John Murnane, my great-great-grandfather, emigrated from Ireland in the mid 1800's to an area in Cambridge, Massachusetts known as the Marsh. The Marsh is located just outside of Harvard Square in Cambridge Massachusetts. The term "marsh" refers to the fact that the area consisted of marshland which was filled in between 1840-50. The banks of the Charles River would overflow regularly into this scooped out hollow, but as the needs of the city grew and as the immigrant population exploded into this manufacturing center, more houses were needed. Houses were moved from other locations in the city to the Marsh and newer houses were erected. The first reference to my family living in the area is in 1859. My great-great grandfather, John Murnane, is listed in the Cambridge Directory as a cemetery worker, living at 7 Maynard Place, a house which had been moved from North Cambridge. He and my great-great grandmother, Rose Murnane, ran a boarding house where my great-grandfather, Thomas, was born. Eventually my grandmother and mother would also be born in this house. The chicken yard was developed into rented garages by my great-grandmother, Bridget, and through her hard work and that of her 13 children, the house on Mount Auburn Street where I presently live, was built in 1922. Although my family were masons, worked in the factories in East Cambridge and sold eggs, many inhabitants of the marsh were servants who worked in the big houses on Brattle Street (formerly Tory Row). As my uncle Jack describes it, "...if Brattle Street was the upstairs, the Marsh would be the downstairs." The ethnic make-up of this neighborhood was at first primarily Irish, but later integrated Italian and African-American families. 

In 1985 I inherited the house on Mount Auburn Street (the family had sold the "old" house on Maynard Place in 1965). The enormous task of cleaning out the first floor apartment, occupied solely by my family since 1922, came upon my shoulders. Along with 6 crosses (one over every bed), 8mm film, photographs, slides, my great-grandfather's work book from 1898, my great-grandmother's pocketbook, untouched since the day she died in 1949, and 20 pairs of rosary beads, were the holiday cards, letters, death notices and other keepsakes of an era gone by. My mother, Rose, recently passed away. As the oldest member of her generation, she was responsible for passing on the stories and the family history. Eight years ago I interviewed her and she recounted many of these recollections. I find myself once more cleaning out drawers full of family and historical memorabilia. As part of this process I found the last letter written by my mother to our family in Ireland, letting them know that my aunt had passed away in 1985. 
 

As with most American families a certain amount of migration of family members has occurred, but a large part of my family still resides in the area. Several cousins and their families live a few blocks away and my mother's sister and brother live on Cape Cod. This neighborhood and time period are scantily documented in the City of Cambridge archives. Present inhabitants of this area would be very surprised to know that this area along Mt. Auburn Street, currently one of the most elite sections of the city, was once an ethnically diverse, working class ghetto.