The Clare Champion Clare news, sport, entertainment and local notes
Clare Local Studies Centre in Ennis this week received a generous donation when New York-based Clare Harvey Curtin presented three volumes of Irish Immigrants of the Emigrant Industrial Savings Bank by Kevin J. Rich to Clare County Library. The origins of the Savings Bank date to 1850 when John Hughes, the Roman Catholic Bishop of New York, prevailed on the Irish Emigrant Society to organize a safe deposit institution for the Irish community. The Emigrant Savings Bank was thus founded in New York and began accepting deposits in September 1850. The records span the period 1850 to 1880. The Test Books were used by the bank when a depositor wished to send money home, and as a practical identity test, especially for depositors who were illiterate. The three index books presented by Clare Curtin are organized by year and the depositors are grouped under all surnames beginning with the same letter. The records of the Emigrant Savings Bank are important …
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