by Geoff Cobb 
On Friday everyone becomes Irish for a day—at least in the local bars, but Greenpoint actually has a long and colorful Irish history. The first Irish came to Greenpoint way back in the 1850s. Like many of the others who arrived here then, the Irish were lured by jobs in the booming shipbuilding business. An 1855 Greenpoint census revealed that about thirty percent of the locals were Irish born. Other Irish soon followed to work…
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My great-grandfather, Alex Darraugh, was sponsored to come from cushendall by Mr McAllister. He settled on Java Street with my father was born. My father went to st. Anthony’s. One of Alex’s son, Dennis, became an Undertaker in Greenpoint but Alex had a tugboat company and also a bar on Manhattan Avenue.
Mrs. Darraugh ( Sarah McElheran) died in Greenpoint in 1943.
Hi Pat,
I believe that someone in your family also had a lighterman’s club on Manhattan Avenue. A lighter was a motorized scow that could float sugar or oil from the many local refineries.
Pat,
I am a fellow Darraugh – my maternal Grandmother was Kate Darraugh Bopp (1890-1959)! Alexander and Sarah were my a Great Grandparents!
My Dad and I share the “John McAllister” name but I do not know if we are related to the man named in this article.
You can reach me through Ancestry.com (member: johnsusanmcallister)
My father John Darragh was born at 26 Jewell Street in 1902. His parents were both from Count Antrim and were parishioners at St. Anthony’s church. My grandfather was William Darragh and my grandmother Annie (née McNeill). Her older sister Rose married Mr. McAllister and he paid for my grandparent’s voyage to New York. Rose and her husband also assisted in setting them up on Jewell Street. Very grateful to them for their tremendous assistance. William was an experienced boatman when he arrived and Mr. McAllister provided him with a job. Unfortunately, my grandfather died in July 1912 in a ship accident.
I can be reached at ancestry.com
What a fascinating article. My great-grandfather, John McAuley, emigrated from Cushendall in 1905 with his wife Jane (Magill) and they lived in Greenpoint. As a child, we visited Greenpoint often as we had many relations in the area – McAuley, Stanton, Clarke, Blondel. My wife and I have just returned from a visit to the Glens of Antrim which included time in Cushendall, Glenarm, Carnlough, Feystown and many other locales. We visited the ruins of the homesteads that my ancestors came from and the churches in which they were baptized and married.