Westward Cork Migration by Sail 1815-1860 by John Sutton

PART II EMIGRANT PERSPECTIVE

under 10,000. North American immigration would remain in decline prior to the American Civil War (1861-65). UK emigration to the US improved during the Civil War, but emigration to BNA did not improve until the 1870s. Ships became larger, mainly steam-powered, safer, and more attuned to passenger service. Irish representation on BNA ship arrival manifests declined and was replaced by emigrants from other European ports. ************************* CHAPTER 3 IRISH EMIGRANTS ARRIVING AT NORTH AMERICAN PORTS 1815-60 Although an overview of North American emigration was presented in the Preface of this work, a small review might be beneficial at this juncture for the reader: ‘Emigration from Great Britain and Ireland’ - British Emigration Commissioners, 1861 : 1815-20. 1821-30. 1831-40. 1841-50. 1851-60. Total To the United States. 50,359 99,801 308,247 1,094,556 1,495,243 3,048,206 North American Colonies. 70,438 139,269 322,485 429,044 235,285 1,196,521 The US 1860 Census placed emigration from Britain and Ireland at just 2,750,874 (1815-60) and explained the difference on missed statistics 1815-19 and emigrants arriving by land from BNA. Extrapolation of the Irish emigration component can be deduced from these two UK destination groups by adjusting US arrivals at 70% Irish 1825-46 and then above 70% through 1854 (Cohn, 2009, 26, 28), while BNA arrivals 1815-60 were 60% Irish. CHAPTER 3A IRISH EMIGRANTS ARRIVING AT BNA PORTS 1815-60 Quebec received 90% of all BNA arrivals (mostly from the UK) prior to 1847. The School of Irish Studies, Concordia University, asserts that between 1815 and 1860 of the over one million emigrants that passed through the ports of Quebec and Montreal 60% were Irish. St John New Brunswick remained a distant second - but perhaps not for Cork (see Part l). Quebec provided limited employment in the timber trade and shipbuilding and some emigrants settled in Lower Canada, but for most BNA emigrants Quebec was a port of passage to Montreal, the main port of dispersal for Upper Canada between 1815 and 1860. Many Irish emigrants proceeded directly from BNA ports to the USA. Others entered Irish enclaves in the Maritime Colonies, such as St John NB or St John’s Newfoundland, later becoming “two boaters” and moving on. New Brunswick Irish commonly moved to the USA as evidenced by US port arrival records, while the Newfoundland Irish often favored other parts of BNA, possibly influenced by an alternative southeast Ireland network (4A). Irish Protestants, arriving in the early 1800s, were more likely to remain in BNA, and that was confirmed by Canadian Census records for foreign-born residents later in the century. English, Scottish, and Irish emigration through British North American ports expanded circa 1830, when British arrivals at Quebec for 1829, 1830 and 1831 were reported at 15,822,

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