I joined the trip to America with much trepidation. I was barely 16,
             when my parents decided to move the family to America to seek our fortune.
             I knew that the trip would not be happy, but became even more nervous when
             my father Eugene called our trip the American Wake. When I asked him why,
             he simply said, "Molly, we shall never see Ireland again." Mother just
             stood by him, watching silently as the ship carried us away from the shore.
             Like many other Irish during the time, our family moved to America for
             work, to find a better life. We had been told that America was a welcoming
             and bountiful country, but this was not always true. I was only 16 the
             first time I saw a sign that said, "No Irish need apply." I had just
             arrived in America with my parents and my brother, along with many others
             of my countrymen from Ireland, England and other parts of northern Europe.
             My brother Malachy became angry about the sign, since he was young and all
             he wanted to do was work. But no one would hire him, because of his
             accent and because his last name was O'Connor ("Irish Immigrants in America
             during the 19th Century").
             But father told him to let it be. Father said we would move somewhere
             else to begin our new life, somewhere where people would respect us for our
             hard work, even though we were Irish.
             The country was just emerging from its own war when we arrived here in
             1876. Though the hostilities were officially over, there was still much
             unrest, particularly in the countryside. In many ways, the situation
             reminded me of Ireland and the reasons we left. Farmers were reeling from
             the effects of an economic downturn in the 1870s, which caused the prices
             of crops to drop. As a result, many farmers around America faced the loss
             of their crops and their land.
             This was a situation we knew well, but there was also an important
             difference. While the Irish farmers back home faced famine a...