Krista Luttrell

Many moons ago, when I first began my journey into the realm of family history, my intention was simple: to write a small book about what I had discovered, for the benefit of my beloved children and the generations who will come after them.

In the early Spring of this year, I finally began this long-anticipated project. I’m now a few chapters in. Nearly thirty years of research, interviews, data collection, and sifting through historical information has given me plenty to unpack and organize. It’s no small task to shape it all into a structured and meaningful narrative.

I’m not a professional writer. In fact, I’ve never written a book before. But here I am-writing one. I’m doing it with joy, and I’m not letting my lack of experience stand in the way.

At first, I thought I would call the book Bridget’s Daughters. Bridget I. Greally, a direct ancestor from my maternal line, was born in a clachan in a small townland in North County Galway, Ireland. As a teenager, she immigrated to Portland, Maine in the wake of the Great Hunger-a calamity that devastated Ireland between 1845 and 1852. I originally intended to focus on her life and legacy.

But I soon realized I wanted to go a bit deeper. I wanted to include not just Bridget’s story, but also that of her family-the life they lived before, during, and after she crossed the cold, vast Atlantic. That thought led me one generation further back, to Bridget’s mother, Margaret “Peggy” Reilly. By starting with Peggy, I can tell a broader story, one that includes Bridget’s known sisters and gives context to the early and mid 19th century-a time of great change and hardship in Ireland.

Historical Context: The Great Hunger and the lives of ordinary Irish Women

The Great Hunger (An Gorta Mór) was more than a famine; it was a profound social and political catastrophe. Caused primarily by repeated failures of the potato crops due to a fungus called Phytophthora infestans, and exacerbated by British laissez-faire economic and governmental policies, the famine wiped out approximately one million people and forced another two million or so to emigrate. More people died or left the country in its wake. This was particularly true in the western parts of Ireland, including County Galway, where my maternal line great grandmothers were born and raised.

The period of the Great Hunger forever changed Irish society. It broke families and their communities apart, depopulated entire townlands, and fundamentally altered gender roles. Young women like Bridget may have emigrated, and some did so alone, driven by both economic necessity and mere survival.

Emigration from East and North County Galway to places like Portland, Maine in the US, was part of a larger trend. By the mid-19th century, Portland had become a known port of entry for Irish men, women and any children they may have had, offering employment opportunities in the rapidly growing railroad industry, factories, mills, and in domestic service. Some married women like Bridget, instead, tended to the unpaid domestic duties of their own homes, and to the care and needs of their husbands and children. Bridget’s journey is just one thread woven into the great fabric of the Irish diaspora.

I’m feeling enthusiastic about this book. But I’m not rushing. I’m letting it unfold moment by moment, writing as the story continues to reveal itself in my thoughts.

Thank you for reading this first post on my new WordPress website. Your comments are welcomed.

♥︎ Krista