Many coal-mining families emigrated to Heckscherville, Pennsylvania during and after the Great Famine of 1845–1851. The Payne brothers who ran the coal pits came to the area of North Kilkenny and Laois to get miners for their mines. They provided transportation, employment and homes to those who agreed to move. The graveyard at St.Kierans in Heckscherville have some of these families interred. Many of their descendants travel to Ireland to find information on their families.