The Irish in the Hudson Valley
by Patrick Higgins

Thomas Nast's 19th century cartoon depicting "alligator" bishops and a looming Vatican supposedly "threatening" defenseless Protestant school children. The Irish immigrants were often seen by American "nativists" as the vanguard of a subversive invasion by the Roman Catholic Church.

Visitors to Ireland today find romance in its silvery lakes, purple mountains and ancient stone walls that wander endlessly through the landscape; in its castles, ruins and history; in the fresh sea air and the soft rain that waters the land with forty shades of green, in its charming pubs and lively music, and most of all, in the Irish people themselves. Ireland is one of the few remaining Celtic nations and the people still display the Celtic qualities with their love of life, endless talk and tale telling. Poetry and music have always been the binding soul of the Irish and they are to be found at every corner, inn and pub.

Ireland is proud of the history it enjoyed during the first millennium, when Irish scholars and artists rekindled the light of European civilization in Europe after the demise of the Roman Empire. Ireland's history has not always been as bright as it was one thousand years ago nor its future as optimistic as it is today.

Ireland's history is an unhappy one, a history in which her people were forced to flee to any corner of the earth in an attempt to survive. In the nineteenth century, while Ireland experienced numerous famines and the people were denied any relief from the English oppressor, two million of her people fled and two million more starved to death. The main causes of Irish immigration were the potato famine, unemployment, and religious persecution. Catholics were deprived of their civil rights and were forbidden to practice their religion by England.

The Irish exodus brought them to the New World, America, in their quest for freedom. When they arrived Miss Liberty did not stand in New York harbor with her lighted torch held high to show the way, though they were indeed "your huddled masses yearning to breathe free," that Emma Lazarus's words would so immortally portray. What they found in America was not much better than what they had left. The English had stereotyped them as barbarians and simians, and the Yankees perpetuated the stereotype. Due to their religion and their language they were considered the dregs of society. Job postings were often accompanied with "No Irish need apply."

The first real awareness of foreigners in the Hudson Valley came with the railroad in 1848. Irish laborers were hired on starvation terms. They were resented in the community; their immigration into the area was marked by prejudice and violence. Riots broke out between them and Blacks, with both groups competing for low level jobs in the area.

There were several riots in the late 1840s. On New Year's Day, 1849, twenty-one Irishmen were arrested and severely beaten by the police and the local citizenry in Poughkeepsie. After another riot, The Poughkeepsie Journal, in an editorial, denounced the severity with which the police dealt with the Irish and warned that hereafter most Americans could now expect from the Irish nothing "but revenge and personal hostility."

The newspaper was wrong. Rather than seek revenge, the Irish sought a way to escape from their new oppressors. Education became the prime factor in the upward mobility of the Irish. By 1860 most Irish children older than fourteen were still in school. At the end of the 1870s, education had become the mainstay in most Irish households.

The area's first Irish priest was Rev. Michael Riorden. He served as pastor of St. Peter's Catholic Church in Poughkeepsie from 1844 until his death in 1870. He brought stability to the Irish community; he played a prominent role in their education and was instrumental in advancing a temperance movement. Two months after the outbreak of the Civil War, Father Riorden held a flag-raising ceremony in front of his church and encouraged the Irish to identify themselves with their new country by enlisting in the army during the Civil War. They did enlist, in record numbers.

Under his leadership the Irish Catholics joined in the battle against alcohol. No Protestant organization outshone St. Peter's Total Abstinence and Benevolent Society in numbers. In the late 1860s the parish had established a library association. By 1873 there were separate parochial schools for boys and girls which reported an enrollment of 820 students.

After the Civil War, the Irish slowly began their move up the social ladder. The railroad began to see them rise from common laboring jobs to positions as brakemen, firemen, conductors and engineers. By 1880, half of the 16-man Poughkeepsie Police Force were Irish. They began to establish themselves in the business community ,where they were slowly being accepted.

By 1868, the Irish community was able to hold a St. Patrick's Day celebration. The celebration consisted of a parade with bands and an evening lecture, "St. Patrick's Mission and the Permanency of Its Fruits."

By 1900 one in seven practicing attorneys in Poughkeepsie was Irish. Anna Daley (1868-1945) was the first woman attorney in Dutchess County. She was very active in the suffrage movement and was a prominent member of the Democratic Party. John Mack (1874-1958) was District Attorney from 1907 to 1912. He served as New York State Supreme Court Justice until his retirement in 1949. He is credited with starting Franklin D. Roosevelt on his political career. John McCann (1880-1969) was a local philanthropist. He owned a feed store on Main Street, Poughkeepsie and was the largest stockholder of McDonnell Aircraft. He never married and after his death many local institutions benefited from his generosity, Marist College, the Culinary Institute, and St. Mary's Church among them.

Today the Irish presence in the Hudson Valley is greater than it ever was. In Red Hook there are two Irish dancing schools, Joanie Mack's School of Irish Dance and Deirdre Lowery's Irish Dancers. Father Charles Coen of St. Christopher's Catholic Church in Red Hook holds Irish concerts throughout the year with talent imported from Ireland.

Every September the grounds of Mills Mansion become alive with the sound of bagpipes at the annual Celtic Day. Every summer there is a three-day Celtic Festival at Hunter mountain. The home of the Irish in the Hudson Valley is East Durham. There you will find the main street permanently painted with a line of green shamrocks.

The Irish have come a long way in the Hudson Valley during the past 150 years. And they are not finished yet. Happy St. Patrick's Day.

Patrick Higgins is an author and historian who lives in Milan.