Immigration and Emigration

Historical Society of Pennsylvania

The society library houses books, newspapers, microfilm, periodicals and some 20 million manuscripts. They are one of the nation’s largest non-governmental repositories of documentary materials. Within their collections are church registers, censuses, vital records, taxes and genealogical files.

Several major additions to the HSP increased its collections to become nothing short of amazing. In 2002 the records of the Balch Institute for Ethnic Studies and in 2006 the records of the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania merged into the HSP. This enhanced the HSP to become a major repository of ethnic and immigration studies. Part of the Balch Institute collections were the records of the Scotch Irish Foundation to which the HSP has a special 16 page finding aid describing and inventorying: http://hsp.org/sites/default/files/legacy_files/migrated/findingaid3093scotchirish.pdfThis particular archive of records includes 37 boxes, 11 volumes from 1889 through 2001, with the majority dating from 1940 through 1995. They include membership files, family registrations and genealogies. Another collection is many transfer certificates from the Loyal Orange Institution of the United States of America 1883-1974. There is also a finding aid to this archive of records: www2.hsp.org/collections/Balch%20manuscript_guide/html/loi.html

The HSP publishes the respected journal, Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography. This magazine has been published since 1877. The HSP should not be neglected, especially for Pennsylvania, Delaware and northern New Jersey research. However, their collections reach far beyond this core area.

Australasian Genealogical Computer Index (AGCI)

23 Jun By Dwight Leave a Comment

The importance of a resource such as this cannot be underestimated. Remember, if you can’t find out where your branch of the family came from in Ireland; go to the branch which went to Australia and New Zealand. Chances are their records will provide birth places. The AGCI provides easy access to records which are important for these types of research strategies.

The current edition of the AGCI on CD-ROM (2004) includes some 3.9 million records indexed by 39 societies. A second CD (2005) contains entries extracted from the New South Wales Government Gazette(1832-1863). Other CDs are planned for the AGCI. The AGCI will provide the individual’s name, place, date, cross reference, type of record (church, cemetery, government, newspaper, etc.), and the society which submitted the entry. This is a resource worth studying or purchasing for a library with genealogical collections.

If you find an index entry of interest then either look for the original record on microfilm at the Family History Library: www.familysearch.org or contact the SAG which has a record retrieval department for sources at the SAG Library, National Library of Australia, and from State Records of New South Wales. These entries comprise about two-thirds of the first AGCI CD and all of the second volume. Otherwise, the individual society which submitted the entry will need to be contacted directly.

This type of research is thinking outside the box.

Western Canada Land Grants (1870-1930)

22 Jun By Dwight Leave a Comment

There is a source which is important in the search for Irish birth places. This is the land grants for the Western Canadian Provinces. Canadians and Americans need to remember the border between the two countries is very long, and very open. Families went back and forth whenever land opened up in a border state or province. Often people stayed for generations. Others would move on.

The National Archives of Canada (NAC) has indexed to the Letters Patent issued by the Lands Patent Branch of the Department of the Interior: www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/databases/western-land-grants/index-e.html The database includes Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and the railway belt of British Columbia. This is just the index, which is very basic. The homestead applications themselves, which often provide birth place of the applicant, are held at the provincial archives. The homestead applications and index for Saskatchewan are on microfilm at the Family History Library (FHL). A microfiche index to the Manitoba grants, and the grants and index for British Columbia are also at the FHL.

The Alberta Genealogical Society: www.abgensoc.ca/patent/index.htm has an extended online database which includes references not found in the NAC database.

The provincial archives all have quality and helpful archives: Provincial Archives of Alberta: http://culture.alberta.ca/archives/ The Archives of Manitoba: www.gov.mb.ca/chc/archives/index.html and the Saskatchewan Archives: www.saskarchives.com/collections/land-records has an entire section and database dedicated to the topic of land. The British Columbia Archives has an online guide to its homestead records: www.bcarchives.bc.ca/BC_Research_Guide/BC_Pr_Emptn_Hmstd.aspx

This is an important topic as families moved from eastern Canada to western Canada, and north from the United States. Even if your family did not directly receive land in Western Canada, then by researching a cousin or sibling who did, may still prove where the entire family was from in Ireland.

The Irish in Argentina

13 Jun By Dwight Leave a Comment

The Irish contribution to Argentine history is well documented. It is estimated there are about 400,000 Argentines of Irish descent today. About 60% of those original immigrants came from the Irish counties of Westmeath, Longford and Offaly. Another 15% came from County Wexford. Argentina gained its independence from Spain in 1810 and Irish immigration increased. This included both Catholic and Protestant Irish.

Most Irish settled in Buenos Aires, however, they did not all stay there. They settled on the Pampas north and west of Buenos Aires. By the 1820 and 1830s, they settled south of Buenos Aires in the communities of Canuelas, San Vincente, Chascomus and Ranchos. By the 1840s through the 1860s the Irish moved west of the capitol to the areas of Rojas, Chacabuco, 25 de Mayo, Bragado and Saladillo.

Large collections of records for Argentina can be found on microfilm at the Family History Library. These include church registers, censuses, passports, civil registrations and passenger list. Many collections have been indexed or digitized on their website: www.familysearch.org

Eduardo A. Coughlan has written several books on the Irish in Argentina which should be consulted. Two are El Aporte de los Irlandeses a la formación de la Nación Argentina (1987) and Los Irlandeses en la Argentina (1982). Two quality websites are worth exploring. The first is the “Society for Irish Latin American Studies”: www.irlandeses.organd the Longford Westmeath Argentina Society:

www.webspawner.com/users/ldwhargentinasoc An extensive bibliography on the “Irish in Latin America” can be found on the “Irish Diaspora Studies” website: www.brad.ac.uk/acad/diaspora/guides/samerica.shtml

In case you are wondering, I have known North Americans who identified and traced their almost forgotten Argentine branch of the family and made contact with their descendants!

Irish Settlement in Scotland

11 Jun By Dwight Leave a Comment

In the nineteenth century, it was common for the Irish to first settle in Scotland, and then move elsewhere. You can see the coast of Scotland from the Antrim Highway in Northern Ireland. Yes, it’s close. Although there was back and forth between the Presbyterians or seasonal workers of Ulster and Scotland, large scale immigration occurred during the Potato Famine. In 1841, before the famine there were 126,000 Irish born and in 1851, after the famine there were 207,366 Irish born in Scotland.

The Irish concentrated in the urban areas of Glasgow, Dundee, Edinburgh, Coatbridge and Greenock. This included both Catholic and Protestant Irish. Concerning Catholics, while there were Catholic chapels in Scotland which survived the Reformation, they remained small and quiet. The influx of the Irish into these areas changed the very nature of Scottish Catholicism. In an odd twist, it was among the Protestant Irish in Scotland that Mormon missionaries had great success, thus initiating a further move to the American West of its members.

We often think of immigration from Scotland to Ulster in the 1600s as creating what we have come to define as the Scots-Irish. However, think of the descendants of these

immigrants to Ulster returning to Scotland some 150-200 years later. So while the Scots-Irish may have had the same shared DNA as their distant relatives in Scotland, 200 years later, they had a different culture and worldview.

From Scotland, immigrants often continued their journey worldwide. Many stayed, and it was their children and grandchildren who continued the journey to greener pastures. It’s a fascinating story, with so many odd twists and turns, that it’s sometimes hard to keep straight. However, this particular migration out of Ireland to Scotland, whether it was a stopover or not was an important piece of Irish immigration history.

The Irish in the Greek Ionian Islands

5 Jun By Dwight Leave a Comment

Greece is a place you usually don’t associate with the Irish; however, the Greek Ionian Islands (Eptanisa) were at one time occupied by the British and used as military outposts. Scores of Irish soldiers and merchants were also part of this. The Ionian Islands consist of seven individual islands which constitute the western borders of Greece with Europe. These are Cephalonia (Kefalonia), Corfu (Korfu or Kerkira), Paxoi (and the small island of Antipaxos), Leykada (Lefkada), Ithaki, Zakynthos (Zante or Zakinthos), and Kithira.

The British came in 1809 and following the Congress of Vienna in 1815 the Union of Ionian Islands was set up under their protection. By 1864 all the Ionian Islands had joined an independent Greece. The British generated records often use the term Ionian Islands rather than the name of the specific island.

On these islands, especially Corfu, many of Irish heritage, were born, married and died. Many of the cemeteries have been transcribed by the Society of Genealogists in London: www.societyofgenealogists.com in their journal Miscellanea Genealogica et Heraldica.

The Irish also intermarried with the local population. The Greek Orthodox Church is the largest denomination on the islands. Soldiers and merchants can be found in the registers. Also keep in mind there were Eastern Rite (Greek Catholic) parishes and Roman Catholic parishes, so you must check all. These as well as Protestant registers will be at the Family History Library (FHL). Also be aware the Irish intermarried with the Italians living on the islands. Do not neglect the FHL as a major resource for your Ionian Island research.

From a family history perspective, don’t be surprised if your Greek or Italian ancestors were actually Irish at some point!

Canadian Passenger Lists (1865-1935)

4 Jun By Dwight Leave a Comment

The Library and Archives of Canada in Ottawa: www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/index-e.html houses the passenger arrival lists beginning in 1865. This group of records has some 2.2 million arrivals. It has been indexed on www.ancestry.com as “Canadian Passenger Lists, 1865-1935.” Microfilm is also available in Ottawa and at the Family History Library.

So what exactly is in this vast collection of passenger lists? From the Ancestry website, the following is listed as the sources:

Quebec Ports (May 1865–June 1908, June 1919–July 1921, April 1925–November 1935)
Montreal, Quebec (April 1925–November 1935)
Halifax, Nova Scotia (1881–October 1922, 1925–1935)
North Sydney, Nova Scotia (November 1906, August 1908–August 1922, 1925–1935)
Saint John, New Brunswick (1900–September 1922, 1925–1935)
Vancouver, British Columbia (1905–September 1922, 1925–1935)
Victoria, British Columbia and Pacific Ports (April 1905–September 1922, 1925–1935)
Eastern U.S. Ports (July 1905–February 1919, 1925–1928)
New York (1906–1921)

Information will include some of the following; name, age, gender, marital status, whether in Canada before, whether intending to reside in Canada, literacy, country of birth, race, destination, occupation, religious denomination, port of arrival, date of arrival, port of embarkation, ship name and shipping line.

Ships would sail from UK and Irish ports, with some immigrants first arriving at US ports, and then to Canada by ship. For passengers arriving in Eastern Canada, but bound for Western Canada, they would travel by train. The train lists were not recorded at that point.

While this is not the only set of arrival lists available for Canada, these are the major set of records. All else would be supplementary to this.

The Irish in British India

3 Jun By Dwight Leave a Comment

The history of British India (1600-1947) continues to fascinate the imagination. British India included what is today Bangladesh, Burma, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Untold numbers of Irish were there.

The problem with British India research is there are almost too many records! Fortunately there are some major websites which help to sort through the archives of material. Extensive collections are at the British Library, National Archives, and on microfilm at the Family History Library. This includes records for the British Army, East India Company, and the India Office. There is no shortage in either records or interest.

The East India Company from 1600-1859 acted as the government in British India, with its own private army apart from the British Army. The subcontinent was divided into three Presidencies: Bengal, Bombay and Madras. In 1858, the Company was replaced by a single new department of state, the India Office.

The British Library: http://indiafamily.bl.uk/UI has a growing database “India Office Family History Search” which documents British and Europeans in India from about 1600-1949. It includes 300,000 births, baptisms, marriages, deaths and burials in the India Office Records and biographical notes from varied sources. A second major database is the Families in British India Society: www.new.fibis.org of more than 937,000 individual names.

It has been estimated that some 2 million Europeans and Anglo-Indians, mainly soldiers, merchants and their families are buried on the Indian subcontinent. The British Association for Cemeteries in South Asia: www.bacsa.org.uk funds repair, restoration, cleaning, transcribing, photographing and they publish their research.

Concerning the Irish and British India, it doesn’t get more exotic than this! Remember, while many stayed, many more would later go elsewhere around the world.

Who Were the Wild Geese?

1 Jun By Dwight Leave a Comment

The conflict between Catholics and Protestants in Ireland began in the 1530s. As Protestantism would emerge as the ruling group, many Catholics left for sympathetic Catholic countries on the Continent. Those who fled were termed “Wild Geese.” However, Protestants also followed.

Many date this immigration to 1607 and the “Flight of the Earls” after the Irish defeat at Kinsale. However, out migration was already under way. Estimates are that between 1585-1625, some 10,000 Irish Catholics fled to the Continent. Another wave occurred after the Protestant Cromwellian victory of 1649-1651. A particularly high period of out migration occurred between the Treaty of Limerick (1691) and the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748), with an estimated 50,000 left. Most would go what is now Austria, France, Portugal and Spain. Others would go to a lesser degree to Eastern and Central Europe and the Papal States (now Italy).

Both rich and common people left, in a strange mix of Catholics and Protestants. They would live and intermarrying with each other on the Continent; doing what they could not do back in Ireland. They can be divided into four groups: 1) soldiers and officers in continental armies, both Catholic and Protestant; 2) Catholic gentry and nobles who fled Protestant Ireland; 3) merchants both Catholic and Protestant, and 4) Catholic priests and seminarians studying in colleges.

Many works document these migrations. A classic text is Matthew J. Culligan and Peter Cherici’s The Wandering Irish in Europe: Their Influence from the Dark Ages to Modern Times (1999). The “Irish in Europe Project”: www.irishineurope.com seeks to document this fascinating piece of Irish history.

Due to the early migrations of these families, don’t be surprised if your nineteenth century French or Spanish immigrant to North America were actually Irish!

The Irish Workhouse (1838-1948)

26 May By Dwight Leave a Comment

The Boards of Guardians administered poor relief (1838-1948), and each Poor Law Union had a Workhouse. Union boundaries can be found in Brian Mitchell’s A New Genealogical Atlas of Ireland (2002).

The Workhouse regiment was so grueling that only those who had no other choice went there. Workhouses provided a haven for unmarried pregnant girls, deserted women, orphan children, sick, handicapped, the elderly and poor. If a family entered together, they were separated by category.

Funds for emigration purposes were used heavily during the Potato Famine (1845-51). Due to the overcrowding of the Workhouses the Outdoor Relief programs began in 1847. Under this program, people could remain in their homes, and work for food.

The records are housed in several repositories such as the County Library system, The Public Record Office of Northern Ireland and the National Archives of Ireland. Many are on microfilm at the Family History Library. This is such a heart wrenching subject, and many research papers and even Workhouse records have been placed online.

The detail provided in these records is amazing. Notation such as marital status (single, married, deserted), the status of a child (orphaned, deserted, bastard), the condition arrived (physically dirty, has clothes, physical and emotional condition), religion, date

arrived and date died or discharged. The “Minute Books” document assistance given to emigrate. The majority of the information on the residents will be in the “Indoor Relief Registers.”

If the Workhouse is the last place you document your ancestors prior to their emigration, then the date they were discharged from the Workhouse will be the closest record to a departure. When it is compared with the U.S. passenger or Canadian arrival list, a clearer picture will emerge and you will be able to create a time line.

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