John Conway,Sullivan County Historian, shares information virtually on the Irish immigrants who came to work on the D&H Canal and those who came later to work in the tanneries, including at least four of John’s ancestors.

John Mason Conway came to America in 1852 from the Lough Ree region of County Roscommon in Ireland, and moved to Sullivan County the following year, taking a job in the Stevens Brothers’ tannery in Stevensville. From there, he went to work for W.W. Gilman's tannery in Forestburgh, the largest in the county, where he eventually became head bookkeeper. By 1872 he had saved enough money to buy a farm in Kiamesha, where he farmed and took in boarders until his death in 1906, after which his family continued to operate the boardinghouse.

This is one man's story, but it is representative of a large number of Irish immigrants who ended up in Sullivan County in the second half of the 19th century, working in the tanneries. Learn more about Irish immigrants in this lecture.