Rowan (The Irish Wolves Book 3)

Preface

Phytophthora infestansis a water mold—a fungus-like microorganism—and the cause of Ireland’s potato blight. The Irish Potato Famine began in 1845 and hung on through 1852, killing a million men, women, and children—losing at least another million to emigration.

Many emigrants seeking cheap passage to America found themselves on overcrowded ‘coffin’ ships that had no regard for passenger safety. Little food and water during the six-week to three-month voyage. Squalid, close quarters below deck caused thousands to die during the journey, with more perishing from typhus once in port.

Countless Irish immigrants during the famine years landed in America poor, malnourished, lacking a trade, and speaking little English. They set up small ghetto communities on the eastern seaboard where the ships’ passengers disembarked at the Boston and New York ports.

Their lack of skills and literacy forced the Irish into accepting the worst jobs. Working long hours and receiving little pay. America’s expansion push called for cheap labor, and Irish immigrants fit the bill. They built roads, canals, bridges, and laid track for railroads.

It was after the Civil War that the Irish began pushing westward alongside the railroad companies, helping the transcontinental crossing lay track across America. Many of these same Irish settled along the track, bringing their culture and religion with them. Atoka, Oklahoma, is one such place.

In 1852, Joseph Byrne, barely out of nappies, survived the eight-week voyage from his family’s beloved Ireland to America’s coast. Starting out in his young teens, Joseph survived working the transcontinental railroad line for eight years. By 1872, the Missouri—Kansas—Texas Railway, or Katy, reached Atoka, and Joseph found his home. In 1873, the twenty-three-year-old Irish railroader met the love of his life, Neakita, a Choctaw native. His wild Rose.

The Irish Wolves Trilogy follows the legacy and descendants of Joseph Byrne.