The Luck of the Irish

My Irish immigrant family brought the Luck of the Irish with them. Maybe 8 year old Mary McGill had a lucky penny in her shoe when she came from Ireland to Canada in the early 1800s. Her life was hard; her husband, Patrick, who was 30 years her senior, worked in the timbers or building the canal. But the records show that at least they had a house, as opposed to the neighbors who lived in wooden shanties. When Mary was widowed, with 3 young children, she was lucky to join a group who made their way west to the United States. In Iowa City, although she was ill, Mary was lucky again, to find a man who would help her write a will, making sure her children were cared for. My Gt Grandfather, Daniel Patrick McGill, was her youngest child, age 5, when she died. The Shafer family, who fostered Daniel, were childless but raised him as their own and even sent him to the University. The foster father and mother just "happened" to be related to Eva Frost, who was eventually married to Daniel Patrick. There was illness during those years in Iowa, but Daniel was lucky to survive. Sadly, his sister, Bridget, brother, John, John's wife, and one baby died. One of Daniel's nephews remained, and that lucky boy was fostered by Daniel and Eva. Years later, after the family moved to western Iowa, Daniel was lucky enough to see a flyer that told of land opening for homesteads in Oklahoma Territory. In 1889, he made his way to Arkansas City, Kansas, and boarded a train for the new frontier. Daniel, and 3 other pioneers, jumped from the train, and set off west across the prairie. As luck would have it, they came to a place where 4 quarter sections were marked with stakes. Since McGill was the only one who had a large family, he was the lucky one chosen to claim the land with the best source of water. His family, including my grandmother, age 8, came from Iowa by covered wagon to join him on the homestead. And here I am, one of the lucky descendants to come from this family, and lucky to have that story preserved for more than 200 years after little Mary McGill crossed the Atlantic. The picture above is of Daniel P. (seated) and Eva McGill (standing center) and their family on the homestead west of Edmond, Oklahoma. This land is still pasture land and the pond is still there.