Why sail from Liverpool?

Dubbleu · Post by **Dubbleu** » Fri Aug 05, 2005 12:36 pm

My LIVINGSTONE ancestors came from Glasgow and settled in Connecticut in 1873. I've had a date of July 1873 for quite some time but hadn't been able to locate them on a passenger list (NY was not indexed) and after reading many rolls of film was discouraged not to see them on any Glasgow to NY list.

Now I have found them, thanks to http://www.castlegarden.org/index.html which came online Aug 1,
and to my surprise they sailed from LIVERPOOL to NY. John LIVINGSTONE came first, in April 1873, followed by his wife Crawford and eight children ages 0 - 18 in July 1873. I'm a bit confused as to why they would sail from Liverpool when Glasgow was a major port of sail and they lived right in Glasgow (Bridgeton) as did their extended family.

I've struggled to find more LIVINGSTONES so I'm wondering if there might be more clues in Liverpool or was this a common thing to do? Any thoughts?

thanks
Wendy

JustJean · Post by **JustJean** » Fri Aug 05, 2005 1:04 pm

Hi Wendy

My family too came to New England however I found them orignally coming directly to the port of Boston from Glasgow. They were great travellers and made several trips back and forth and not always did the record show they sailed from Glasgow...sometimes it was Liverpool or they arrived Liverpool en route to Scotland as I have postcards written from there.

I've still got a few missing persons and tried the new Castle Garden site but came up empty handed

...it's nice to hear someone say it worked for them!!!! So far all my findings have been through the Ancestry Immigration databases and in one place that site states:

"It is important to note that the port of departure listed on these passenger lists is not always the original port of departure for these individuals. A ship could make several voyages throughout the year, making several stops along way. Oft times the port of departure found on these lists is the most recent port the ship was located at prior to arriving at the port of Philadelphia. Therefore, if your ancestors immigrated to the United States from Germany, they could be found on a passenger list coming from Liverpool, England (if, in this case, the ship left from Bremen, Germany, then continued on to Liverpool, England, before arriving in Philadelphia)."

I'm far from an authority but I would guess that Liverpool was simply a stop along the way and there are no family ties there. If there are any experts out there I hope they can add comments and corrections if needed

Best wishes
Jean

DavidWW · Post by **DavidWW** » Fri Aug 05, 2005 9:45 pm

The journey from Glasgow to Liverpool at that time could have been by train or ship, not necessarily the ship that then did the transatlantic sector.

Probable reason?, - cost; possibly availability.

Davie

Dubbleu · Post by **Dubbleu** » Fri Aug 05, 2005 10:10 pm

Thanks for these thoughts. It hadn't really occurred to me that it would be cheaper because there would be cost to get to Liverpool, however if it was cheaper to travel out of Liverpool maybe the cost to get there was minimal compared to the cost of traveling out of Glasgow.

To Jean
I know the frustration of looking through those passenger lists for the elusive ancestor! For those coming through Boston, here's another resource - http://www.sec.state.ma.us/arc/arcsrch/ ... tents.html
It's a project they've just begun, and if you haven't already seen it, it may hold something for you. It's far from complete, but may be worth checking back in on every so often to see if your ancestors show up.

Wendy