Tim Foley - Immigration

Hello, my name is Kathleen H and my oral history is about immigration. I arranged to interview my grandfather, Tim Michael Foley, immigrated from Killorglin, County Kerry, Ireland to Chicago in the United States. He is 91 years old and was born on September 16, 1923.

Q: Where did you grow up?
A: I grew up in County Kerry, Ireland, in the town of Killorglin, on a farm.

Q: How would you describe your childhood?
A: Oh, A happy childhood, see, carefree.

Q: Did you enjoy living there? If so, what did you enjoy about it?
A: I did enjoy living there because I was milking the cows and going to the creamery, and feeding the pigs, what else was there, enjoying myself, going to school. I liked those things.

Q: What caused you to move from Ireland?
A: What made me move to the United States was that I never knew that I had relatives in the United States and I found out that I had an aunt. There was 6 siblings in our family, and our mother had died when I was 9 years old. My mothers sister was a nurse in England and she died and she never made a will you see, and at that time everything had to be broken down then between the six of us and all the other relatives and my allowance of the amount of money that was spilt up was 4 pounds and some shillings. So that’s how we found out about my aunt who lived in the United States. The Rainsfords in Chicago, they saw our names in the will so Mrs.Rainsford wrote to Gerald, my second oldest brother, to come out here to America, so he decided he would. We were all about in England at the time, But then he blunked out, he said he didn't want to go anymore, so he gave my aunt my name and I got a letter when I was in England inviting me out there, I decided what the hell, I've got nothing to lose and that’s how I ended up going alone because there was no work in Ireland, see, and the work wasn't good here at the time either but it picked up. 

Q: Can you talk more about how you moved and what happened?
A: Yes, so I kept writing back to her and all a sudden we had a travel agent and he arranged all the things for me and then I went back to Ireland from England so I could come out here and then this taxi man thing came and picked us up the night before, there were four of us coming, from this town and he drove us into Queenstown in Cobh, that’s where we were sailing out from, in Cork. So he made arrangements there at a boarding house for us to stay at the night before, and then in the morning he drove us to Queenstown Harbor where we took the ferry that took us 3 or 4 miles to the ship. The ship was called the.. [long pause] the Marine Tiger. It was a WW2 troop ship, there were a bunch of them at the time. We got on that and it took, well the weather was wicked [sigh/gasps] oh my God we were blown all over the place and it took two extra days to get into New York, [grandma asks how many days on ocean] It took eight days, [and what were you doing for two days?] were were just floating around, they sprayed buckets of water on the tablecloth to keep it from flying off, what were we doing? we were throwing up!

Q: What was it like when you first got to America?
A: I came into New York and I had no one to meet me, I ran into a nice Irish police man who lead me in the right direction. He got a cab driver not to charge me to much and to set me up so I would be able to get on the right train into Union Station, and then I was met there by my cousins. then we proceeded back on a bus with my luggage back to 5445 west Longford, this was where my aunt lived. She was very ill but she still arranged a big dinner for me and she had the relatives all come over, Bobby Ryan and his father and mother came to see me that night and then we talked and had discussions, it was a good time I guess.

Q: What was it like trying to get a job here?
A: The next morning after I got here, I guess it was the next morning, we went out looking for a job. We went to every store, Carsons, Marshall Fields, [pause] What other big stores were down there? Montgomery Wards, JC Penney, all of them,  warehouses too. There was no work there. So we were there in the middle of the day and we got on the Grand Ave bus and we went out to the Brickyard, and he asked me if I would work in the brickyard? I said i'll work any place I can get a job so we went in and I got the job and I started as a tryout and everything. Well, there were 109 people working there, Bob Carey was the owner of them things and he had a great heart for the Irish immigrants you see so he came up and asked me if I would burn brick it’s 12 hours a day, days and nights, I said I would do anything he asked me to do and he said okay you got the job and then he said you gotta keep this quiet, will anybody else hear this now? We’re not supposed to do this now. It was only because I was coming from Ireland he said to tell the others I was coming from a different location and I had been working there for a long time. and I had never worked there before you see but that’s how I got on there.
I got to be good friends with the people who drove me to and from work you see, they were my family friend’s sons, so they would drive me to and from the place when I didn't have a ride. They were the nicest young fellas ya see, and then I stayed on that until Esther, my wife, told me to get a decent job where I didn't smell like smoke all the time! Because at the brickyard there was smoke all the time you see, so, thats how that job all ended. then I started working at the Peoples Gas Company and I worked there for 34 years.

Q: Did you know Nana (his wife Esther) before you moved to America?
A: No I didn't know her before I came here, I met her while I was working at the brickyard, I met Tom Hartigan who I got to know here, Her cousin was married to Tom Hartigan, yes that’s right, that’s it, and she fell madly in love with me you see, and she still is [laughter from Nana] thats on tape now, after 62 years so we’re still here so, struggling now though Kathleen, struggling now, it’s a long time now isn’t it, seems like a blink of an eye, yeah so that’s what happened then, we got married about a year later, in 1952, wasn't it?

Q: What was it like making friends when you got here?
A: Oh it was very very easy, because I worked with all Irish people, from Ireland, and all my bosses were Irish, from Ireland. So I made most of my friends there, we all got along very well, we were like one big happy family you see I liked it there very much, It felt like I was back home.

Q: Once you got here did you move around a lot?
A: Um no I didn't move that much, Esther had a hold on my hand and she wouldn't let me go, so no we didn't move around that much because we didn't have a car, but then we bought a car! A 19 [pause] what was it, a 1950 Studebaker and it was the worst piece of junk, I bought it brand new, it was the worst piece of junk that I ever got in my life, it was dead half of the time and this man, named Mike, who I worked with used to drive his car behind mine, and sometimes at a stoplight it would die and he would have to push me, but then after that I got a 1956 Dodge, no a Plymouth and it was the best car I ever got I had to give it away in the end though and then I graduated up and got a 1963, wasn't it a 63? Chevy, and that was another very good car, and then I was back with the Gas Company and that was how everything was set up, and thats how my future to this country involved, and I raised a great family here, and I am very glad that I did come to this country, the greatest country in the world!

Q: How often did you go back to Ireland once you got here?
A: [long pause] I was, wait a minute now, I didn't, I waited 21 years before I came back, went back, wasn't it 21 years before we went back? yes, 21 ways to sing a song, 21 years is an awful long time you see, a mighty long time yes, so that when we first went back and then we went back 3 or 4 years later, and we've gone back a few times since then but not recently, I can't travel anymore you see, but we try our best to keep in touch.