Immigration

Leaving home

Helen was 16 years old when she had to leave her family, friends, and country behind for better opportunities in the United States. Her uncle was a pilot for Pan American Airways, and he secured tickets for Helen and her cousins to fly to the United States. Pictured left is a photo taken at the airport in Galway the day she left.

Her main reasons for leaving were that "there was no way to get an education and there was absolutely no work to be had" in Ireland.

"Agriculture, the traditional mainstay of the Irish economy, continued to decline throughout the 1950s. The state dedicated insufficient effort to developing new industries to fill the gap created by the demise of, in particular, of the small farm rural economy. As a consequence, little work was available for thousands of young people coming of age." (Emigre)

Helen's Journey

Galway

At only 16 years old, Helen left Galway in 1961 with only a small amount of belongings she could travel with.

New York

Helen arrived in the US through New York City. She stayed in the city for two weeks with her young cousins whom she had travelled with.

PittsburGh

From New York, she moved to Pittsburgh, PA, where she lived and worked for the next four months.

Boston

Helen moved to Massachusetts in 1962, where she was a nanny in Hyannis Port before moving to the South Shore, where she still lives today.

Helen's first day in the US, she is pictured in New York city with her young cousins

Assimilation

Essentially alone in a foreign country, Helen's first years in America were not without obstacles. When describing the decision to immigrate to the US, Helen said that "of course, it was hard," but that she "had to emigrate."

While assimilation proved difficult, Helen was able to surround herself with other Irish immigrants and Irish Americans, "most of [the people I knew] were from Ireland, [my husband] was Irish, my friends were Irish."

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