All In The Family This month, I’m talking about family, which for me means celebrating that long, illustrious line of Irish peat farmers I’m descended from. Yup, with the exception of that one French guy who walked over the border from Quebec and straight into a job as a bobbin tender in the Lowell, MA mills, the majority of my family came from Ireland to take up residence in the states. Including these people, my mother’s great-grandparents, Felix and Ellen. Happy couple, huh? You’d think being from a place whimsically named Limerick they could crack the tiniest of smiles. Kidding aside, these folks had a hard life, facing famine and religious oppression. No wonder they, like immigrants today, left the peat farm behind and came to the US, looking for a better life. Also like newcomers today (especially today), it wasn’t always easy for them here. They faced “No Irish Need Apply” prejudice and a continued struggle for economic security. As I write about them in M...
