THE KID’S MOM
I think of the morn when I sailed away from thee / I said, ‘Pray to God for me, pray to God for me’
Catherine McCarty sang along to the popular tune “La Paloma” and twirled around the wooden dance floor, her 12-year-old son’s hands in hers. Surely the tune resonated with other women like her who’d left Ireland long ago. Words to the two-step jig, in Spanish and English, flowed together this day in 1873 in the Southwestern town of Silver City, New Mexico Territory.
The music, courtesy of a squeezebox, fiddle and guitar, reached a crescendo and then ended. Billy bowed to his mom, and she curtsied to him. She and Billy often sang and danced together, making quite the pair. The crowd clapped enthusiastically as Catherine laughed, her smile infectious, her love of music and dancing shared by her son.
While little is known about Catherine’s early life, a few facts have emerged, thanks to relentless researchers. She appears to have left Ireland aboard the steamship Devonshire during the Great Famine of the mid- to late 1840s and arrived in New York City in 1846. Born around 1829 (a fairly reliable guess, as her 1874 obituary lists her age as 45), she was around 17 when she stepped foot on American soil. Prior to 1855 immigrants would have disembarked on the docks on the east side of Manhattan, where little processing took place. (Through 1890 people were welcomed at the Emigrant Landing Depot, popularly known as Castle Garden, in Battery Park, while the famed Ellis Island didn’t open until 1892.) Passenger records list Catherine’s occupation as “servant.” Common in that era, indentured servants typically worked for wealthy families up to seven years before earning the freedom to make their own way, as Catherine did.
After arriving in America, immigrants of many nations, particularly the Irish, chose to band together in close-knit communities. Catherine likely did too, at least for a while. As she listed her occupation on arrival, she likely already had work lined up. It’s not known where she was first employed, but records indicate that by 1860 she was living in Utica, N.Y., where she worked for the John Munn family. Around 1861
