It was 1879 when Francis decided to leave the shores of Éire behind. Born at the tail-end of the Potato Famine, he found himself at the beginning of another “Mini-Famine” — likely unwilling to wait around to see how life would play out. His father had already perished, so he was one of the boys left to care for his mother. Obviously, Belfast wasn’t going to remain ideal. Now, it isn’t exactly clear if he stopped in Scotland first before arriving in Manhattan, New York, but he found love with Mary along the way. Mary chose 1880 to voyage across the Atlantic, leaving behind the Scottish Lowlands, and it could be that Francis and Mary traveled together.
Francis and Mary started a family and moved to Long Island City, Queens, New York. Call them the “Scotch-Irish,” “Scots-Irish,” or “Ulster Scots” — they fit this diaspora group immigranting to New York City in the late 1800s and early 1900s trying to escape British colonialism, manufactured famines, and decreasing opportunities back home in hopes of finding something better. Of course, they still found struggles with “NINA” (No Irish Need Apply), so emphasis needed to be placed upon the Scottish ancestry to obtain work, especially since the family maintained our Catholic faith. Though I haven’t cited sources here, our struggles have been passed down through family oral tradition: Francis and Mary brought my maternal grandmother’s father, James, into the world, after all!
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