Immaculata continues Duffy’s Cut commitment with scholarship

EAST WHITELAND » Immaculata University was awarded $25,000 for an endowed scholarship from the Friendly Sons of Saint Patrick to establish the Society of the Friendly Sons of Saint Patrick Endowed Scholarship Fund in Memory of the Irish Souls of Duffy’s Cut. The scholarship is awarded for one academic year.

“The Friendly Sons of Saint Patrick has existed in Philadelphia since before the American Revolution, and we are honored to be counted among the institutions they wish to endow with such scholarship funds,” said William Watson, Ph.D. professor of History at Immaculata University.

The purpose of the scholarship will be to provide recognition and financial assistance to full-time undergraduate students who participate in travel to Ireland related to academic or service programs. The students, who will be identified by campus officials from the Study Abroad Program at Immaculata University, will provide a brief description of his/her experience to Ireland to the Society Friendly Sons of Saint Patrick.

The Society of the Friendly Sons of Saint Patrick, started in Philadelphia in 1771, exists to promote Irish culture, education and provide aid. It performs these duties in the form of scholarships and benevolence, as well through events and activities.

The endowed scholarship is in recognition of Duffy’s Cut where 57 Irish railroad workers who arrived in Philadelphia to build mile 59 of the Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad, died within six to eight weeks of violence and cholera. The Irishmen were from Donegal, Tyrone and Derry in Ulster, with an average age of 22. A project, headed by Dr. Watson, and his brother the Rev. Frank Watson, has been underway since 2002 to locate the graves of these workers and properly rebury them. To date, the graves of seven workers have been excavated. Work is ongoing to recover the remaining fifty bodies. of the