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Migration from specific parts of Ireland to other parts of the world

  • 25-06-2012 12:20PM
    #1
    Coolnabacky1873
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 556 ✭✭✭


    The emigration of the Irish to US, Britain, Australia etc.. if of course well known.

    Pinkys link on the Irish in Argentina thread (it outlines that 60% of the 400,000 migrants to Argentina were from Longford, Westmeath and Offaly, with another 15% from Wexford) got me thinking about Irish migration from specific counties/parts of counties to other parts of the world.

    I have always found this very interesting, especially the push and pull factors that saw large numbers of Irish move from a particular part of Ireland to somewhere thousands of miles away.

    Some interesting ones I have come across are as follows:

    Wexford to Texas 1830s
    Radharc Films made a documentary about this one (they have a number of other fascinating docs).

    Beara Peninsula, Cork to Butte, Montana, USA
    Probably one of the most well known ones. They still have one of the most wild St. Paddy's Day in all the US of A. Radharc did a doc on this too.

    Peter Robinson Settlers - Cork to Ontario, Canada 1820s
    Link I think there might have been some Waterford and Kilkenny folk involved in this scheme too at other stages.

    Castlecomer, Kilkenny to Schuylkill county, Pennsylvania, USA
    This is one I have found out about through personal research as many miners from this part of north Kilkenny moved to coal country in PA. Indeed, others parts of Ireland that have coal mining probably saw emigration to this part of PA.

    And of course there are the various 'assisted emigration' schemes that various Landlords had in the 19th century.

    I am sure there are probably many examples for Britain, Australia and many other countries too.

    Can anyone add to the list?

    It could help solve why those brothers of your great-great-great grandfathers seemed to have disappeared and can't be found in Irish records!



Comments

  • #2
    P. Breathnach
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 12,089 ✭✭✭✭P. Breathnach


    The western tip of the Dingle Peninsula and most particularly the Blasket Islands --> Springfield, Massachusetts (that's the move Peig Sayers intended as a youngster, but which didn't work out).

    Wexford/Waterford --> Newfoundland.

    North Monaghan --> Prince Edward Island

    A major determinant of migration patterns was the relative security involved in going out to join people that one already knew, and such patterns tended to snowball.


  • #3
    shanew
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,774 ✭✭✭shanew


    Chain migration is the term I've heard used for this



    S.


  • #4
    Coolnabacky1873
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 556 ✭✭✭Coolnabacky1873


    P. Breathnach wrote: »
    The western tip of the Dingle Peninsula and most particularly the Blasket Islands --> Springfield, Massachusetts (that's the move Peig Sayers intended as a youngster, but which didn't work out).

    Wexford/Waterford --> Newfoundland.

    North Monaghan --> Prince Edward Island

    A major determinant of migration patterns was the relative security involved in going out to join people that one already knew, and such patterns tended to snowball.

    PB, Very interesting. Do you know why the Mons went to PEI?


  • #5
    P. Breathnach
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 12,089 ✭✭✭✭P. Breathnach


    Coolnabacky1873 wrote: »
    PB, Very interesting. Do you know why the Mons went to PEI?
    Sorry, no idea. I became aware of it because there are road signs telling us that Co. Monaghan is twinned with PEI, and I asked why.


  • #6
    Coolnabacky1873
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 556 ✭✭✭Coolnabacky1873


    Looks like they went there via Glasgow.
    http://www.irishidentity.com/stories/moynagh.htm


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  • #7
    cormacocomhrai
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 133 ✭✭cormacocomhrai


    Connemara Patch, Minnesota. An effort by a Catholic Bishop to spread Catholicism.

    Lot of Connemara people went to Boston and still do. The Whitey Bolger case had three close Connemara connections. Bulger's brother was a visitor to Connemara and may have had some connection. One of Whitey's alleged closest associates was born in Connemara and the FBI agent involved in the case was of Connemara background as well.


  • #8
    Jellybaby1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,108 ✭✭✭Jellybaby1


    Don't forget about the Irish slaves transported to Barbados, Jamaica, Caribbean areas etc. A fascinating story which I was never taught in school. Maybe they teach it these days? Damien Dempsey sings a haunting song to tell the story. However, maybe this doesn't really fit in with the emigration which is being discussed here. Apologies for butting in.


  • #9
    Waitsian
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,713 ✭✭✭Waitsian


    Jellybaby1 wrote: »
    Don't forget about the Irish slaves transported to Barbados, Jamaica, Caribbean areas etc. A fascinating story which I was never taught in school. Maybe they teach it these days? Damien Dempsey sings a haunting song to tell the story. However, maybe this doesn't really fit in with the emigration which is being discussed here. Apologies for butting in.

    Well personally I would argue it's a form of emigration, albeit forced. I know of a few books of interest, but no doubt there are more:

    To Hell or Barbados: The Ethnic Cleansing of Ireland by Sean O'Callaghan; The Stolen Village: Baltimore and the Barbary Pirates by Des Ekin; Hell or Connaught: Cromwellian Colonisation of Ireland, 1652-60 by Peter Beresford Ellis & a novel, Testimony of an Irish Slave Girl by Kate McCafferty.


  • #10
    Coolnabacky1873
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 556 ✭✭✭Coolnabacky1873


    Jellybaby1 wrote: »
    Don't forget about the Irish slaves transported to Barbados, Jamaica, Caribbean areas etc. A fascinating story which I was never taught in school. Maybe they teach it these days? Damien Dempsey sings a haunting song to tell the story. However, maybe this doesn't really fit in with the emigration which is being discussed here. Apologies for butting in.

    Thanks for the input Jelly. TG4 had a doc about their descendants called The Redlegs. Here is a bit by Turtle Bunbury too.

    More generally, the numbers of indentured servants that went from Ireland to the North American parts of the former British empire is one of the great untold genealogical stories, IMO.


  • #11
    cormacocomhrai
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 133 ✭✭cormacocomhrai


    There's a reference to an Irishman meeting Irish speaking, dark-skinned people in Montserrat in the footnotes of Cín Lae Amhlaoibh.The meeting took place in the nineteenth century.


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  • #12
    Jellybaby1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,108 ✭✭✭Jellybaby1


    Is there any translation of Cín Lae Amhlaoibh into English?


  • #13
    shanew
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,774 ✭✭✭shanew


    Mercer press published a translation - I think this is it :

    The ISBN is different, maybe a previous edition, but National Library also have a copy (copies?) : link


    S.


  • #14
    cormacocomhrai
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 133 ✭✭cormacocomhrai


    The reference itself is in the footnotes and was added in by the editor Tomás de Bhaldraithe. In the body of the text itself. Amhlaoibh, writing in the 1820s, talks about hearing of an island in the Caribbean where the people speak Irish. His comment is that it doesn't bother him what colour they are if they're part of Gaelic culture.

    I don't know how well the text is translated or how fully. I've seen the book but never picked it up.
    Amhlaoibh was an Irish speaker who came from around Killarney but was a teacher in Kilkenny. He was based in Callan where there were plenty of native Irish speakers even as late as the period he was writing in.


  • #15
    Jellybaby1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,108 ✭✭✭Jellybaby1


    Thanks everyone. It would be good if this was taught as part of our history. We tend to get bogged down in just the one story of emigration i.e. the famine years and there are so many other stories we should hear about, some might even surprise us.


  • #16
    guinness queen
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 56 ✭✭guinness queen


    family went to coal mining area of Penn. in the 1800's mid to late from Castlecomer, would like to know which areas they went to predominantly. thanks


  • #17
    Coolnabacky1873
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 556 ✭✭✭Coolnabacky1873


    guinness queen wrote: »
    family went to coal mining area of Penn. in the 1800's mid to late from Castlecomer, would like to know which areas they went to predominantly. thanks

    Have a look at the US Federal censuses on Familysearch. They are all indexed for that era and there are images for either 1870 or 1880.

    Also the book Castlecomer Connections by Tom Lyng is excellent. Hard to get hold of a copy though.

    If you are struggling to find the ancestor on Familysearch I'd be happy to help if you want to post info about ancestor.


  • #18
    Coolnabacky1873
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 556 ✭✭✭Coolnabacky1873


    Arranmore/Aran Island in Donegal to Beaver Island in Lake Michigan, USA.

    From The Irish At Home and Abroad Vol.4 No.4 (1997)


  • #19
    guinness queen
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 56 ✭✭guinness queen


    Dear Coolnabacky 1973, I just have had the most extroardinary stroke of luck. I knew one of the younger generation was a nun and we found the convent. She died in 1969 Last night I contacted them and low and behold if I did not get a reply this am.
    Not only did the lady know my cousin but she was her great aunt. Isnt that wonderful.


  • #20
    genie
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 975 ✭✭✭genie


    I am researching ancestors from Co. Cavan who were Church of Ireland. I have found that a lot of the names I am researching emigrated to Ontario, Canada 1800-1850 and inter-married with other Cavan emigrants.

    My lot only made it as far as Dublin! :D


  • #21
    Agent Weebley
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 450 ✭✭Agent Weebley


    genie wrote: »
    I am researching ancestors from Co. Cavan who were Church of Ireland. I have found that a lot of the names I am researching emigrated to Ontario, Canada 1800-1850 and inter-married with other Cavan emigrants.

    My lot only made it as far as Dublin! :D

    Hi genie

    Irish buried here. They are at the highest point in Caledon, Ontario, Canada, in the Albion Hills area.

    Rebecca Woulfe from Co Cork married Henry Fry McCabe from Co Cavan. Henry has an AbFab cast iron "gated" grave - he was probably the big cheese.

    Here's an HQ snap of James McCabe's grave. If you are interested, I could get you about 20 gravestone snaps and make a project of deciphering the worn poetry and information. If you are really into it, I could scour the area and look for more gravesites . . . there's tons of them!

    Oh, if you zoom out of the google map a bit, the next road is called Mount Wolfe, but I guess they buried their dead on Mount Pleasant, as it was a more peaceful place. I have a gravesite video at my disposal too, but it is a little racy and has a long intro . . . but it does give you a good impression of the peace they have there . . . twittering birds and dappled light from the trees.

    1794-1859-65-Co-Cavan-James-McCabe.jpg


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