Chamber Chatter - March 18, 2021

by Debbe Ridley

March may be NWHA Women’s History month, but mentalfloss.com tells us not to be fooled by any St. Patrick’s Day holiday decorations showing lady leprechauns. “In traditional Irish folk tales, there are no female leprechauns, only nattily attired little guys who spend their days making and mending shoes -- meaning they earned that gold they're always guarding.”

Did you wear your green this week to recognize the March 17 Irish holiday? Who knew it wasn’t until 1798 (the year of the Irish Rebellion) that the color green became officially associated with St. Patrick’s Day? Before then blue was originally associated with St. Patrick. (parade.com) Maybe we should have all worn blue Wednesday!

If you are of Irish heritage, these US Census Bureau facts might interest you. 34.7 million is the number of U.S. residents who claimed Irish ancestry in the last official census. This number was more than seven times the population of Ireland itself (4.58 million). Irish was the nation’s second most frequently reported ancestry, trailing only German.

In our neck of the woods most of us think more in terms of cowboys and outlaws than Ireland and shamrocks.

Some interesting historical facts surfaced in a Tulsa World article a while back. In the 1910 Census 1,800 Oklahomans described themselves as Irish-born, and Irish settlers accounted for nearly 10 percent of all foreign born residents in Oklahoma at the time of statehood.

It’s a matter of Okie-Irish pride to revisit the strong bond between Ireland and our state, found in Oklahoma Historical Society’s Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History & Culture: “The presence of first and second generation Irish and Scots-Irish in present Oklahoma can be traced to the federal policy of relocating American Indians, especially the Five Civilized Tribes. Many of the mixed-blood members of the groups that moved to Indian Territory in the early to mid-nineteenth century had an Irish parent or spouse.”

“In 1847 the Choctaw Nation raised a significant amount of money to provide relief for the Irish famine. This gesture not only connected many with their parents’ forebears, but also showed empathy for people to whom they could relate in suffering. The Choctaws had recently faced hardship on their own ‘trail of tears,’ when the tribe had been forcibly removed to the Indian Territory. In 1995 Ireland’s president, Mary Robinson, visited Durant to thank the Choctaw people for their act of kindness more than a century earlier.”

“After it became ‘the oil capital of the world,’ in 1930 Tulsa overtook Oklahoma City for the greatest number of Ireland-born residents, with 155. In 1930 Oklahoma had 972 ‘green isle’ natives, but 9,801 residents with one or more Irish parents.”

So why are more of us not really aware of the Irish - Okie connection? The same publication goes on to say: “The Irish differ from many of the state’s immigrant groups in that they rapidly blended into the population, with most marrying Americans. Throughout the rest of the twentieth century the number of immigrants and first-generation Irish trended downward. In 1970 the state had 491 residents born in Ireland and 2,093 with one or both parents born there. In 2000 over 10 percent of Oklahomans labeled themselves of Irish ancestry, which closely correlated to the percentage of Americans who claimed the same.”

Again, from the U.S. Census Bureau, thirty-three percent of those category age 25 years old or over have bachelor’s degrees or higher, with 92.5 percent of Irish-Americans in this age group having at least a high school diploma. For the nation as a whole, the corresponding rates were 28.2 percent and 85.6 percent respectively. The annual median income for households headed by an Irish-American is $56,363. For the population as a whole, the income is $50,046.

On the local scene, as a community reminder this month, the annual Marlow Chamber of Commerce Banquet is on the schedule Monday, April 26, at 6:30 p.m. at the First Baptist Church LIFE Center. A committee is appointed to select the 2020 Citizen of the Year, the 2020 Community Improvement Award and the 2020 Free Enterprise Award which will be presented at the Banquet. That Committee asks for input from everyone in the community – not just Chamber members. Your suggestions may be sent to 223 W. Main, or to marlowchamber@cableone.net.

With a final wink to the Irish holiday week, an Emerald Isle blessing to all: “As you slide down the bannister of life, may the splinters never point in the wrong direction.” Wink!



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