I am seeking information about Irish immigrants who settled in New
Mexico - or anywhere in the Southwest of the United States.  The time
period of interest is around the turn of the century - from the late
1800's to the early 1900's.

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Request for Question Clarification by pinkfreud-ga on 08 Mar 2004 15:03 PST

There's quite a bit of info online about the Irish in Texas. Would
this be of interest?

It would be very helpful if you could provide details regarding the
precise type of information you're seeking. The more we know about
your requirements, the better we'll be able to focus our research. If
we have a good idea of your expectations, that takes us a long way
toward meeting your needs.

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Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 08 Mar 2004 15:47 PST

I'd like to bring to your attention the following book, which is
available in its entirety online:

Irish emigration to the United States : what it has been, and what it is. 
Byrne, Stephen, Rev. 
Published in 1873

The book is several hundred pages long, and covers the country section
by section, including:

CHAPTER VIII
THE STATES OF KANSAS AND NEBRASKA, AND THE TERRITORIES OF DAKOTA,
WYOMING, AND MONTANA

CHAPTER IX.
THE TERRITORIES OF NEW MEXICO, ARIZONA, COLORADO,
UTAH, AND IDAHO

CHAPTER X.
THE STATES OF THE PACIFIC COAST-CALIFORNIA, NEVADA, OREGON, AND THE
TERRITORY OF WASHINGTON

==========

There is also another book available on-line, The Irish in America,
published in 1868.

These may be a bit on the early side for what you need.  But if you
are interested in these as an answer to your question, I'd be glad to
post links to the documents so that you can access them directly.

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Clarification of Question by pam2-ga on 09 Mar 2004 10:23 PST

Specifically, I am interested in the Irish Immigrants who arrived in
America in the mid 1800's - during the potatoe famine.  Did MANY of
them go to New Mexico - or the general Southwest area (but NOT Texas)
- and if so, why that particular area?

I am writing about a woman in her 40's - who lives in Los Alamos -
during World War II and after.  She is of Irish descent and I am
interested in the back story of her parents and grandparents.  This is
a fiction story.

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Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 09 Mar 2004 17:22 PST

You might want to have a look at the inventory records of one Henry O'Neill:

http://elibrary.unm.edu/oanm/NmU/nmu1%23mss706sc/


Henry O'Neill Ledger, 1854-1860 

Henry O'Neill was a merchant who conducted trade on the Santa Fe
Trail. A native of Ireland, he immigrated with his parents to
Kentucky. The family then moved to Missouri. O'Neill accompanied an
uncle to California for a year and then returned to Missouri. In 1844
he came to Santa Fe to work with his uncle, John Scolly (spelled
variously in the records; Scoly, Scolley, Scholly, Juan Escole and
Juan Escólle), who was a merchant and owned the Grand Central Hotel.
O'Neill inherited Scolly's estate worth about $75, 000 in 1847. In the
summer of 1859 O'Neill closed his store and sold his stock to J.
Hersch at "cost plus 10 cents freight on time." In March of 1860
O'Neill was involved in a fight where he killed Dr. J. J. Beck
(co-owner of Beck & Johnston) in self defense. O'Neill died in Santa
Fe at the home of Samuel Ellison in September, 1883.


The collection contains a ledger, covering 1854-1860, and a separate
statement for Andreas Tapia from Henry O'Neill's mercantile in Santa
Fe, N.M. O'Neill sold a variety of goods such as tobacco, food,
spices, liquor, furniture, tools, clothing, shoes, fabric and other
assorted household items. His clients were military men, judges,
doctors and other well-to-do citizens as well as other merchants and
businesses of Santa Fe and other communities like Rio Arriba, Taos,
Las Vegas and Mora. Some of his customers were General Garland,
Colonel Cerán St. Vrain, Becinte St. Vrain, Judge Joab Houghton, Judge
Stoughton, Dr. Kavanaugh, Dr. DeLeon, James L. Collins also known as
Squire Collins, the principle owner and editor of the Santa Fe
Gazette, Sol Spiegelberg, Joseph Pley, Bishop Lamy, Hugh N. Smith,
Jesus Abreau, Fransisco Ortiz y Delgado, Antonio Jose Rivera, Beck &
Johnston and Connelly and Co. Two women listed as customers are Rita
Laranaga and Pelegrina, "Tompkins woman." Besides selling merchandise
O'Neill lent money to individuals or paid their outstanding accounts
with others. Occasionally customer accounts were paid for them by
other people. An example are payments made March 16, 1858 by Kit
Carson and another April 17 by Hugh H. Smith on Alexander Hicklin's
account

At the beginning of the ledger is an alphabetical listing of customer
names with corresponding page numbers. The individual entries are
listed by month, day and year. Given are items purchased, how many,
the cost and what the customer paid. All entries dated 1860 are for
payments only.