It's been a while since I've checked the website of the Genealogical Society of Ireland, "Ireland's most active genealogical society." You can check out a vareity of resources and publications at the GSI website.

One always finds kernels of new information in their journal, Ireland's Genealogical Gazette, which you can browse by previous issue, or search Hall's Gazette Index 2006-2023 by author or article description.

Look what I found in the December 2022 Gazette:

"On Tuesday November 8th 2022, Jane Kennedy of St. Paul, Minnesota, USA, delivered a very interesting talk on the ‘Connemara Irish: Despair in the Heartland of Minnesota’.

This is the story of twenty-four families left Connemara in the west of County Galway in 1880 to flee poverty, subsistence farming and the ravages of famine. A generation after the Great Famine, many recurring famines and near-famine conditions plagued the poorer parts of Ireland throughout the nineteenth century. So the hope of a new life in America for these Irish speaking families was a way out of this misery. But little did they know what faced them in America. They arrived with gaunt faces and few items of clothing, hoping for a much-improved life. But controversy afflicted them in Graceville, Minnesota and their misery continued until they settled in St. Paul.

This is an immigrant story that speaks of misguided paternalism, cultural and societal dislocation, hardship, discrimination and, yet with determination and hope, survival. Jane Kennedy lives in St. Paul, Minnesota. She has done extensive research on Irish famines, the Connemaras' journey to Minnesota, and a variety of topics related to Irish history. She currently teaches Business Communications in the Herberger School of Business at St. Cloud State University. Jane acquired dual citizenship (Ireland) after researching and visiting her family’s homeland in the beautiful Belmullet Peninsula, Co. Mayo. She has travelled to Ireland three times and enjoys researching Irish history, and sharing her findings."

An IGSI member, Jane Kennedy has made presentations about Connemara and other topics of interest  to IGSI audiences.