The Most Sober Steady and Industrious: “Irish Emigrant Families in Norwalk in the Mid-Nineteenth Century” ☘

The Norwalk History Room presents Dr. Jane Halloran, who will be speaking about the Irish in Norwalk, in honor of St. Patrick's Day.  ☘

This talk will explore the small Irish community who settled in Norwalk in the mid-nineteenth century and whose numbers expanded rapidly as a result of the Great Famine and the poor economic conditions in Ireland.

The talk will focus on those families who arrived at Norwalk, their settlement and contributions to the town.

Jane Halloran is a member of a long-time Norwalk family and a one-time Norwalk resident. Her father, John W. Halloran was a local C.P.A. who practiced in Norwalk for many years, and a native Norwalker. 
Her grandmother, Helen Barry Halloran was also a native Norwalker and second-generation Irish American whose mother emigrated from Ireland in 1888.

Jane has deep connections with the Norwalk Irish community, and she is connected to many of the Irish families who settled in Norwalk during the nineteenth century including the Barry, Clune, Hickey, McDonough and McNamara families among others. 
She completed and was awarded her PhD in October 2024 from Mary Immaculate College, Limerick, Ireland. Her thesis was entitled “Networks of Necessity: The Clunes, Clare and Connecticut Connections” and it focussed on the networks between the Irish and Irish American communities and their assimilation into Irish American culture in the late 19th century in Norwalk. 

The focus of her thesis was on one family from a specific area in County Clare and their migration to Norwalk, CT over several generations. 
Jane was awarded a Hibernian Research grant from the Cushwa Center at University of Notre Dame for her research proposal entitled “Bridging the Emigrant Gap: The Norwalk Catholic Club 1897-1940”in 2022. 
This paper is due to be published in 2026. 
In addition, she was also awarded a travel bursary from the Irish Association of Professional Historians for her research on the Providence Rhode Island Irish American Community in the 19th century.

Jane is currently working on a book on the Norwalk Irish American community.

She resides in Tulla, County Clare, Ireland with her family. ☘

Lunch will be provided by a special donation.
email layala@norwalkpl.org to register