Cleveland Comhrá: Love and Betrayal
- John O'Brien
- August 6, 2021
- Edited 5 months ago
Table of Contents
Cleveland Comhrá: Love and Betrayal
By Bob Carney
A woman left Ireland for America
with her mother, father, brother and sisters on the ship “Issac Wright” in the year 1853. The family hoped to leave the hardships of Ireland behind them.
During the voyage, she became acquainted with a member of the crew named William, a handsome, charming American who was working as a carpenter aboard the ship. One day he visited the family, bringing an offering of bread. More visits and more gifts followed. When the family arrived in Manhattan, they found an apartment in the city and the sailor continued his visits, to her parents chagrin; there was just something about the man they found unsettling.
They soon moved north to Albany to escape the atmosphere of the Five Points area. The sailor followed, showing up every few weeks with gifts for the girl and her family. The two would walk or sit in the shade and talk for hours.
Sometimes, he would show up wealthy, other times broke; sometimes in good spirits, sometimes not. Her parents begged her to break it off, but she was already twenty-three and he loved her. They wed later that same year.
They settled in Connecticut, where he found work in a shop. He quickly grew tired of it and he persuaded her to move back to New York City, where he set her up in a small apartment and he returned to sea. A couple of voyages and they briefly returned to Connecticut before moving back to Manhattan and back to the sea.
