Early Life and Career
John Roach was born on December 25 1815 at Mitchelstown, County Cork, Ireland, the first of seven children to Patrick Roche, a retail salesman, and his wife Abigail Meany. The Roche family traced its origins back to Godebert de Rupe, a major landholder in Cork in the twelfth century. Roach's father Patrick made a modest living by collecting produce from the region's farmers to sell in the local township, and by purchasing the farmers' needs while in town.
John Roach received only a rudimentary education, and went to work at the age of thirteen after his father Patrick fell on hard times. Patrick died in 1831, and John was unable to find enough work to support the family. Around the same time, an uncle who had emigrated to the United States sent money for his two sons to join him, but their mother would allow only one to go, offering the second fare to Roach instead, who accepted it.
In 1832, at the age of sixteen, Roach emigrated together with his cousin to the United States. Arriving in New York City, he was at first unable to find regular work, but eventually gained secure employment at the Howell Works of James P. Allaire on the recommendation of a former employee of his father.
Read more about this topic: John Roach (shipbuilder)
Famous quotes containing the words early, life and/or career:
“I got a little secretarial job after college, but I thought of it as a prelude. Education, work, whatever you did before marriage, was only a prelude to your real life, which was marriage.”
—Bonnie Carr (c. early 1930s)
“Nothing exists except by virtue of a disequilibrium, an injustice. All existence is a theft paid for by other existences; no life flowers except on a cemetery.”
—Rémy De Gourmont (1858–1915)
“The 19-year-old Diana ... decided to make her career that of wife. Today that can be a very, very iffy line of work.... And what sometimes happens to the women who pursue it is the best argument imaginable for teaching girls that they should always be able to take care of themselves.”
—Anna Quindlen (b. 1952)