Ireland: A Heritage of Kings

When someone with Irish roots boasts that he is related to an Irish king, don't be surprised. Ancient Ireland was divided into five kingdoms--five! The island is approximately the size of the state of Indiana, which of course is only one of fifty states in our "kingdom." Each kingdom had a provisional king, but there were local kings as well, which amounted to approximately 200 kings for a total population of just under 500,000 people (according to The Irish Mystique, America's Enchantress England's Secret Envy, Ireland's Despair, by Max Caulfield.)

To further confuse things, look at the status of the individual. In each kingdom there were freemen and women (commoners) and slaves. When surnames came into use (not until the 11th century) everyone took the surname of their chieftan, whether blood-related or not. So, having a kingly name like O'Neill does not necessarily mean you are the descendant of a king.

But then again, with so small a population, and so many kings out there.....

Well, you know what the Irish say: Never let what really happened get in the way of a good story! ;-)

The Blasket Islands

I haven't been there. It's on my list. It's also on the cover of my book:

The Blasket Islands lie on the "edge of Europe" and were inhabited by hearty fishermen and their families who made their living lobster fishing. But it's past tense. The island no longer has inhabitants. This Time Magazine article from 1952 marked the sad event when the last occupants left for the mainland.

But when the community thrived, it was Gaelic speaking and virtually cut off from the influence of the people who lived just two miles across the sound. This microcosm of civilization attracted several scholars who traveled there and encouraged some of the people to write their life stories. One of these islanders was named Tomás Ó Criomhtháin. His tombstone reads: "There will not be those like us again". 


His story is still in print as well as some of the others. I'm going to have to add that to my wish list! Never mind. Just ordered it on my Kindle. :) I will let you know what I think!

More Irish in the West

In my last post I linked you to a map that showed where the Irish are concentrated in the US. I was surprised by Montana, but there is another surprise as well: Nevada.

Irish Miners at the Comstock in Nevada

The Irish went to Nevada the same reason they went to Montana and other parts west. The best I could tell by the map is that there is a high percentage of Irish ethnicity near Hawthorne. Parts of Nevada were mined, just like California, and I suppose lots of Irish came out to find their pot of gold. According to the web site linked above, 42% of the population of the Comstock Mining District were Irish. This mining district is near Carson City, over a hundred difficult miles north of Hawthorne. Perhaps future generations moved southward. I really don't know the reason why that particular part of Nevada is still so Irish. Do you?

It's also interesting to note from that web site that the immigrants who came to mine were from County Cork, the only county in Ireland in the 19th century with mines. Mining has a long history in Ireland, back to 2,000 BC or so. There are other Irish counties with a mining past. County Wicklow, for instance, had a gold rush of its own in the late 18th century. According to this web site there was a mining depression when prices fell in the 1880's in Ireland.

Abandoned Copper Mine in Allihiles, Co. Cork

But major copper mining took place in Allihies in County Cork until the 1960's and apparently it was from this region that the Irish in Nevada originated.

I never knew! Did you?