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Irish > Occupations
- 1796 and 1798: City directories for Boston list the following
Irish with occupations: Mary Lobb (nee Connell) widow of a sea captain;
John Magner of Waterford, a blacksmith; Patrick Campbell a blacksmith
and veterinarian and one of the first church wardens; Joseph Harrington
a cooper; Francis Mulligan and Daniel Hay, real estate renters; Michael
Mellony, a chimney sweep; Joshua Farrington, a merchant; John Boyle
bookseller; Patrick and John Duggan, lemon dealers; John Larkin, tea
seller; Michael Burns, a liquor dealer; Anna McClure, school teacher.
- 1820-1830: Irish laborers are hired to work on Mayor Quincy's
construction projects such as rubbish and street cleaning, draining
of Town Dock, moving of sewer outlets to the flats, filling of Mill
Creek, filling of the Old Market Place, and construction of the Market
House behind Faneuil Hall.
- 1835: Patrick Tracy Jackson hires 190 Irishmen and 60 Yankees
to reduce Pemberton Hill, southwest of Beacon Hill.
- 1845-1849: Famine immigrants typically work as dock hands,
stable cleaners, mill hands, hod carriers, and ditch diggers for the
Boston Gas Co. Seventy-five percent of women work as domestic servants
with the rest principally engaged as laundry workers or textile workers.
- 1861-1865: During the Civil War, Irish workers are employed
at the Watertown arsenal making ammunition and in the South Boston iron
foundries making guns and artillery. In addition, many Irish are soldiers
in the Union army.
- 1860-1870: Educated Irish are able to make a living as clerks,
teachers, or clergymen.
- 1870s: Irish help build the transportation routes and new houses
of the suburbs to which they are soon moving themselves.
- 1880s: Irish penetrate two new areas of employment: sports
and politics. Stars such as boxing champ John Sullivan and baseball
star Mike Kelly saw sports as a way to escape the ghetto.
- 1970s: Irish and Irish Americans are evenly split between blue
collar and white collar jobs.
- 1990s: Thanks to Ireland's educational system, many Irish coming to Boston
are working in high tech, banking and real estate industries, although
Irish immigrants continue to work as health care aides, construction
workers and restaurant help. For the first time ever, Irish companies
are recruiting immigrants in Boston to return to Ireland to fill jobs.
Dorothy Kelly Gay, an Irish immigrant, was elected Mayor of Somerville
in 1998.
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