Irish migration

[Louis the fly]

In the years of famine in Ireland thousands of men, women & children opted for a new life in the U.S.
Patrick & Catherine McCarty lived for a time in the slums of New York where their son Henry was born. Patrick died shorty after and Catherine took Henry on the long journey to the new lands of the west. They eventually settled in New Mexico hoping the dry desert air would cure her of consumption, she also remarried. When Henry was 15 his mother died, the step father who had never showed any interest in the boy kicked him out. Henry survived by hustling and card playing in the saloons until a local bully picked on the small, skinny boy. He lay on the floor being beaten up then reached for the man's gun and shot him in the stomach, the man died the following day. Henry escaped and changed his name to William Bonny and so began the legend of Billy the Kid.

[cappy]

also aussie was filled with a irish dissidents ...also other brits for various crimes as we know.....there is a book called the fatal shore about these folks .....it is a big thick book and the reading is .....as the best i have ever read....it is heart rending and magnificent.......a true from records list of happenings .....cannibalism and true hardship .....leading to the birth of this great country....cappy

[Louis the fly]

For the past few weeks I have been researching my family history. I never met my grandparents and didn't ask questions of the past from my mother or father. Searching through old records I found my mothers family were Irish. Many Irishmen found themselves fighting and killing each other as they took sides in the American Civil War.
Looking at the U.K. census records shows what a hard life our ancestors had, six or more children plus lodgers all living in tiny two up and two down houses, no bathroom and perhaps sharing an outside toilet with neighbours. Children being shipped off to Canada, America and Australia. Some may have prospered for others it must have been hell depending on which house or institution they ended up in.

[Captain Kong]

The Fatal Shore is a book to read. The suffering of the convicts was appalling.
I think after one ship load, about six hundred , after six months only one was still alive.
Brian

[gray_marian]

#3 Louis, The clip below is of a brilliant place to visit to give you a real flavour of how your ancestors may have experienced life before leaving Ireland for America. Purpose built village around 22 buildings to visit before voyage, then moke up of the ship itself and conditions aboard. The sights, sounds [different accents] and smells of the dockside on arrival and all that entailed.Took my mum and her sister there a few years ago and hoping to return soon. Tremendous day out, wear comfortable shoes Pity Liverpool, Glasgow etc do not have similar.

Ulster American Folk Park - National Museums Northern ...
Ulster American Folk Park - National Museums Northern Ireland

[Jim Brady]

About 20 years ago Merseyside Maritime Museum had a great exhibition titled The New World.It opened up with a display of an Irish farm,you then walked into a Liverpool cobbled street with lodging houses,full size model of a man with cart for luggage.All the way through the exhibition it told the story.you then walk aboard a ship people are laying in bunks moaning,you have the noise of the boat etc.You then walk through a door and you are faced with what would've been the New York Skyline all brightly lit like a summers day and in big letters The New World.You can just imagine how these poor people must have felt.
Regards.
Jim.B.

[Jim Brady]

Here's another story,worth a read.
Regards.
jim.B.
The History Place - Irish Potato Famine: Coffin Ships

[Captain Kong]

A few years ago my brother and I were sat at a table on that emigrant deck near those bunks, we sat motionless in the dim lights, not moving, and then some women walked in, One said ` the dummies in here are so life like` and as they got close we jumped up and the women ran out screaming. They had a laugh after.
Very good exhibition.
Cheers
Brian

[Jim Brady]

Yes Brian that happened quite a lot,I thought a guy that did that was part of the exhibition.
Regards.
Jim.B.

[Louis the fly]

Hi Jim you will remember this, when we were kids the living room of a house was called the kitchen and the kitchen was the back kitchen.
If you had a parlour it was always kept for best and never used.
In the winter the first up lit the coal fire, the only form of heating for the whole house. It all seems strange now but back then was normal.
For our parents this must have been luxury compared to what they had grown up in.