Fun fact
There are 36 million Americans of Irish descent and only 5 million people currently living in Ireland.
If your ancestors lived in Ireland in the 1800s, you are 9 times more likely to live in the USA than Ireland. 
Discussion
Those who came to the US found prosperity and reproduced massively(and while I don’t know a ton of Irish History) I do think they had it pretty tough. Kind of amazing when you think about it anthropologically.
Makes me think of Lucy when Morgan Freeman gives the speech on a cell choosing replication or immortality
Mine came over from NI. Scots-Irish and Cherokee stock on both sides, seasoned with German.