James Madden arrived in Albany in 1850. The year before "The Great Fire" had burned over 600 buildings on 37 acres, but it also saw a progress as roads were planked and rebuilding occurred. The Erie canal started in Albany and by 1853 it had been widened to allow larger vessels to access it. James and eventually his sons worked on the river and lived on Colonie Street for many years.
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.gmd/g3803a.la000473 1854
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| Albany 1853 |
By 1855 the population of Albany was over 57,333 with 40.4% foreign born. 25% of the population was born in Ireland and over 39% of the heads of household. This was a growth in population of nearly 7000 after the 1850 census. This was consistent with the growth over the years since 1820 when the population was just over twelve and a half thousand. Only 9% of the population in 1855 was listed as laborers, most had professions or were farmers.
Davenport, David Paul. “Migration to Albany, New York, 1850-1855.” Social Science History, vol. 13, no. 2, 1989, pp. 159–185. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/1171260. Accessed 19 Mar. 2021.
