An Irish village is being gradually unearthed in Baltimore County in the first known survey of an Irish immigrant village in the U.S. Archaeology students at the University of Maryland, College Park, have been digging in the area which was called Texas by the Irish immigrants who settled there.
The Irish settlement Texas began by 1847 and by 1860 was home to an established Irish community. Many residents of the village could trace their families to Ballykilcline in County Roscommon where about 1,100 people emigrated between 1847 and 1852.
You can read more in an article by Antoinette Kelly at http://www.irishcentral.com/roots/Irish-immigrant-village-unearthed-in-Maryland-50635617.html.
My thanks to Ed Hamilton for telling me about this article.
You can read more about the Ballykilcline, County Roscommon in Mary Lee Dunn's book "Ballykilcline Rising" which details the resident's rent strike and consequently were forced out of Ireland. Dunn is the founding member of the Ballykilcline Society.
Posted by: Judy Sylvia | July 14, 2009 at 10:32 AM