Pierce, Mary and their 10 children left Gaelic speaking Upperchurch and emigrated to Canada in 1852, just at the end of the famine years. Many who left Ireland for North America never arrived, dying of starvation or related disease en route, disease that was made worse by the cramped and unsanitary conditions on the ships. Some of the ships that left Ireland were known as "coffin ships" for good reason. Overall about 1 in 7 did not survive the crossing.