| This
article was originally published in Familia, journal of the
Ulster Historical Foundation (volume 2, no. 8, 1992). Published
annually.
Los Irlandeses
en la Argentina
by Pat Nally, Secretary, Longford-Westmeath
Argentina Society
The above title will surprise many readers.
Even more surprising is that places in Argentina like Buenos
Aires, Pergamino, San Antonio de Areco, Salto and Arrecifes
are not only household names in certain parts of Ireland,
but are places with relatives of people in Ireland in such
places as Ballymore, Ballynacargy, Castlepollard, Moyvore
in Co. Westmeath; Ballymahon and Carrick-Edmund in Co. Longford;
Kilrane, Co. Wexford and Castletownbeare, Co. Cork. All their
Argentine relatives, of course, speak Spanish, the language
of Argentina and most of Latin America.
So how has this exotic family connection come
about? To find the answer, we must take ourselves back to
the beginning of the 19th century when Spain was the imperial
power in Argentina. In this period of the early 1800s, a wave
of wars of independence swept Spanish America, led by Simon
Bolivar, Bernardo O'Higgins, Jose Artigas and Jose de San
Martin. San Martin was the hero of the Argentine War of Independence
which was achieved in 1816. Admiral William Brown from Foxford,
Co. Mayo, played a prominent role in that war of Independence,
being the founder of the Argentine navy. Another Irish man,
John Thomond O'Brien from Co. Wicklow, also was prominent
in the war of Independence, being adjutant to San Martin.
It is said that San Martin asked O'Brien to go back to Ireland
for 200 emigrants. Argentina was then a country of vast unclaimed
lands. O'Brien spent the 1827/28 period trying to recruit
emigrants in Ireland, but without success. However, he met
a John Mooney of Streamstown, near Ballymore, Co. Westmeath.
This was to be the start of the Irish emigration to Argentina
from the Westmeath/Longford/North Offaly area because Mooney
went to Argentina in 1828 when O'Brien was returning. In addition
to John Mooney, his sister, Mary Bookey (nee Mooney) and her
husband, Patrick Bookey, went with O'Brien. They were to achieve
rapid success in farming in Argentina and, due to this success,
Mooney wrote home to Westmeath for emigrants to come out and
help him farm the vast lands they had found. People in Westmeath
responded in large numbers, from the 1820s onwards, and right
through the 19th century, and even up to 1914, emigrated to
Argentina. As it was John Mooney and Patrick Bookey who started
off this emigration from the Irish Midlands, a few words about
both of them is appropriate at this stage.
John Mooney was born in 1803 in Streamstown,
Co. Westmeath, and arrived in Buenos Aires in 1828, where
he became involved in farming. In the 1869 census in Buenos
Aires, he was described as a bachelor but was actually a widower.
The records show that he had children but no names are shown
nor is his wife's name recorded. He died in Buenos Aires in
1873. His brother-in-law, Patrick Bookey, was, born in Ireland
about 1810 and arrived in Buenos Aires in 1828, and his name
appears in the 1869 Buenos Aires census. It is mentioned that,
soon after his arrival, he was the owner of 900 acres containing
magnificent gardens and plantations containing no less than
two million trees. This became a model farm and is now the
property of the University of La Plata. Bookey had a respected
position among the Irish community in Buenos Aires. He was
treasurer of the Irish Hospital. In 1835, he married Mary
Mooney (sister of John Mooney) in Argentina. They had six
children, Catalina, Margarita, Maria, Patricio, Guillermo
and Tomas. Bookey died in 1883, and Mary Bookey in 1873 in
Buenos Aires.
Let us now move to the Wexford connection
with Argentina. The shipping firm of Dickson and Montgomery
had a man named John Brown from Wexford representing them
in Buenos Aires. In 1827, this Liverpool based firm appointed
Patrick Brown, a brother of the Brown already mentioned, to
be their representative, to succeed his brother. Patrick Brown
was born in Wexford in 1806. He went to Liverpool to work
for Dickson and Montgomery, and moved to Buenos Aires in 1824.
He got involved in the meat industry and became prosperous
enough to live in the San Isidro area of Buenos Aires which
is an exclusive part of the city. In 1874, he returned with
his family to Wexford. He returned to Argentina in 1888 on
the death of John Brown there in the same year. He became
a highly respected member of the Irish emigrant community
in Argentina where he died in 1893. The arrival of Brown in
Argentina in the 1820s was the start of Wexford emigration
to Argentina which, though significant, was nothing like the
numbers that Went from the Longford-Westmeath area.
Indeed prior to this emigration there were
a small number of Irish in Argentina who arrived as part of
the abortive British invasions of 1806 and 1807. The first
one was commanded by General William Beresford and both expeditions
had Irish officers, Duff, Browne, Nugent, Kenny, Donelly and
Murray. Some Irish members of both expeditions deserted and
settled in Argentina such as Patrick Island, Michael Hines
and Peter Campbell.
So one of the most amazing emigrations had
started 'travelling in humble carts, drawn by donkeys carrying
a whole family with their modest household goods and headed
to Cobh, Liverpool and Southampton, looking for the dreamt
of Argentinian Pampas.' The journey took many months travelling
by sailing ship.
It is reckoned that there were around 300
Irish emigrants in Argentina by 1830, enough to see the first
Irish Roman Catholic priest, Rev. Patrick Moran, arrive as
chaplain to the emigrants in 1829. He was succeeded by Rev.
Patrick O'Gorman in 1830. A survey of the male emigrants in
1827 shows the following sources of the new arrivals:
60% from Westmeath/Longford/North Offaly
15% from Wexford
3% from Cork
3% from Clare
19% from the rest of the country
The emigration started by John Mooney saw
Westmeath providing two thirds of all the emigrants throughout
the 19th century. In 1844, a William McCann, during a 2000
mile ride through Argentina, said 'at least three quarters
of the emigrants are from Co. Westmeath.'
During
the 1830s, there was a continued rise in emigration to Argentina,
coming from three sources: Ireland, Irish coming down from
the United States and Irish coming in from Brazil. Some Irish
had gone to Brazil but, on not receiving a great welcome,
crossed into Argentina. Argentina gave them a great welcome
as it did to all Irish and other emigrants. Some such as Brown
and Mooney became involved in the meat trade, but it was the
sheep trade that attracted most of them. Irish and Basque
emigrants became the mainstay of the sheep trade, and helped
develop a wool based economy. Indeed, a Peter Sheridan from
Cavan, who emigrated in the 1820s, became one of the largest
sheep farmers in Argentina, and was instrumental in introducing
the Merino sheep Which today are to be seen all over Argentina.
The Irish achieved great success with sheep, especially because
the native gauchos preferred cattle and had no interest in
sheep. Labourers earned up to ten shillings a day. A system
of halves operated, i.e. the owner of land supplied the land
and flock, and the tenant was responsible for all other expenses.
In time, many became owners of large estancias (ranches).
By 1880, there were 58 million sheep in Argentina.
The first
stage of emigration can be dated from the late 1820s to early
1840s. The famine of the mid 1840s saw another stage develop.
Names which occur in the first stage include Duggans, Murrays,
Hams, Gahans, Kennys, Dillons, Mooneys and Brownes. People
in this stage prospered enormously and achieved greater success
than later emigrants. The emigrants of that early period would
have been influenced by Daniel O'Connell, and were less nationalistic
than emigrants of the post-famine era. By the time of the
famine, many of the early emigrants had become part of the
Argentine establishment.
The famine
of the 1840s in Ireland boosted emigration to Argentina from
Westmeath and Wexford. This movement continued into the 1850s.
1844 saw the appointment of Rev. Antonio Fahy as chaplain.
He was a native of Galway who had spent two years in Ohio
in the United States. There he had seen the problems among
Irish emigrants in cities, so when he arrived in Argentina,
he urged Irish emigrants to avoid the cities and head for
the vast countryside. He has been described as the adviser,
banker, matchmaker and administrator of a welfare system for
the newly arriving emigrants. The records of the port of Buenos
Aires for 1849 show 708 emigrants arriving from Ireland. Church
building became part of the Irish scene around this period,
with new churches built in Buenos Aires, Barracas, Coronel
Brandsen, Carmen de Areco, Rojas, Arrecifes, Mercedes and
Venado Tuerto.
The 1850s
show a lot of Irish owned estancias which in turn employed
new emigrants. Women began to arrive in greater numbers in
the 1850s. They worked often as cooks, maids and governesses.
Many married sheep farmers. At this stage, women comprised
half of the emigrants. Irish married Irish, and marriages
with Argentines were rare. Indeed, up to the third generation
they rarely married outside the Irish community. English was
the household language of emigrants throughout this period.
The arrival of Edward Mulhall in 1852 was significant. Born
in Dublin in 1832, he emigrated first to the United States
and then moved to Argentina. His brother Michael also arrived
in Argentina. Mulhall went into the sheep trade, and in 1861,
together with his brother, founded The Buenos Aires Standard
newspaper which was the first English language paper, and
was published for the English speaking community which, at
this stage, comprised Irish, English and Scottish emigrants.
He disposed of his farming interests and settled in Buenos
Aires city. He became a friend of Presidents Roca and Avellaneda
and also a city councillor. He was a great promoter of the
farming industry, through his own 40,000 acre estancia. He
died in 1888, having been married in 1856 to Eloisa Eborall
from England.
Another
wave of emigrants arrived in the 1860s, bringing names like
Ryan, McCormick, Mullally and Casey. At this stage, some people
were arriving to join their relatives already in Argentina,
while others arrived after the Fenian Rising in Ireland. As
the 1870s approached, there was a clear political division
among emigrants, with the early wealthy emigrants pro-Home
Rule in Ireland, with this expressed through The Buenos Aires
Standard newspaper. The new arrivals of the 1860s, like the
post famine 1840s arrivals, tended to be more nationalistic.
This led to the foundation of another English language paper,
The Southern Cross (La Cruz del Sur) in 1875, with Monsignor
Patricio Jose Dillon as its first editor. He was born in the
Diocese of Tuam and reached Argentina in 1863. The Southern
Cross saw itself as somewhat greener than The Standard. Perhaps
its most famous editor was William Bulfin, author of the famous
book Rambles in Erin. He was editor from 1869-1906, being
originally from Co. Offaly. The Southern Cross appeared as
an English paper and remained so until 1964 when it changed
to Spanish. The interesting aspect about the early days of
The Buenos Aires Standard is that not alone was it the first
English language paper, but it was also bilingual - English
and French. An interesting picture of the Irish community
in Argentina appeared in the first Southern Cross of January
16th, 1875, stating 'In no part of the world is the Irishman
more esteemed and respected than in the Province of Buenos
Aires, and in no part of the world, in the same space of time
have Irish settlers made such large fortunes. The Irish population
in the Republic may have set down at 26,000 souls. They possess
in this province 200 leagues of land or 1,800 miles or 1,500.000
acres. Almost all of this land is of the very best quality.
They own about 5,000,000 sheep and thousands are worth 5,000,000
sterling. This vast fortune has been acquired in a few years.'
The 1880s
witnessed a further influx from Ireland, many of whom were
joining an earlier generation of relatives in Argentina. During
the 1875-1890 period, there was a great development of organisations
and educational institutions by the Irish community. Newman
College, St. Brendan's College and St. Brigid's College were
established and still exist. Branches of the Gaelic League
and Sinn Fein were formed. The Irish Catholic Association
was formed and hurling clubs were organised in Buenos Aires
and Mercedes. Hurling continued to be played until the second
world war. The hurling club of Buenos Aires still exists and
now has rugby and hockey. However, the amazing news is that
moves are currently afoot (July 1992) to revive hurling in
Argentina, based in the Buenos Aires Hurling Club.
By the
1890s, there were only limited opportunities for new emigrants.
The sheep industry was in decline and cattle and tillage were
taking over. With the decline in the sheep trade, Irish emigration
declined. Sheep had been the goldmine for Irish emigrants.
The emigrants had been country people with agricultural skills
who adapted easily to farming life in the great pampas of
Argentina. So when, in 1889, 1,800 emigrants from the cities
of Cork and Limerick arrived, they met disaster and ended
up settling in the Bahia Blanca area in the province of Buenos
Aires.
A trickle
of emigration continued from Westmeath until 1914. Two of
my own grand-aunts, Julia and Ellen McCormick, emigrated from
Westmeath as recently as 1910. Italy was the great 20th century
source of emigration to Argentina. Viva Irlanda y Viva Italia.
So, such
wonderful sounding places in Argentina as Rojas, Carmen de
Areco, Salto, San Antonio de Areco, Monte, San Andres de Giles,
Mercedes, Venado Tuerto (founded by Edward Casey), Chascomus,
Canuelas, Realico (founded by Tomas Mullally), Mar del Plata,
Pergamino, Villa Gral, Belgrano, Loberia, Tucuman and Bahia
Blanca are household names in places in Ireland, like Ballymore,
Streamstown, Moate, Moyvore, Bishopstown, Ballynacargy, Castlepollard,
Walshestown, Athlone, Ballymahon, Carrick-Edmund, Kilrane
and Castletownbeare.
As readers
will have noticed, I have relations in Argentina. In fact,
a multitude of relatives. All originated from Westmeath, and
the family name was and is McCormick. My maternal grand-mother
was McCormick. The first to go to Argentina was William McCormick
who was born in 1844 in Bishopstown, Co. Westmeath1, and went
to Argentina in 1866. It took him months to get there by sailing
ship. He settled in Salto in Buenos Aires Province, married
Margaret Maxwell in 1883, who was from Ballilnagore, Co. Westmeath.
They had five children, Juan Jose, Julian, Santiago, Lucia
and Brigida. Juan Jose visited Ireland frequently and also
visited the United States. Lucia married a Bernardo Kenny.
I have met a daughter of theirs, Margarita Kenny who has been
a well known Argentine singer. William McCormick died in 1904,
never having returned on a visit home. Margaret Maxwell, who
had been born in 1855, died in Argentina. Her sister, Mary,
and brother, Patrick, also went to Argentina. The next McCormick
to emigrate was James, a cousin of William, in 1882. He also
was born in Bishopstown, Co. Westmeath, in 1852, and married
Ana Casey in Argentina, who was also from Bishopstown. James
became an estanciero in Roque Perez in Buenos Aires Province,
an area where few Irish people went. They had a family of
nine, Juan Tomas, Catalina, Santiago, Daniel, Ana Maria, Guillermo,
Patricio, Cornelio and Leon Bernardo. Three of their children
were sent to Ireland to be educated with Juan Tomas and Santiago
going to Rockwell College, Co. Tipperary, and Catalina to
Dublin. The boys are to be seen on the rugby and cricket teams
of Rockwell College in photos taken in 1914. Their brother,
Daniel, became head of the Radical Party in Roque Perez, and
also a member of the Provincial Parliament of Buenos Aires.
Ana is still alive, aged 91, and living in Roque Perez. There
are very few of this generation still alive, whose parents
went from Ireland. In 1910, as already mentioned, two of my
grand-aunts, Julia and Ellen McCormick, left for Argentina
to join their cousins, the McCormicks, mentioned above. Julia
married George Ronayne in Argentina. He was from Cork and
she was from Walshestown, Mullingar, Co. Westmeath. She returned
on two occasions. They had three children, Con, Bridie and
John. All are dead. I was at John's funeral last October,
while in Argentina. Ellen married Louis Cloud (a French name).
Their children were Horacio, Enrique, Beba and Roberto, with
only the latter living. I met him for the first time in January
1992.
I have
met descendants of most of my relatives who emigrated, while
on three visits to Argentina since 1989. That was the year
of my first visit when I went to see the country I had heard
so much about for as long as I can remember. Lots of letters
and photos from Argentina through this century had maintained
contact. I encountered enormous warmth, affection and friendliness
from all my relatives, only one of whom I had ever met, as
well as great friendliness from everyone I met. This is typical
of Latin Americans. Today, there are about 350,000 Argentines
of Irish descent. Many of the younger generation have moved
to the cities and are to be found in all walks of life. Of
course, many still work their estancias. Ireland has diplomatic
relations with Argentina, and its current ambassador is Mr
Bernard Davenport who is also accredited to Venezuela which
also has Irish connections. Names like Kavanagh and Rossiter
crop up there. Back in Argentina, I met lots of people of
Irish descent. Some names I encountered were McCabe, Wade,
Murphy, McCormick, Fitzsimons, Healy, Cunningham, Rush, Richards,
McLoughlin, Fay, Ronayne, Kenny, Ennis, Leyden and Keamey.
The population
of Argentina is currently 32 million, with 40% of Italian
origin, followed by people of Spanish origin, and the third
largest grouping of Arabic descent. Indeed, there are people
of just about every racial background, and it has one of the
largest Jewish populations in the world. Some people have
kept in touch with their Irish relatives, but for many people
contact has been lost twenty, forty, sixty and eighty years
ago. Now, there is the added difficulty of language for people
wishing to resume contact. The Buenos Aires Standard ceased
publication in the 1960s, but the English language daily The
Buenos Aires Herald marked its 115th anniversary in 1991.
One Spring
day, September 21st, 1991, I visited the town of San Antonio
de Areco in the Province of Buenos Aires, north of the city
of Buenos Aires, to see its famous Gaucho Museum. The parish
priest is a Palatine padre from Galway who took me to a big
remate (auction). It was a cattle auction of 500 cattle on
the estancia San Ramon of the Duggan family (originally from
Ballymahon, Co. Longford). There is a town named Duggan in
the same area, as well as one named Diego Gaynor. Prior to
the auction, there was a big asado for a few hundred people
comprising workers on the Duggan estancia, folk from neighbouring
estancias, prospective buyers and visitors. Seated opposite
me at the asado was a woman named McDermott of Wexford origin.
Indeed, at that remate, there were others of Irish descent
like Oliver Clancy, Michael Cox and Guillermo Keilliff. Elsewhere
in San Antonio, I met another person of Wexford origin, Anselmo
Devereux. To visit the nearby cemetery was like visiting an
Irish cemetery with tombstones showing Longford names like
Farrell, Geoghegan and Campbell; Brennan from Wexford; O'Farrell
and Morgan from Cork and Brady, Geraghty, Murray, Mooney and
Kelly from Westmeath. Of course, the intense heat reminded
one that one was not in an actual Irish cemetery. It was hot
enough to be bitten by mosquitos.
Argentina
is equal in size to all the Common Market countries, and the
Province of Buenos Aires is the size of France. It has four
climates. It stretches from the spectacular Iguazu waterfalls
of the North to Tierra del Fuego in the South. Its vineyards,
tea plantations, fields of sugar cane, oil fields, pampa grasslands,
millions of cattle and sheep, potato fields, skiing resorts,
seaside resorts and magnificent Buenos Aires, with eleven
million people, give it resources beyond our wildest dreams,
and made Argentina one of the richest countries in the world
between 1870 and 1950. It is the country which warmly welcomed
Irish emigrants from the 1820s onwards, and is always assured
of a special place in the hearts of people in Ireland, with
relatives there. |
