The journey of Migration

Where would you go if you were forced to leave your residence? How would you

feel if poverty haunted the place you once called home? What would you do if your

religion held you back from success and happiness? These questions may seem irrelevant

in the world we live in today, but these simple inquiries were ones that lingered in the back

of many people's minds in the 1900’s and times of great difficulty around the world. These

questions shadow a problem bigger than travel itself, but logic behind migration. If

someone migrates, then they move from one place to another, because of many reasons,

some of which are, discrimination, famine, and being forced to emigrate. Of the millions

of people cornered by these questions was my great grandmother, Anna.

During the researching process, I interviewed my mother, Grace Cervone. She told

me of the journey of her grandmother’s migration and the struggle that followed. In the

interview with Grace Cervone, she discusses the journey her grandmother Anna Braniff

took to come from Ireland and migrate to america, and the many obstacles she had to

overcome. Her journey begins in Ireland where the potato famine was still affecting

thousands of lives, and dominating her family with poverty. Her brother James and her

migrated to Canada instead of America because of financial expenses, but later moved to

New York. A Lot of her reasons for leaving Ireland ran behind the fact that Roman

Catholics and Protestants had continuous conflict and different beliefs from the time that

the British took over the Northern part of Ireland. Another reason for Anna’s departure
from Ireland was because her first born child was born to a man that Anna’s parents did not

approve of, and so they sent her with her older brother to migrate to Canada. Also because

of the conflict between Catholics and Protestants, business owners with Protestant beliefs

would not allow Catholics to work for them, and vice versa. Anna, James, and the baby

spent six weeks on the ship, and the conditions were described as horrific, with death,

sickness, and starvation onboard with the passengers, they were lucky to make it out alive.

After finding passageway to New York, and Grace describing the transition, the three had

to make a living, so they set out to find jobs. Being uneducated, the only work that was in

reality their options were laborers. So Anna became a housemaid, and James found a job

in construction. However, too soon, James was injured on the job, and due to low finances

he ignored the the infection that came after, until it ended up costing him his life, after he

contracted Sepsis, and died of the blood infection, leaving Anna by herself. In reaction to

James’ death, Anna was devastated, and even tried calling home to return, but the family

was on their way over anyway. However she knew she had to keep going, and sooner or

later she fell in love with a man whom she had her second child with, however he was

Protestant and she was Catholic, and due to their different beliefs the marriage didn’t last

long, and it fell apart. After discussing the discrimination of immigrants in the US, and the

conflict between Roman Catholics and Protestants, Grace went on to talk of Anna’s life in

America. Being a single mother in this time period was not only hard but was very

disapproved of, and so Anna was introduced to a man named Edward Fogarty, whom she

married. After, they moved from Brooklyn New york, to another part of New york called,

Long Island, Shirley Long Island to be exact. All together Anna had five children, Peggy,
James, Helen, Clara, and Eileen. Grace goes on to explain the suffering and loss the family

went through during World War II, including my grandfather, who has worked hard from

the age of nine shining shoes to moving dead bodies from ships, the time period was filled

with destruction and pain. After the entire interview, Grace wrapped up the journey by

talking about migration, discrimination, and the struggles and hardships of the past,

present, and future.

Discrimination played a large role in initiating migration, not only that but also

sparked prejudice, and bias in the economy. This reason specifically left Anna and her

family ultimately in poverty, and was one of the overcoming factors in her migration to

America. Many people migrate to start a new life, and to get a better income, in this case,

Anna was forced to move, because protestants and roman catholics fought as sworn

enemies. The protestants owned the majority of establishments in Ireland, and they used

this as leverage in taking advantage of the economy in Ireland, and in the process causing

roman catholics to be outcasted socially, and economically. The discrimination was

expressed verbally and through business, as some people put out in front of their doors

signs that warned certain groups that they would not be considered even if they were a

good candidate for a job, simply because they believed in different ways of life, and the

story of how a god figure came to be. Even in America the discrimination continued, an

example is of countless businesses out signs. For example, one image begin with ​saying,

"Help wanted" and then about two inches below in slightly smaller font, "No Irish Need

Apply" the image shows the essence of discrimination in Ireland travels to America, just in

a different shape (Price, Kyle).​ Not only were Irish verbally, and socially outcasted in
America, Catholics were still even still being forced out of jobs because of their beleifs.

Grace stated that her grandmother moved to Canada directly for countless reasons

including discrimination, she explain in more detail here,

“First of all we can't ignore the fact that her family were Roman Catholics and they
lived in the Northern Ireland part of Ireland which in history shows that Protestants
and Catholics both were at odds with each other for many many years. The British
controlled Northern Ireland and the British were Protestants. The Protestants were
extremely aggressive and violent with the Roman Catholics and unfortunately that
caused a great deal of discrimination. The Roman Catholic Irish were prohibited
from certain jobs and this caused her and her family a great deal of financial
hardship. Another reason why she was going or planning to leave had a lot to do
with her family and her parents. Her (Anna’s) first born child was born in Ireland
to a man that her parents did not approve of so they thought it best for her to
migrate with her brother or older brother to America, so in addition to the financial
hardship and her parents not liking her husband, there continued to be oppression to
the Roman Catholics and honestly there were Protestants business owners that did
not hire Catholics which unfortunately did not allow the Catholics to do well
financially so they had to find jobs in other sectors.”(Interview)

In this section of the interview, Grace talks directly of the hardships Anna and her family

were forced to face. Anna’s parents were traditional Irish parents who wanted the best for

their children, so it is hard to judge people when they make mistakes like sending their two

children overseas for such a thing as the relationship she had developed with a man that she

loved. However, no matter the reasons, the migration had an overall success as her family

then moved to America as well later, after suffering financially pain in Ireland.

Family, and traditions were of great importance in the time period, and a woman

was expected to marry a man with constant income and honor. So when Anna was deemed

pregnant before marriage, and to man that they had not allowed for her to interact with,
they reacted exaggeratedly extreme. Her parents forced her to move west because they did

not approve of the man she had fell in love with and supposably was pregnant with his

child. Therefore, they decided it best to send her away with her older brother to start a new

life, away from Ireland. Another reason that people moved from one place to another. Not

only because of political force, but because of family as well.

Poverty also played a big role in migration around the world. Financially, Anna’s

family definitely had a struggle in this department, which ultimately ended in the families

permanent movement. The Potato famine in Ireland played a great part in the countries

growing poverty, which bring light onto the fact that major setbacks in a country's

economy, leaves a scar for many years (Cavan). This resembles the effect of war on

countries, and how setbacks like these can cause great agony in many areas of society, and

even force people to flee the country due to violence and never ending economic struggles.

Also due to poverty, education is rare, and many people barely made it halfway through

grade school. The fact is that the more education someone has, the more opportunities they

will have in the future. The lack of education options made people move to where there

were more opportunities, like America, and in Anna’s case Canada. “Those who came to

the United States and Canada in the 19th century were mainly immigrants forced to leave

their homeland because of economic and political reasons. From 1825 to 1845, more than

800,000 Irish immigrants came to North America. In the late 1820s and the beginning of

the 1830s, about two-thirds of those people moved to Canada. The migration from Ireland

to Canada and America was not a rare move in the time period, considering the fading

economy” (Haugen 16). The lack of job opportunity in Ireland, decreasing economy,
migration became popular, and even though the potato famine was in the past it still

lingered in the shadows, showing families just how easy it was to let poverty control every

aspect of life. An article explaining the potato famine and it’s personal effect expresses the

seriousness, and pain suffered. “The population of Ireland grew quickly in the 1800s, but

there were not enough jobs for everyone. Many Irish Catholics were unable to feed, house,

and clothe themselves. They lived in poverty, in homes that often were no more than huts.

By the end of the century, Ireland had lost half its population to starvation and disease or

emigration”(Nickles). As the pros of living in their home country of Ireland became sparse,

the pros of migrating to America gave little to no room for argument. In America at the

time, land and job opportunities seemed to be appearing just in time for Irish people in

poverty to take advantage. As the great famine took over millions of lives, hope for life in

America became more realistic than ever, and many people migrated during one of

Ireland’s worst population losses ever. “Fleeing hunger and disease, over a million

impoverished Irish left their island. Even after the Famine they continued to leave, tempted

by stories of plentiful food and work. By the early 1900s, over two million more had

emigrated, most bound for North America”(Nickles). The American soil deemed a safe

place by the end of the century, luring what was left of Ireland’s population in the

aftermath.

Someone might move to a different country, or area, because of the lack of

education, jobs, and opportunities due to the poverty caused by discrimination and

mistreatment between two religions.