This is the complete work done by Kelly Tobin O’Donnell for her Masters Thesis at USD in 1995. I scanned it at the Copley Library in San Diego and formatted it for the web (renumbering and creating hyperlinks for the footnotes nearly drove me crazy but it was worth it).
First she contrasts the experience of the immigrant Irish who made it all the way to San Diego and the West with those who hung around the Irish ghettos of Boston and New York. In 1850 the Irish constituted 40% of the foreign-born population in the United States!
She carefully documents how those who made the arduous trip “shaped the development of the third largest state in the Union, California.” Indeed they did and we are very proud of them e.g. the Irish contractor who developed many of the first roads in San Diego and the Irishman who was responsible for ensuring the preservation of Balboa Park as a public park.
Ms. O’Donnell makes the point that “in San Diego where the need for a separate and distinct Irish community did not exist, those who braved the trans-Atlantic journey and the cross-country trek to settle on America's West Coast did not do so in order to create an Irish community on the Pacific Ocean. They did so in order to build a better life for themselves and their progeny, as well as contribute to the development of America’s newest state.” They just became Californians.
This had the peculiar effect of hiding the contribution of these early Irish because fellow San Diegans recognized their names and faces as neighbors and friends, not as immigrants and outcasts, as Easterners would have viewed them. The influence of early Irish settlers in California generally has been overlooked or under-appreciated precisely because of their integration and assimilation into the communities in which they lived.
Many changed their Irish names in favor of the Spanish counterpart: Don Timoteo Murphy, a.k.a. Timothy Murphy, Juan Murray, a.k.a. John Murray, and Andrés Cassidy, a.k.a. Andrew Cassidy.
Ms. O’Donnell asserts that on the East Coast: “the problem did not lie in being Irish, but being Catholic”, while on the West Coast: “the Irish immigrants had room to expand without fear of Anglo-American prejudice. They lived a life far removed from the oppression suffered at the hands of the British and from the prejudice experienced in the larger American cities. The opportunities seemed to be unlimited and the immigrants took advantage of the situations presented to them”.
She goes on to say: “Irishmen who arrived in California before 1848 became prominent as rancheros and adapted to the Spanish customs and ideals of the area. The Irish who settled in California took strong root and thrived in the Spanish and Mexican hospitality. They adopted the culture of their new communities and the local inhabitants gladly accepted them.” That is their monument and a great tribute to Irishness!
Her descriptions of ordinary life in San Diego in the mid-1800’s is a great read in the “American San Diego” section which describes how the Irish went from "Shamrocks to Serapes", a type of mantle worn with the head inserted through a hole in the center, which was standard wear for the men.
As to how the Irish got here: “The first group of Irishmen arrived in San Diego during the Mexican-American War as a contingent of the United States Army destined for Mexico. General Winfield Scott estimated that of the 3,500 soldiers of foreign birth in his Mexico Army, 2,000 of them were Irish”.
“The 1850 [San Diego] census revealed 36 distinct families with at least one adult born in Ireland. The majority either claimed “soldier” as their occupation or held an auxiliary position related to the camp such as clerk, carpenter or, for the women, cook and housekeeper”.
“A decade later, the number of Irish-born in San Diego County had more than doubled. The 1860 census shows that 84 Ireland natives, plus their families, called San Diego home”. Most of these 84 were not of the 36 families who had been here in 1850 because most of those moved on with the military, “becoming part of the patriotic Irish brigades who fought so valiantly [on both sides] during the Civil War”.
By the census of 1870, the number of native Irish had risen to 134. They recorded occupations as varied as carpenter, painter, blacksmith, grocer, surveyor, cook, farmer, merchant, undertaker and even sheriff.
Unlike their counterparts on the East Coast the Irish in San Diego became prominent property owners. Ms. O’Donnell documents Andrew Cassidy, George Lyons, James McCoy and Joshua Sloane to exemplify the success of the Irish in San Diego. James McCoy became one of the best-known San Diegans of his time and eventually served as a state senator.
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