, and is a loyal neighbor and friend to many people. After getting past the original difficulties of American life, such as riding the subway, answering a telephone, and finding out what a shower is, she has been a happy and productive member of her community, and would never leave Brooklyn, even to move back to Ireland. In fact, she no longer has a desire to even visit Ireland, as she has become a full-fledged American citizen, more than content with her comfortable life on 75th Street surrounded by her family and her friends.