Ann Gallagher Interview, History 150 Spring 2017, Conducted by Lindsay Gallagher, March 9th, 2017.
A. This interview was conducted over the phone. I edited the beginning of the interview as well as a small part at the end as it was normal conversation and did not relate to the interview topic. To set up my interview, I used my family’s mac computer as well as my Dell laptop just in case one did not work during the interview. I interviewed on speakerphone and used QuickTime on both of my computers to record it. I made sure the interview took place when my siblings were at school and my parents were at work so I could ensure a quiet space. The only obstacle I faced was before the interview when I was setting up QuickTime on my mac computer, it randomly froze and then shut off. This prompted me to use a second technology device just in case it shut off again in the midst of the interview.
B. Ann Gallagher, my grandma, was born in the United States after her mother and father met working for a wealthy American family. Ann was the third child of four girls. She grew up living in Philadelphia, where her parents had settled and found jobs. Because they worked for a wealthy family, she initially was raised on a beautiful estate just outside of Philadelphia. She didn’t realize that her parents were the help instead of the owners. Then her father got a job in the city when she was six years old and they moved to a row house, similar to a townhouse. Her mother made all the clothes and curtains for the family while her father worked two jobs. All four girls including my grandma went to work as soon as they graduated high school. The family was not extremely poor, but they worked hard to get by. Thanks to the worth ethic of her parents, my grandma was able to grow up as a U.S. citizen while still integrating Irish culture into her life.
I also interviewed Ann about her father’s experience immigrating to America. Her father, Neil Mc Mennamin, was born in 1900. He was one of eight siblings, growing up in a house the size of a classroom. He immigrated to the US in 1921, when he was 21 years old. He sailed on a ship called the S.S. Columbia, which landed in Ellis Island in New York. He lived with his brother when he first arrived, since everyone needed a sponsor, and eventually all eight of his siblings immigrated to the U.S. He and his brother were the first of the eight to travel to the U.S. Once he found a job, he also met his wife and they eventually had four girls, one of which was my grandma. In this interview, she discusses her parent’s experiences immigrating to the U.S. as well as what it was like growing up with two immigrant parents.
C. The Irish economy and political instability in the 19th century was a contributing factor to the millions of people that immigrated searching for better opportunity, like Neil. According to Christine Kinealy in “Economy and Society in Ireland”, the conflict over land led to detrimental effects on Ireland’s economy. Many of the poor were evicted from their farming land by English landlords, resulting in a failure to progress in agriculture. The farmers were unable to pay the rent or provide enough food for their families. This led to the Famine years and eventual emigration in the late 19th century as the quality of life in Ireland was not suitable for many families. Furthermore, James Donnelly states how “these landless agricultural labourers constituted a substantial fraction of the population” (Donnelly). Underemployment became a major issue as workers were forced to migrate seasonally in order to put food on the table. Much of the population lived in poverty, resulting in poor living conditions similar to the way Neil’s family of ten piled into a one room house. Each of these push factors led to “almost 5 million people emigrating from Ireland to the United States after 1820” (Kenny).
Kenny, Kevin. “Diaspora and Comparison: The Global Irish as a Case Study.” The Journal of
American History, vol. 90, no. 1, 2003, pp. 134–162.
Kinealy, Christine. “Economy and Society in Ireland.” A Companion to Nineteenth-Century
Britain. Williams, Chris (ed). Blackwell Publishing, 2004. Blackwell Reference Online. 24 March 2017. <http://www.blackwellreference.com/subscriber/tocnode.html?id=g9780631225799_chunk_g978063122579932>
Donnelly, James S. The Great Irish potato famine. Stroud: The History Press, 2013. Sutton,
2002. Web.
Interviewee: Ann Gallagher (Ann); Interviewer: Lindsay Gallagher (LG)
Transcript:
[1st minute edited out because of introductions]
LG: What was life like for your dad in Ireland before he immigrated?
Ann: Well life wasn’t very good for him, he was the youngest of eight children.
LG: Wow
Ann: And he stayed in a one-room cottage and they had a big farm of Peet, which is what they used to heat your houses, um, its like turf…
LG: Oh wow
Ann: And he stayed there until he came to America and he was very, very poor. In fact, when he came on the ship he lived in steerage class which is the bottom of the ship.
LG: Wow
Ann: And it takes like two weeks to cross the ocean at that time.
LG: What were the conditions like on the boat, travelling?
Ann: Well, being on steerage which was not very nice,
LG: Right
Ann: the conditions…everybody was getting sick. In fact, my mother was sick the whole time.
LG: Wow
Ann: The 2 weeks it took to come from Ireland…
LG: What were some of the pull factors that attracted him to America?
Ann: Well actually because the… I think there was the opportunity in America
LG: Right
Ann: There were no jobs in Ireland for them…and uh, so they had to emigrate.
LG: Mhmm, um and what did he do when he first arrived in America?
Ann: Well he was working for a very wealthy family in Ambler and he was a gardener and a chauffeur.
LG: And how did life compare to Ireland?
Ann: Oh, they thought it was great…
LG: Really?
Ann: The only thing they had trouble getting used to was the food…
LG: Oh ok, how so…how did it compare to food in Ireland?
Ann: Well, I don’t know about those days in the early 20’s what it was like but nowadays its much nicer.
LG: Mhmm
Ann: They did have a lot of their soda bread, which my mother called scan and its very popular because it was cheap to make and basically they lived on bread and butter
LG: Wow, that’s crazy. And, was he discriminated against for being an Irish immigrant when he first arrived?
Ann: Well they were discriminated against because they were in competition with the Italians who had immigrated
LG: Oh
Ann: And they were afraid that they would get their jobs but they weren’t afraid to work.
LG: So did he have trouble finding jobs…you said?
Ann: Yes, like I said earlier there were all these signs saying ‘No Irish Need Apply.’
LG: And then, what was it like assimilating into American culture?
Ann: Well, its very much the same because they speak English. And uh they had it very easy to assimilate into the United States
LG: Mhmm
Ann: And of course they always had family too
LG: Oh, right. Did you say his entire family ended up immigrating over?
Ann: Yes they did, except one sibling, which his brother Michael was born before my father was born and he died before my father was born.
LG: Oh ok
Ann: It was an infant… death…
LG: And then did he ever travel back to Ireland?
Ann: Not for many years…I think the first time he went back was in the…when he was married and had four children…and he went back with my mother and my younger sister
LG: Mhmm
Ann: And she was a teenager then
LG: Oh wow
Ann: And I don’t know what year it was…but my mother went back once…
LG: Really?
Ann: Before she was married, yes, she took a trip back to see her mother and that was the last she saw of her.
LG: Oh ok, wow…
Ann: And after that her mother passed away
LG: Were you able to travel over there?…I know my dad said he was…
Ann: I’ve been there four times
LG: Aw, that’s awesome…
Ann: I went for a wedding, the family went over and we all went to a wedding, my cousins wedding…
LG: That’s so fun
Ann: Yeah it was very nice, and we were lucky because my parents had taught us all how to do the Irish dances
LG: Really?
Ann: Yeah my father on Sundays after mass would roll up the rug and he played the violin but he called it the fiddle, and my mother taught us all and…me and my sisters how to do the Irish dance
LG: [Laughs]
Ann: The traditional dance not the Ceilidh type…
LG: That’s so funny
Ann: Yeah but we had a great time
LG: Aw
[End]
D. If I could do it over, I would try to conduct the interview face to face. While over the phone did not give me trouble, I feel like conversation flows more smoothly when face to face. I also feel like face to face could’ve helped my interview go longer. Sometimes sticking to the pre-determined questions made the conversation choppy and it was easier to go off script. I found the divergences to be positive because they tended to be interesting stories rather than simply facts of the events that occurred. I edited out the first minute and the last few minutes as they were introductions and closures to the phone call that did not relate to the interview itself. Overall, I was happy with how the interview went and the chance to learn more about my family history.