Researching Ships, Passenger Lists
Ship and Passenger Lists and Such :)
There were no deep water ports in Ireland. So
where did the Irish board the boats? Well, some sailed from Tralee, Cork City, and Cobh even before 1862. By that time
a railroad had been completed from Tralee to Cobh, so few left from Tralee anymore, most went to
Cobh or Cork to start their journey. Making Cork the last port of call put the ships in warmer and more
gentle waters and were on the English route from Plymouth to the new world. Many of the people
that "went from Cork" actually went from Cobh. Sailing out of Cobh/Cove, the Port of Cork, the large ships would anchor at
sea and they would ferry the "topping off passengers" out to the ship. Ships also left from Limerick to Canada, taking people and bringing back lumber.
The only main ports of departure from Ireland were (1) going to
Liverpool , mostly families from the northern counties did that (2)
Cobh/Queenstown , mostly from the southern ports , and (3) some northern
people also went to Glasgow. In much earlier years there were also
departures from other ports such as Larne. The major ports for the
years of 1846-1851 were Dublin, Newery, Galway, Cork,Limerick, Belfast,
Londonderry, Waterford, Liverpool and Silgo.
According to the book "The Irish in New Orleans
1800-1860" by Earl F. Niehaus, New Orleans was a major port of entry for
Irish emigrants. Cotton was King and New Orleans was the leading port to
export it. The ships that took cotton to Liverpool, brough passengers
back to New Orleans as ballast. Thus the rates were cheaper. After 1834,
these cotton ships were responsible for over 80% of the Irish emigrants.
Manifests will tell you where the ship was from.
Limerick City was a big centre for emmigration into Canada
due to the Timber Trade from Canada to Limerick. So outward journeys were
advertised by the local timber merchant Francis Spaight & Sons - the the cost of
passage was about 3 pounds. Many went that route and
stayed in Canada; others made their way to the US having arrived at Canadian
ports.
And, from LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND: The larger (and safer and
cheaper) ships left from Liverpool. Scotland Road and area is quite near Liverpool docks,
where so many people including our Irish had found casual work. Much the same as they did in New
York City. This was per half day and the labourers had to queque in the
hope of getting work, but it was not guaranteed. Hence lots of poverty if
there were no ships to work.
The closest cemetery to this area may be the Kirkdale Cemetery or the Roman
Catholic cemetery at nearby Ford in the Borough of Bootie. It has been
indexed by the very active Anglo-Catholic group in Liverpool Family History
Society.
Liverpool
Another Liverpool site
Liverpool Echo newspaper which includes old photos of Liverpool
You may also write to the Liverpool Echo's Old Pals section to give them
your family names in hopes that there's someone still living who recognizes
them.
Emigration Schemes/Port of Departure/Cost
From Ballykilcline,Co. Roscommon to Dublin to Liverpool to N.Y. in 1847 - 4
pounds adult/2 pounds 15 shilling child under 14 yrs
From Irvilloughter & Boughill, Co. Galway to Galway to Quebec in 1848 - 5
pounds adult/2 pounds 15 shillings 6d child
Again in 1849 Galway to Quebec - 5 pounds 7 shillings 6d adult/2 pound 17
shillings 6d child
From Kingswilliamstown, Co. Cork to Liverpool to N.Y. 1849 - 3 pounds
adult/2 pound 5 shilling child
From Castlemaine, Co. Kerry to Liverpool to N.Y. 1848/1849 same rate as
above
And, coming at it from the other direction, on reaching the destinations,
many ships stopped at more than one port. For example: First stop NYC then on to Phila to
disembark more passengers etc. Or they could have taken a train from NYC to
Phila., etc. Lots of folks went to Canada because it was cheaper. They then
walked down into their chosen area of the USA.
Canada and Nantucket, Boston, New Orleans were the most common ports during
1849-1853. There are
lists available for these major ports:
Baltimore: 1820-1957
Boston: 1820-1943
New York: 1820-1957
New Orleans: 1820-1952
Philadelphia: 1800-1948
San Francisco: 1893-1957
And many other places. One list of customs and immigration
and a list of ports and years may help. You will find microfilmed copies of passenger lists at the
National Archives and its regional centers, public and private
libraries, and at the LDS Family History Library and its
thousands of local Family History Centers.
Don't overlook lists of people who entered the country via land
rather than sea. A helpful tool here is the collection of arrival
indexes and manifests for persons crossing the border between the
United States and Canada. These records, which begin in 1895 and
end in 1954, are often listed as records of the St. Albans
District but the collection is not limited to just St. Albans,
Vermont. The St. Albans district encompassed most of the U.S.-
Canadian border. Look for "St. Albans District Manifest Records
of Aliens Arriving from Foreign Contiguous Territory" in your
branch of the National Archives. At the LDS Family History Center
look for SOUNDEX INDEX TO CANADIAN BORDER ENTRIES THROUGH THE ST. ALBANS,
VT. DISTRICT, 1895-1924 (M1461). These microfilms are wonderful sources of information as they include
personal data found on U.S. Immigration forms as well as that of aliens
crossing the border on trains. If you have problems locating this group of microfilms on the Family
History Center Catalogue diskette, you can just enter this number -
1472801, and it will bring information up on the screen regarding
availability of these and related border-crossing microfilms for other time
periods. By first obtaining information on the soundex films you can then
readily find a microfilmed copy of the original ship manifest showing all
passengers on that particular voyage including the signature of the captain!
Soundex microfilms are arranged so that all the travelers with the same
surname (or similar) are included on one or two films.
Typically, the soundex films give month, year, port of arrival, names of
other family members, country of origin and the name of the ship! They
often include individual's last address before immigrating and names and
addresses of other relatives in that country, as well as the names and
addresses of family or friends at his or her's intended destination!
Included is personal data such as height, weight, color of hair and eyes,
health status and any scars.
The voyage itself?
Try
An eight week voyage from Dublin to Montreal in 1817 or
Some other accounts.
Another source of general information is
Emigration to the U. S. & British Colonies
Article from "Illustrated London News" July 6, 1850
Ships and Passengers ONLINE
From FIANNA
Passenger Lists - An Introduction, and
More about Passenger Lists
Early Passenger lists - 1700 to 1800
There are also online references
to the NARA Film Numbers and how
to contact the appropriate
NARA office
Passports and Registers of Assistance
Finding Ship lists at Family History Centers (LDS)
About Ports and
Ports of Immigration
A Bibliography of Ship Passenger Lists 1538-1825
Passenger Lists - Arranged by Century and Destination
The New York and Philadelphia Passenger Lists
Ships to Baltimore 1837
Ships Arriving at St. John, New Brunswick, Canada 1841-1849
Index to Emmigrants to the United States:
"Emigrants from Ireland to America, 1735-1743"
by Frances McDonnell Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc.
Locate in a friendly library near you or obtain via interlibrary loan.
It is a "transcript of the Report of the Irish House of Commons into
Enforced Emigration to America. It contains valuable data pertaining
to 2,000 Irish men and women who were involuntarily transported to
America's shores during the mid-eighteenth century. These "convict felons
and vagabonds" were representative of some 60,000 criminals and political
and religious dissidents transported from the British Isles to the American
colonies during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries--most sold into
indentured servitude. The information presented includes names, dates,
crimes, and amounts paid for
transport, by county.
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Other OnLine Resources
Irish Ship Lists
American Plantations and Colonies: Ships to America
Passenger Lists From Ireland- 1803
Passenger Lists From Ireland #2- 1803
GENSEEK has hundreds of ships references pre 1900
Ships Passenger Lists BOOKMARK!!!
the site is always uploading new ships, so you should vist on a
regular basis. Search by year, name of ship, or surname of passenger.
Cyndi's List - Ships
Tom Cimorelli's Searchable Database of Ship Arrivals
(Contains the complete Morton Allan Directory of Ship Arrivals)
Passenger Lists
Genealogy Research on the Internet- passengers
Irish Emigrants
Immigration History Research Center
On-line Immigrant Ancestor Register Index
List of Ships to Philadelphia
Ships from England and Scotland to Carolina (OliveTree)
inGeneas: Search our Database (Searching in Canada)
Genealogy Resources on the Internet - WWW/Passenger lists; Ships
The National Archives of Ireland
have some transportation records on line.
Other interesting stuff too.
Lloyd's Register - Information
Llyod's Register has records of vessels from 1764, naming the owners and builders.
Cahnces are that the EARL OF HILLSBOROUGH was built in the UK somewhere,
and Lloyd's will have a listing for it. If you can't find it on microfilm,
you might want to send them a letter at:
The Information Centre
Lloyd's Register of Shipping
71 Fenchurch Street
London, England EC3M 4BS
Email Lists:
[email protected]
What was it like to take the trip? There are two sites watching the reconstruction
of ships such as folks migrated on:
the Jeannie Johnson
and another.
Passengers To America, A Consolidation of Ship Passenger Lists From The New
England Historical & Genealogical Register
Edited by Michael Tepper, Published by Genealogical Publishing Co. Inc..,
Baltimore 1980.
The book has many shipping lists and ship logs. It does have the names
indexed in the back. You should be able to get a copy
through the inter library system.
EUROPEAN PASSENGER STEAMSHIP ARRIVALS, MORTON ALLAN DIRECTORY OF, FOR THE
YEARS 1890 TO 1930 AT THE PORT OF NEW YORK, AND FOR THE YEARS 1904 TO 1926
AT THE PORTS OF NEW YORK, PHILADELPHIA, BOSTON AND BALTIMORE. This work is a
very helpful aid in the use of the indexes of immigrant passenger lists in
the National Archives, for they are arranged in the chronological order of the
ships' arrival dates, and thereunder by the names of the vessels or the
passenger lines, and only then by passengers' surnames. This directory
provides a ready means of ascertaining information that will be helpful, for
it is arranged by year and steamship company, and thereunder by port of
entry, the vessel name, its arrival date and port of embarkation. 268 pp. (1931),
repr. Balto., 1993.
Independence Seaport Museum
Penn's Landing
211 S. Columbus Blvd. At Walnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19106
215-413-8639
New Bedford Whaling Museum
18 Johnny Cake Hill
New Bedford, MA 02740
508-997-0046
508-997-0018 fax
Inland Seas Maritime Museum
P. O. Box 435
Vermillion, OH 44089
216-967-3467
216-967-1519
Marine Museum of the Great Lakes at Kinston
55 Ontario Street
Kingston Ontario
Canada K7L 2Y2
613-542-2261
613-542-0043
Mystic Seaport Museum
G.W. Blunt White Library
P O Box 6000
Mystic, CT 06355
860-572-0711
John D. Rockerfeller, Jr. Library
Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
313 First Street
Williamsburg, VA 23185
757-220-7410
757-220-7711 fax
Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum
P O Box 636
St. Michaels, MD 21663
410-745-2916
410-745-6088
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