Why leave Ireland for Scotland about 1800 -1840?

Hugo · Post by **Hugo** » Sun Apr 06, 2008 8:46 pm

Hi all,

I have an ancestor Barney Donachy who was born in Derry about 1806. He appears on the Scottish 1841 census. I suspect the Irish spelling could be Donaghy, or one of the other variants.

Needless to say I have had no luck tracing him in Ireland.

Definitely open to suggestions.

Hugo

LesleyB · Post by **LesleyB** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 3:28 pm

Hi Hugo
Life in Ireland was very tough in many areas at that time, and as if things were not bad enough the potato famine in Ireland in the 1840s (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_Potato_Famine ) prompted many people to move to Scotland just to try to survive.

Where does he appear in Scotland in 1841? West coast/Glasgow area?
Any sign of him in 1851?

Best wishes
Lesley

Hugo · Post by **Hugo** » Sat Apr 12, 2008 9:20 pm

Hi LesleyB,

He appears as Barney Donachy in the 1841 census for Riccarton, Kilmarnock and I can trace our tree back to him, although oddly enough I cannot find any trace of his death. I suspect he went back to Ireland.

I was hoping to trace him in Derry before he came over to Scotland. The likely change in spelling the surname just adds to the difficulties.

Thanks for the interest.

Hugo

LesleyB · Post by **LesleyB** » Sat Apr 12, 2008 9:27 pm

Hi Hugo
My first thought would be to check the poor law applications at the Mitchell Library in the hope he had applied for relief, although if he was only in Scotlnd for a short while he may have been here too early to have been recorded:
http://www.glasgow.gov.uk/en/Residents/ ... chives.htm

Poor Law Archives
Archives and Special Collections hold more than 1,000,000 applications for poor relief made by residents of Glasgow and the West of Scotland. Areas covered include:
Glasgow, 1851-1948
Barony, 1861-1898 (when it united with Glasgow)
Govan, 1876-1930 (when it united with Glasgow)
former county councils of Bute, Dunbartonshire, Lanarkshire and Renfrewshire. Many of these applications date back to the beginning of the new poor law in 1845

...but your Barney is perhaps more likely to have been in Ayrshire in any case. And in the early 1840s any poverty resulting in a need for support may have been more the responsibility of the local Parish as well, so Kirk Session records may be worth checking.

Many, many Irish folk turn up in poor law applications as they had often arrived in Scotland in desparate circumstances in the first place and in addition were usually without a community of close family or friends to help them out. I also have some Irish folk so I can sympathise with the problem. I've not really got to grips with the Irish records yet, but as far as I can make out, in the 1840s you will be very much reliant on Parish records. (just as you are in Scotland!)

Best wishes
Lesley

LesleyB · Post by **LesleyB** » Sun Apr 13, 2008 11:33 am

Just remembered about this site:
http://www.nli.ie/en/parish-register.aspx
There is quite a lot of good info here, but for a specific area you'll need to find out about the parishes in an area first, just as you would in Scotland.
http://www.ireland.com/ancestor/browse/counties/rcmaps/

Parish registers are listed on the Museum of Ireland site and the microfilms can be viewed in person if visiting...but I'm not sure if, like Scottish ones you can order a copy of films through your local LDS - does anyone know if this is possible with these?
(I've had a quick search on the LDS library pages, and the Irish Catholic Parish records I've tried so far do not seem to turn up as being available ...)
Does anyone know if there is a way to view them other than actually going to Ireland?

Best wishes
Lesley

Hugo · Post by **Hugo** » Sun Apr 13, 2008 5:02 pm

Again, many thanks for the info.

You obviously picked up from my reference to Derry that Barney was catholic, as have been all his descendants. (For anyone who is mystified by this, the protestants referred to it as Londonderry.)

There could be a slight twist here as I have been told the family went from Scotland to Ireland and back again to Scotland. If the move to Ireland was during the 'plantation' then I would expect the family to be protestant not catholic. So it is possible Barney married a catholic girl and 'turned' which might be why he was not averse to moving to Scotland before 1840 with his seven children (although without his wife, Agnes Shirkie or Sharkey.

For some reason he emigrated several years before the potato famine.

Anyway, it looks as though I have to go to Dublin to checkout their catholic parish registers. Lord knows when, but it is a lovely dream.

Hugo

LesleyB · Post by **LesleyB** » Sun Apr 13, 2008 7:26 pm

Hi Hugo
Yes, I'd taken my cue from your reference to Derry!

Was off trying to answer my own question and found this is a book:"Irish Ancestors" John Grenham, p.57

The LDS also has an extensive collection of Catholic parish register microfilms made up partly of copies of some of the National Library films and partly of material microfilmed by the Church itself. Of the 1,153 parishes in the country the LDS library has records of 398.

And knowing how things often go... I bet the parishes we want will not be amongst those included!

Best wishes
Lesley