The Irish Bridget: Irish Immigrant Women in Domestic Service in America, 1840-1930

Irish Studies, Syracuse University Press

by Margaret Lynch-Brennan

"Bridget" was the Irish immigrant service girl who worked in American homes from the second half of the nineteenth century into the early years of the twentieth. She is widely known as a pop culture cliché: the young girl who wreaks havoc in middle-class American homes. Now, in the first book-length treatment of the topic, Margaret Lynch-Brennan tells the real story of such Irish domestic servants, often in their own words, providing a richly detailed portrait of their lives and experiences.

Many of the socially marginalized Irish immigrant women of this era made their living in domestic service. In contrast to immigrant men, who might have lived in a community with their fellow Irish, these women lived and worked in close contact with American families. Lynch-Brennan reveals the essential role this unique relationship played in shaping the place of the Irish in America today. Such women were instrumental in making the Irish presence more acceptable to earlier established American groups. At the same time, it was through the experience of domestic service that many Irish were acculturated, as these women absorbed the middle-class values of their patrons and passed them on to their own children. Drawing on personal correspondence and other primary sources, Lynch-Brennan gives voice to these young Irish women and celebrates their untold contribution to the ethnic history of the United States. In addition, recognizing the interest of scholars in contemporary domestic services, she devotes one chapter to comparing "Bridget’s" experience to that of other ethnic women over time in domestic service in America.

Genres: Nonfiction, Irish Literature, History, Ireland

288 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 2009

Reviews

[Terrilyn McCormick · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has lots of good detail and insight on the Irish Bridget. But why must academic writing be so bad???? The redundancy and awkward prose grated on me at times.

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Picked this up at the book shop inside The Tenement Museum in NY. A bit dry, but interesting- particularly because my great grandmother was an Irish Bridget who started out as a domestic.

[Edward W. Moks · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too many footnotes and strays from the title!!

I wanted to read about Irish immigrant women as per the title, however 3\4 of the way through the author analyzed other ethnic groups of no interest to me. Also I thought the material in each chapter was repetitive. Overall seemed like a book of collections of footnotes from other authorities on this subject. Not recommended!

[Maria Elena · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought this book at the Tenement Museum in New York City after doing the “After the Famine, 1869,” tour where they discussed immigration, life of the Irish immigrant girls after the famine, and so much more. I found the writing and details of the book to be excellent, detailed orientated, and appreciated the research and thoughtfulness that went into writing this lovely book, highly recommend!

[Eileen O'Finlan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book as part of my research for the sequel to my novel, Kelegeen. It was very informative, covering all aspects of the life of Irish domestic servants in America. The book was written in an engaging fashion, never becoming dry or dull.

[Susan Raines · Rating 4 out of 5]

Frequently repetitive, but thoroughly researched and enjoyable to read, especially the primary source quotes from the Bridgets themselves.

[Andrea Quigley Maynard · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoy this book but please know it's exactly what the title says it is. If you are not interested in learning lots of details and data about Irish immigrant women working in domestic service in the US during this time period, it's not going to be for you. This book has a very specific premise and it's heavily cited which may be annoying if you're coming to a book like this hoping for beautiful language and sentence structure! I have ancestors who worked in domestic service during this time period in the north east so my interest was specifically to learn more about what their lives were like and it absolutely met that goal.

[B.B. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book gave me good insight into the lives of Irish immigrant women of that era, some of whom were my great aunts. Hard-headed girls, eager to better themselves in America.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am researching my family history and I have a great-grandmother who came to America in the 1800s to be a domestic servant for "the foin people" as she described them in her brogue. I never met her, but my mother told me stories about her, and I am fascinated by these women who left their homeland and families to come across the ocean and work in the big houses of the rich folks here in America. This book gives a picture of them, using scholarly research and excerpts from letters written by the "Bridgets" to their families. They were seeking a better life than they had in Ireland, and what they found was hard work, little time off, and sadness because most of them never made it back to Ireland. My great-grandmother came here as a girl of 14 and lived 70 more years without ever seeing the home and family she left behind. They gave up a lot to come here, and this book makes it clear that for some of them the price was high indeed. But although their life was not always better here, they started families of their own and their descendants were better off, which is what happened in my family. This is a well-written book, and you'll get a good idea of what life was like for these "Bridgets" who came across the sea.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a scholarly study of Irish Catholic women who emigrated from 1840-1920 to AMerica: their lives in Ireland, why they left, how their lives changed when they came to America. I am reading it as my great grandmother Mary emigrated in 1861, from Limerick to Illinois to be a domestic perhaps in the home of cousins who had settled there. I am retracing her
journey.

[Debby · Rating 4 out of 5]

An easy read, not complicated academic prose, but simple and to the point. She uses a lot of excerpts from personal letters, which are always fun to read, and her presentation of the subject is logical and well constructed. Very well rounded, though I think in places it could have done with a bit more in-depth analysis and description.

[Katie · Rating 2 out of 5]

There are problems with this book. It is both too cursory and too steeped in detail.

I skimmed through the last 1/3 just to get the info and be done.

http://faintingviolet.wordpress.com/2...

[C.H. · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good overview of the experience of the Irish domestic.

[Kathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a slow read but gives an excellent insight into the Irish women coming to work in American homes.