Tipperary to Texas

Hardship and tragedy plagued the people of nineteenth-century Ireland. Famine, religious persecution, and bigotry forced millions to emigrate while others were exiled on prison ships to Australia for petty crimes. Families were torn apart and lives forever altered. Fourth-generation Irish American John F. Welsh Jr. sought to uncover his own family's part in that dark history. Using old family letters and records, as well as in-depth research at Irish heritage centers, Welsh discovered an incredible story of a distraught immigrant who abandoned his eight children to a St. Louis orphanage, of a loving aunt and uncle who rescued the children and made them their own, and of a deadly disease that ravaged the family for years. Longing to know more, Welsh and his wife, Mary, traveled from their home in Texas to Ireland, where they managed to reconnect the broken chain between American and Irish in the same home, church, and community that was a part of their family 125 years ago. Tipperary to Texas recounts Welsh's remarkable fifteen-year odyssey into his family history. A true labor of love and sacrifice, this poignant memoir reveals the irresistible pull of the past and its deep imprint upon our souls today.