My Mother's Scrapbooks

Cover of 1944-1945 Scrapbook

I remember as a child spending many a rainy afternoon poring through my mother's photo albums and scrapbooks.  There were two scrapbooks dating to her last two years at College of  St. Catherine in St. Paul, MN

First page 1945-1946 Scrapbook

It was war time...the fall of 1944. Letters and telegrams from other places, Europe, the Pacific, the East Coast, join report cards, dance cards, playbills, corsage ribbons and more throughout the pages.

Those report cards, although better than those of my father from Notre Dame, were not quite up to the standard we often felt were expected of us growing up.  Why was that so, there was never any punishment or reward for grades, just the expectation we would do our best and our best should probably be all "A"s.







Suitors abound.  One filled his letters with comical drawings... others sent small gifts such as hankies.  And then, in the fall of 1945 the lay of the land changed .....

Mom's "little sister" congratulated her on being among the 2% of librarians that married...noting that of course she was not yet a librarian or married!   From then on the letters from others dwindled, but did not disappear.  There were still letters from the suitor that eventually married a good friend, the brother of her "little sister" and her soon to be brother-in-law as well as all those from my father who was on the East Coast.

The war in Europe ended, then the war in the Pacific theatre.  In early winter of 1946, Mom was named St. Catherine's Winter Carnival Queen.  In June she graduated with a Bachelor degree in Library Sciences.  She spent the next year teaching library science to the nun's at Hill House.

Scrapbook 1944-1945
Scrapbook 1945-1946
The Ariston - Pride and Prejudice

Haverhill Township - Olmsted MN

Wikimedia

When Jeremiah Lawler settled in the area now known as Haverhill Township is unknown.  He emigrated from Ireland about 1850 and settled first in New York.  He is not listed among the first settlers but was resident by 1860 when he is found in the agricultural census with $1000 of real estate and $100 in personal property.  The population census misnames him as John Taylor.

The area was first settled in 1855 and a town Zumbro was organized in 1859.  The name was changed for a short time to Grant and then to Sherman before finally becoming Haverhill in April of 1867.  By 1883 when the History of Olmsted and Winona Counties was written, our families were firmly entrenched.  John Jeremiah Lawler the son of Jeremiah was an Associate Supervisor.

Baier Farm

What has always fascinated me was the number of families that came from Gullane, Kerry, Ireland and settled in Olmsted County.  Not only did most of the children of Thomas Lawler (3rd GG) end up there, we also find representatives of most other Lawler families found in Gullane, the English family and a lot of the families that had married into those families in Ireland.  Many settled elsewhere in the US, including New York, Wisconsin, Ohio, Pennsylvania, etc and gradually found their way to Haverhill, Orion, Rochester and High Stewart as well as many townships in neighboring Winona County.

The Baier family moved to Haverhill from Juneau County WS about 1871. The Delmores soon followed,  joining their daughter, Mary, the wife of John Baier.

In 1880 Edmund English emigrated and stayed with his Uncle John English in Haverhill and his Lawler cousins before leaving to work for the Railroad. During his time in Haverhill he met Anna Baier.  They eventually settled in St. Paul.





History of Winona and Olmsted Counties, 1883

The Bog

Blanket Bog - Wikipedia

In Ireland 17% of the land surface is bog, only Canada and Finland have a higher percentage. Bog is a derivation of the Irish word bogarch, which means soft - in this case "soft land." Many of the lease holdings in rural Ireland included a piece of bog, where the resident could cut and dry their fuel. 

It takes one thousand years to grow just a one meter depth of bog. The peat itself consists of 95% water, the remainder made up of rotted vegetation, pollen, dust and the like. In Ireland, it has traditionally been cut and dried and burned in the fireplace as turf.

Ireland Peat Cutting - Public Domain Images

Our Irish ancestors depended on this fuel to survive. 

The Tithe Applotment records of Listowel Parish in County Kerry show that 113 acres of Thomas English's 235 acre holding were bog.  Interestingly this is not recorded in Griffith's although other holdings in the area did say they included bog land.

Carrownaclea -   Islandeady Field Book - 1841

The 1841 Carrownaclea (Mayo) Field Book shows bog lands.  Carrownaclea is interesting in that in both the Tithe Applotments and Griffith's Valuations the entire townland is linked together, no one appears to have a specific piece of land, yet in the field book it is divided into 8 holdings. Perhaps the residents (including the Geraghtys) were all laborers in the employ of Capt. Wyndham who owned the land in fee.

Derrycoosh - Islandeady Field Book 1841

Like Carrownaclea, Griffith's Valuations for Derrycoosh (Mayo)  does not give the acreage of holdings, however combining it with the 1841 Field book, we find the following description for the land held by Patrick Walsh (son of John).

In Roscommon, the Delmore's lived in town and would most likely have bought their turf as needed.  Martin Somer's held 15 acres in Scregg.  About 1/2 was considered arable the other half did not appear to be bog but rather too gravelly with shallow topsoil.  Other areas of the townland did include some bog.

This is just a sample of what the land of our ancestors was like.  If they did not have bog land in their possession, they might have been allowed a share from other land of the landlord, they might have traded other commodities for turf, they might have bought turf when they had money, and worst case, they might have gone without heat and the ability to cook in hard times.

• Peatlands - Notice Nature
• The Rattlin' Bog - The Irish Rovers

Geraghty - Immigration

Norway Heritage - Hands Across the Sea

Patrick Geraghty, his wife Mary Killeen and their six children arrived at the Port of Boston on 22 May 1884 aboard the Scandinavian. Unlike many of those leaving Ireland they did not have to travel far to board the vessel, it stopped in Clews Bay on it's route from Glasgow to Boston.  Westport is on the south end of Clew's Bay.

The Scandinavian, which was owned by Allan Line of Liverpool, was launched in Greenoch in 1869.  The design was 338.7ft by 40ft with a gross burden of 2840.  It had been reengineered in 1879 with  new compound engines by J. Jack Roolo & Co. of Liverpool.  The new engines were 400 HP and could travel at 12 knots.  

The Scandinavian - Built 1869 by Robert Steele & Co.

The National Archives at Washington, D.C.; Washington, D.C.; Series Title: Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at Boston, Massachusetts, 1820-1891;
Record Group Title: Records of the U.S. Customs Service; Record Group Number: 36

Also on the Scandinavian and also bound eventually for St. Paul are Martin Ludden and family, M. Burke and family, Jno. Foster and family, Mary Nolan (alone), Mary McDonagh and 2 children, Margaret Darey, Bridget and Marg. Tierney. 

We don't know what, if any, connection these families had to the Geraghty family, but we do know that Patt's mother was a Ludden.  

Why Patt chose to leave Ireland at this time is unknown. It was possible that they were involved in an assisted emigration scheme.One such scheme was set up in the most  deprived areas of Ireland received help in emigrating to the U.S. or Canada in search of a better life. Known as “The Tuke Fund” it was named after James Hack Tuke, a Quaker from York who sought to address starvation and deprivation in the West of Ireland

Inaugurated in March 1882, “The Tuke Fund” described its goal as “the assistance to emigration of the small holders of the West of Ireland” and every detail was thought of to ensure the comfort and welfare of the emigrants. James Tuke himself had previously travelled to the U.S. and Canada to ascertain suitable areas for the settlement of the emigrants.

The scheme was voluntary. Only families would be assisted, thereby a holding would become vacant which could be given to other smallholders improving their circumstances. Where they could afford it, the emigrants would be asked to contribute something towards the cost, but due to the extreme poverty of the people this was usually not possible. Emigrants would only be sent to the United States if they could produce recent letters from friends who were willing to help them, others were sent to the villages and small towns of Canada.

We know that the Scandinavian had carried Tuke's fund passengers in the past (21 Apr 1883 to Quebec), we know that those who were being assisted by Tuke's Fund sailed from Westport in Clew's Bay and we know that some had gone to St. Paul and evidenced by Mr Tuke's Report No. 2, Clifden Union July 1883.

"The following extract from a recent letter shows the high wages at once obtainable by both men and women.

"It is dated St. Paul, June 14th. 'As to employment,' Father Mahoney writes, "the males all had it, or would have it, within a day or two, -- indeed, it was said a wan could hardly miss work unless he expressly tried to shirk it. The worst pay, 1.25dols.  1.50dols. was common, and on the railways 1.75 dols. and 2 dols. per day was obtained. The females, whether married or single, were, if possible, better off than the men--they were wanted everywhere for work the most ignorant could easily and satisfactorily do; they get regular pay of not less than 1dol. a day. For girls even as young as thirteen an incredibly brisk demand (existed), and no less was thought of than 5dols. a week with board. It astonished me to see how even slow dull girls were hired for 10dols. a month and board."

However, it does not appear that the Union of Westport, where the Geraghty's lived was included in the scheme.  Neighboring Newport was, as were other Unions further north in Mayo and also in Galway.  Perhaps the reports from those who had emigrated to St. Paul convinced the Geraghty family it was time to leave the abject poverty of County Mayo. 

• Mr Tuke's Fund: Connemara Emigration in the 1880's: Ireland's Forgotten Famine
• Norway Heritage - Scandinavian
• Blacksod Bay - Tuke's Fund