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(via Dream Big with Tiny Homes to End Homelessness | Dan Bryant | TEDxSalem - YouTube)

Pat Malloy

Originally Sung with Immense Success by Mr. Dan Bryant

Words by Dion Bourcicault, Esq. | Arranged by John P. Cooke, Esq.

Pat Malloy

"At sixteen years of age I was my mother's fair-hair'd boy, She kept a little huxter shop, her name it was Malloy; "I've fourteen children," Pat, says she, "which heav'n to me has sent, But childer aint like pigs, you know - they can't pay the rent!" She gave me ev'ry shilling there was in the till, And kiss'd me fifty times or more, as if she'd never get her fill, - "Oh, heav'n bless you Pat," says she, "and don't forget, my boy, That ould Ireland is your country, and your name is Pat Malloy!"

A copy of this vintage sheet music was given to me as a child by friends of my grandparents in Santa Fe, New Mexico. From History.com, “When America Despised the Irish: The 19th Century’s Refugee Crisis.” As the article notes, “While the potato blight struck across Europe, no corner of the continent was as dependent on tubers for survival as Ireland, which was mired in extreme poverty as a result of centuries of British rule.” Many Irish fled Ireland to America.

“A flotilla of 5,000 boats transported the pitiable castaways from the wasteland. Most of the refugees boarded minimally converted cargo ships—some had been used in the past to transport slaves from Africa—and the hungry, sick passengers, many of whom spent their last pennies for transit, were treated little better than freight on a 3,000-mile journey that lasted at least four weeks.”

As we watch the struggles of immigrants today in the 21st century, we should remember that not all those seeking freedom and a better future for themselves and their families in America have hailed from Latin America and Africa. Discrimination against Irish migrants back then was - like it is sadly at times today - cruel and brutal.

But working in the nonprofit sector today (and with strong Irish roots), I enjoyed reading about this bright spot in 19th century philanthropy. It would be marvelous for historians to offer educational webinars and write more about this first disaster relief effort.

“Certainly, many Protestants reacted with Christian charity to the refugees. It was a Boston Brahman—Captain Robert Bennet Forbes—who spearheaded America’s first major foreign disaster relief effort by delivering food and supplies to Ireland aboard a government warship during “Black ’47.”