LEVINE:

Okay. Are you ready?

RAFFERTY:

So, you live in Ellis Island all the time? A boat. A beautiful large boats and everybody was so nice. It was a beautiful trip. I liked it very much. And I went back again several years ago.

LEVINE:

Oh! Good!

RAFFERTY:

But, I — I liked it.

LEVINE:

Good, now let me just say that I'm speaking with Mary Rafferty, who came here in 1923 on November 1st EI 1325 MARY RAFFERTY 2

RAFFERTY:

What date? What days?

LEVINE:

November 1st, 1923. Long time ago.

RAFFERTY:

Wait a second. November the 21st -- was the first LEVINE: [interposed] No. November the1st [interrupted] RAFFERTY: nineteen?

LEVINE:

twenty-three.

RAFFERTY:

ninety-twenty three okay just a second. Nineteen twenty three - twenty three. I have to find out - I'm going to ask myself how old I was at - at that time.

LEVINE:

Okay.

RAFFERTY:

I was - I was still young. I was still very young LEVINE: yes, you were RAFFERTY: when I landed here LEVINE: you were nineteen I think RAFFERTY: could be LEVINE: so you were nineteen years old. You were coming from Ireland RAFFERTY: that's right.

LEVINE:

and you were here on the keltic RAFFERTY: what?

LEVINE:

The ship. The ship was called the keltic.

RAFFERTY:

what was it called?

LEVINE:

keltic RAFFERTY: how do you say it?

LEVINE:

celtic or keltic?

RAFFERTY:

celtic! That's it! That's it!

LEVINE:

Okay. And where did your ship leave from? Where was the port?

RAFFERTY:

naturally from Ireland.

LEVINE:

yea. Do you remember the place in Ireland?

RAFFERTY:

if I stop and think I think it was Dublin. EI 1325 MARY RAFFERTY 3

LEVINE:

let's see. Would it have been queenstown?

RAFFERTY:

the what?

LEVINE:

queenstown.

RAFFERTY:

well, I know the name now but that's a long long [interrupted] LEVINE: I think it was called cove [ph] then RAFFERTY: cove. yes. But that's… not everywhere was it called a cove. it was queenstown?

LEVINE:

it had two different names at different times RAFFERTY: [indistinguishable]…and I would still know queenstown LEVINE: okay now where were you born?

RAFFERTY:

west of Ireland. The West. In the west. That's the bestest thing to say is west. It was in town castleway [ph] was a town that we went to LEVINE: and it was, and it was in a county RAFFERTY: county ros common [ph].

LEVINE:

okay. And what date were you born?

RAFFERTY:

[indistinguishable] …at that time. February the 29th that was a leap year 19…oh don't ask me the year, but it was February the 29th LEVINE: 1904.

RAFFERTY:

it could be LEVINE: okay (laughs) RAFFERTY: it could be.

LEVINE:

and did you live there? Did you live in the same place up until you left for America? You always lived in the same place in the west of Ireland?

RAFFERTY:

oh! In the west of Ireland I never did work in Ireland LEVINE: no. but you lived in the same place RAFFERTY: I lived at home.

LEVINE:

you lived in the same house?

RAFFERTY:

in the same house EI 1325 MARY RAFFERTY 4

LEVINE:

and the town that you… castleray?

RAFFERTY:

castle ray was our town.

LEVINE:

was it a big town?

RAFFERTY:

it was a beautiful big town LEVINE: tell me about castle ray. What was castle ray like?

RAFFERTY:

it was a big town. How could I guess …it was a big town. They had all kinds of shops. And they had nice people to work in that shop. I could work there if I wanted to but I had to behave myself and carry myself through what they wanted. And I had no trouble I obeyed orders LEVINE: now what was your mother's name?

RAFFERTY:

jane Kelly LEVINE: and your father?

RAFFERTY:

Pat S-T-A-U-N-T-O-N. Pat.

LEVINE:

and did you have brothers and sisters?

RAFFERTY:

I had two sisters Jane and Dia-Della. She was called Burgess but she didn't like the name burgess that was not nice enough for her so she called herself Della instead of Delia [ unclear]…the same name but that's the way that it is.

LEVINE:

now, who was the oldest?

RAFFERTY:

what?

LEVINE:

who was the oldest sister? You, della, and jane RAFFERTY: jane. I was mary.

LEVINE:

so, jane RAFFERTY: jane and mary LEVINE: so was jane the oldest?

RAFFERTY:

and della. That was it. and one boy.

LEVINE:

and what was his name?

RAFFERTY:

and one boy was john LEVINE: john. Now did you go to school? EI 1325 MARY RAFFERTY 5

RAFFERTY:

well, I sure did!

LEVINE:

(laughs) RAFFERTY: and I liked it! we had lovely teachers.

LEVINE:

what do you remember about school in Ireland?

RAFFERTY:

well we had our own [unclear] we had beautiful place and the school was about half a mile away so we had to walk to that school and we had a nice they were all Irish people who taught there so I had no trouble at all. I liked it.

LEVINE:

what did you like best about school?

RAFFERTY:

what did I like best about? Just to learn! That was it! Yea!

LEVINE:

And then did you help with chores ?

RAFFERTY:

a choice?

LEVINE:

chores? Did you have to do things around the house when you were growing up?

RAFFERTY:

not that much. My mother was very very good she was a hardworking lady we had our own home nice private home and my mother was she worked hard. Every morning it was a country home she had every morning we had a lot of cattle we had cows we had three cows who gave milk so my mother had a job to milk those cows every morning and every evening. And she had a certain place in the [unclear] that she didn't have to build it one of the boys built it to put it was cold and dairy that's where when she we had three milking cows three milking cows every morning my mother would go out with her pale [unclear] and she milked the cows all by herself there every morning and every evening so she nursed the cows and she had her own place to keep all the milk we had a place nice big much larger than the place here just for the milk alone they called it the dairy!

LEVINE:

and then did your mother sell the milk? EI 1325 MARY RAFFERTY 6

RAFFERTY:

she would sell whatever we didn't use she would sell it yes she would yea and she had we had a dairy. A room. It was ours [unclear] and we and that room had one window only large window and when my mother milked my mother had to milk the cows by hand! The dairy was complete all around about that room was places containers for the milk after my milked the cow she would bring it in go into the dairy was a nice big room see one large window and she would bring her own milk direct from the cow and put it in pales, pales cover them up nice and clean and left it there for a certain length of time until it got sour and by this time it was time for my mother to milk that cow she had three cows in fact and the milk she got out of the three cows she had the dairy big big [unclear] so she put the milk in there for a certain length of time she knew she shouldn't have to be told she would put the milk into the big pales until they were ready to be churned into butter they got their butter from the milk so that way it was everyday they had it was nice if you do have tools LEVINE: how about your father? What did he do?

RAFFERTY:

he had 88