South Bend Indiana Irish Community in the mid 19th Century

As the rail lines pushed west from New York, immigrants like my second great grandfather Martin Brennan stopped on the way to Chicago, and South Bend's Irish Community took root. "A group of Irish immigrants took residence in South Bend in 1851, after working on the construction of a railroad connecting Buffalo, South Bend and Chicago." (Giffin, 2006, p. 37). My great grandfather wasn't part of this railroad construction crew, but as the train lines pushed west, it brought other Irish immigrants like my ancestors and threir Irish friends as well.

Portage Township became the center for the fledgling cluster of Irish immigrants. The east side, 4th ward of this township was the hub for Irish laborers like Martin who were employed by the University of Notre Dame. Irish families like the Brennans, McNultys, McGowans, Cavanaghs, Byerlys, Roaches, Hobens and Gormans lived next to each other on Notre Dame Avenue and adjacent streets. Many of these Irish families purchased lots from Father Sorin of the University of Notre Dame in an area known as "Sorin's Subdivision."

The fourth ward was also known as "Little Dublin" and was located between Hill Street and St Joseph Church. (Giffin, 2006. p. 55).

Another cluster of Irish immigrants lived in the 3rd ward where many worked for the railroad and held other skilled jobs. The Singer Sewing Company provided employment for many Irish workers in both wards. The Irish on the west side attended St Patrick's Church while the east side Irish attended Sacred Heart Church at Notre Dame in the early 1850's and St Joseph Church in the later 1850's. A large number of German immigrants from Bavaria and Wertenberg were intermingled throughout the east side with the Irish families, as were the Polish and Belgians on the west side. Over time they all naturally gravitated to their own ethnically segregated parishes.

Due to the close proximity of South Bend to the Michigan border, if you believe you have family in this community it would be worth checking Niles (Bertrand as it was known) Michigan, Berrien County records as well. There were 327 documented Irish immigrants living in Berrien County in the 1850 census. The 1850 census for St Joseph County Indiana where South Bend is located documented 142 Irish born individuals spread between 12 different Townships. Seventeen of the 142 were "brothers and sisters" of the local catholic religious order, and the majority of Irish were living in Mishawaka, Clay, Penn and Portage Townships.

I intend to take an extensive look at this Irish community through 1900 by documenting the Irish families in Census records, Sacred Heart Church Records, St Joseph Church Records, directories and other resources.

South Bend Irish Community	Martin Brennan Family and Descendents	James McNulty Family and Descendents	John Frain Family and Descendents
Sacred Heart Church and the Evolving Irish Community	My Irish Descendency Chart	The McNulty Family Descendents that immigrated from Ireland to South Bend, Indiana and Beyond	The Frain Family Descendents that immigrated from Ireland to South Bend, Indiana and Beyond
St Joseph Church and the Evolving Irish Community	The Martin Brennan and Catherine Corcoran Family of Huddersfield England: An analysis of their Migration from Ireland to Huddersfield England to South Bend, Indiana	Irish Friends: The James McNulty and Margaret Whelan Family of South Bend, Indiana in the Census Records	Irish Friends: The John Frain and Catherine Holden Family of South Bend, Indiana in the Census Records
1850 Census St. Joseph County, Indiana Irish Families	The Martin Brennan and Catherine Corcoran Family in Church Records: St. Patrick's Church, Huddersfield England, Sacred Heart Church, Notre Dame and St. Joseph Church, South Bend, Indiana	The James McNulty and Margaret Whelan Family in Sacred Heart and St. Joseph Church Records, South Bend, Indiana	The John Frain and Catherine Holden Family in the Sacred Heart Church, Notre Dame and St Joseph Church, South Bend, Indiana Records
1860 Census St. Joseph County, Indiana Irish Families	Anna (Brennan) Gray's Recollections of her grandparents Martin Brennan and Catherine Corcoran: Their departure from Ireland to England and on to the United States as Told by Barbara (Gray) Cutter	The Margarita McNulty and David H Smith Family in the St Joseph Church, South Bend, Indiana and other Records	The Joseph Frain and Maria Carrol Family in the South Bend Indiana Census Records
1870 Census St. Joseph County, Indiana Irish Families	More Recollections from Anna (Brennan) Gray's of her Grandparents Martin Brennan and Catherine Corcoran: Their Passage from England to New York and on to South Bend, Indiana as Told by Barbara (Gray) Cutter (New)	The Martin and Ellen A McNulty Family in the U.S. Census Records	The Joseph Frain and Maria Carroll Family in the St. Joseph Church, South Bend, Indiana Records
1880 Census St. Joseph County, Indiana Irish Families		The Margaret McNulty and Joseph C. Morris Family of Cook County, Illinois in Census and Other Records	The Margarita Frain and Dennis Beening Family in the South Bend, Indiana Census Records
		James McNulty: Tracing his Journey from South Bend, Indiana to Omaha Nebraska, Chicago Illinois, Louisville Colorado and Newton Iowa in Church and Census Records	The Margarita Frain and Dionysis (Dennis) Beening Family in the St Joseph Church Records, South Bend, Indiana
			The Teresa Frain and Elmer Pittman Family in the South Bend, Indiana Census Records
			The Teresa Frain and Elmer Pittman Family in the St Joseph Church Records, South Bend, Indiana
			The Michael and Rose Frain Family of South Bend, Indiana in the Census Records
			The Peter Frain and Mary McCafferty and Peter Frain and Catharina Dorn Families of South Bend, Indiana Documented in the Census Records