Irish immigrants to Wales, 1800s

[PatrickSullivan]

Hi all, just realised I'd started this post 6 years ago, I think I should join in again lol.  My Sullivan family settled in Pontlottyn, Gelligaer parish, Glamorgan in the 1870s, other family surnames from that time were McCarthys, Mahonys, Miskill.  There were so many Irish in Pontlottyn and numerous Sullivan families nearly all sharing the same Christian names, eg, Patrick, Michael, John, Jeremiah.  I got all the records I need for this side of the water, it's the Irish records that do me in.  Haven't researched family history for some years I think its about time I got back into it.

[JennyMarieGradwell]

This is an OLD thread but I'm in a similar boat! (as it were.....)

My Great Great Grandfather, Richard Mahoney, was born abt 1850 in County Cork and by 1874 was getting married in Breconshire. I'm having a shocking time trying to find solid birth info, but have just ordered his marriage certificate, so hopefully more clues there.

I'd love to know more about his life before coming to Wales but Mahoneys in County Cork..... There was no shortage! 

[Paparico]

Please note that the Irish influx was primarily to mining villages where the vast majority of Welsh went to Chapel, not Mass!  So if you want to find your Irish ancestors in Wales, please look for them in RC Bishop Transcripts.  Where you find them listed in a Census, search for the nearest Catholic church.  Monumental inscriptions do not last very long in Wales (the stones last but the inscriptions are soon covered with lichen) so Welsh research really is not something you can put off until tomorrow!

Aloha!

Rico 

[Emma Hughes]

Very interesting thread this! I have the same problem looking to trace family who arrived in Newport between 1840 and 1870 from Cork. They did amazingly well I think coming over and making a better life. On the Catholic Church note I wonder does anyone know if there is anywhere specific to look for unmarried mothers having babies in Cardiff? My relative, grand daughter of the Irish immigrant appears on a census aged 16 in Newport with the family, cant find her on the 1901 census - we know she had an illegitimate daughter (my great grandmother) in 1900 and then she appears again in the 1911 married in North Road, Cardiff with the illegitimate daughter and a husband and more children.

Did young catholic Irish descent girls go to convents to have illegitimate babies? Where there young mothers homes? Did these places fill in the census? Not meaning to hijack the thread

[bernard_lewis]

Have you tried the local workhouse records? Also some towns had 'shelters' funded by private benefactors or charity where unmarried women could give birth and receive some assistance.

Bernard

[Paparico]

Irish pregnant girls were frequently sent to London to have their child.  Welsh Census returns were frequently completed by people with no Welsh nor local knowledge, so finding anyone can be a challenge.  The child may appear listed as someone's niece in the 1901 Census, but you could try searching for mother and daughter in English Census returns.  You might also check with Glamorganshire Family History as someone else may have already completed the research for you.

[Paparico]

I should add that the Age of Consent was 10, so MANY daughters were sent in to domestic service around that age, resulting in an appearance in one census, but not in the next.  Also, common names are difficult to sort out in Census returns, so you might try searching the YOUNGEST child listed in a Census to find that family in the next Census, or search the child with the most uncommon name. Aloha!

[crockface]

Irish immigrants gained voyage how and when they could, often used as ballast for a cheaper rate than the 3d cost. When the great numbers arrived at the height of the successive famines, 1840's so great were the numbers that some ports banned immigrants so overrun were the small towns. Indeed in Cardiff masters were fined for carrying Irish, some vessels were licensed but limited to 30 souls,these rules were flouted. Officers patrolled the ports to enforce the regulations so masters took to landing passengers wherever they could, on [off] the beach at Penarth or in the estuaries, causing people to scramble over the mud flats to get access.
Many Irish headed straight for the workhouse to get immediate relief, a refuge and some food. Many avoided the workhouse as there was a period where they were turned away or returned to Ireland. The regulation was that if you weren't registered as an inhabitant you could get no relief, indoor [workhouse] or outdoor, a loan of money, food or goods to tide one over. Some never registered fearing the workhouse and the possibility of getting transported back.There was a question of convents, up to about 1830-40 there was not even a church let alone a convent, so without help expectant mothers had no recourse but to turn to the work house, mostly tho most expectant mothers feared the stigma of having their child born in the workhouse, there are cases where mothers left the workhouse and sometimes giving birth in small streets or back lanes, really!
As for records, those registered appeared on the census[town] mostly this was used for demographic purposes but usually for taxation reasons, to pay the poor tax. The Irish were loathed, feared and badly discriminated against blamed for bringing and spreading disease, undercutting wages, classed as lazy, thieves and drunkards. Much blame was laid at the Irish door, discrimination lasted as late as the 1960's, where the infamous signs 'no coloureds no Irish' were hung in lodging house windows, contrary to the opinion this was a myth. As an expert in Irish in Cardiff and coming from Little Ireland, Newtown, I witnessed these signs in the Tiger Bay/lower town area of Cardiff. For more information, you can see my facebook page 'Newtown and the Irish in Cardiff' or there is an official Newtown Association, website. Information is free!