From Whence We Came

Mary and John Hannon

One of my cousins -- and I hardly have any -- asked me why our ancestors came to this country. I have some information on why, but as with all things in research, the more information the better on that front. The family she was asking about came to the United States in 1842, slightly ahead of the massive 1845 potato failure. Perhaps they had insight or perhaps they were just lucky.





I still see in my extended family a sense of loyalty that may not be visible on the surface, but exists in ways that surprise many. We come together for events and occasions, and especially those surrounding births, marriages and deaths. This is something that I imagine comes down to us from the boggy western Ireland countryside that much of the family came from.





In Ireland, where our ancestors are from, the majority of young men would have been farmers. By the age of about seven, these youngsters would have learned how to dig trenches for potatoes and a few years later they would have been involved in sowing the fields. The young men would have been working with their fathers. The young girls would have been working alongside their mothers feeding chickens and pigs, tending to the fire and making the noon meal for the men and boys as they returned from the fields.





Every family member would have been participating and all ages would contribute to the cultivating the soil and developing a bond with each other and the land. That bond with family and land continues today.





1845 - Ireland
As most people are aware, the potato in Ireland failed. The potato blight in 1845 caused four successive crop failures. This meant that 1 in 6 peasants died of starvation and that about 25% of the Irish population emigrated.

The potato blight was caused by a fungus that can be treated by spraying a copper compound, however when it first appeared in the fall of 1845, there was no understanding of how to stop the fungus. Weather also factored into the potato blight with unusual warmth in January and February and an unusually wet Spring in 1846. The additional moisture forced farmers to leave potato shoots in the ground longer which then formed millions of new spores. These spores spread through the underground canals which caused rampant spreading from field to field until all the healthy plants had becoming decomposing, blackened, useless, stinking and rotting plants.



The first major exodus from Ireland took place in 1846 and 1847 when the Irish were fleeing the famine and fever. They found their way onto the "coffin ships" to escape a land that they now thought was cursed. The ships were aptly named because of the great numbers of people that died on board.



In family lore, there are stories about Michael Hannon and Mary Ann (Fitzgerald) Hannon being related to our Hannon family. They arrived somewhere around 1848 to 1849 with James Fitzgerald and moved into the small farming community of Acton which is about 25-miles west of Boston. Interestingly, there are also Heffernan families connected to both this family and ours.

Irish Homes
What was a family home like? For the home my mother grew up in, there was a door into the kitchen and that progressed into the main house. The kitchen, however, was the main focus of the house and was the room where most people congregated and most of the entertaining took place. The old house has a steep staircase that leads to the upstairs where there were bedrooms for the children. In her family, there were seven that lived to adulthood.

There was a parlor where other activities occurred. She recalls wakes being held there, piano lessons and Christmas. Seems that this was a special room that was not really utilized for day-to-day activities.

That old house still stands in Indiana and is in the family.