My family comes from a small town in County Cork Ireland named Passage West. In the 1800’s, the shipbuilding industry industry was centered here and the River Lee was an important part of my great grandfather’s life as a sail maker and sailor. When he and his family of a wife and four children immigrated to the United States in 1887, they also settled near a river but this time it was the Hudson River in Jersey City. Family members continued to build small boats and he remained a sailor. The objects I used for this project was a picture of when the town was established and a picture of the Hudson River in Jersey City.

– Sean Conover

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