AS I WANDERED #52 McFee

Tags

9/11, Barclay, Borges, Bradford, Brown's Landing, Buffalo, Gouldie, Hudson, Immigrant, Indentured Servtitude, Ireland, Irish, Jay Gould, Scranton

I know, I know. You are right. I should have addressed this long ago.

I identified parts of Bogdan Yelcovich’s life in the Immigrant.

I also told you a bit about me in the Scranton railroad yard.

And I discussed people such as Borges, Hudson, Gould, and cities such as Bradford and Buffalo; and even places such as Brown’s Landing.

Not to mention Henryville where we visited his Uncle Eppy and Aunt Polly.

So now we must talk about Jim McFee; the third member of the “Three Railroad Men.”

Come, come now. You know who they are.

Bogdan Yelcovich, Jim McFee and myself; Wally.

Now Jim McFee does not have as much written history as some of the above subjects, but he does have a background.

First we need to straighten out some misconceptions. The name McFee likes to be claimed by the Scots. However, forty percent of the McFees are Irish – – – and that is what we should discuss today.

Another misconception was that all the Irish immigrated here during the great famine of 1845 to 1852. Not so.

Well – – – not necessarily so. Although a lot of them did migrate to Canada before the famine. Canada could not handle the large influx so they departed and headed for the United States.

Nova Scotia in particular had a great influx of people from the southern Irish counties of Wexford, Waterford, Kilkenny, Tipperary, Cork and Kerry. They arrived in Halifax and Pictou. Some lesser numbers landed at the Gulf of Canso, Sydney, Yarmouth and other ports.

How do I reach the conclusion that there were great migrations before the famine?

Every governmental study of Ireland that was done in the early 1800’s said that Ireland was on the verge of collapse.

Unemployment was high, productivity was low, and the potato crop was the singular thing keeping famine from the doorstep.

The Irish were not ignorant of these facts – – – and a lot of them immigrated before the great famine; leaving their beautiful land behind.

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Just check out the origins of the people in the cemetery at Barclay.

Some of those even returned to the province of Nova Scotia in Canada.

They populated the working force that worked on our canals and slaved as household servants.

Take a look at any census report from the early 1800’s and see who was doing the heavy lifting and drudgery. Look to see who the indentured servants were. Then look at the column that states their country of origin.
 
They left an impact on all aspects of our past:

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And, I am sure, they will continue to sacrifice in whatever the future deals to this great country.

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©W. Tomosky♠

AS I WANDERED #27 DUDLEY

Tags

Brown's Landing, Captain Dudley, Cotton Receipt, Dudley Family Photo, Florida, molasses, Mrs. Dudley's Quilt, musical saw, Newberry Florida, Plowing with horses, Savannah, Syrup House

I owe you an apology.
 
I missed something while I was in Florida.
 
Royal from Savannah told me to stop and visit Cap’n Dudley on my way back to Scranton. However, the railroad schedules were not treating me kindly.
 
On top of that, I was even closer. When Jim McFee, Bogdan Yelcovich and I visited “Brown’s Landing” the Captain’s farm was only a short distance away.
 
So I missed the opportunity on two occasions.
 
However Royal was kind enough to cut some pictures out of the Savannah paper and mail them to me. Therefore, in respect for Royal’s kindness, I will now share them with you.

So that is it. That is all that Royal sent me. I guess I will have to rely on that old saw “Better late than never.”

 

I think I owe you more than that old saw.

There is nothing like a visual pun!  Sorry.

©W. Tomosky♠

AS I WANDERED #11 BROWN’S LANDING

Tags

Adirondacks, batak, Brown's Landing, Florida, gator, Jacksonville, Palatka, Poconos, Rice Creek, Scranton, St. John's River, Steamboat

Yes it is true. The train ride from Scranton, Pennsylvania to Jacksonville, Florida was rather boring; especially the last hundred miles. It was either swamp in Georgia or pine flats in Florida.

But then we got to Jacksonville. By ‘we’ I mean all three of us – – – Jimmy McFee from Tennessee, Bogdan Yelcovich from eastern Europe and me.

I would have told you which country Bogdan is from but with all the wars and border changes over there I am not too sure he knows where he is from himself. Sometimes he says Ukraine then other times he says Austria and still other times he says Russia.

Anyway, we ended up in Jacksonville with plans to get on to Palatka via the St. John’s River and Rice Creek. Our final destination would be “Brown’s Landing.” Someone had told Bogdan that Browns Landing was going to be the next big city in Florida. He had heard it was an interesting area with great bargains in land purchases. I can now see why there are bargains; there is nothing here.

The people there are dirt poor; for the most part. Sometimes there are tourists and land buyers – – – like Bogdan, Jim and I – – – that show up from time to time.

And then there were the sports that had already left way too many footprints in the Pocono and Adirondack Mountains.

Nice ‘gator there! I bet the guy holding it is the guide.

I think that the lady in the boat must have gotten the vapors – – – probably because it was her husband who shot the poor little thing.

Bogdan, Jim and I decided that hacking a clearing out of this wilderness – – – especially with all the mosquitoes, snakes and monster spiders – – – was not something that was in our best interest. So we took this steamer back to Jacksonville and a train back to Scranton.

On the way we met a very interesting gentleman.

The boatman said the cabin owner would make us a great lunch from greens he finds in the wilderness. It was a delicious meal and none of us got sick.

Take a look at the clever dog house he made. Mostly small branches. Keeps the panthers away but not the insects.

Poor dog!

 

©W. Tomosky♠