17-03-2025
Irish ancestry in modern-day New Hampshire reflects region's history of migration
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That migration included as many as 2 million people who came to the United States in the mid-1800s to escape famine in Ireland, Kelly said. The vast majority of them were impoverished and settled in urban areas from Quebec to Boston, New York, and Philadelphia, she said.
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'They lacked the means to travel further inland and buy land, being famine refugees,' she said.
While the bulk of the Irish migrants who came to North America earlier, during the colonial period, were Protestants and aligned with England — including a group that settled in what is now Londonderry, N.H. — those who came later, during the Irish famine, were Catholic and faced hostility upon their arrival, Kelly said.
'This is the era of nativism and political parties like the '
The tensions that boiled nationwide were evident in New Hampshire's political environment. In 1854,
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Kelly said the cold reception that Irish newcomers encountered reflects the way Americans have historically treated other groups of immigrants who don't fit popular notions of white Anglo-Saxon protestantism.
'Those patterns are evident when you look at the history,' she said.
Kelly said the way Americans celebrate St. Patrick's Day now differs remarkably from her childhood in the late-1960s, when she grew up in a town on Ireland's western coast, in the shadow of a mountain associated with an ancient pilgrimage in honor of St. Patrick.
'It was a religious holiday, and pubs were closed,' Kelly said, recalling a much quieter, even somber occasion.
Kelly, a practicing Catholic, said her experience with St. Patrick's Day is more introspective than revelrous. At the same time, she sees value in how traditions have evolved to recognize Irish ethnic presence in America and the contributions of Irish people.
'I can appreciate,' she said, 'the focus on the modern, kind of broadly configured embrace of all things Irish.'
This story first appeared in Globe NH | Morning Report, our free newsletter focused on the news you need to know about New Hampshire, including great coverage from the Boston Globe and links to interesting articles from other places. If you'd like to receive it via e-mail Monday through Friday,
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