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St. Patrick's Day Parade

Photo courtesy of James Dilisio

Irish immigrants have been arrivingin Maryland since the first part of the seventeenth century. This ethnic group has given Maryland many leaders in the fields of politics, medicine, religion, academics, and other professions. One of the signers of the Declaration of Independence in 1776 was Charles Carroll of Carrollton; John Carroll was the first archbishop of the diocese of Baltimore, the founding diocese of the Catholic Church in America. Both were born in Maryland and descendants of Irish immigrants to America. In 2000, Maryland had a total population of 5,296,486. Of this number, 621,779 (11.7%) claimed Irish ancestry. 

A critical question is when and why did Irish immigrants come to Maryland? They came to Maryland in four waves: pre-1815, 1815 to 1845, 1845 to 1850, 1850 to 1921, and 1921 to present.

Pre-1815: Escaping Persecution
Most seventeenth-century Irish immigrants were Catholics who were mostly indentured servants, not landowners. They were also likely to be convicts or members of the British armed forces. Many were escaping religious and political persecution during and after the English invasion of Ireland led by Oliver Cromwell. Most of these early immigrants came to Maryland as individuals, not in family groups.  They saw America as a fearful place of exile from which dear ones never returned.

In the eighteenth century, that pattern changed to mainly Presbyterian Protestants, often called Scots-Irish, from Ulster. They were escaping religious persecution by the Anglicans. These Protestants were mainly artisans and farmers. They had skills, resources, and were economically motivated. They bought land in Maryland and were readily assimilated. Back in Ulster, these Scots-Irish had contact with America. Ships carrying Ulster linen and other products regularly left Derry and Belfast for America. Around 250,000 Scots-Irish sailed to America at this time.

The Calvert family, a prominent English Catholic family, was granted a barony by King James I in southwestern Ireland where there is still today a town named Baltimore. The next king, Charles I, granted land north of Virginia to George Calvert, the First Lord Baltimore, who diplomatically named the colony in honor Charles’ wife Henrietta Maria. The new land grant was called Terra Mariae or Mary Land. In 1633, Cecil Calvert, the Second Lord Baltimore, sent his brother Leonard with two ships, the Ark and the Dove. In 1634, the two ships landed at St. Clement’s Island in southern Maryland and formed the first settlement at St. Mary’s City. Among those early settlers were a number of Irish who were either indentured servants or crewmembers.

In the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, more Irish settled in what are now Cecil and Harford Counties on a tract of land called “New Ireland.” This tract was further subdivided into New Connaught, New Leinster, and New Munster, reflecting the names of the Irish provinces these immigrants likely came from.

1815-1845: Working on the Railroad and Haven with the Catholic Church
The period 1815-1845 led up to the great potato famine. When Napoleon Bonaparte controlled much of the European continent, the British were forced to depend more heavily on Ireland for food. As demand and agricultural prices increased, Ireland prospered. With the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo in 1815, the boom ended; Ireland went into an agricultural recession. As the prices of Irish goods declined, the British government increased taxes between 1816 and the mid-1830s to pay off war debts. Many Irish became landless laborers; many were evicted from their homes. Immigration to America increased. As more Irish settled in Maryland, especially in and around Baltimore, they sent word and money back home to relatives. A migration chain was created as more Irish came.

The port of entry into Maryland was Locust Point in Baltimore where the Baltimore & Ohio (B&O) Railroad built an “Immigrant Pier.” Upon arrival, many Irish immigrants traveled directly west. Starting in the late 1820s, many Irish immigrants went to work building the B&O Railroad westward. Many settled with their families in west Baltimore around Mt. Clare Station. St. Peter the Apostle Catholic Church, built in 1842, became a main place of worship for the Irish. Many lived in row houses near Mt. Clare Station. Several of those row houses on Lemmon Street today form the Irish Shrine Memorial, a museum of Irish immigrant life. Those Irish who settled in the Fells Point area of Baltimore helped build St. Patrick’s Church in 1796; it still stands at Broadway and Bank.

Among the states, Maryland had a reputation for tolerance; yet the Irish still encountered discrimination. The nativist “Know-Nothing Party” made life unpleasant for Irish immigrants in the 1840s and 1850s. Rural Irish immigrants had a rude awakening when they landed in urban Protestant America. One institution that the Irish could turn to was the Catholic Church. The Church provided schools, a social life, and assistance. Irish societies, such as the Hibernian Society of Baltimore founded in 1803, also established schools and gave assistance. While these institutions assisted the Irish, they also had the effect of isolating immigrants and prolonging their assimilation into society. Yet, given the vehement discrimination of the time, most Irish saw them as saviors.

1845-1850: The Great Hunger
Lasting only five years, the period 1845-1850 was a defining era for most Irish Americans. The huge Irish emigration of this time was linked to An Gorta Mor (The Great Hunger), often called The Famine. The partial failure of the potato crop in 1845 and total failures in 1846 and 1848 led to Ireland’s enormous human tragedy. Between 1.1 and 1.5 million died of hunger. Over 2 million left Ireland, about 70 percent for the United States.

One ship that brought Irish immigrants to Baltimore was the Jeanie Johnston. Between 1848 and 1855 the Jeanie Johnston made 16 voyages from Ireland to Quebec, New York, and Baltimore. No crew or passengers were ever lost, a remarkable record. The average length of the journey from Ireland to Baltimore was about 47 days. The transatlantic fare was about 3 pounds ($4.50); this was about six month’s wages then. A replica of the Jeanie Johnston made its maiden voyage to the United States and visited Baltimore in 2003.

1850-1921: Assimilation
From 1850 to the end of World War I, the Irish continued to migrate to Maryland. As in the Famine years, most of these immigrants were Catholics. Many arriving in the early 1860s fought in the Civil War, sometimes on Maryland soil in places such as Antietam. During the remainder of this period, Irish immigrants arriving in Baltimore began to disperse throughout central Maryland. The Irish settled in Belair, Cockeysville, Catonsville, Rockville, and numerous towns. They put Irish place names on the Maryland landscape, for example, Dundalk, Darlington, and Dublin. They spread west to New Market and northwest to Whitehall. Others followed the railroad and settled in the railroad and coal mining towns of Cumberland and Frostburg.

1921 to Present
Following the partition of Ireland into Northern Ireland and The Irish Free State (later the Republic of Ireland), many still immigrated to the United States to escape the poor economic conditions of Ireland. By the beginning of the twenty-first century, this situation changed. The surging modern Irish economy has brought prosperity to that island. Today more people migrate to Ireland than are leaving it.

In Maryland, the large Irish-American community is thriving. The more than 600,000 Irish Americans are heavily concentrated in the urban corridor of central Maryland running from Harford County southwest to Montgomery and Prince George’s Counties. Baltimore County has the largest number, over 110,000. This is followed by Montgomery, Anne Arundel, and Prince George’s Counties in descending order. Howard County, Baltimore City, and Harford County also have significant numbers (30,000 to 40,000 each). The lowest Irish-American populations are found on the Eastern Shore and in far western Maryland.

The Irish came to Maryland mainly through the port of Baltimore. Later generations moved out to the suburbs, yet the Irish of Maryland have remained geographically concentrated in central Maryland.

—James E. DiLisio

Towson University