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Scotland (Counties as in 1851-1901) => Scotland => Ayrshire => Topic started by: Craghead on Wednesday 21 December 11 02:35 GMT (UK)
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Can you help??
I have ancestors in Maybole from about 1830 till 1851. They were all cotton handloon weavers or involved in the industry. The parents and the elder children were born in Ireland and then moved to Maybole.
I am trying to trace the Millan (Mellan) the 'e' was swapped for 'i' on the census, Murphy and O'Neil families back to their roots in Ireland. I do know that the Mellan name is common to Tyrone.
I have looked at the census for 1841 and 1851, what I am trying to do is find out where in Ireland they were from. It is amazing just how many families on the Maybole 1841 census were born in Ireland. There is not much information about this industry or about Maybole and its Irish work force.
Were there any immigration records or did they just arrive from Ireland.
Are there any book about the subject of handloom weaving.
My family of Millan had left Maybole by 1851 and arrived in Australia in 1863.
If anyone is interested in viewing the 1841 or 1851 census for the whole of Maybole it is available on the Maybole website at:
http://www.maybole.org/history/index.htm.
Any suggestions would be very welcome
Cheryl
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There are no migration records for people moving from Ireland to Scotland. It was all one country and so just a question of moving from one county to another.
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If you want some somewhat stereotypical comments on the Irish handloom weavers in Maybole, look at the New Statistical Account of Scotland for Maybole. It was published in 1845. You will find it on-line at
http://stat-acc-scot.edina.ac.uk/sas/sas.asp?action=public
Graham
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These folk would be linen weavers in Ireland. Maybole also attracted Irish shoemakers for its boot & shoe industry.
Skoosh.
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Hi,Have you thought of looking at the records for immigrants coming through Ardrossan,many came to ayrshire via ardrossan,some records in north ayrshire libraries or archive,i know these records were transcribed.
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Scotland, Ireland & England were all the one country, there were no records of emigrants, these people were internal migrants. Weren't we all?
Skoosh.
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There are records of ships/boats which docked in ardrossan from ireland,have a friend who found an ancestor from carrickfergus in these records,wish I could remember the exact name of them,a couple of folk from the LDS church filmed them for records.
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Whilst there may be records of boats arriving in Ardrossan, passenger records have never routinely been kept on sailings from Ireland to Britain. It's just a short domestic ferry crossing like the Southampton to Isle of Wight ferry. Your friend must have been very lucky to find anything on Ancestry for this route.
A possibility to check are Ayrshire Poor Law records. If the Millan family made a poor law application (in this case 1845 - 1851) then details of their parish and family in Ireland would usually be recorded. It can be a very helpful source (30% of all Scottish Poor Law applications were made by people from Ireland). Ayrshire Poor Law record information:
http://www.ers.north-ayrshire.gov.uk/localfamilyhistory/localfamilyhistory_genealogy_poorrelief.cfm
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No luck.
Can you tell me what would have been the closest ferry port to Maybole in the early 1800's and where in Ireland would the ferry have sail from to meet up with that port.
I think it would be easier if I start with the areas around that port and then go further afield. I cant find any records for any of my Mabole families in Scotland. I have Mellan, Murphy,O'Neil, Tate and now Hampton there in the mid 1800's .
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In the early 1800s one of the main routes was Donaghadee to Portpatrick, but there were also regular sailings from Belfast to Glasgow and to Ardrossan.
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Many thanks for that. Was there a census for 1831 or 1821 and if so was it also done in Ireland??.
Being from Australia and having just established a connection with UK Im not all that up to speed with the research and records over there, afraid I have been very spoilt these last 30 years with the wonderful and very informative records in this country. And totally Free. Now we do have to pay for Victorian records but I got all mine done before they decided to make some money out of it. NSW and Qld are still free, and the beauty is most time you get so much detail that you dont need a certificate.
Im sure that they have been paid for over and over many times. Quess family research has become too popular!!!!!!
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Censuses were taken in 1821 and 1831 but sadly, together with the censuses from 1841 - 1891, they have all been destroyed (save for a few fragments).
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A little more information about travel between Ireland and Scotland over the centuries.
According to an Ulster Scots Agency publication about the Reformed Presbyterian Church, when there was a shortage of Presbyterian Ministers in Ireland in the 1600s, “as many as 500 members of Rev Livingston’s former congregation at Killinchy, Co Down would sail to Stranraer on a Sunday, worship with him there, and sail home again that evening.” And that was in the days of sailing ships. Clearly people went back and forth in large numbers, all the time.
A book has been written on the history of the boats and ferries that have operated on that route over the centuries: IRISH PASSENGER STEAMSHIP SERVICES VOL 1 North of Ireland DB McNeil 1969.
According to this book, up until 1830 was the era of the individual shipowner. Competition was fierce and some went out of business within months. In the 1820s few passengers booked. Most turned up at Belfast docks and took the next departure. Agents would tout for business and on at least one occasion an agent offered free food and free passage.
1830 saw Burns Line start to dominate the market. In 1882 they acquired the Ardrossan route and gradually took over most of the main services between Northern Ireland and the Clyde.
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I found my husband's family on the 1814 Maybole census. There are quite a few members of the Lavery family there - with numerous different spellings, so it is a miracle I found them. I subsequently found that they came from Dromore in Co Down, and it seems that their friends had joined them too.
So you could do worse than to look at the Dromore registers!