Irish return migration from America at the turn of the nineteenth century: 1890-1920

‘I am glad to be here, it took me 115 years to make this trip, and 6,000 miles, and 3 generations, but I\u27m proud to be here’. With these words, Irish- American John Fitzgerald Kennedy made a return visit to his great-grandfather’s home in Dunganstown, New Ross, County Wexford in July 1963. As an Irish- American experiencing my own return in 2000, I was asked ‘How long have ye been gone?’, 120 years since great-grandfather Tommy Dunnigan left Ballynure, County Roscommon for San Francisco was my reply. The initial trip to Ireland became the progenitor of an idea for this thesis which investigates the experiences of returning Irish-Americans, examining their motivations and characteristics as well as their adaptation upon return. This study continues an examination of return migration to the west of Ireland originated with my M.A. thesis research and resulting pamphlet. The study will also look at individual case studies of selected returnees. Their stories will be reconstructed, at least to the extent possible, by means of information obtained from ships’ manifests, census, birth, marriage and death documents, records of pre-emigration activities, their life in the United States and their life back in Ireland. The concepts and research presented in this work is represented in their various life paths