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MY IRISH HERITAGE Five generations ago my ancestors, John and Mary Coin, journeyed to America, leaving behind their homeland of Knockbraugh, Ireland. A few years later, my Great, Great Grandparents, Patrick and Maryanne O’Toole, made their way to America and joined their parents in North Braddock. At this time in Ireland, there were not many jobs available; however, steel mills were bombing all over this area. My family came to America with the intent to find successful jobs, to provide a better life for their families, as well as to fulfill their dreams. Upon my families arrival in America they in turn provided a stable environment in which the following generations could be raised with strong Irish traditions. In 1846, a potato famine struck Ireland that lasted until 1850. During this time a blight of the potato crop left acres of Irish farmland covered with black rot. Peasants ate the rotten produce and got sick, while entire villages were consumed with cholera and typhus. Some landlords evicted peasants into the disease filled streets, and others actually paid for their tenants to immigrate to America. The Irish Famine claimed at least one million lives and caused Ireland’s population to drop from 8 m