{"id":729,"featured":0,"modified":"2026-04-17 19:48:37","latitude":38.66329999999999955662133288569748401641845703125,"longitude":-87.0553000000000025693225325085222721099853515625,"title":"Montgomery’s Irish Immigrants","subtitle":"Not all Irish immigrants settled in urban areas","fullsize":"https://discoverindianahistory.org.curatescape7.reclaim.hosting/files/fullsize/a129347e548c444ab3dec1860cc80fe7.jpg","address":"","all_locations":[],"zoom":13,"creator":["Kaitlyn Leib"],"description":"The United States received a large number of Irish immigrants during the nineteenth century. Between 1820 and 1930, it is believed that around 4.5 million Irish immigrants came to the United States. From 1820 to 1860, the Irish made up one third of all immigrants entering the country. They were almost half of all immigrants in the 1840s. Due to the increased availability of employment opportunities, many Irish immigrants settled in larger cities in the East and Midwest. Not all Irish people settled in urban areas. In Indiana, Montgomery became one of the rural farming settlements for Irish immigrants. They tended to own their own land, especially if they came before the 1850s. Instead of finding employment on the various internal improvement projects happening in Indiana during the nineteenth century, such as canals and railroads, these immigrants made their living through farming, possibly something that they were accustomed to from their life in Ireland.<br />\r\n<br />\r\nMontgomery’s Irish came from all four of Ireland’s provinces: Leinster, Ulster, Munster, and Connaught. Most came from either Leinster or Ulster. The already established Catholic community and St. Peter Catholic Church likely enticed some of the Catholic Irish to settle in Montgomery. Though a large number of Irish immigrants in the United States settled in urban areas, the Irish in Montgomery serve as an example of those that settled in farming communities.<br />","sponsor":null,"accessinfo":"","lede":"","website":"","related_resources":["Gahan, Daniel. “Irish Immigrants in the Hoosier Hills, Part 1.” The Hoosier Genealogist:<br />\r\nConnections 58, no. 2 (2018): 4-13.","Gahan, Daniel. “Irish Immigrants in the Hoosier Hills, Part 2.” The Hoosier Genealogist:<br />\r\nConnections 59, no. 1 (2019): 4-11.","“Irish-Catholic Immigration to America.” Library of Congress. Accessed April 27, 2025.<br />\r\nhttps://www.loc.gov/classroom-materials/immigration/irish/irish-catholic-immigration-to-america/.","“Saint Peter’s History.” Saint Peter Catholic Church Montgomery. Accessed April 27, 2025.<br />\r\nhttps://stpetermontgomery.org/."],"factoids":[],"files":{"https://discoverindianahistory.org.curatescape7.reclaim.hosting/files/fullsize/a129347e548c444ab3dec1860cc80fe7.jpg":{"id":3457,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Irish Farmers","description":"Pictured here around 1880-1889, Irish farmers were harvesting oats from the fields. If Irish immigrants wanted to and could get land to own or rent, then they would have been able to continue their farming occupation in their new country. | Library of Congress | c. 1880-1889 | Detroit Publishing Co.","thumbnail":"https://discoverindianahistory.org.curatescape7.reclaim.hosting/files/square_thumbnails/a129347e548c444ab3dec1860cc80fe7.jpg"},"https://discoverindianahistory.org.curatescape7.reclaim.hosting/files/fullsize/96c4e2dc2befcad8666dfac99f2176cb.jpg":{"id":3458,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Daviess County Map","description":"This 1876 map shows Daviess County in Southeastern Indiana. Montgomery sits in Barr Township approximately halfway between Washington in Washington Township and Loogootee in Martin County. | Indiana Historical Society | 1876 | Baskin, Forster &amp; Company","thumbnail":"https://discoverindianahistory.org.curatescape7.reclaim.hosting/files/square_thumbnails/96c4e2dc2befcad8666dfac99f2176cb.jpg"},"https://discoverindianahistory.org.curatescape7.reclaim.hosting/files/fullsize/9da5899a15d51cacdb9f81411ad36171.jpg":{"id":3459,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"St. Peter Church","description":"St. Peter Catholic Church in Montgomery was one of the first Catholic churches in the state of Indiana. Established in 1818, the Catholic church and surrounding community may have been a reason why some Irish immigrants settled nearby. This image of the church was taken between 1890 and 1910. | Daviess County Historical Society &amp; Museum | c. 1890-1910","thumbnail":"https://discoverindianahistory.org.curatescape7.reclaim.hosting/files/square_thumbnails/9da5899a15d51cacdb9f81411ad36171.jpg"},"https://discoverindianahistory.org.curatescape7.reclaim.hosting/files/fullsize/7b412353f10a029aa4b033c0c8c5d89c.jpg":{"id":3460,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Southern IN Farms","description":"This 1894 depiction of farms and houses in Winslow, Pike County, Indiana would have been a similar view to that of the farmland in Montgomery. | Indiana Album, Estella Toler Collection | 1894 | &quot;Souvenir of Petersburg, Indiana, with Glimpses of Pike County, 1894&quot;","thumbnail":"https://discoverindianahistory.org.curatescape7.reclaim.hosting/files/square_thumbnails/7b412353f10a029aa4b033c0c8c5d89c.jpg"},"https://discoverindianahistory.org.curatescape7.reclaim.hosting/files/fullsize/736a52c26b390b5b0df1bda8bb0e0b8b.jpg":{"id":3461,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Peasant Farmer","description":"This card depicts a stereotypical Irish peasant farmer. In Ireland, farming was a common occupation and therefore many skills would have transferred well into the farming settlement in Montgomery. | Library of Congress | c. 1890-1900","thumbnail":"https://discoverindianahistory.org.curatescape7.reclaim.hosting/files/square_thumbnails/736a52c26b390b5b0df1bda8bb0e0b8b.jpg"},"https://discoverindianahistory.org.curatescape7.reclaim.hosting/files/fullsize/4066a2bf9760f5665447d51d88ebd1fe.jpg":{"id":3462,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Immigration Map","description":"This map from 1883 gives statistical details on the immigration rates in the United States, such as the foreign-born population in the nation and the percentage of foreign-born in most state counties. The Irish population in America was over 1.8 million people. | Library of Congress | c. 1883 | Fletcher W. Hewes and Henry Gannett","thumbnail":"https://discoverindianahistory.org.curatescape7.reclaim.hosting/files/square_thumbnails/4066a2bf9760f5665447d51d88ebd1fe.jpg"}}}