We'd already explored Ed O'Neill's paternal roots, showing how
his grandfather was shaped by the brutal world of the steel industry. Now, turning to Ed's mother's family tree, we found ancestors who were
forced to confront a world that was even more brutal. The story begins with Ed's
third great-grandparents, Bridget and James Tyrrell. Bridget and James were born
in Ireland in the early 1800s and left their native
land sometime after 1849 with seven children in tow, fleeing starvation and the ho
rrors of what became known as
the Great Potato Famine. By 1860, the family had
settled in Ed's hometown, Youngstown, Ohio, where a new set of
challenges awaited them. What are their occupations? - Coal miner.
- Coal miner. - Yeah.
- And 17-year-old coal miner. - Yes, yes.
- Yeah. James is a coal miner. Bridget's taking care of the children. - Yeah.
- And son Thomas, who's only 17 years old, has already started working in the mines. - In the mines.
- Alongside his father. - Did you know that?
- N
o. That you had coal in your blood? No. What do you imagine that was like, Ed? I've never been in those mines. Hmm, I would never want to go- I don't know what they look like, and I don't want to go
down underneath the ground. When Ed's ancestors arrived in America, Ohio's coal industry was booming, but the workers who actually had to go into the mines
faced a terrifying task. Laboring more than a thousand
feet beneath the earth, breathing in clouds of coal
dust, constantly fearing that the wall
s around them would collapse. And look how young they are. Those faces, most of them are young. Yeah. Yep, they didn't do it for their health. Mm-mm, James and 17-year-old Thomas likely took an elevator
down the mining shaft and mined the coal by hand
using picks and shovels. Yeah. And Thomas is just one year older, Ed, than your daughter Claire. Think about that for a minute. Can you imagine sending
Claire off to the mines to support the family? No, no, no. How do you think they felt
about thei
r new country? Well, they were probably eating- Mm-hmm. You know, so they probably
liked that part of it. Yeah, I mean, I guess you
do what you have to do. Whatever comforts the
Tyrrells found in America did not last for long. In 1861, a year after we
saw them in the Ohio census, their new nation was
engulfed by civil war. James and Bridget were in their fifties, but they had three sons, all teenagers, and in August of 1862, their
oldest boy, Thomas Tyrrell, appeared on a muster roll for
an Ohio
infantry regiment. - Unbelievable.
- Thomas volunteered. He volunteered to serve in the Union Army. He was just 19 years old, a teenager. And what do you think your
third great grandmother, Bridget, thought? She was watching her child head off to fight in a war in a
country she just moved to. That would be rough. I mean, 19, he was just a boy a few years before that. Yeah. 19 is a boy. 19 is a boy. Yeah. Thomas was given little time to grow up. Just two months after volunteering, his regiment w
as thrust into
a battle at Chaplain Hills, Kentucky, where more than 70,000 soldiers fought over a small network of roads outside the town of Perryville. Look at that. More than 7,500 casualties were suffered making it one of the bloodiest
battles of the entire war. Wow. Relative to the size
of the armies involved, sort of per capita. Yeah. So how did Thomas fare, do you think? I want you to guess. Well, I would say it's a crapshoot. Yeah. He was probably not trained
that much, right, I mean- -
No.
- He was just right thrown in. And we went in in August, this is October. Well, then you just, you're either lucky or you're unlucky. Yeah, well, let's see,
which was for Thomas. This is another military
record dated February 21, 1863. Would you please read
the transcribed section. "I certify that I have carefully examined the said Thomas Tyrrell
and find him incapable of performing the duties of a soldier because of gunshot wounds in
right shoulder leaving him with stiff joint and almost us
eless arm. Degree of disability, two-thirds." Oh my God. Thomas was discharged in February of 1863 with a permanent disability, and this wasn't the end
of his family's ordeal. One year later, his brother
James followed him into the army and soon found himself hospitalized
with a heart condition. Ed wondered how the boys'
parents must have felt, waiting at home wondering if their sons were hurt or
captured, dead or alive. But as it turns out, their
mother wasn't at home. Records show that by the
fall of 1864, Bridget Tyrrell was serving
in the Union Army as a nurse, one of roughly 20,000 women who volunteered to aid the Northern cause. And in many cases, these
women just showed up and did whatever they could to help. They got tired of sitting around and having all that anxiety. I mean, I would love to
have been a fly on the wall when she decided to go. Yeah. And say, "Where are you going?" Right. "You're doing what?
You're not doing that." - How are you getting there?
- Yeah. You're goi
ng through- - Yeah.
- War places. - That's right.
- Unbelievable. Bridget tended to the wounded in what was known as Brown Hospital
in Louisville, Kentucky. There's no evidence that she had any medical training at all, but that likely didn't matter, as reports suggest the
hospital was desperate for whatever help it could get. "The sick are sent to
the general hospitals in and about Louisville. Brown Hospital has received
most of the patients from the army. This hospital is entirely too
much crow
ded for its capacity and number of surgeons and nurses. The patients have not been able to receive the attention they should." - That's where she worked.
- Oh my God. At the hospital where Bridget worked- - What is that?
- That's it. Oh my God, it's like a shack! That is Brown- - It's an elongated shack!
- That is Brown Hospital, man. Oh my God. Can you imagine how it- It doesn't look like
any hospital I ever saw. Imagine how it smelled. Just like, start with that. God. She probably watched a lo
t of men die. - Oh yeah.
- Every day. Yeah, big time. Geez, that's something.
Comments
Like me Ed is Youngstown Ohio bread and born and my Welsh family has almost the same story my great grandfather was a miner in Wales and was a miner in Ohio after moving to the States with his wife and three oldest children,( my grandfather was one of the four more born here ) and my grandfather worked as a pipefitter at the U.S. Steel works as did my Uncle's and I was a steel worker my self at what was at the time called Youngstown Steel Door .
Having 7 children and having to escape to a new world, to survive, they had to be tough. It’s amazing they were able to find any information in his family. The Language barrier alone would have been a challenge.
17 or 19 is not a boy in the 1860s. We get to be kids for a lot longer... Sounds like a family to be proud of.
My grandfather went to the mines at 12 and was there till 22 then Army WW1
You’re born, you struggle, you move away, you struggle, you die.
Ed O’Neil was in the film ‘Cruising’ with Al Pacino. Awesome performance!!
At least your ancestors weren’t traitorous confederates. You should be very proud. I know I would be.
Sounds like a wealthy family. 17 is 25 now
a lot of this is happening in gaza right now, it's not just history
Peg!!
I can't take anyone from Harvard seriously. After giving George W Bush a masters degree, then putting up a plaque of your first native American female professor,,, named Elizabeth Warren. I'd think better of the show if the host graduate from ITT tech