West Virginia
West Virginia and the Irish – WV MetroNews
This year’s convergence of the national political issue of immigration and St. Patrick’s Day got me thinking about West Virginia and the Irish. I am not a historian, but even just a little amateur research reveals the significance of Irish immigrants in the Mountain State.
An estimated 1.5 million Irish left their home country for the United States during the famine period of 1845-1855. Margaret Brennan of the Wheeling Area Historical Society said many found their way to what was then Virginia to work.
“The Irish came, mostly during the Potato Famine, and they were recruited to help build the turnpikes, railroads and roads. One of the reasons they were a big contributor to West Virginia was because they were poor and had little education. They built the state as much as anyone.”
The construction projects that had a high percentage of Irish workers included the Paw Paw Tunnel, the B&O Railroad and the C&O Canal along the Potomac River. The work was hard and dangerous. “Cholera produced mass graves along the canal route,” according to Brennan.
But while the Irish were essential laborers on the hardest and most dangerous jobs, they were discriminated against in other employment. Signs reading “No Irish Need Apply” were commonplace in storefronts. Archive Wheeling reported, “The early negative reaction of the Irish foreshadows the reaction future waves of immigrants, including by the Irish themselves, post assimilation.”
The influx of Irish and Italians also produced the establishment and expansion of the Catholic church here. The Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston was formed in 1850 and it remains a significant institution in the state today. The Good Shepherd Roman Catholic Church in eastern Kanawha County is on the National Register of Historic Places. The story goes that the concrete Celtic cross next to the church stands on sod brought from Ireland.
Later in the 19th Century, several individuals of Irish descent became active in state politics. Brennan reports that Irish immigrant Thomas O’Brien of Wheeling was elected state Treasurer in 1880.
According to the West Virginia Encyclopedia, John Kenna, who was the son of Irish immigrants, served in the U.S. House of Representatives and later the U.S. Senate. The Jackson County community of Kenna is named for him, and a marble statue of Kenna stands in the U.S. Capitol.
Lewis County had a significant influx of Irish, and even has a community named for the home country. A story on the West Virginia Tourism website quotes a resident about its origin.
“Ireland was named for one of the area’s earliest settlers, Andrew Wilson, who immigrated here from the other Ireland,” Denton King said. “They say he lived to be 114, so he was called Old Ireland. And when the first post office was established in 1847, residents named the community after him.”
Immigrants from many other countries had significant roles in our state’s history. In fact, from the mid-19th century to the early 20th century, state government had a position of immigration commissioner whose job it was to recruit individuals from other countries to come here to work.
But on St. Patrick’s Day, or any other day for that matter, it is understandable that many West Virginians would feel a particular kinship with the Emerald Isle. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, about 12 percent of West Virginians claim Irish descent.
St. Patrick’s Day is behind us, but why not continue the celebration? As the Irish say, there are two kinds of people in this world: The Irish and those who wish they were.