Fred Rosehill

The Rosehills are the last of the original Jewish immigrants to Cork city. The family migrated from Belarus in 1885. Fred Rosehill’s grandfather, at the age of 12, came with his father to Cobh (or Queenstown as it was then known), and Fred explains that having misunderstood an announcement on board the immigrant ship and thinking that they had arrived in New York, they disembarked. Fred goes on to describe how the community settled at the head of the river in Albert Road, an area affectionately known as Jewtown. The menfolk were known locally as peddlers and he recalls his own grandfather peddling music sheets from door to door. Fred recalls living in MacCurtain Street, where his father had a small business and later moving to Donovan’s Road. In his early life, he remembers 75 families of Jews in the city. The Rosehills were always connected with music and Fred describes the circumstances which led to his own career of selling fancy goods and of picture framing, and he speaks about how his family was to become the last of what was once a thriving Jewish community within the town.