The Irish Community in Dorset, Vermont In 1838 the quarries and farms of Dorset supported about 30 Irish Catholic Families.1 It was less than a decade before the infamous potato famine in Ireland would cause millions to flee that country. But even before the great famine, there were a series of lesser famines, severe economic hardship and political turmoil. Ireland had become the most heavily populated land in Europe, yet British laws imposed on the land prevented most Catholics from owning property. Industry was likewise thwarted if it competed with British interests, which it usually did. As the 1800's progressed and the population continued to explode, the standard of living in Ireland declined rapidly. By the time of the famine, nearly half of the farms in County Tyrone consisted of less than 5 acres, some less than an acre. Most of the remainder were less than 15 acres.2 The only way to survive on such tiny farms was to plant a whole lot of potatoes. Potatoes supplied a lot of food per acre. A slow Irish-Catholic migration began prior to the potato blight. America may not have been as attractive as you might think to the Catholics. Most Americans were of British decent and nearly all were strongly Protestant. Irish Catholics were not all that welcome. American was an alien and somewhat hostile world. The first Irish-Catholic mass was held in 1938 in Dorset at the house of Michael McGuigan by Father John D. Daly in East Dorset.1 Like many of the Irish, Michael McGuigan lived near the quarries in East Dorset, part way up the mountainside. The priest was probably related to Michael's wife, Margaret Daley. Not far from Michael's house, an Irish-Catholic cemetery was built along what is now known as Dorset Hill Road, as shown in the photo below. The cemetery was located pretty high up on the mountain, away from the village centers, an area where the early Irish in Dorset worked and lived. Up on the mountain the Irish worked the quarries and tended their farms.
1845 was the first (but not last) year of the potato blight which killed most of the potato crop and lead in the deaths of perhaps one million people in Ireland. Over the next few years, the relatively slow Irish immigration rate turned into a stampede as the Irish Diaspora went into full swing. Coincidentally, railroads were being built in Vermont (and elsewhere across the U.S.), and employing Irish workers. One of these railroads went through East Dorset, where railroad employees discovered quarry jobs and farmland. Some stayed.1 Over the next few decades the quarries expanded and the population of Dorset swelled. The numbers of Irish in Dorset grew rapidly. In 1874 St. Jerome's Church was opened in East Dorset, not up on the hillside, but down in the village proper. The Irish had truly arrived. A new cemetery was opened next to the church and most of the bodies from the old cemetery up on the hill were relocated to St. Jerome's.
St. Jerome's Church became the focal point of the Irish community. This was the pattern in America as the population of Irish immigrants swelled. It is hard to appreciate just how important the local Catholic Church was to the Irish, and just how different -- and unwanted -- the Irish Catholics were at the time in this country. In Ireland, the British banned the Catholic Church for some time. Irish Catholics were not allowed to worship in their churches, speak their own language or own property. The Catholic Church, therefore, became not only a source of comfort for the oppressed, but a symbol of defiance and national unity. British Protestants referred to them as "Papists" and viewed them with deep suspicion, believing they were puppets of Rome and enemies of the state. Rome once had great power over Britain. The Protestant Reformation had ended that, but not without great turmoil and loss of life. Catholics were not wanted on British soil (which Ireland was, at the time). On the other side of the Atlantic, New England was founded not by mere Protestants, but by Puritans, who were so extreme that the other Protestants didn't even want them around, which is why they fled Europe. Today we'd probably look upon the Puritans as a cult. The Puritans were so named because their goal was to "purify" the English church by removing all traces of Roman Catholicism. Needless to say, when the Irish-Catholics arrived in Dorset, they formed their own community. St. Jerome's Catholic Church was the heart of this new community. It was far more than a Church: it was their own town square, so to speak, a meeting hall for social gatherings. And a refuge. There were a few other Catholics in Vermont, mostly French-Canadians, but they often avoided the Irish-Catholic Churches and were reportedly just as likely to attend Protestant Churches as Irish ones. So it apparently was bad enough to be Catholic in New England, but worse to be Irish-Catholic. These were the days of signs reading "No Irish Need Apply". But it was worse in Ireland, so the Irish took their jobs at the quarry, working ten hours a day for $1.10 to $1.25. They settled up on the mountainside of East Dorset, or bought land in South Dorset, went to Mass, and looked after each other.
The climate in Vermont is harsh compared to Ireland. The winters in particular are severe, with heavy snowfall and temperatures often below freezing. It was (and still is) a good idea to live on a south-facing slope. Much of South Dorset had an advantage there. The growing season is short, and much of the land is wet from seeps coming out of the hills (Vermont gets plenty of rain). As in Ireland, cattle grazing was often the best use of the land. Vermont still boasts plenty of dairy farms. The mortality rate for children seems to have been very high for the Dorset Irish in the late 1800's. During my own family research in Dorset, have been struck repeatedly by the number of children who have died in each family - higher than I have found researching other branches of my family. Repeatedly I find women who have lost four, five, even seven children. Were they hungry, weakened and susceptible to disease? Were the water supplies contaminated? I don't know why the mortality rate was so high. As land out west became available -- good land -- many of the original Vermont families packed up and headed west. Farming wasn't very profitable in Vermont after the cheap Midwestern farm products hit the market. As a result, farms went up for sale in Dorset, and the Irish bought them. These were small, marginal farms compared to Iowa, but they were pretty good compared to the tiny plots of land available in Ireland, and you could own them outright. Still, life was never easy. After about 1880 the marble market crashed. Life became harder and harder in Dorset as the quarries closed up, and eventually many of the Irish also left. Some headed west, while others moved south to Massachusetts or Connecticut, where they could find good-paying factory jobs, which is why I am writing this from my computer in Connecticut rather than from Vermont. The population of Dorset was cut in half over the next few decades, as residents looked elsewhere for opportunity. Those who stayed could survive by growing their own food and earning cash from the growing numbers of "Summer People". These were affluent folks, often from New York, who built extravagant houses and hired locals to cook, clean and maintain their property for them. Our own ancestor, Margaret (McDevitt) Gallagher, kept a journal in the 1930s. In it, she describes just how her family got along. They grew most of their own food - vegetables, hogs, chickens, a goat, cows. Margaret's husband had died a few years past, and she had three small children to raise. Her brother, MJ McDevitt, and her brother-in-law, Jack Gallagher, moved in and helped out. Her journal is filled with the work they did each day. Besides endless farm-work at the house, "the men" worked a variety of jobs. They cut wood (by hand), cut hay (partly by hand), and shoveled snow off the roads (by hand). It was hard work. Margaret herself also earned cash by working for the Summer People - washing, ironing and helping out at their summer homes. I have found other members of the extended family listed on Dorset Town Reports during early 1900s. They were employed by the town as school teachers and janitors. They were paid to light fires in the schools, to haul wood, to grade roads, and to shovel snow. The same names appear over and over again: McDevitt, Gallagher, McGuigan, Kelleher. The Irish were getting things done in town. Margaret also described her social network. Friends and family were were constantly stopping by to visit and often spending the night. Every week she recorded whether or not she went to Mass, and who she went with. There were frequent trips to Rutland, Manchester and Bennington, always with friends or family. One entry struck me: "No visitors today. A lonely day." Ironically, the family did not suffer much from the Depression. They grew their own food and the crops were good. Odd jobs could still be found. Life went on pretty much as usual -- it was hard, but they always got by. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Dorset: In the Shadow of the Marble Mountain, by Tyler Resch, published for the Dorset Historical Society by Phoenix Publishing, West Kennebunk, Maine 2. Famine in Tyrone website Home Page
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