In this beautifully written narrative, author Margaret Cooley chronicles one of the untold stories of Irish American history: the decades of migration of Irish peasants who left Ireland during the famine times and migrated to Scotland for work during the Industrial Revolution before immigrating to America. The story is told through the lives of the McQueeney family from1840 to 1920, who left Glasgow, Scotland, where they worked as coalminers, and came to America in November of 1870. Cooley used historical documents such as census, marriage, birth and death records, to write a vividly dramatic account of how the McQueeneys’ American lives unfolded and contributed to the building of America.
With accurate historical detail, Cooley tells this story through the lives of five of the McQueeney family members: Mary, the matriarch, who grew up in Ireland, migrating with her family back and forth between Ireland and Scotland, married, and came with young children to America, where, after a tragic mining accident, she was widowed and left to raise her children on her own; loyal and steadfast, Michael, the oldest son, who became the surrogate father for his younger siblings and supported the family as a coalminer in Coventry, Ohio and in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, and worked in coal, iron ore, and steel making when important contributions to industrialism were being made with the invention of the technologies used for modern steel making; devoted sisters, Mary and Annie, wives of coal miners, who chronicled the McQueeneys’ personal lives and included historical events like the Johnstown flood and the building of America’s labor unions; and John, the charismatic younger brother, who worked as an organizer for the United Mine Workers of America in the coal towns of Central Pennsylvania during one of the most turbulent times in American labor history.
Cooley captures the voices of these ordinary people living ordinary lives; lives that were well lived, made important contributions, and were worth being remembered. The McQueeneys: From Ireland to America is a must read for all those interested in people’s history of America, immigrant stories, genealogy, and how to write a book that narrates the story of a family whose lives were almost forgotten.
With accurate historical detail, Cooley tells this story through the lives of five of the McQueeney family members: Mary, the matriarch, who grew up in Ireland, migrating with her family back and forth between Ireland and Scotland, married, and came with young children to America, where, after a tragic mining accident, she was widowed and left to raise her children on her own; loyal and steadfast, Michael, the oldest son, who became the surrogate father for his younger siblings and supported the family as a coalminer in Coventry, Ohio and in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, and worked in coal, iron ore, and steel making when important contributions to industrialism were being made with the invention of the technologies used for modern steel making; devoted sisters, Mary and Annie, wives of coal miners, who chronicled the McQueeneys’ personal lives and included historical events like the Johnstown flood and the building of America’s labor unions; and John, the charismatic younger brother, who worked as an organizer for the United Mine Workers of America in the coal towns of Central Pennsylvania during one of the most turbulent times in American labor history.
Cooley captures the voices of these ordinary people living ordinary lives; lives that were well lived, made important contributions, and were worth being remembered. The McQueeneys: From Ireland to America is a must read for all those interested in people’s history of America, immigrant stories, genealogy, and how to write a book that narrates the story of a family whose lives were almost forgotten.
