When looking into my family’s immigration history, I found that my father’s side of the family came from a german background and my mother’s side is Irish. My parents/grandparents were unable to tell me the german side of the story, but I was able to uncover some more in depth information concerning my former Irish ancestors.
The first members of my mother’s side of the family arrived in the United States during the mid to early 19th century. More specifically, they came while the Great Famine struck Ireland and killed many. However, they were able to make it out and ultimately end up in America. As far as my family knows, they came to the Northeast and began as laborers. They were Catholic, and looking into American history at the time there was a clear need for workers especially for the building of the Erie canal. Irishmen made up the majority of workers for this project. I can even speculate that some of my ancestors even worked on this project since they resided in Cleveland, OH.
This timing of Irish immigrants fell right peace was reestablished between the United States and Britain after the War of 1812. Immigration from Western Europe began to rise, which caused a shift in the demographics of the United States. During this time period, the Irish amassed and made up half the immigrants entering the United States This was the first major wave of immigrants called the Irish Wave, and it lasted until the Civil War.