Willem++Zook

**My Immigration Story **   **The Patato famine is the reason my great great great grandfather, John Lynch came to America from Ireland. The famine occured in 1845s but had a long lasting effect. It was started when a fungus somehow traveled from mexico to Ireland. The fungus targeted patatos, as a result when the patatoes were dug out of the ground they would rot and become inedible very fast. Not only did the potato's rot but people became sick with cholera and almost 1 million people died over the next ten years. My great great great grandfather, John Lynch decided to flee the horrible disease and arrived at Ellis Island in the late 1800's at the age of 22 with his best friend from Balliebourough, County Cavan, Ireland. they stayed in large crowded housings in New York. Coming from Scotland they did not have technologies like gas candles and things of that sort. So on the first night when they were going to bed something terrible happened. The two friends were sleeping in different rooms and my mom’s great great grandfather (John) knew to turn off the gas on his candle but, his friend did not. His friend just blew out the flame and died in the night from inhaling too much of the gas. Not much other information is known about my great great great grandfather after he came here. Except for the fact that one of his first jobs was to man a trolly (one of the first types of mass transit). **

http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/historyonline/irish_potato_famine.cfm Potato Famine Information [] ** Video with information on Irish Immigration ** ** old gas lamp ** http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/historyonline/irish_potato_famine.cfm [] [] [|http://www.12travel.com/goto/ie_maps/]
 * Old Ellis Island (this is what it looked like when my great great great grandfather went there) Ireland **