Chapter 1
Patrick, his wife Sybil and their three sons, John, Daniel and Perry O`Brien, arrived in New York harbour in the spring of 1847 from Cork in Ireland. Like many other families, they had come to America following a potato famine back in their home country which had lasted for several years and ruined the Irish economy as well as bankrupting many people and forcing many more into poverty. The crossing had taken several weeks and had not been a comfortable voyage with high winds and rough seas. The old steam assisted side wheel sailing ship had struggled at times and everyone aboard had feared for their lives on several occasions when the ship had almost foundered in the mountainous seas. On the same voyage was another family, this time from Limerick and had made the crossing of the wild ocean for the same reason. This was Seth and Margaret Grogan and their two children, Adam and Matilda. The ancient ship had made a short stop at a western Scottish port to take on fresh water before starting across the ocean. It was here that another family joined the ship; this was Mathew, Elizabeth and children Morgan, Davy and Annabel Murray. They had left Dublin two years before and had tried to make a living as farmers in the far north of Scotland but had failed miserably, so they too were now going to try their luck and hopefully make their fortune in the new world. When the old ship finally docked in New York all the people were amazed at all the hustle and bustle of the place as they had all been used to a slower, quieter life back home.
Everyone was mightily glad to finally disembark and to get their feet on dry land once again. The majority of the two hundred plus immigrants had come from farming backgrounds or other rural occupations so New York had little to offer them and most decided that they would have to move on somewhere else before they even considered settling down. The American Immigration officers at Ellis Island in New York harbour were seemingly uncaring about individual family circumstances and were more intent on processing the new arrivals as quickly as possible, so after a day in a makeshift camp on the quayside they were turned out onto the streets to either make their mark or starve. The three families had become quite close during the long voyage and decided that they would stay together for a while to see what the future held. It was agreed that the sooner they got away from the city, the better it would be for all of them so with that object in mind the three men set off into the city itself, to try and find some sort of work which would at least support their families for a while, unsure how long it would take to save enough money to move on to pastures new. After roaming the cities myriad streets and alleyways, they found a wholesale meat trader who said he would give all three of them a job as carters hauling his goods all over the city. As luck would have it, or maybe not depending on your particular point of view, he also had a number of houses in a seedier part of the city, known locally as the Bronx, which was as a district famous for drinking dens and houses of ill repute. He offered one such house to his new workers, but they would all have to share the house. It would mean being crammed in like the proverbial sardines in a tin, as there were six adults and eight children aged from twelve to seventeen, both boys and girls. All three men had used what little money they had to pay their passages on the journey so were in effect stony broke. All three knew they had to support their families and provide somewhere to live so reluctantly agreed to have a look at the house on offer prior to making a final decision. So, with that agreed their new employer gave them an address and told them to look it over and to let him know in the morning at five when they were due to start work. The three finally found the street that the house was in after a three hour walk and found the property in question about halfway along the street. It was shabby and dilapidated, and looked as if it had been vacant for some considerable time. It was of grey stone construction with a slate roof which had several holes in it, similar to most of the other properties in the area and it had weeds growing in profusion in the front yard, but on the plus side it looked quite large. The houses on either side were occupied and there were several young women standing talking outside one of them and as the three men approached, they were all propositioned by the women inviting them inside for a good time. The three men politely declined the offers, which were met with abuse and name calling by the women. Their voices were loud enough to bring the residents of the other houses out onto the street to see what was happening, and from the house on the other side of the vacant house came an ugly brute of a man wielding a shotgun who demanded to know why his girls were being upset when all they were trying to do was make a living. The three friends grimaced at each other and then Patrick O`Brien who naturally seemed to be the one in charge, produced a key and pushing his way through the throng of women walked up to the front door. The key was stiff in the lock from lack of use but eventually the key turned and he pushed the door which opened with a loud creaking sound. As he reached the door stoop he turned and addressed the man directly saying that they were the new tenants of the property and that he`d better get used to it. He finished with saying that if he gave them any trouble he could expect the law to come down on him. The man laughed and said that in this part of town, he was the law. The three men went inside and closed the door firmly. Patrick breathed a sigh of relief and was joined by his two friends. They all agreed that it wasn`t the best of starts for them in a new neighbourhood, but knew their choices were severely limited due to their financial status.
Once inside, they started exploring the property. Their first impression that the property was quite large proved to be correct with four rooms which could be used as sleeping accommodation, a similar sized room that could become a sitting and eating area, a scullery and an outside toilet, being just a rusty bucket in a small lean to shed with no door. A narrow wooden stairway led from the main room to an upper level that was in effect the roof space which would probably do as a storage area despite there being no proper floor, just beams.
The three men decided that the house would have to suffice, hopefully on a temporary basis as all agreed it wasn`t the best place to have young children, even though the youngest, Perry O`Brien was twelve years old. Next came Matilda Grogan and Annabel Murray both thirteen, Daniel O`Brien and Davy Murray at fourteen, Morgan Murray at fifteen, John O`Brien at sixteen and Adam Grogan at seventeen. John, Adam and Morgan were all old enough to work and the meat trader had said that he would start them in his slaughter house carrying meat to their fathers on the carts. He said that he might be able to find scullery maid or cleaning jobs for Annabel and Matilda so it seemed that everyone who could work would be doing so, bringing in a small amount of much needed money. He said that he had nothing to offer Daniel O`Brien and suggested that he approach one of the many water-men who worked the harbour to see if anyone needed a boat boy. Patrick said that all their wives were good with a needle and thread so might be able to get some seamstress work somewhere in the city. The three men then made their way back to the dockside hostel where they had all spent the previous night, gathered their families and the few material possessions they owned and made the return journey to the house. As they were leaving the hostel for the last time, their new employer had dropped by on his way somewhere and said it was fine for them to move in straight away. Arriving back at the house in the late evening, the women set about making a meal and set the youngsters to work tidying and cleaning.
The next morning just before five, just as the sun was rising, the three men with John, Adam and Morgan tagging along behind, arrived at the waterfront property which was to be their new place of employment. The property was large with a slaughter house and ice house on the ground floor, a meat preparation area on the first floor accompanied by an office used by the proprietor and a small living area again for the proprietor`s use. He told the three men that they should go out into the yard where they would be shown their carts and given maps to help them find the delivery locations which were all over the city and set the boys to work in the slaughter house area carrying meat upstairs to be prepared for delivery. Out the back behind the main building was a fairly large stockyard filled with about a hundred lowing cattle, which he said was about a week`s supply and that more animals would be arriving every other day or so. He told the boys that it was hard work and that he didn`t tolerate slackers so they had better get used to some hard graft.
Patrick, Seth and Mathew soon got the hang of driving the heavy carts and set off on their first deliveries, which they expected to take most of the day. Their employer told them that they could expect to work for a minimum of fourteen hours per day to earn the small wages he had agreed to pay them. The three boys also were expected to work the same sort of hours and by seven that evening when the last cart driven by Mathew returned to the yard everybody was exhausted and they still had over three miles to walk back to their house in the Bronx. When they finally arrived back at the house, the area was quiet and they found that the women had cooked a stew which was simmering over an open grate in the corner of the scullery. The smell emanating from the pot smelt delicious as none of the men or the boys had eaten anything all day. They said that both Annabel and Matilda had landed jobs as scullery maids at a large hostelry a few blocks away, that Daniel had found a boat boys position over in Queens across the river and that even Perry had found a small job in the same establishment as the girls as a porter. Sybil O`Brien and Elizabeth Murray had got some casual seamstress work for a clothing outfitter also in Queens while Margaret Grogan had found a nanny`s post just along the street, so on their first full day in New York after processing by Immigration everybody had found some paid employment. In addition to preparing a meal and finding employment, the house was considerably cleaner and tidier. They had apparently spoken with another family further along the street and had been given a few items of furniture to help tied them over until they could afford something better. They had four large beds, a table and nine hard chairs, so were well pleased with their day`s work.
They all settled quite well into the routine of long hours and hard work and the women even began to think that it wasn`t such a bad area after all. They had got used to being whistled at and propositioned by the men who visited the houses on either side for some sexual relief, and had learned to ignore the attention and ribald comments and lewd suggestions, but everything changed at the end of their fourth week in the house. Annabel and Matilda were making their way home from the hostelry when they were approached by five men asking for favours. When the two girls refused they were grabbed and forced into a side alley where the men tried to force themselves on to the two girls. They both screamed loudly enough to make some passers-by stop to investigate and the girls managed to get away. Annabel gave one of the attackers something to remember her by, by grabbing and squeezing his testicles until he collapsed screaming in the gutter. Matilda managed to land a lucky punch to another thug and bloodied his nose and dislodged a few teeth. The three remaining attackers fled before they could be apprehended. The girls arrived home shortly afterwards, in tears with their clothes torn and muddy but with their virginity intact. When the men arrived home with their sons they were appalled to learn what had happened. Mathew took his shotgun and the three men went next door. They didn`t bother with knocking on the door, Seth just kicked it in and they stormed inside. The man they had had words with on their first visit to the house was sitting at a table eating and looked up in mild surprise and annoyance at the intrusion. Patrick kicked the table away sending the man`s dinner all over the floor and Seth and Mathew dragged him to his feet, and threw him face first against the wall, breaking his nose on the impact. Patrick as usual acted as spokesman for the three of them, and told the man that if there were any more attacks or insults against their families, they would come back and knee-cap him with the shotgun. For good measure and to make sure he got the message, Mathew fired a cartridge at short range into his right foot, causing the man to scream and collapse on the floor nursing his mangled foot. Mathew then swept the shotgun along a shelf in the room sending everything flying including what looked like some quite valuable Dresden china, smashing everything on the floor. When they left, the man was in no doubt that they meant every word they had said and decided that once he had got some help for his injuries, he would put the word out in the area to leave the three families well alone. For the next two years there was no more trouble and the man was even polite to the women when he saw them in the street. He still walked with a bad limp, as a permanent reminder of the wrath of his neighbours when his cronies had stepped out of line.
When they had arrived in New York, none of them had much of an idea about their new country, but it didn`t take them long to discover that America had originally been made up of thirteen separate colonies, all under British rule. These were Virginia, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maryland, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Delaware, North and South Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Georgia, spread along the east coast and inland with New York at the centre. It seemed that the settlers in these areas had got increasingly tired of being dictated to by what they deemed a foreign government and they had finally broken away British Rule, sixty nine years earlier in 1776 but there were still some dissenting voices over this matter, as these small groups still considered themselves British and fully intended to remain so. The British army was still in America in fairly large numbers and their distinctive red coats were a well-known sight on the streets of New York. The soldiers were not popular with the vast majority of the local population and as a consequence the soldiers tended to keep themselves pretty much isolated from the civilian population.
The daily toil for all the families continued for a long time and after two years in their new home they found they had enough money collectively to leave the house in the Bronx and search for another home. Their time in the house hadn`t been wasted however and it was now one of the smartest in the street, with fresh paint and a nice tidy yard. The first thing that Seth had done was to fit a new door to the privy much to everyone`s relief. He was the only person in their little close knit group who knew anything about carpentry, having spent some years as a carpenters mate back home in Ireland. All the men were by now well into middle age with Mathew being the eldest at fifty six years, followed by Patrick at fifty four and Seth at fifty one. They decided after much discussion that it would be nicer and better for all of them if they could afford to move on from New York, maybe out into one of the surrounding states, to hopefully better themselves, particularly at their time of life. So with all the families in agreement they left New York and moved south through Pennsylvania to eventually reach the state of Virginia, where they once again hoped to find suitable employment.
Virginia was a lot more easy going and rural than New York with a much more relaxed style of life and it was altogether a better place to be. Many of the early settlers had made Virginia their home and there were many upper class people there, however, they were down to earth and friendly in spite of their upper class backgrounds. They eventually arrived in the main town of the state, Richmond, which would in later years become the State Capital. They had transported all their belongings including many more items of furniture in an open wagon which they had persuaded their old employer, the meat trader to part with, but it was still a tight fit with everything loaded. There was room on the high seat at the front for whoever was driving the wagon plus two others, so most of the families walked alongside, taking it in turns to ride. The three older boys had horses of their own now, all purchased quite cheaply at a horse market just north of New York some months previously, and they also took turns at giving the rest of the family a ride, perched on the horses backs behind the saddles. The journey from the Bronx to Richmond was nearly three hundred and fifty miles and the journey took them well over a month as they could only average about twelve miles a day as the roads were not good and the wagon continually got stuck in ruts or mud and had to be manhandled out to keep going. During this time they all lived in a tent which they had again got from the meat trader, which took more time as it had to be erected every evening and dismantled and packed the next morning, which took about two hours.
People had warned them before setting out from New York that the native American Indians were active in the area as they didn`t approve of the settlers taking their ancestral land, but in the month they were on the road, they saw no sign of the Indians, much to everyone`s relief. Before leaving New York the men had purchased new weapons which included several rifles and handguns and plenty of ammunition. The three men were all fair shots with a rifle but surprisingly the youngest, Perry, now over fourteen years old was by far the best shot of the whole party. He practised whenever he could using homemade wooden targets, and helped the food situation enormously on the trip by providing fresh meat, ranging from rabbits to deer, on an almost daily basis. He had really taken to the outdoor way of life and expressed his ambition to move even further west when he was old enough to leave the family group. Adam Grogan had also developed a liking for living outdoors and said that once they reached Richmond he thought he might get employment with one of the stage coach companies, which provided a rapid passenger and mail service across the country by now numbering 31 states, hopefully as a driver if he could find an opening. He was now nineteen years of age and in view of this, the three men allowed him to drive the wagon on a regular basis to gain experience. He found he had a knack for controlling the heavy wagon and the two oxen who hauled it and when he was in the driving seat, the wagon seldom got bogged down or stuck as he seemed to be able to judge where to put the wagon wheels with a good degree of accuracy on the firmest ground. When he was driving, Annabel, now fifteen, was often to be found riding beside him and the two had developed strong feelings for each other. Annabel also proved to be a competent driver despite her small build and the oxen would do most anything she told them to do. When Adam was driving the wagon, he entrusted his horse to Daniel, who now at sixteen was a competent and skilled rider and was also becoming quite an expert with a rope and on occasion assisted Perry on his hunting expeditions by roping the larger prey to enable Perry to get the best shot possible. Matilda often accompanied Perry on his hunting expeditions and proved herself to be a fairly competent tracker. John, Morgan and Davy often went ahead of the wagon on foot scouting the immediate area for any signs of danger, but their fathers insisted that they all carried weapons, just in case. John and Davy favoured the rifles as their preferred armament but Morgan decided that he would rather use a native Indian bow and arrow as he said he liked the fact that it made no noise, enabling him to creep up on things before losing off an arrow. He wasn`t particularly interested in providing food, leaving that to Perry, but preferred to hunt larger more dangerous animals like wolves and the occasional bear which he expertly skinned, and dried the fur hides to provide warm clothing during the winter months. The three women were content to cook the fresh rations that Perry provided and assist in the skinning and curing of the animals that Morgan bought in. The men were kept busy maintaining the wagon and pitching and striking the tent each evening and morning, also providing timber for their nightly camp fires. Mathew went down with a mystery illness three weeks into their journey and was incapacitated for a week, spending most of his time in a sweat or shivering cramped in a small space the women had made for him in the wagon.
