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New from the WHS Press — Irish in Wisconsin


In the most recent addition to the WHS Press Ethnic History Series, Irish in Wisconsin, author David G. Holmes shows the impact of the Irish on the state's early development and politics. Ella Gogin of Waushara County (pictured at left) was one of ten children born in Wisconsin to Richard and Anna Cooke Gogin, who emigrated from County Cork, Ireland. Ella was a schoolteacher in the late 1800s and, like many of her second-generation Irish peers, she adhered to an American way of life while retaining ties to civic and religious communities that were distinctly Irish.

Holmes recounts the nature of the Irish immigrant experience in Wisconsin and its connection to the larger story of Irish immigration into this country. The book outlines the history of collective trends of the Irish in Wisconsin, the state's second largest ethnic group according to the 1990 federal census.

As David Holmes states in the book's introduction, "the story of the Irish in Wisconsin . . . is a story worth telling, because within the larger history of Irish immigration into the United States, the Wisconsin chapter is a multifaceted and intriguing chronicle that adds much to the Irish experience in America."

For a further description of the book and ordering information, go to http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/publications/books/irish_in_wisconsin.asp.

:: Posted July 29, 2004

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