A Pratie original, written and arranged by Steve O' Loughlin, about his great great grandfather, Denis O' Loughlin, who emigrated to American during the Irish Potato Famine.

(c) 2016 All Rights Reserved

Lyrics

Denis sailed on board a cotton ship to New Orleans he is bound
He left Clare and his family, as famine raged around
He'll have to make his own way here upon this foreign shore
Find a place where they might never see such poverty no more.

Working in the steaming heat and Louisiana rain
Heaving bales of cotton by the shores of Pontchartrain
Digging long canals but yellow fever brought him down
Denis swore that he'd go and find a way to get on out of the town

But up back on his feed again he was feeling strong and lean
He spied a hearty beauty Margaret Haley from Skibbereen
They stepped on board a riverboat new fortunes to be found
On up the Mississippi for some Minnesota ground

We'll here's to you now Denis O' Loughlin, Great Great Grandfather of mine
Left poor starving Ireland in that godforsaken time
Oh, but he got a little foothold here in the USA
And for many generations we're still thriving here today

They made a little homestead by the Indian teepees
With nine kids in the family, five miles from Shakopee
He made friends with Chief Little Crow, it was his pleasant way
Oh but Margaret cursed, took up her broom, and chased the Sioux away

They lived there many happy years by the glimmering lake shore
Till many of his friends went off to fight the Civil War
Though Denis never owned a gun, a friend to all was he
He joined the Minnesota 9th, marched off to Tennessee

We'll here's to you now Denis O' Loughlin, Great Great Grandfather of mine
Left poor starving Ireland in that godforsaken time
Oh, but he got a little foothold here in the USA
And for many generations we're still thriving here today

He fought his way through Nashville on that dark December day
Till a bullet from a snipers gun bled his poor life away
Margaret's left to raise nine children, burn the squatters tents away
And for many generations, we're still thriving here today.

We'll here's to you now Denis O' Loughlin, Great Great Grandfather of mine
Left poor starving Ireland in that godforsaken time
Oh, but he got a little foothold here in the USA
And for many generations we're still thriving here today