Irish Potato Famine Immigrants in Southern St. Charles County
by Bob Brail
Often it is impossible to see any connection between an important historical event and one's own existence. For example, students will study the Revolutionary War in America, distanced from the events because they happened so long ago. A person could also be distanced geographically from a historical event if the event being studied happened in another part of the world. Consider the Irish Potato Famine of the mid[nineteenth century. What possible connection could there be between this famous plague and St. Charles County, Missouri? In fact, there is an important connection since of the hundreds of thousands of Irish who fled their homeland during the Famine, several ended up in the southern portion of St. Charles County, particularly in Dardenne Township.
The tragedy of the Irish Potato Famine was a long time in the making. For several years, the bulk of Ireland's people had become increasingly dependent on the potato for nutrition. Most farmers practiced subsistence farming on small farms, and many of these were tenant farmers who did not own the land. These people made the potato the staple crop of Ireland because it was easy to grow, requiring a minimum of labor, and was very nutritious. By the time the famine struck in the mid-1840's, “almost half the Irish population—but primarily the rural poor—had come to depend almost exclusively on the potato for their diet.” About eighty percent of all the calories they consumed came from potatos.
As a result of the potato famine, Ireland's population dropped from nearly 8.5 million before the famine to about 6.5 million at its conclusion. Nearly one million people died from starvation or diseases resulting from starvation. Approximately one million more emigrated, many of them coming to the United States. In the decade of 1841-1850, about half of the immigration into America were Irish.
Many of these people eventually arrived in Missouri. By 1850 about two hundred Irish-born individuals were living in St. Charles County, almost none of them in the county's southern half. Ten years later the Irish-born population of St. Charles County had doubled. By this time fewer than fifty had settled in the southern part of the county. The largest group lived in Dardenne Township numbered about 40, with five more in Femme Osage Township. Sufficient documentary evidence exists to show that several of these people left Ireland during the potato famine.
Thomas Sweeney (born 1820?) and Timothy Sweeney (born 1828) were probably brothers. A passenger list from The Dromohair includes Thomas Sweeney; the ship left from Sligo in northwestern Ireland and arrived in New York in November, 1848. The Sweeneys had good reason to leave County Sligo. The blight and famine had arrived there by 1845. By the next year Sligo residents were experiencing “extreme destitution” with the lack of food increasing the potential for violence. By 1847 burials without coffins were commonplace because of the increasing number of deaths; in one County Sligo parish, nine percent of the population of one thousand died in a twelve day period. The 1850 census shows both Thomas and Timothy Sweeney as lodgers in rural St. Charles County; both are laborers. However, the 1852 St. Charles County census does not include them. By 1854 documents indicate their residence in St. Charles County: Thomas is sued for debt in the county, and Timothy marries Nancy Price in April. Both Timothy and Thomas become American citizens in St. Charles County on June 25, 1857. By 1860 both Sweeneys are living with their wives and children in Dardenne Township; both men are still laborers.
John Snooks (born in 1825), was a shoemaker, from Dingle, County Kerry, in southwestern Ireland where the potato blight occurred in 1845 with famine soon to follow. By March of 1846, deaths had increased to the extent that one member of the clergy questioned, “How are we to provide coffins for the people?” Later that year a member of the Dingle relief committee wrote that “the utmost destitution prevailed in Dingle.” In the midst of famine, Snooks married Maria Harris (born 1826), on August 5, 1846, in Dingle, County Kerry. The newly married couple must have fled famine-ravaged Ireland immediately, since they arrived in America on the Mediator only five weeks later, on September 10, 1846. They were living in Missouri by 1855 when their son John was born. The 1860 census lists John and Mary Snooks in Dardenne Township, near the merchant James Naylor, whose store was in what is now the area of Cottleville. John's occupation is “laborer.” Living in the Snookses' house were Irish born Mary Powers (age 20), Catharine Powers (55), Mary Hayes (60), and Thomas Kirvin (24).
James (born 1832) and Malachi (1830) Cass, were probably brothers, Irish born men who were living in Dardenne Township in 1860 with three Irish born women, most likely their mother and two sisters. Both were listed as farmers. There is a James Cass, born around 1832, listed on passenger list for The Pelican State, which left Liverpool, England, and arrived in New York on March 24, 1852. Naturalization records indicate that both Cass men were in New York City in April, 1854. In 1856 Malachi Cass purchased land in Section 22 46N R2E in the area of Kraut Run Lake in the August Busch Conservation Area. Both men are listed as farmers in Callaway Township in an 1863 Civil War draft register. Eventually both James and Malachi moved to Carroll County.
Two more families who left Ireland during the potato famine were the O'Days and the Collinses. John O'Day (born 1825) and his son wife Julia (1830) left Ireland in 1849, arriving in New York City on April 6. A naturalization document indicates they were living in Kentucky in 1853. The 1860 census lists the O'Days living in Dardenne Township, where John is a farmer. By 1863 they had moved to Callaway Township where John is listed on a Civil War draft register. John Collins (born 1805) and his son John (1849) left Liverpool in late 1852 on The Yorkshire and arrived in America on January 7, 1853. At some later point (unless she was omitted from The Yorkshire's passenger list), Ellen Collins (1808) joined her husband and son in the United States. By 1860 the family was living in Dardenne Township, where Mr. O'Day worked as a laborer.
Other Irish born residents were living in southern St. Charles County in 1860. Such residents of Dardenne Township and their occupations were the following: Louis (laborer) and Catherine Conley, who were in the United States by 1848; James (laborer) and Mary Dunwort, who were living in Missouri by 1855; David (laborer) and Ann Douglas, who were in Missouri by 1855; Femme Osage Township was home to William (farmer) and Ellen Kelly, who in 1855 purchased a farm in Section 33 46N R2E, near the present-day intersection of Highways DD and D. All of these individuals likely left Ireland during the years of the potato famine. Several other Irish born residents of southern St. Charles County probably left Ireland during the famine but there is not sufficient documentary evidence to prove this.
It is indeed a fact that southern St. Charles County was eventually impacted by the Irish potato famine of the mid-eighteenth century, even though this human disaster originated several thousand miles away. For reasons that are unknown, several of these immigrants from Ireland settled in Dardenne Township during the 1850's.
Sources: 1852 Census of St.Charles County (St. Charles City-County Library); Cemeteries of St. Charles County, Missouri (Eds. Edith Wiechens and Carol Geerling); “Famine in an Irish Town: How Dingle Survived the Great Hunger” (irishcentral.com); Federal Population Censuses; “Great Famine” (britannica.com); “Ireland Civil Registrations, 1845-1913” (familysearch.com); “Ireland Select Marriages, 1619-1898” (ancestry.com); Land and Property Records (St. Charles County Historical Society); “Missouri Judicial Records” (sos.mo.gov/archives); “Missouri, U. S., Wills and Probate Records, 1766-1988 (ancestry.com); Naturalization Records (St. Charles County Historical Society); “New York, U. S., Arriving Passenger and Crew Lists, 1820-1957” (ancestry.com) “Sligo's Starvation in Famine Times Detailed” (independent.ie); “U. S. Civil War Draft Registration Records, 1863-1865” (ancestry.com).