Monday, October 27, 2014

The Irish Catholic Genesis Of Lowell

The Irish Catholic Genesis of Lowell[1] is the title of a short publication that provides some very interesting genealogical information about Irish immigrants and their descendants in this Massachusetts city. Published in 1920, it focuses on the 1820-1850 time period and there are short articles and lists concerning the following topics:

The arrival of the first wave of Catholic Irish in the 1820s and 1830s, including a mention of how many of them were from counties Cork and Dublin
The establishment of the first Catholic Church
A list of important dates and events for the Lowell Irish community
A profile of Hugh Cummiskey, one of the early leaders of the Irish community and stated as being from Tyrone
The first Irish school
Irishmen who paid a poll tax in the city between 1826 and 1830
Entries for those who were believed to be Irish from the Lowell city directory of 1835


All in all, this is a very useful publication for anyone with pre-Famine ancestors in Lowell, MA. A word of caution though, as with all of these types of early biographic/city history publications, there are no citations from primary sources. Use the information as a guide in your research and, as much as is possible, verify any information with primary documents.


I have also previously written about St. Patrick's Cemetery in Lowell, click here to read.



[1] O'Dwyer, George Francis. The Irish Catholic Genesis of Lowell. Lowell, MA: Sullivan Bros. 1920.

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