[cat mewing] Woman 1: Hey baby.

What's wrong?

What's the matter?

Want bread?

You want some?

No butter.

Ah, you just don't.

Connecting with people.

People are probably the most important thing in my life.

I guess that really shouldn't be probably.

I should just say that flat out.

Except for money.

But, no.

Um, people, my friends, my family, uh, are everything to me and as long as everything is okay with my friends and family I can pretty much handle almost anything else.

♪♪ My health.

Grr.

I have been having a lot of, um, serious health problems.

Uh, last year I had cancer.

Uh, I had to have a complete hysterectomy.

And in fact, I have these nodules on my thyroid which may be cancerous and I'm going to have to have my thyroid out.

Uh, I also, uh, just found out I have diabetes and, um, you know, just having a lot of real health problems.

That's been my— that's really my biggest struggle right now is not even so much the health problems but trying to do what I need to do to fix the health problems.

You would think having cancer and being on national television would be motivation enough to stop eating, [laughing] but I just can't seem to do it, you know?

Or eat healthy choices or exercise.

♪♪ Lise: Worried by the difficulty of living a healthier lifestyle in the face of her serious health concerns, Andrea Campbell, a university professor from Hollywood, Florida, has found herself increasingly in need of inspiration to change.

[cat mews] One source of hope for Andrea is that she knows that she comes from a long line of strong, independent, and determined women beginning with her great-grandmother, Bridget Ray Dooley, who immigrated to the United States from Ireland alone at the age of 19.

Within a short amount of time, Bridget was able to build a new life and family for herself.

Now Andrea wants to trace her great-grandmother's life from her later years in the United States back to her childhood in Ireland and in the process hopefully learn where Bridget gained the strength to successfully change the course of her life.

Andrea: What I would love is to find that feeling of strength inside to be able to see, yeah, I am one of those Dooley women.

Some things I can't control, but some things I can and I hope that that would give me the strength to make the changes that I need to make.

I mean, I have serious health problems.

I don't wanna be melodramatic, but it's life or death, it really is.

The stuff that's happening now could kill me.

So I think the stakes are pretty high.

Uh, it's not just ooh, it would be nice to feel good.

It could— this could make a big difference for me and I'm hoping that it does.

♪♪ Lise: We all experience trying times that can seem beyond our power to overcome alone, but learning about the lives and trials of our ancestors can sometimes help us find the inspiration and strength we need to rise above our own adversities.

From the studios of BYU Television in Provo, Utah, this is The Generations Project.

♪♪ Hi everyone, I'm Lise Simms.

And each week on our program we bring you the story of someone who wants to connect with an ancestor or an entire generation of their family tree and we help them do just that.

We're an ongoing project helping people connect across generations, and today our story is all about Andrea Campbell.

Welcome.

- Thank you.

- You have, uh, quite the medical history.

All very recent in your life.

Andrea: Yes, yes.

- And when you say this is life or death, a lot of people are looking for this information out of curiosity or sense-- some sense of family connection, but to you it has more value, let's talk about that.

Andrea: Yeah.

Well, um... dealing with the actual illnesses has not been such a big emotional struggle for me.

Lise: I can tell, which is astounding.

- Well it's just one of those thi— we're— my family, we're very— maybe it's the Irish.

Uh, and my mother's a nurse so she's an Irish nurse— Lise: Wow.

- —and it's just sort of like, well, you have a problem, you deal with it.

What's the solution, what should we do?

What should that— - So, and I was very lucky, I keep getting the good cancer, so I'm like oh good, another bout of good cancer, yay.

Um, and so it's just always been about okay, what's the next thing I need to do to deal with the problem?

So, the actual— weirdly, the actual illness hasn't been that big of an issue for me.

The biggest struggle has been there are lifestyle changes that I could make that would radically improve my health— Lise: Mm-hm.

- —and I am just having such a struggle with that.

And really frustrated with myself.

It's like, Oh, come on, you know, you— how bad does it have to get before you finally do something?

- But don't you think that's the human condition?

I mean I really feel like I can relate to that.

I don't change bad habits.

I mean, I think we don't change until we're miserable.

Andrea: Yeah.

- And maybe the knowledge of life or death isn't enough.

- Yeah.

- Ironically enough.

So this is a really universal story.

Um, you have a concept of strength and the strength of your mother and great— and grandmother and great-grandmother versus yourself.

Can you talk about that just a little bit?

Andrea: Yeah, um, and I think that, um, really from my mother and then looking back further I had always looked at strength as the ability to handle something on your own.

To be able to— my mother is a very formidable woman.

When she decides something needs to be done, it happens, and it doesn't matter if she has support or not, she's the kind of person that just makes things happen, and so that's really the role model of strength that I have grown up with and that's really not me.

I always say I get by with a little help from my friends.

I mean that's my motto.

- I love that you say that.

- Well, good.

I do, good.

- But you— so, you don't think of yourself as strong because you think of yourself as requiring support system.

Andrea: Exactly, and I look at my life and I have accomplished, you know, some pretty impressive things.

I'm very, you know, proud of things that I have done— Lise: Good.

- —but every major accomplishment I've had, just about, I have gotten through with friends helping me out.

Uh, you know, being there, whether it's moving or, I mean, finishing the dissertation, I had friends who were in one room editing while I was writing in the other room and taking things to the copier and doing... And so I've always felt like well yeah, I mean, I've done good things and I'm not undercutting what I've accomplished, but I'm not that kinda person who can do it by themselves.

Lise: So this is where we begin.

- Yes.

- And, um, looking for inspiration and strength to do it for yourself now when it matters so much.

We always start close to home and close to home with you was your mother.

Your formidable mother— Andrea: Yes.

- —who actually had done a lot of research— Andrea: Mm-hm.

- —um, and we're gonna start there and take a peek, okay?

Andrea: Okay.

♪♪ ♪♪ So, uh, Bridget, your... - Grandmother.

- Your grandmother, my great-grandmother came over here from Ireland.

What was the thinkin' there?

She— when did she come?

How?

Why?

- Well, she c-- she came over in 1892 and she arrived on June 15th.

And the voyage over was about ten days and she was on the City of Chester, a ship that was runnin' back and forth.

- So, it was the name of the sh-- - The name of the ship was the City of Chester.

Andrea: Oh.

Andrea's Mom: And there's a picture of it.

Andrea: Wow.

Okay.

Andrea's Mom: And there she is on the manifest.

That's her age.

Andrea: Oh, so that's how— so she was 19 when she came over.

Andrea's Mom: When she came over.

Right.

- Wow.

- Yeah.

In 1892, she's from Mayo, and it says where she was going, which is Pennsylvania, and it says she left from Queenstown, which is in the southern part of Ireland.

Andrea: Okay.

Andrea's Mom: The person that's gonna be meeting her in the family is Patrick Connelly and he's the one that paid for her to come back over, the 15 dollars to get her back over here.

- Okay.

- Not back, over here.

[laughs] And she went to Scranton and she worked for her uncle as a, as a maid in his house.

And I do happen to have a picture of one of her sisters, Mary Jane, which is the one that she seemed to be the closest with.

And that's gra— I'm gonna call her grandmommy.

I know you're going to say Bridget, but I have to call her grandma.

And that's grandpa, James Dooley.

So, they got married in 1900 and I actually have their marriage license.

And what's interesting in this marriage license is she must have moved in with her sister, Mary Jane, who was already married to Thomas Howley.

733 Fern Street, in these row houses in Camden, and that's her address and then when she put in for this, and then when she got married I found in the 1900 census, she's living at 713.

And I think what happened— because by 1901, she was living next door to her sister— - Oh.

- —in 731.

- So she probably moved in with her sister before she got married, and then after they got married they scraped up enough money or whatever to move next door, so that would make sense.

- Right, exactly.

They had to work that out.

But I think it's interesting that, you know, she stayed with her sister and then moved next to her sister— - Yeah.

- —'cause the family was important to her.

And then after a few years of living on Fern Street, the first three children were born on Fern Street, and they bought the house in Cramer Hill.

And that— I hope you get to go up there and look at that house because that's the house where it has a lot of meaning for me because when I was a little kid I used to go visit grandmom, and that's where all your cousins came, and the family got together, which was, you know, it's real— was really important to them.

Andrea: So, I wanna go up to New Jersey and I wanna see the 75th— sev— 733 Fern Street where she lived when she first got married and then go to Camden and see the house that you remember.

- Yes.

That's the house.

[plane whooshing] Lise: Andrea is on her way to Camden, New Jersey to visit both the Fern Street and Cramer Hill homes and neighborhoods where her great-grandmother, Bridget, lived.

She's meeting with her second cousin, Anne Getts, who's showing Andrea Fern Street where Bridget first lived with her sister and later with her husband, James, after they were married.

♪♪ The neighborhood has changed drastically over the years.

In fact, Bridget's home has long since been demolished.

- This is Fern Street, the 700 block.

This is where Grandmom and Grandpop lived when they first got married in 1901 to 1905.

Over here are row homes that resemble what were on both sides of the street when they lived here.

Andrea: Wow.

They're very small.

I mean, they're— I think they're actually quite cute.

Uh, wouldn't mind living in one— Anne: They're bigger inside than they look.

So, and I mean, they raised large families in these homes back then.

Andrea: And of course this is pre-television and all that so there's probably a lot of activity in the street, and talking to your neighbors on the porch.

Anne: Yeah.

And back then they took care of— if somebody was down on their luck, the neighbors all helped to feed them, take care of their kids, buy their kids shoes if they needed it, and, you know, if anybody, like, there would be bums— - Uh-huh.

- —you know, like there are today, and they would, like, sweep for you and stuff, and they would make them sandwiches and, and feed them.

Everybody took care of everybody.

- A real community.

Andrea: Yes.

- Yeah.

♪♪ Lise: Next, Andrea and Anne are heading to Bridget's second house located in the Cramer Hill neighborhood of Camden.

This is the home that Andrea's mother, Jan, remembers so fondly.

Anne is giving Andrea a tour while she recounts her many memories of the family home.

It was a lifelong dream of Bridget's to own her own home and she made it into a constant hub of family activity, raising her six children, caring for several of her grandchildren, and hosting many lively get-togethers with friends and neighbors from her Irish Catholic community.

Bridget lived here from her early 30s until the end of her life.

In fact, the home remained in the family for nearly a century.

♪♪ Anne: This homestead was in the family from 1905 until I sold it in 1982.

There were a lot of really good times here.

A lot of birthday parties, I remember my birthday parties in the yard.

And, uh, there— we always had Thanksgiving here, and we had, uh, Easter, Christmas.

The whole family would come back, and sometimes they lined tables all the way through these two rooms in here.

- Wow.

- Because there was— and they'd have two shifts of eating because...

Both: There were so many people.

- The family had grown so much.

- Yeah.

- You know, with six children and then everybody had children.

- But you know, I think that's a real sign of family success.

That thinking about Bridget coming over here all alone, wanting a different kinda life than what she had in, in Ireland, and wanting to not be hungry, because I think that you know, that seemed to be... - The famine.

- Yeah, and to come and end up the matriarch of her house.

- Yeah.

- [emotional] Just thinking about what it would... [laughs] Sorry.

What it would feel like for her— - To accomplish so much.

- —to have accomplished that.

And to be surrounded by all of her kids and all of her grandkids in the home that she was able to afford and make a home and have it be such a great place that all the family would wanna come back, and that my mom still has those memories of when she was— 'cause she must have been really little when she was here.

Anne: She said it was the best times when she was at grandmom's.

Andrea: Yeah.

Anne: Yeah, she was the, the matriarch like you called her, of the home and the family— Andrea: Yeah, really the center of it all.

Anne: —and the community.

Andrea: Yeah.

♪♪ It was more powerful than I had anticipated.

I think the part that was most powerful for me was getting— was when there was connections to people that I knew personally.

Thinking of my mom being here when she was little, that's really the part that— where I start to get that— really the pow-- um, because it's-- again, it's moving from it just being a story or being history to like, oh, no, this is somebody that I knew-knew, like how close those generations are.

Uh, it seems so long ago and yet it's really not.

I mean, my mother played here as a little kid.

That's, that's just, you know, very powerful for me.

Lise: Andrea is making her way back to her mother's home in Florida.

Before moving on to Ireland, she hopes to get clues from Jan about where exactly Bridget lived in Ireland, and what her life would have been like.

- Well I went to New Jersey, I hung out with Anne, I saw all the Bridget sights, and it was excellent, um, but now I'm inspired and I wanna go even further back.

I wanna push all the way back to Ireland.

So, I wanna go over there and see whatever it is I can— there is to be seen about Bridget's life there.

So what do you know about what it was like before she came over?

- Well, I know where she lived and where she was born and where she lived until, until she came to America.

It's in a little— it's a crossroads village of Cloontia, which is near the town of Bonniconlon, and that would be the church that they went to.

And it is really a rural area, [laughing] when you go.

And the ruins are there and one of the rules for the EU is you can't tear down those old buildings.

So in a farmer's field you will find the ruins.

Andrea: Mmm.

Jan: And it's just one of the two-room houses that they had in Ireland and they raised those big families there and you just— when you stand there and look at it, you just wonder how the dickens did they ever do it?

Andrea: Ah.

Jan: But they did.

They raised a whole family there.

So I have something I want to get you to take.

- Oh, a present?

- Yes, it's a present for you.

This belonged to grandmom.

This was a pin she had.

Andrea: Oh.

Bridget Ray Dooley.

Jan: Yes, she wore it for years.

And I would like very much for you to have that and take it to Ireland with you.

- Oh.

So a little bit of Grandmom get's to go back.

- Grandmom gets to go back to Ireland, yes.

Exactly.

Exactly.

♪♪ Andrea: I'm really, really excited, and not just because it's so incredibly hot here and it won't be in Ireland, which was my biggest excitement before, but now I'm really excited to go see where Bridget lived and see what it would have been like for her and take a little piece of Bridget back to Ireland with me since she never got to make it back.

Her great-granddaughter who really, if you think about all the, the fuss she made about trying to get the daughters treated equally and her focus on education, and her great-granddaughter becomes a professor, so I'm like exactly what she was going for.

So, I'll bring her back with me and get to see what it was like for her.

♪♪ [silence] - You're wearing your grandmother's pin even now.

Andrea: I am.

Yes.

Lise: Had you seen that pin before?

- I vaguely remembered it from when I was little in my mom's jewelry box— Lise: Mm-hm.

- —but I, I didn't have a lot of memories of it, so it's actually kind of perfect 'cause I had those memories of a connection but it was a surprise at the same time.

- Aww.

- It was kind of like new and old all at once.

- [laughs] And did it mean a lot to you?

I know that your, your great-grandmother, when she came at 19— Andrea: Mm-hm.

- —never went back.

Andrea: No, and she always wanted to go back.

She loved America, but she loved Ireland, and she never got a chance to go back, so yeah, it was, it was very powerful.

I actually started to choke up, but I'm not the one talking so you can't tell— Lise: Aw.

- —at the idea of being able to bring part of her back and I wore it almost every day on, on the trip as this idea of she got to go back with me to see that, you know.

Lise: I love that.

- Yeah.

- You had a chance to go to the family homes, one that was gone— Lise: Mm-hm.

- —but you saw the neighborhood, but, but the home with Cousin Anne, that you actually got to walk through.

Andrea: Yes.

- You seemed to have a real cathartic experience there.

What was happening?

- Yeah, it was, it was, it was— I was quite surprised at how emotionally powerful that experience was.

Lise: Mmm.

- Um, when I started this it was really more of intellectual journey— Lise: Mm-hm.

- —and I was really interested.

I'm in-into history and I've been interested in this aspect of our family history, but it was really more intellectual and that's where it started to get really emotional.

Lise: Why?

What was— what did you feel or learn there that connected you?

Andrea: I think there's a couple of things.

One was just, when you have that physical presence, it, it connects you in some way that words and lines on papers and even stories don't.

Lise: Mm.

- Uh, you get a sense of dimension and a sense of feeling.

It's like pulling clothing out for— that you used to wear and all of a sudden it comes back to you— - Yeah.

Andrea: —who gave it to you or what you were doing when you wear it and your memory becomes more vivid.

Lise: Yeah.

- And it's kind of a similar experience.

Um, part of it was because my mother had kind of a traumatic childhood, and she had said that that house was the last place she remembered feeling safe as a child.

Lise: Oh my gosh.

- So that was very powerful for me.

And when I went, she was like, Oh— and she was telling me, Oh, I used to play in this little— the yard on the side, and we used to do this, and she had all these really wonderful memories of her family there, and so that really started to make this seem real— Lise: Ah.

- —that Bridget was not just a, a story or a name, but a real person that my mother knew and, and had these experiences at, and that— I was quite shocked frankly at how powerful it was.

And then also that Anne had a very powerful reaction.

She actually started to cry when she went through at the columns that are still there in the living room.

Lise: That they're still there.

- 'Cause she just remembers that and that was something that was very powerful for her for some reason— Lise: Interesting.

- —'cause she grew up in that house, uh, and lived there with Bridget's daughter, Big Anne.

We called her Big Anne and then my cousin's name is Little Anne.

Lise: Cute.

- Uh, and so the fact that the lady there too, who, who— the person who lives there now, clearly family is very important, and she's kept it in such good care.

- It looks like it's kept really well.

I love the colors of the walls.

And I noticed the columns ironically enough.

Your mom had a lot of information.

Andrea: Yeah.

- She must be thrilled that you were on this journey.

Andrea: Yes, although we tease her like she's just thrilled that my eyes don't glaze over when she talks about genealogy now.

Both: [laugh] - But yeah, she was, and she did a lot of work to help make this happen.

- So she's had a passion... - Yes, she— and she has traced our family back, and now she's doing my dad's side, and she'd actually been over to Ireland before and been to Bridget's house.

Lise: Oh!

- And I have a picture of her standing in the house, and she has some stones they said she could take, although I think it may be illegal so...

But the owner did say it was okay.

Maybe I shouldn't admit that.

Lise: [laughs] - So, uh, we've all been jealous she got to go the house and everything, so she was so excited that I was getting to go, and next I've gotta find a way to get my sister over there 'cause we wanna take her.

Lise: Oh, very good.

- Yeah.

Lise: To share these stories.

- Yes.

- Um, I'm curious if Anne had any regrets selling this family home that had been a part of your family for so long.

Andrea: I think that actually doing this project brought up a little bit of that.

Lise: Really?

- Um, the neighborhood that it's in has— is not really a great neighborhood— Lise: Yeah.

- —uh, and it, it'd been— gone quite downhill and was actually very dangerous.

Lise: Ah.

- It now seems to be going kind of up the other way— Lise: Oh.

- —which is— was— is wonderful, I mean I quite, you know, liked it when I was there, uh, and— but I don't think she had any regrets.

Lise: At the time.

- The family had moved away, she was the only one there, but in talking about this and going back and my mom sharing that that's the way she felt about it, I think she started to— she said, "Oh I wouldn't have sold it if I'd known you'd felt that way."

Lise: [laughs] And so I think she did start to get a little bit of that.

Lise: Aww.

- Yeah.

Lise: And you'd been to Ireland once before.

Andrea: When I was little.

- How old?

Andrea: Uh, I was about eight or nine, uh... Lise: Do you have memories of it?

- More impressions.

Lise: Mm-hm.

- I remember I very much enjoyed it.

We stayed at a cute little cottage.

I remembered the peat fireplace and the thatched roof.

Lise: Oh!

- Uh, so I had these— I remember being very, very cold at one point and wet and getting a hot cup of tea and how wonderful that was.

Um, but not a lot of details, just more impressions of it.

Lise: Were you, uh, wishing that your mom could've gone with you on this trip?

- Yes, particularly at the end.

Um, I think, yeah, actually having someone with you— with me might have not allowed me to take that sort of emotional journey 'cause it was very internal kind of experience— Lise: Oh, that's interesting.

- —but I would've loved to have her at the end to sort of process and debrief— and go through that and share that and say how did she feel about it, and— 'cause she of course remembers Bridget.

- Right.

- So what— was her experience of it any different from mine having had a different experience of Bridget.

Lise: Oh, that's interesting.

At this point, I know we're still looking for ways that you find inspiration in these women and how they dug inside themselves, had you learned anything at this point that was new?

- Yes, actually, um, that Bridget was part of a community, and she actually came over into a community.

There were people waiting for her, got her a job, uh, when she came to the area that she lived in on Fern Street, she lived next door to her sister, and when she— Lise: Mm.

- —was in the to— moved to the town, she started to create that community, she helped found the church there— Lise: Oh!

- —um, all of her daughters lived in the neighborhood somewhere, she helped out people in the neighborhood, and people helped her.

She almost lost the house and one of the neighbors helped her.

She used to feed the hobos that would come through.

Lise: Isn't that interesting?

- Yes.

Lise: So, you're already starting to have some answers that were unexpected really— Andrea: Yes.

- —that it's not all just an internal strength.

Andrea: Right, it's not doing it by yourself, yes.

Lise: That it comes, you're starting to see this.

- Yes.

Lise: So the next part is this trip to Ireland.

Lucky you.

Andrea: Yes, oh yes.

I still count my lucky stars.

- I bet, and I have some Irish roots, so many of us do.

Um, into the unknown— Andrea: Yes.

- —to get to know Bridget from 19 and back.

- Yes.

Lise: 'Cause she came to America at 19.

Andrea: Yes.

- So, let's... Andrea: So, why did she come?

- Why did she come?

Let's find out.

[folk music] [airplane whooshing] ♪♪ Andrea is on her way to County Mayo in northwestern Ireland.

One of the counties hardest hit by the infamous great potato famine of the mid-nineteenth century.

♪♪ Bridget Ray was born on January 15th, 1872, in Cloontia, a small crossroads village in County Mayo.

Her father, Thomas Ray, was a tenant farmer who raised his family of seven children with the meager living he was able to make on the farm.

At the Ray family farm, Andrea is meeting with Joseph Howley, a distant relative and the current owner.

♪♪ Joseph: This is what's left of your people's place.

Andrea: Wow.

Joseph: Three-room cottage.

Andrea: Okay.

Joseph: And there'd have been a bedroom up on one side— Andrea: Mm-hm.

Joseph: —and a lower bedroom— Andrea: Okay.

Joseph: —and a kitchen in the middle.

- And how many people would live in a house of that size?

- There could be from 8 to 12 to 14.

- Wow.

How did they even squeeze them all in?

- In, in the kitchen there was— there was always a bed in the kitchen.

- Oh.

- The smallest little alcove near the fireplace.

It was usually the grandparents stayed there.

- Okay.

- So you had grandparents as well as father, mother, and children.

Maybe sometimes an uncle or maybe sometimes someone else that was left in place, like.

- Wow.

And so the bedrooms they would just basically use for sleeping and then the living would be in the kitchen, or?

- Joseph: Oh, very much so yes.

- Okay.

- Like there'd be, uh, maybe four, five, six, seven to a bed.

- Wow.

- Top, bottom, wherever way they could.

Andrea: Wow.

Joseph: And, uh, the grandparents would normally live in the house.

Cook— everything's cooked in the house too.

An open fireplace.

Andrea: Uh, and I'm assuming then that having the fire was critical 'cause, I mean, we're here in July and it's a little chilly, so.

- Ah, yes.

But hey, here, like, you don't— had no coal, you had no central heating— Andrea: Mm-hm.

- —you had peat, turf, what we call turf here.

Andrea: M'kay.

- It's taken out of the ground, cut by hand, and saved in the dry weather.

And it— - So basically they're burning dirt?

- Yeah, they are burning dirt.

Yeah peat, turf.

Andrea: Okay.

And what would they, what would they be farming?

Joseph: They'd have some crops, oats, maybe to— fodder for, for the animals that they have.

- Oh, okay.

- And, uh, uh, some few, very few sheep.

At that time here.

Maybe a few small sheep, like.

But mostly it was, uh, they'd have a cow and a calf.

- Mm-hm.

So, it sounds like everything was just about survival.

- Oh, it was, of course, yeah.

- So every, e-- the growing the food to feed the cow that they're using to get a little bit of money to buy the clothes that they can't make, and so everything is just to keep going until that next year.

- Eggs.

Try and sell eggs from the coop.

Everyone-- every farmer would've had hens at the time, like.

are the women and the hens [indistinct] Andrea: So the, they're growing potatoes on the farm-- Joseph: Yeah.

Andrea: And that's really-- Joseph: That was the main diet.

The main thing, yes.

When the famine came in, like, it just decimated them, like.

- So then the potatoes just weren't growing?

Or they were...?

- They, they, they rotted in the trills.

Andrea: Oh.

- They just rotted in the ground.

It still happened, like.

It still happened.

You look after it and we spray for it now.

- So that's their main for-- form of food and they go to dig 'em up and they're rotten, so they have to eat.

- Yeah.

Andrea: Well, I remember my mother saying that, uh, when she had asked why Bridget came over, or someone in the family had asked, and she said it was because she was hungry.

And that-- I didn't really understand what that meant.

- Oh yeah, it was.

Really was hungry, yeah.

There's so little here that scrape a living is all they ever knew, like.

- So, hungry's like really I don't have any-- enough food to eat at all!

- Oh yes, it is.

Yeah.

- It's funny how something said all the sudden, something will become really powerful to you.

I don't know why that, that's so upsetting.

Maybe because I really like potatoes.

Both: [chuckling] - Well, I'm not that fond of them, but.

They're not that important to me now.

- Yeah.

Well that's-- Well, we're big potato fans in our family.

We always say it's because we're Irish.

Both: [chuckling] - Well, maybe, yeah.

- We blame a lot of things on that.

- Yeah?

♪♪ Andrea: Well, you know, it's funny 'cause when we went to the house in Camden, it, it was a nice house, but it didn't pr-- seem like a particularly nice house.

You know, I mean, it was-- it, it seemed kind of small, um, for all the people that were in it.

You know, oh wow, it only has three bedrooms, and there were seven girls in-- you know, seven kids in there or whatever.

And now compared to this and wow.

It w-- must've been like a palace to her.

♪♪ Everyone always said how much she loved Ireland and how much she missed it, and of course the people that you love are here.

But also, what, what would've-- thinking about what would've compelled her to leave some place that she loved that much?

Start to get a clearer picture that life was really hard, really hard.

And when she said I left because I was hungry, she wasn't just being-- it wasn't just hyperbole.

She meant 'cause she was hungry.

And not really much of a chance of things getting any better.

♪♪ Lise: Andrea is on her way to the Hennigan Museum and Heritage Center.

An interactive farm that allows visitors to experience life on a farm in County Mayo at the turn of the 19th century.

Tom Hennigan, owner of the heritage center, is giving Andrea firsthand experience in the kind of farm work Bridget would've experienced.

He's showing her how to dig peat.

Andrea: So, I was over in Ireland when I was young, and we were staying at a little cottage, and we burned peat.

And I remember asking my dad "What is it?"

and he said "It's bricks made out of dirt."

I said, "We're burning dirt?"

[chuckles] So, what exactly is peat?

- Well, dirt is completely different.

Dirt is, is fertile soil while peat is vegetation that rots down over thousands of years.

And it's created by the soggy warsh-- west marshy area.

And all of the vegetation on it rots down.

Trees, heathers, marshes, the whole lot.

And it rots down, and it takes 1,000 years for one foot of peat to grow.

1,000 years per foot of peat to grow.

This here is a sod of peat.

We call it a sod.

You ca-- calls-- called it a brick.

- Right.

- But we call this a sod of turf.

- Sod of turf.

- A sod of turf.

That's the, the real Irish interpretation of that that's in my hand.

And-- [thump] that's basically what it is.

It's just like a slab of butter, right?

And that would be placed out here in the field to dry around that ba-- uh, the bank to dry.

It will take in around five weeks for it to dry.

And I'll show ya how we cut it.

So I then have to cut and score along the side here... for that.

[scraping] Okay.

And now I'll take the sleán, and I'll proceed to cut it.

Andrea: Okay.

[squelching] Oom-pa-da.

Would this be something that a woman would normally do?

Is this a boy's job?

Tom: No, no, no.

Women had to do everything.

- Oh rats.

- Men from County Mayo, many of them had to immigrate, you know?

Uh, become migrant laborers 'cause the holdings of land here are very, very small.

Uh, so many of the men had to immigrate.

So, mothers then became mothers and fathers.

And all those jobs were done by mothers and father-- by mothers as well.

Andrea: Well then I suppose if I wanna know what Bridget's life was like, I should give it a try?

Tom: Down you come, girl.

Down you come.

Andrea: Let's hope I don't come down faster than I intend.

Tom: [laughs] It's all right.

We'll get you.

Take your time.

[squelch] Andrea: Ooh, it's a little squishy.

Tom: You're all right.

Andrea: Yes, okay.

Tom: Now, take that sleán in your right hand.

Andrea: Ooh!

Ooh!

I'm slipping.

Tom: Have the-- Both: [laughing] Andrea: So I don't have to mark the-- - No.

We'll let you dig away.

Andrea: Okay.

Tom: We'll let you cut it.

Andrea: All right.

Tom: Not-- cut it.

Hold on [indistinct].

That's it.

Now, we catch it like this.

Are you right handed or left?

Andrea: I'm right handed.

Tom: Right.

Down with it.

[squelching] - Back now.

Look at that.

Look at that!

- Look at that!

- South America be proud of us.

She has definitely found her roots in Mayo.

- [laughing] [grunts] Ooh, can I take it home and bronze it?

Tom: Yes!

I'm-- Both: [laughing] - There you have it.

I think you've done very proud.

- All right.

- I think your ancestors would be proud of you.

- You think she'd be proud?

- I definitely do.

[Irish jig] ♪♪ Lise: Next, Tom is showing Andrea how to harvest potatoes.

Andrea: I'm assuming my great-grandmother, Bridget, would've been a potato digger for the family.

- Well, you're dead right.

You can rest assured she was a potato digger because every child in the house learned to potat-- how to cook a dinner and prepare a dinner for themselves, and potatoes was the natural diet.

When we're looking at eight-- at 1870, you're looking at a survival where potatoes were the dominant feature of potato, and nourishment follows.

They would have diet of potatoes three times a day.

- Wow - Breakfast, dinner, and tea.

Potatoes.

Featured in their diet three times a day.

So you sh-- You can rest assured that your great-grandmother, or grandmother, dug potatoes.

[scraping] Andrea: All right, let me-- Tom: You'll have to have a go with this now, my [indistinct] Andrea: Let me try.

I was good at the peat.

Let me see if I can do the potatoes.

Tom: Well, you have succeeded at the peat, and I'm sure you'll succeed at getting a dinner for yourself.

Andrea: All right.

I can start the fire-- Tom: I never seen an Irish woman yet to fail gettin' a dinner.

Andrea: [chuckling] Tom: Now, now all you do is you lean back.

Andrea: And just lever it out.

Tom: Yes.

Andrea: Okay.

I gotta-- Tom: Here, we got here at the front.

Andrea: I gotta show that I can actually do it.

Tom: I'm standin' back from ya.

Andrea: Okay.

So-- Tom: Bring nearer.

Bring nearer to the potato.

Andrea: Oh, like this.

Okay, okay.

I can see one.

It wants to come up.

Tom: That's it!

Andrea: And then I just l-lever the plant up.

Tom: That's it!

And there you have two!

Andrea: Look at that!

I got me some big spuds.

Tom: I bet you've been more successful than meself.

Look at-- look at that!

Andrea: [laughing] Tom: Now, wouldn't any woman be proud of her, huh?

Look it!

And they're still on, you see because they haven't broken away from the stalk yet, and that is very rare that you'll get a shot like that.

There they are.

Not ready-- You see, they're not ready for digging.

This is out in July.

They're not ready to fall off till September.

- Now, I should be able to get me a husband.

Show him I can dig potatoes like that.

And-- Tom: That's a brilliant shot.

Andrea: Potatoes are one of the only things I actually know how to cook!

Tom: Well, there you have it.

No problem.

I nearly, I nearly ate them meself without cookin'.

Andrea: [laughing] Tom: Look at that!

- That is gorgeous.

Gorgeous.

Tom: Okay.

- Yesss!

- Well you have achieved your two aims why you came to Mayo.

Andrea: Yes.

[soft Irish melody] ♪♪ ♪♪ Andrea: I can feel my Irish roots!

Uh, it sounds clichéd, but um, you know, maybe you just look for the things that you do relate to.

But, uh, beyond just potatoes-- which I love-- Uh, it's-- I love the way the land looks.

It's, it's so green.

And the weather, of course, I love the cold weather.

I mean, we're here in July and I have to have a sweater on, a jumper, as the Irish would call it.

I have to have a jumper.

Um, and you can just feel the life in the air.

You can smell it.

You can smell the li-- I mean, I don't know whether it's rotting stuff in the bog or what, but it smells wonderful.

Um, and I just feel myself coming alive here.

Uh, I could totally see moving back here.

I think that would be-- If I had the money, I would get one of these cute little houses, and I would plant my garden in the front and my flowers, and I might even go dig some peat.

Or more likely, I'd buy some peat.

But I would have a peat fire 'cause you know what?

That peat fire smells really good.

[laughs] So yeah.

I, uh, um, I'm really liking the Irish thing.

[Irish melody] ♪♪ [Irish jig] Lise: Prior to leaving Ireland, Bridget's family and community would've thrown a festive musical celebration known as an American wake to bid her farewell and wish her luck on her voyage to America.

A group of local dancers and musicians have gathered from the surrounding villages to recreate this experience for Andrea.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ Andrea: Something about sitting there and listening to the music, it was curiously moving.

I mean, there were actually a couple of times that I teared up.

Well, I think it goes back to that same idea that sort of keeps coming up as I talk to more and more people through this whole journey of community that yes, it's true that she got in the boat and she went over by herself, and that is amazing, and it would've been a h-- a super hard trip, and she wouldn't have known what was gonna happen, and it could've been horrible things.

But she didn't really do it alone most of the process.

She was heading out, following people that she knew had gone ahead.

Her community was here supporting her, and then when she arrived there, she had community there to support her.

So, she wasn't in it alone.

she was in it with a lot of people.

Even when she was physically alone, she had this really strong connection that gave her strength.

♪♪ [clapping] [soft Irish melody] ♪♪ Lise: Andrea is meeting with Des McDonnell of the North Mayo County Museum to get a sense of what one of Bridget's last experiences with her beloved country would've been like.

Andrea: All right, how do I get on here?

Des: Here.

There's a step here, and you can hold on to this.

Andrea: Okay.

I think this may be an acquired skill.

Des: [laughs] Yeah.

You get used to it after a while.

[laughs] Andrea: And they had long skirts then, so I think we're facing the same challenge.

Des: Exactly, exactly.

Andrea: Okay, and then you take this.

Des: Take this, yeah.

And they put it over that, yeah.

[leather squeaking] Now-- Andrea: Now, if I had a trunk 'cause I would be going to the railway, go-- to get r-- where would you put the trunk?

Des: Maybe you could put the trunk up here.

In, in, in, on the, on the middle.

- Kinda strap it down and put it up there.

Des: Kinda strap it down.

- And I'd be sitting here getting ready to head off to my new land and my new life.

- Yes, exactly.

Exactly.

- A little different than when I went to college.

- [laughing] Right.

I have no doubt a small bitty-- a small bitty different.

Andrea: [chuckles] ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ It's just absolutely impossible to convey how absolutely gorgeous it is.

♪♪ Even if I wasn't on this incredible internal journey, uh, just being here would be a phenomenal experience.

When I add to that that I'm, you know, sitting here, uh, by the water the way Bridget would've been, I'm sure that she, you know, paused as she got to the boat and sat there and thought about what she was doing.

I think her strength came from her community, and, a-and became part of it.

It's one of those things that it's a, it's a give and take, that she then gives her strength back to her community.

And that's a real shift for me.

♪♪ I need to get healthy within a community.

I need to use my friends and my family and all the love and support that I know they're wanting to give me, that I know that they, they have been doing in the past, and find a way to help use that to help me make the changes that I need to make.

And then hopefully be able to give it back too, because I think that's one of the key things to being in a community.

So, finding a way to give back what I get out of this.

♪♪ It's clichéd again to say it's a life-changing experience, but I have no doubt that it is.

I don't think now I can even articulate all the ways that it will be, but I think it really will be.

♪♪ ♪♪ - You found your answers.

Andrea: I did.

I really did.

- Did you think that you would?

- Uh, not, not the way it turned out.

I had a very sort of neat idea where, again, very intellectual at the beginning.

I'll go, I'll learn this fact, I'l learn that fact, oh maybe I'll get a little insight.

And it was so not that.

It was so emotional, powerful, chaotic, internal, transformative.

And that I was not expecting.

- You were looking for really specific answers about strength.

Andrea: Yes.

- And discovered-- And you say it so beautifully, that it is about the community.

Andrea: Really, yes.

- So, how has that changed your view of yourself?

- Um, it really has made me accept the way that I am as being a good thing.

Yeah.

Lise: I wanna get up and cheer.

Yay!

- And I-- It wasn't that I thought that I was bad before, but I somehow thought that needing people and needing help and I really get energy being around other people.

You know, like, I need quiet time, downtime to process.

But if I'm alone too long, I start to get a little bit emotionally depressed.

And I found out that's actually the definition of introvert and extrovert.

It's not whether you talk or not, it's where you get your energy.

And introverts get their energy being alone, and extroverts get their energy being with other people.

Lise: I'm learning something as we speak.

This is fascinating.

Andrea: And that's-- I am a true extrovert in all-- both ways.

But I get energy when I'm around other people.

And I can acco-- Really, I can be in any kind of traumatic situation, and if I'm with other people, I'm okay, and I'm the-- I make it okay.

And I go through the same thing alone, and I'm-- [mumbles] And I always thought that that was a weakness, that there was something wrong with that.

And now I embrace that, and I'm okay with that, and I think that's a good thing.

And that is been a really big change for me.

- That's huge for anybody.

- Yeah.

- You look like you were born in Ireland.

Andrea: I feel-- I felt like I was born in Ireland.

I, I hope the audience gets a sense of how amazing that place is, how amazing the land is.

It's so green and lush and alive, and the smell is wonderful.

It smells alive.

And the peat smells like a mix of campfire and incense, and you're always hearing, like, the wind.

There's always the sound of the wind rushing which is one of my favorite sounds in the world, the wind coming through.

And a seagull or a, a cow mooing, or a dog barking, and it just feels so alive.

And I have traveled all over the world.

I've been to many places I love.

I felt a connection to Ireland that I have never felt anywhere else before.

I just-- I felt like I had come home.

My mom was giving me a hard time because I was moping around when I came home like I had left a boyfriend.

She's like, The last time you left that other one from before, you didn't mope this much.

I was so depressed to be here.

I wanted to be back in Ireland.

- You said even physically, it changed you.

Or you felt different.

- I felt different.

I felt alive, I felt energized, I felt-- I, I, I just felt like, I felt like I had come home.

I felt rooted.

I felt like I was supposed to be there.

And I had not anticipated that at all.

I-- if someone had told me that would happen, I would've thought, [mumbling] Just a little bit strange.

Uh, but I really give a little more credence to this idea of genetic memory, because I really felt connected to the place, yeah.

- Well, speaking of genetic memory, it reminds me of you digging the potatoes, the potatoes and say, There's gotta be a man who will marry a woman who can dig potatoes.

I love potatoes.

Don't we all love potatoes.

Do you think there is a genetic memory in terms of habit?

I mean, coming from a culture of fa-- who, who was fighting famine-- Andrea: Mm-hm.

- to the point where your, where your great-grandmother Bridget left because she was hungry.

Suddenly those words had a new depth of meaning.

Andrea: A whole new meaning.

I thought it was sort of a metaphor, you know, a little bit of hyperbole, like times were tough.

We didn't always have everything that we needed.

I didn't realize what she meant was literally I was hungry.

Lise: Desperation.

- All the time.

Yes.

- And the irony of your story... Andrea: Yes, that I'm-- [laughs] - Which is about balancing that in your life for greater health.

But do you think that-- I mean, it's very much the American way.

And there's certainly been in history, in other cultures, that, um, eating was a sign of wealth.

Andrea: Yes.

- Only the wealthy could afford food.

And I wonder if someone who comes from a culture of famine, uh, you know, processes differently.

Andrea: And also, it's a celebration.

I mean, think of how many of our great rituals are about food.

You know, uh, birthday parties.

Thanksgiving.

Christmas.

And my family's all about that.

When we travel, any-- Our, our tales are all about the great meals we had.

I ate this, and then we ate this, and we ate here.

We will be at dinner time talking about great meals we've had before-- - We must be related.

- And where we're gonna eat next.

- Yes!

My sister said if my husband and I didn't have food, 99% of our relationship would be shot.. - It would be over.

It would be over.

But our whole culture really is based around that, about-- around eating as celebration, you know?

Lise: As celebration.

So, have you changed any specific habits?

Has this inspired you?

Andrea: Um, it has.

And, uh, it's still a struggle, because it's really...

It, it seems like it should be so easy given the thing-- Oh, I have to say, seeing myself on the camera is new inspiration.

Both: [laughing] - Um, but it, it, it should be like oh gosh how bad does it need to be before you make a change?

But you're really talking about changing every single thing about the way-- Lise: Lifelong...

Both: Habits.

Andrea: And not just about eating, about what I eat, but when I eat.

I mean, I don't norm-- I don't have a regular 9-5 job, so I don't get up at the same time every day, I don't eat lunch every-- at the same time every day.

I don't even eat lunch every day.

Lise: Not good.

- No, definitely not good.

So, I'm tal-- talking huge changes.

What this has really helped with is I enlist the help of people.

I don't feel bad anymore.

Well, I should say, I-- sometimes I still get the twinge, but then I go, No, you know what, this is what you learned.

It's okay to use your community to help you with this.

So I will say, Could you come over and exercise with me tomorrow?

Because I'm starting to get out of the habit, and I need a little-- - And the obligatory visit makes you have to do it.

Andrea: If my friend comes over to exercise with me, I have to do it.

Or, um, I'll say we're having a party.

I'm like, I'm not gonna be able to eat that, I'm gonna br-- and my friends are great.

They'll, like, Ooh I'm gonna make this so you'll have something to eat, or what can I get for you, or what-- And to feel okay with that and to embrace that as a way of making a change rather than feeling like oh, there's something wrong with me.

Oh no, no, that's okay, I'll, I'll be able to da-da-da.

I-- to just say, no that's okay.

They wanna help me just the same way I wanna help them, and that is part of what it means to be a human being, is to live in community, and that that's good.

Lise: And that's a part of the giving back side of it, don't you think?

Andrea: Yes.

- Receiving is such a return gift.

- Well, I know how wonderful it is for me when I can do something for someone who's important to me.

So, allowing other people to have that same experience is, is a good thing.

Lise: I wanna get back to this journey you took on the pony and cart.

- Oh yeah.

- Your great-grandmother was 19 years old.

Andrea: Yeah.

- Enjoyed a celebration in her village, in her community to say goodbye to the only country she'd ever known, the only language she'd ever known, the only food, people, to start a new life.

Do you remember what your life was like at 19?

- Yeah, 19.

Well, I'd actually been in college for two years when I was 19.

Uh, and I just-- You're so young.

Of course you think then you know it all.

Lise: I know.

Don't you love-- I wish I was still that!

- Yeah.

- There's some advantages to that.

Andrea: There is some advant-- Although, you know, I am a college professor, and I look at my students who are 19 and 20 and think I would not go back to that for all the tea in China.

Lise: Oh, very good.

- So I... at the time, um, I didn't realize how-- I mean, the stuff that you worry about, the stuff you're concerned about, now I'm, you know, it's all out there.

I don't care.

This is me, love me or leave me, that's just the way it is.

Um, and at 19, you're all worried.

Oh, are they gonna think this, or is this gonna happen, or-- Lise: [laughs] - Uh, so I'm so glad to be over that.

But I also remember that feeling of excitement of the world being new, and anything could happen.

And that I really relate to Bridget.

When I was on the sidecar-- I mean, uh, we don't really don't get to see, but they actually reenacted what it would've been like for Bridget to leave, and then they had that party, which they called an American wake because they thought you're never gonna see them again, so it was like a, a celebration of a funeral.

Lise: Wow.

- And then to get in the sidecar and go off, that was very profound.

Uh-- Lise: I feel that.

- And it was-- I could see how she would feel that the night before.

I was actually-- I had fun at the wake, but I was actually very pensive, because I could feel that she would have this mixed feeling about things, and she's leaving these people.

And then to get up in the sidecar, which she would not normally have been driving on because only the weal-- weller, weller to do farmers would have, so they may not even have had had that.

They might have had to borrow it.

And if they did, the mother would've taken it to church.

The kids wouldn't have been on it.

So, I imagine that she probably had only been on once or twice, and you're kind of sitting on, up there, and the a-- breeze is blowing, and I just, um, I, I felt like that's when it would've gotten exciting.

Like, the night before would've been the bittersweet of this exciting and sad like when you're going off to college, and you're excited, but things are changing, and then to get on the cart and her brother probably would've driven her into the train station.

Like, that's when it would've gotten exciting.

Like, I'm on to some new exciting thing.

and that's what it felt like being on there.

- You-- I happen to know that on the plane back, you journaled like a madwoman.

Andrea: I did.

I did.

- How many pages?

- 87 pages!

And I am not normally a big journaler.

I'm one of those people that have a lot of journals that have about three pages of entries, and then I stop, and then seven years later, there's another entry.

Lise: Yes, yes.

- Um, but I really wanted to capture that, and I knew from experience once you get home, you're in another mindset, you, you don't remember.

And I didn't really have much opportunity there, 'cause we were going a lot.

So, I have a couple entries there, one that stops mid-sentence 'cause clearly it was like oh, we're on to the next thing.

Um, so I really wanted to capture that.

And so the, the flight was about 13 hours, and I wrote the whole time.

Lise: Wow.

Have you had a chance to look back at it at all?

- I just started to look back on it.

- Just been about a month.

- Yes, just been about a month.

And I wanted to kind of let it settle in.

Lise: Sure.

- Um, I did do a little bit of writing afterwards as I would remember something.

Like, I have a page in there "Ways That I'm Irish."

All the things that I found that were similar to me.

- Which are?

give me a couple.

Andrea: They, they don't care about how old they are.

I always forget how old I am, and people think I'm crazy.

Lise: I do too!

- I ran into several people there who didn't know how-- They're like, oh am I 38?

35?

30-- Lise: How wonderful!

How freeing.

- And that's what I say.

Why should we track our progress in life by how many times we've revolved around the sun?

So I was like, oh!

A whole country of people who think that way!

Lise: [laughs] They're my people!

- Um, they don't get married till they're older.

They... not really good sense of time.

Like, people didn't know what day of the week it was, which is me.

Lise: Oh fascinating!

- Love of music.

I'm huge-- my, the rest of my family actually are musicians.

I have no talent, but I love music.

Lise: That is your talent.

- Tor-- Storytelling.

And they love a good crack, which is, they love a joke.

They love to, you know, to, uh, give somebody a hard time.

And we're big on that in my family.

Um, so there was just this whole list of ways, and I'm like oh, I'm so much more Irish than I even knew.

Yeah.

Lise: So, the imapact in your life.

- It has been very powerful, but very subtle.

I had actually anticipated that maybe it would be more obvious.

Lise: Mm-hm.

- But it isn't as obvious as I thought it would be, but it is much more powerful.

I-- and I'm still processing, but I just feel different.

I feel like I come from someplace now, and I didn't realize that I even cared about that before.

Lise: I'm so glad you shared this story with us.

I know so many people will be moved by it and have a connection to it.

Andrea Campbell, [Irish accent] good Irish lass that you are.

- [Irish accent] That's right.

Lise: Tell us more about your story as you learn it later.

- I will.

- Thanks so much.

- Thank you.

- And thank you.

I'll see you the next time on The Generations Project.

♪♪