My dad, Francis Joseph Kirk was born March 19, 1894 in the Barness Gap Section of Glenelly Valley, Co. Tyrone. He was a member of the volunteers in the Troubles of 1921-22-23. When he told of his experiences (tongue-in-cheek) he said he likened it to the Minutemen in the American Revolution.
He came to the U.S. in 1924 to his Uncle Tom, and sisters Maryann and Bridget. He traveled on the same ship as my mother did one year before. He arrived in Ellis Island after a seven-day journey. My mother’s trip was six days. Unknown to them, the ship’s engine had been updated and he arrived in the states a day early. You had to be claimed by a relative before being released. So he waited.
Finally a Traveler’s Aid person approached him and said “What happened, Greenhorn? Has no one come to meet you?” He replied, “My sister Bridget sent me a letter in case anything goes wrong.” He handed it to the gentleman. It said, “Call this number, Mrs. Callahan is the only one on the block who has a phone. She will tell you what to do.” He was instructed to take a train from New York to Philadelphia, get off, and walk across the platform to another train which would take him to Norristown.
He followed the instructions and thought, “I remembered how to spell Norristown?” He watched and exited the train, listening to the station master exclaim “you know Greenhorn, you are a day early!” He thought to himself I’ve heard that before.
The station master told him to walk up five blocks, turn right at Chestnut Street. They are all out of the street waiting for you. It was like a block party. He saw his very pregnant sister on the top step. The other sister was saying, “Bridget! Bridget! Get upstairs. You can’t deliver on the front steps. This was her sixth child.” Which is why she was unable to travel to NY to meet the brother they called Francie.
His sister Maryann woke him up at 5 a.m. the next morning and instructed him to go to the corner of Dekalb and Main Street and sit on the curb with the many Irishmen waiting for work. The truck came and so they were taken to a field of the electric company. Their instructions were to climb up poles throughout Montgomery County and string wires from pole to pole. Dad never said how much he was paid, but it was less than a dollar a day.
Upon retelling this story to my brother Frane, he remarked “I go to Norristown and pick up two Mexicans to do my landscaping in Valley Forge Mountain once a month. Things have changed since 1924!