On the top floor of the Androscoggin County courthouse, chairs have become things of great value. Every few minutes, someone new is dragging another one through the door. Easy chairs, kitchen chairs, folding chairs, office chairs. And yet a good eight people are still standing.

Welcome to part two in the five-part Historical Society lecture “The Irish in L/A.” At the head of the room is author and artist John Henderson. He’s a redhead with pale skin and a dress shirt rolled to the elbows. He looks Irish, all right. He better be — there are more than five dozen people sitting, standing, leaning and crouching to hear him speak about his Irish roots. It’s not a bad crowd for a rainy Thursday night.

“Last week, we had 75!” said Betty Young, who has been making sure each guest signs in. She says it with genuine awe, too. Nobody expected that many people to attend a lecture about the Irish population.

Oh, but they came. For part one and then for part two. On that dismal Thursday night, 65 people made it to the courthouse and then made the long climb to the third floor.

“I don’t think anyone has been covering the Irish as a topic,” program Chairwoman Annette Vance Dorey said. “They’ve been waiting for something like this. There are a lot of Irish in Lewiston-Auburn.”

It’s true. But the Irish here are not very organized. Not like Portland, where there are several functioning groups.

Henderson moved around a lot, but six or seven years ago he returned to the area. He was getting older and starting to wonder about his heritage.

“I think that happens to a lot of us as we mature,” Dorey said.

In Lewiston, the history of the mill workers and the French has been studied and celebrated for decades. Not so for the Irish. If you wanted to know more about that part of the local history, there wasn’t much to be found.

Henderson got to work. He started talking to his older family members about their history. He dug for facts, picking up tips and leads as he went along.

“There were bits and pieces here and there,” he said. “I got the impression there was a lot more to be found.”

There was. Enough history to fill a book, which Henderson wrote and published. In fact, he has authored two books, “Early Murphy Descendants of Mary Hurley and James McCarthy” and “Androscoggin Irish.”

When the Historical Society invited him to deliver a five-part lecture series, they expected a couple dozen might turn out. Maybe 35 or 40 per lecture if there was nothing exciting going on elsewhere.

The crowds, so far, have been double those early prognostications. John Henderson is like a rock star.

“I’m pleasantly surprised,” he said before last Thursday’s lecture. “I don’t think it’s me, though. I think it’s the topic.”

Maybe. Because the people in attendance listen intently as Henderson speaks. They are willing to suffer hard chairs or standing to hear the history of Irish in the Twin Cities.

“Anyone with Irish family in the Lewiston area is missing the boat if they don’t get out to these lectures,” said Bill McCarthy, an Auburn man whose genealogical history can safely be described as colorful. “Everything he has said so far concurs with what I’ve learned over the years, much of it from my 100 percent Scot grandmother, who married my 100 percent Irish grandfather. 

“When my grandfather’s brother came to town, they made bathtub gin and whiskey for the Democratic conventions during prohibition,” McCarthy continued. “My grandmother had to go to her sister’s to take a bath. Not happy. Turns out great uncle Russell was a top-rank bootlegger as well as managing a large chain of New England theaters.”

There you have it. If you don’t have your own history, you can at least enjoy somebody else’s. Maybe that’s why attendance at the lectures has exceeded even the most optimistic expectations.

“Yes, last week’s attendance was a surprise,” Henderson said. “I expected maybe 20 people for a mid-day presentation, and 75 was indeed a far-exceeds-expectations sort of occurrence. We have done the right sorts of things to get that kind of crowd, though. It is just really nice when it pays off as it did.

“It is great that we have the interest from the libraries and historical institutions in town to host the events and engage their (our) people in this important work,” he said. “I know that researching my own family, as well as the history of the community, has been a deeply spiritual experience for me, and am happy to see people enjoying the programs together and getting fired up for their own projects.”

* Thursday, Sept. 8, noon to 1 p.m. at the Auburn Public Library, 49 Spring St., “Origins and Beginnings.” A look through the lens of art and architecture at the origins of the Androscoggin Irish and what drew them here.

* Thursday, Sept. 15, 7 to 8:30 p.m., Androscoggin Historical Society, 2 Turner St., Court Street entrance, “Living on the Patch: Irish Neighborhoods.” Six neighborhoods that were almost exclusively Irish.

* Thursday, Sept. 22, 7 to 8:30 p.m., Museum L/A, 35 Canal St., Lewiston, Bates Mill, “The Irish Parishes: St. Joseph’s and St. Patrick’s.” The history, art and architecture of these parishes.

* Tuesday, Sept. 27, 7 to 8:30 p.m., Androscoggin Historical Society, 2 Turner St., Court Street entrance, “Politics, Professions and Community Participation.” The doctors, lawyers, teachers, politicians, undertakers and social organizations in the Irish community.

* Thursday, Sept. 29, 7 to 8:30 p.m., Lewiston Public Library, Callahan Hall, “Merchants and Businessmen.” A visual stroll down Lewiston’s Lisbon Street, which is laced with buildings constructed or used by the Irish.

Henderson, who lives in Auburn, is a graduate of the Maine Maritime Academy graduate logistics management program and holds bachelor’s degrees in political science and German studies from the University of Southern Maine. A former teacher, he is a member of the Androscoggin Historical Society, Maine Historical Society and the Irish American Club of Maine. He has authored two books, “Early Murphy Descendants of Mary Hurley and James McCarthy” and “Androscoggin Irish.”

The lectures are free of charge. Each session will feature Henderson’s artistic renderings of the Lewiston and Auburn architectural landmarks that were established or used by the immigrant Irish community.