My great-grandfather, Theodore Clarence Brintzinghoffer, was born in Newark, NJ on September 19th, 1876. Each and every branch of his family tree came to America before the Revolutionary War. This is the story of his paternal grandmother’s line – The Hays.
Patrick Hassett, my 2nd great-grandfather, was born around 1840. The population of Clare, Ireland peaked the year after he was born – 286,394 souls. By the time he was 10, 50,000 of them would be dead from famine and 25% would have emigrated with between 30-50% dying in the crossing.