With coal sales increasing, the Payne brothers found it necessary to secure additional laborers. Taking advantage of the famine in Ireland in 1845, they traveled to Ireland to persuade hundreds of families and individuals to move to America. The Payne brothers focused on the Queens and Kilkenny counties, and provided transportation, employment and homes to those who agreed to move. Before the brothers returned to Payne’s Patch, the valley was populated almost entirely by Welsh with only a few scattered Irish families. However, when they did return with the Irish immigrants, the Welsh started to migrate elsewhere and the population changed to mostly Irish. This influx of immigrants continued until almost the entire population was either Irish or of Irish descent. Because of this, the small valley then became known as the “Irish Valley”.