No English.

 The long journey home. Aran men deported in 1892.

The United States is to a great extent populated by the descendants of emigrants. With the exception of native Americans, whose ancestors crossed over the land bridge from Asia to Alaska in the distant distant past and the less distant descendants of Africans who were cruelly traded during the highly lucrative slave industry, the U.S.A.was built on the hard work and dreams of emigrants from many nations on earth. 

The vast number of Americans who cherish their Irish heritage, is evidence that Ireland provided a disproportionate number of arrivals, especially in the 19th and early 20th century. While the Irish succeeded in contributing in so many ways to the success of their new homeland, it would be a mistake to think that they were always welcomed with open arms.

An example of Anti-Irish sentiment in America in April 1883. This appeared in Harpers Weekly and is typical of many newspaper attacks at the time. The man in the small boat heading the other way is depicted as a Fenian with a cargo of dynamite for attacks on British cities. 

Evidence of this anti-Irish resentment can be seen in the story of what were described as “two young, strong, healthy men” from the Arran islands who had their dreams dashed, at least for a while, when they were refused entry at Boston Harbour after crossing on the Cunard liner, the SS Catalonia in 1892. 

EMIGRANTS SENT BACK FROM BOSTON 

Amongst the passengers who landed at Queenstown yesterday morning from the Cunard Catalonia were two young, strong, healthy men named John Costello and Patrick Keefe or Kenny, each aged about 21 years and natives of the Arran Islands, Galway. 

They both left Queenstown about a month since in the same liner for Boston. They state they paid their passages at this side and had several friends in Boston.

 However, on arrival there, the authorities would not permit them to land, as they were unable to speak English but sent them back again to Ireland in the Catalonia. 

The young men are near relatives and followed at home the calling of fishermen and farm labourers. They allege that five friends of theirs, who had for some time being living in Boston, came on board the Catalonia and offered to take charge and become responsible for them, but the American authorities would not under any circumstances, allow them land.

So the poor fellows had no alternative but to return back in the liner. 

 (May 1892)

The official reason given for the refusal of the authorities to allow entry was that neither of them could speak English. Their character was not in question and it’s likely that the real reason was the Anti-Irish and Anti-Catholic sentiment rampant at the time among the WASP population whose control of Boston and Massachusetts was coming increasingly under threat. 

Boston Harbour in the 1890s where two Aran Islanders were held aboard ship before being deported back to Ireland. So near yet so far. 

One can only feel sympathy for these men, who must have left their native islands with a mixture of sadness at what they were leaving behind and excitement and adventure for the New World before them. 

Much has been written about the characterisation of Catholic Irish emigrants as being sub human, violent, ignorant and backward, who would never embrace the American dream. History has proven otherwise. 

A cartoon from 1889 which depicts Mother America trying to mix together all the different ethnic groups but showing an ape like Irishman, refusing to enter the melting pot. He is holding a bloody dagger in one hand and a flag of  the Fenian group, Clann na Gael, in the other.

On April 14th 1892, two Aran Islanders were among the almost 700 passengers who left Queenstown, bound for Boston and the New World. About a month later, these young men found themselves back in Queenstown, having been refused entry at Boston on the spurious grounds that they only spoke one language, Irish. 

One can imagine them boarding the great Cunard liner at Queenstown (Cobh) and waving goodbye to Ireland, only to be forced to see the same port over a month later after their deportation from Boston. 

The great Cunard liner S.S. Catalonia, which brought two Aran Islanders to Boston in April 1892, only to return them again to Ireland the following month. 

Whether they ever succeeded in gaining entry to the United States, we do not know but it’s possible that they did. New York or Canada might have been more welcoming or at least not as restrictive as Boston. This of course depended on them having the means to pay for another attempt. At least Cunard were forced to give them free passage back to Ireland. 

A cartoon from those times showing well fed and prosperous looking natives, trying to stop emigrants from doing what they or their shadowy ancestors, did previously.

We recently spoke with a man whose mother never forgot the disrespectful and dehumanising treatment she received at Ellis Island in the 1920s. She and her husband returned to Ireland during the Great Depression but this articulate, elderly woman would become upset, if Ellis Island was ever mentioned. 

Queenstown harbour, where most Irish emigrants embarked for the New World. In most cases it would be left to their descendants to see once again, the land they left behind.
It was from this port, the ill fated SS Titanic, departed in 1912

The early 1890s were a time of great political change in Boston. In 1892 John “Honey” Fitzgerald had just embarked on his famous political career which would culminate in 1960 with the election of his grandson, JFK, as President of the USA.

Fitzgerald had exploited the huge numbers of Irish emigrants to build and consolidate a formidable political machine and it’s not surprising that this caused  much resentment among the establishment. 

John Francis Fitzgerald (1863-1950)

The exclusion of the two islanders coincided with Fitzgerald’s election that same year to the Massachusetts senate. He and his democrat colleagues would eventually gain control of much of the state. 

Their ability to get the vote out is legendary and they were very creative when drastic methods were called for. 

Anti -Irish cartoon from the 1880s. It was very common to see the Irish as having ape-like features which was intended to class them as sub human and a grave danger to the local population. 

The early 1890s were a time of great modernisation of the Island fishing industry, by the recently formed  Congested Districts Board. While the improvements were expected to decrease the need for emigration, it would appear that the area close to the village of Cill Rónáin was disproportionately the beneficiary of the increasing wealth. 

The 1890s are also remembered as a time of high emigration with evictions and hunger being almost constantly threatened. America must have seemed an enticing possibility and islanders already there were very active in sending money home, so that younger siblings could follow them over. 

We can only speculate who the two young men were exactly and we suspect that at least one of them was from the middle island, Inis Meáin. Perhaps this article will trigger a family memory in one of our readers. 

The famous “Head Hunters” Haddon and Brown were researching on the islands at the time and have left us a record of Island  surnames. 

Haddon and Brown record of Island surnames in the 1890s

The newspapers named the two men as Costello and Keefe/Kenny. Newspaper articles of the day are notoriously loose with names, especially of the less important, so caution is advised. 

According to Haddon and Browne there were ten Costello families on the islands and one of the men was probably correctly named. 

The name Keefe or O’Keefe is not an island name which leads us to think that the other man was a Kenny. However, it’s quite possible that it was neither. 

If the two young islanders did manage to eventually enter the United States, we hope that they went on to have happy and successful lives and that their descendants are doing likewise today. 

(Michael Muldoon  August 2024)