In 1850 an ageing priest led a group of over 1000 people from their homes in south-east Ireland to start new lives in the American Mid-West. This was no blind flight from famine, but a concerted attempt organised by the Bishop of Little Rock to establish an Irish Catholic colony in Arkansas. A series of setbacks broke the cohesion of the group which splintered into six, settling in places as diverse as New Orleans, Arkansas, Texas, Missouri and Iowa. This book follows their progress, showing the other side of the famine emigration experience - what happened when they got to America. The names of 847 of those people form a fascinating appendix to this story. (Published by Dee-Jay Publications, 1995)
| Sunday Press (Dublin): | "A gem of a book". |
| Irish Times: | " ...a brave and audacious adventure... this account is timely and necessary ..." |
| Books Ireland: | "An Irish Schindler's List ..... a highly readable account of one community's transplantation.." |
| Irish Echo (New York): | "A valuable document for students of Irish-American history". |
Between 1847 and 1856, 6,000 men, women and children were cleared off the 80,000 acre County Wicklow estate of Lord Fitzwilliam and were given assisted passage to Canada. This book explores how the estate management went about this task and these 'surplus people' fared in Quebec and New Brunswick. Many of their names appear in the book. All their names have been recorded in a database. (Published by Collins Press, 2000)
| Wexford Echo: | "A brilliant new book.. first and foremost a good story well told .. also a great reference source" |
| Wicklow People: | "Anyone who enjoyed A Farewell To Famine will enjoy this new book." |
| Books Ireland: | "Jim Rees certainly knows his stuff … a very human touch" |
| Choice (USA): | "… thoroughly researched …. Deserves inclusion in history collections". |
| Boston Irish Reporter: | " … such a book as we have here is welcome …" |
Born in a dockside tavern in Wicklow town, Robert Halpin began his seafaring career at the age of eleven and was shipwrecked twice before he was 23. Unafraid of danger, particularly when potential profit outweighed risks involved, he ran supplies to the Confederate ports in the American Civil War. His greatest exploits were as Commander of the largest ship on earth, the ss Great Eastern, in which he laid 26,000 miles of cable, linking four continents with telegraphic communication, making himself a fortune in the process.
| Irish Times: | '…extraordinary story of human weakness and human strength … well captured by the author.' |