When Shakespeare Couldn’t Save My Family’s Money

Week 33 of the #52Ancestors Challenge – “Legal Troubles”

August 22, 2025

When I think of my Irish ancestors in Brooklyn during the 1860s and 1870s, I usually picture hardworking families building new lives in America—my 2x great-grandmother Ellen Dowling raising her children, my 2x great-grandfather Peter Plunkett running his business on Van Brunt Street with his wife Julia, and then Anna. But this week’s prompt, “Legal Troubles,” reminded me that their lives weren’t always peaceful. Sometimes they found themselves on both sides of the law, caught up in the crime and chaos that marked Irish immigrant life in 19th-century New York.

The newspaper clippings I’ve discovered tell stories that would make any genealogist sit up and pay attention: William and Ellen Dowling, victims of a robbery in July 1875,¹ and Peter Plunkett, arrested for allegedly receiving stolen copper in December 1863.² These weren’t just random crimes—they were part of a larger pattern that defined Irish immigrant experience in one of America’s most rapidly growing cities.

The Irish Crime Wave: Context for My Ancestors’ Stories

To understand what happened to my family, I first had to understand what was happening to Irish immigrants across Brooklyn and Manhattan during this era. The statistics are sobering: by the 1850s, over half of those arrested in New York City were Irish-born, with the bulk of arrests for being drunk and disorderly.³ Most Irish crime was directed at Irish people, however, not native New Yorkers; assaults of women by men of the same name were common.⁴

But here’s what the sensationalist headlines of the era missed: most Irish “criminals” were committed for no more than being drunk and disorderly or for vagrancy… 57.8 percent of arrests in the first half of 1854 were for these minor offenses.⁵^ It is also worth noting that the majority of Irish crimes were for minor offenses.⁶ The reality was that poverty often breeds crime and, as we have seen, the Irish were the most marginal group in New York in these decades.⁷

Irish immigrants often crowded into subdivided homes, only meant for one family, and cellars, attics, and alleys all became home for the poorest immigrants.⁸ In Brooklyn’s densest areas, it was not uncommon for five families – about 20 people – to share one room that measured 12ft by 12ft and had two beds and no table or chairs.⁹ Under these conditions, it’s hardly surprising that some turned to crime—or that they became easy targets for it.

The Dowling Robbery: When Shakespeare Couldn’t Protect the Family Savings

In July 1875, my 2x great-grandparents William and Ellen Dowling learned that even the classics couldn’t keep your money safe. According to the newspaper accounts I’ve found, Ellen had cleverly hidden $55 in cash—three $10 bills and five $5 bills—between the pages of a copy of Shakespeare.¹⁰ It seemed like the perfect hiding place until Mary O’Brien came calling.

What strikes me about this detail is that the Dowlings owned Shakespeare—not exactly light reading for anyone, let alone Irish immigrants who likely came from County Kerry. This suggests they were literate and valued education, perhaps explaining why their descendants would eventually produce an English Literature major (guilty as charged!) who spent countless hours analyzing the very same works that once hid the family savings.

The details read like a Victorian crime novel: Mary O’Brien visited Ellen’s home on the 22nd of July, supposedly as a friendly neighbor. But when Ellen left Mary alone in the room, Mary discovered the hidden money and made off with it. The crime might have gone undetected, but the specific bills were found on Mary and her husband Timothy when they were arrested, “folded and creased in the same way as the money which Mrs. Dowling had in her book.”¹²

What strikes me about this case is how it illustrates the precarious nature of immigrant life. The Dowlings lived at the corner of Vanderbilt Avenue and St. Mark’s Place—a respectable Brooklyn address—yet they were hiding their savings in a book rather than trusting it to a bank. This suggests they were still operating with the caution of people who had learned not to trust institutions, perhaps carrying forward survival instincts from Ireland where banks were often instruments of English control.

The case also reveals the tight-knit but sometimes predatory nature of Irish immigrant communities. Mary O’Brien wasn’t a stranger—she was someone Ellen trusted enough to leave alone in her home. Yet desperation, or perhaps opportunity, led her to betray that trust.

Peter Plunkett and the Copper Caper: When Business Goes Bad

Thirteen years earlier, in December 1863, my ancestor Peter Plunkett found himself on the wrong side of a different kind of crime—one that involved stolen copper from a ship’s cargo. The newspaper account describes how Captain Simpson of a brig at the foot of Partition Street suspected his copper had been stolen and sold to local junk dealers. When police searched Peter Plunkett’s store on Van Brunt Street, they found the missing copper.¹⁴

This case fascinates me for what it reveals about the informal economy that sustained many Irish immigrants. Peter Plunkett ran what the newspaper calls a “junk shop”—essentially a business that bought and sold scrap metal and other materials. The Irish filled the most menial and dangerous jobs, often at low pay. They cut canals. They dug trenches for water and sewer pipes. They laid rail lines.¹⁶ Running a junk shop represented a step up from manual labor—a chance to be your own boss in a world that offered few opportunities for advancement.

But it also put Peter in a morally gray area. Was he knowingly buying stolen goods, or was he simply a businessman who didn’t ask too many questions about his suppliers? In an era when New York was seriously under-policed, having about 1.2 policemen per thousand inhabitants compared to London’s 4.6 per thousand in 1851,¹⁷ the line between legitimate and illegitimate business could be frustratingly thin.

The Broader Pattern: Crime and Survival in Irish Brooklyn

These family stories don’t exist in isolation. They’re part of a larger narrative about how Irish immigrants navigated survival in a hostile environment. Beginning in the 1870s, politics and corruption of Tammany Hall, a political machine supported by Irish immigrants, infiltrated the NYPD, which was used as a political tool.¹⁸ While this corruption was often criticized, it also represented one of the few ways Irish immigrants could gain institutional power in a system designed to exclude them.

The 1860s were particularly tumultuous. In the 1860s, two tobacco factories… employed roughly 100 black workers and 200 white workers, with the black workers earning a weekly wage of about $14… and the white workers receiving $10.¹⁹ This economic competition led to the 1862 Brooklyn riot… as the Irish often regarded Black workers as economic competitors.²⁰ The following year brought the devastating anti-draft riots of 1863 [which] represented a “civil war” inside the Irish Catholic community²¹… with white rioters, mainly but not exclusively Irish immigrants, attacking blacks wherever they could be found.²²

What the Court Records Might Tell Us

As I continue researching the actual court records for both cases—a challenging task since most 19th-century Brooklyn court documents remain in physical archives—I’m hoping to uncover details that the newspaper accounts missed. Did William and Ellen Dowling know their robber? Was Peter Plunkett truly innocent of knowingly receiving stolen goods? How did these legal troubles affect their families’ standing in their neighborhoods?

What I do know is that both families survived these encounters with the law and continued building their American dreams. The Dowlings remained in Brooklyn, raising their family and eventually welcoming my great-grandmother into the world. Peter Plunkett’s descendants, including the Plunketts who became part of my extended family network, continued to thrive in Brooklyn for generations.

Beyond the Headlines: The Human Cost of “Legal Troubles”

These stories remind me that when we talk about “Irish crime” in 19th-century New York, we’re really talking about the social cost of rapid immigration, urban crowding, and economic desperation. More of the “crime” was simply the product of the rowdy, boisterous culture of the immigrant poor, and would have gone unpunished at home.²³

My ancestors weren’t professional criminals—they were ordinary people caught up in extraordinary circumstances. William and Ellen Dowling were victims of betrayal by someone they trusted. Peter Plunkett may have been an honest businessman who made one bad deal, or he may have been someone who bent the rules to survive. Either way, they were all trying to make lives for themselves and their families in a city that seemed designed to break them.

The next time you read statistics about immigrant crime—whether in 1875 or 2025—remember the faces behind the numbers. Remember Ellen Dowling, hiding her family’s savings in a book because she didn’t know where else it would be safe. Remember Peter Plunkett, trying to build a business one copper transaction at a time. Remember that “legal troubles” often tell us more about society than they do about the individuals caught in the system.

Have you discovered ancestors with their own “legal troubles”? I’d love to hear your stories of family encounters with the law—and what they revealed about the times they lived in.

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Research Notes: I’m still working to locate the actual court records for both cases through the Kings County Clerk’s Office and NYC Municipal Archives. If you’ve had success finding 19th-century Brooklyn court records, please share your tips in the comments!

1. “Liquoring Up!” The Brooklyn Daily Times, 30 July 1875, page 4; imaged, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/image/556062791/: accessed 18 Aug 2025). “Criminal Business,” Brooklyn Eagle, 30 September 1875, page 4; imaged, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/image/50362544/: accessed 18 Aug 2025). ↩︎
2. “Police Matters,” The Brooklyn Union, 2 December 1863, page 1; imaged, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/image/541693094/: accessed 18 Aug 2025). ↩︎
3. “Irish Famine refugees caused a crime wave in New York City, stats show,” IrishCentral (https://www.irishcentral.com/roots/history/irish-famine-refugees-caused-a-crime-wave-in-new-york-city-stats-show : accessed 22 Aug 2025). ↩︎
4. Cormac Ó Gráda, “The New York Irish In The 1850s – Locked In By Poverty?” New York Irish History 19 (2005): 10; New York Irish History (https://nyirishhistory.us/article/the-new-york-irish-in-the-1850s-locked-in-by-poverty/ : accessed 22 Aug 2025). ↩︎
5. Ibid. ↩︎
6. “Irish Famine refugees caused a crime wave in New York City, stats show,” IrishCentral (https://www.irishcentral.com/roots/history/irish-famine-refugees-caused-a-crime-wave-in-new-york-city-stats-show : accessed 22 Aug 2025). ↩︎
7. Ó Gráda, “The New York Irish In The 1850s.” ↩︎
8. “Irish Americans in New York City,” Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_Americans_in_New_York_City : accessed 22 Aug 2025). ↩︎
9. “Scary tales of New York: life in the Irish slums,” The Irish Times, 23 March 2013 (https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/scary-tales-of-new-york-life-in-the-irish-slums-1.1335816 : accessed 22 Aug 2025). ↩︎
10. “Liquoring Up!” The Brooklyn Daily Times, 30 July 1875. ↩︎
11. Ibid. ↩︎
12. “Criminal Business,” Brooklyn Eagle, 30 September 1875. ↩︎
13. Ibid. ↩︎
14. “Police Matters,” The Brooklyn Union, 2 December 1863. ↩︎
15. Ibid. ↩︎
16. “When America Despised the Irish: The 19th Century’s Refugee Crisis,” History.com, 27 May 2025 (https://www.history.com/articles/when-america-despised-the-irish-the-19th-centurys-refugee-crisis : accessed 22 Aug 2025). ↩︎
17. Ó Gráda, “The New York Irish In The 1850s.” ↩︎
18. “History of the New York City Police Department,” Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_New_York_City_Police_Department : accessed 22 Aug 2025). ↩︎
19. “1862 Brooklyn riot,” Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1862_Brooklyn_riot : accessed 22 Aug 2025). ↩︎
20. Ibid. ↩︎
21. “Irish Americans in New York City,” Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_Americans_in_New_York_City : accessed 22 Aug 2025). ↩︎
22. “Crime in New York City,” Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_in_New_York_City : accessed 22 Aug 2025). ↩︎
23. Ó Gráda, “The New York Irish In The 1850s.” ↩︎