Irish in 1850s Acton

Source: NASA Earth Observatory

In honor of St. Patrick’s Day, we explored Irish immigration into Acton.  The most useful starting point was the 1850 federal and 1855 Massachusetts censuses.  Earlier censuses only listed the name of the head of households, usually male.  The 1850s listings give us the name of every person in town, as well as their (sometimes approximate) age and birthplace.  The population during the 1850s reflects changes in Acton caused both by Irish Famine immigration and the arrival of the railroad.

The 1850 census of Acton listed 107 people born in Ireland, or 6.7% of the total population of 1,605.  Twenty-five of the Irish-born individuals in Acton were female.  (A clear error in the household of Ebenezer Davis Jr. was corrected in our statistics; research showed that the birthplace of Ellen Grimes and Charles Robbins was switched.).  The 1850 Acton census gave no occupation for any female, so we can only guess what they were doing.  Some women were living with a male who was probably the husband, sometimes with children.  In other cases, females lived in a household of a seemingly unrelated family.  They probably were doing domestic work.

Of the 82 males born in Ireland, almost all who were of working age were laborers (71).  Thirty-one were living on a farm and probably working there.  Not one of the Irish laborers was listed as a farmer, a term that in the 1850 census apparently was reserved for those whose farm produced more than $100 of products.  However, three of the Irish-born men owned real estate that included improved land and buildings.  The town’s tax valuation for 1850 shows that John Grimes had 2 acres of improved land, Francis Kinsley had 1.5 acres, and Thomas Kinsley (listed in the 1850 census as Thomas “Wamsley”) had 3 acres.  None showed up on the agricultural census for that year.

Only three Irish-born men had occupations other than laborer.  Twenty-six-year old Nathan Smith was working as a blacksmith for Jonas Blodget.  Michael Phaelan was working as a “Switchman” for the railroad, an employer that provided opportunities to many Irish in the nineteenth century.  It is very likely that some (or many) of the men listed as laborers worked for the railroad.  Finally, Jerry McCarthy was listed as a Boarding House Keeper.  Along with (presumably wife) Catherine and two children, he provided a home to eleven Irish laborers. 

In the 1855 Acton census, there were 111 Irish-born individuals out of a total population of 1,680.  The Irish population percentage had not changed much, but the gender mix did.  Forty-four were female (39.6% of the Irish-born population, up from 23.3% in 1850).  Again, females’ occupations were not noted. 

Of the 67 Irish men of working age, 27 were listed as “farmer,” a term that seems to have been used in 1855 for anyone working on a farm.  (Land ownership was not specified in this state census, although it can be discovered from other sources.)  Two Irish-born men were listed simply as “laborer.”  The 1855 census specified that 27 men were working on the railroad, almost all as “repairer,” although Michael Phelan was working as a “Switch Tender.”  There were eight Irish-born men who had other occupations.  Daniel McCarthy was working as a tailor.  John Caully (name has possible interpretations such as Canly or Carelly) and Morris Sexton were apparently working at the flannel print works as a “flannel printer” and a ”dyer,” respectively.  Michael Falan and Martin Fay were Wood Sawyers, and Thomas Kinsley was a Stone Layer.

One has to wonder how the early Irish immigrants were received in Acton.  Comparing the 1850 and the 1855 census lists, we found that many people from the earlier list had moved on by 1855.  Given significant variations in ages and sometimes in names, it is impossible to match the two lists precisely, but the maximum number that we conjecture might possibly have been on both lists is 23 people.  Whether that reflected the climate of the town or simply other opportunities elsewhere, we cannot tell.  There may have been a variety of responses to the new arrivals.  We do not have a local newspaper available until later, so surviving newspaper reports that were repeated in other places were likely to feature the worst.  One such story that circulated in September 1849 accused Acton’s selectmen of shockingly uncharitable treatment of a family of Irish immigrants in crisis.  After the story appeared in Boston papers and was picked up in others, Boston’s Daily Evening Transcript reported on an inquiry into the matter and clarified that the tragedy had actually happened in a different town and had not involved Acton’s selectmen at all.  (The downside of our having access to digitized old newspapers is that we also have access to old rumors and reporting errors.)

Whatever the welcome they received, Acton’s Irish residents proceeded with their lives after the huge upheaval of immigrating.  Between 1848 and 1855, 37 children were born in Acton to Irish-born parents.  Some Irish-born Acton residents had enough to show up in an 1855 Acton agricultural valuation:

• Thomas Moore worked ½ acre that produced 50 bushels of potatoes.
• John Grimes owned 2 oxen, 3 cows, cultivated an acre of corn and a half-acre of potatoes that both produced 25 bushels, owned 2 oxen and 3 cows, produced 4 tons of hay on four acres, and had 30 apple trees that yielded 30 bushels. 
• John Coborne (alternative versions of the name were Colorne or Coline) cultivated a half-acre of corn that yielded 10 bushels and a quarter-acre that yielded 10 bushels of potatoes.  He also had 15 apple trees that didn’t bear fruit that year. 
• John McCarthy had a cow and a swine and cultivated a half-acre of corn yielding 10 bushels, an acre of rye yielding 3 bushels, a half-acre of oats yielding 6 bushels, and an acre of potatoes that yielded 40 bushels.  He also mowed an acre of both “English” and meadow hay, grew beans, and had 10 apple trees that produced a bushel of apples. 
• Thomas Kinsley owned a horse.  He cultivated a half-acre of corn that yielded 12 bushels, a half-acre of potatoes that produced 36 bushels, mowed a half-acre of English hay, and had 50 apple trees that produced 15 bushels. 
• Francis Kinsley had a cow, a heifer and 30 apple trees that produced 20 bushels.
• Morris Sexton had 25 apple trees that didn’t produce a crop that year. 
• Michael Phelan had 2 swine.

It was a beginning.  Some of the early Irish immigrants stayed and became part of the fabric of the town.  Other Irish immigrants joined them in later years.  Some of the early Irish left town, perhaps for better economic opportunities or for a place where they felt more at home.  Whatever their experiences were in Acton, we would like preserve their stories.

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Sources:
1850 Federal Census of Acton (online)
1855 Massachusetts Census of Acton (online)
Census of Acton taken June 1st 1855 by Samuel Hosmer, Agent for Selectmen & Assessors (handwritten)
Vital Records of Acton, MA

Newspaper articles not actually describing an Acton event:
Boston Courier, Sept. 13, 1849, p. 4
Boston Evening Transcript, Sept. 13, 1849, p. 1
The (Springfield) Daily Republican, Sept. 13, 1849, p 2
Boston Daily Evening Transcript, Sept. 20, 1849, p. 2
Salem Gazette, Sept. 21, 1821, p. 2 (quoting Boston Atlas)
The (Gettysburg, PA) Star and Banner, Sept. 28, 1849, p. 5

Picture of Ireland courtesy of NASA Earth Observatory, image 49687