Welsh Emmigration Ports ca. 1860

[Robert B. Croman]

I believe I may have traced my GGGgrandfather or GGGgranduncle Thomas Barrow, b. ca 1810 from Wales to the Scranton, PA, USA region.   If my hunches are correct, this Thomas Barrow was born about 1810 in the Wrexham area to Thomas Barrow and Martha Dodd.   He married Ann Evans.  In the 1851 census Thomas and Ann Barrow were living in Brymbo (Broughton, Denbighshire) with three daughters and his occupation was listed as coal miner.   In 1852 Ann Barrow, nee Evans died.   In 1856 according to the GRO he gave the details for his father's death registration in the Debighshire district (i.e. Thomas Barrow, Sr).   I do not find Thomas Barrow in the 1861 Debighshire census, but I do find him in the 1860 Pennsylvania Census living in the area of what became the city of Scranton working as a coal miner.   In fact in 1872 he is listed as one of many miners in a coal field disaster (non fatal victum).    According to Pennslyania Probate records he died 8 Sept 1884.
My question is which port would emmigrates from Wales have used around 1860 for the United States.   I would imagine that those from North Wales would have used different ports of departure than those from South Wales.
Many thanks,
Robert B. Croman
High School Physics Teacher
Plano, TX

[buttonmoon]

Hi Robert, the port would possibly be Liverpool.

Kate.

[davierj]

Hi Robert

As Kate said most emigration in the mid 19th century would have been from Liverpool to either New York, Philadelphia or Baltimore.   A few ships also left from Aberystwyth or Caernarfon.   In your case Liverpool is most likely.

Have you tried the following link to Gareth's help page on emigration from Wales...........................?

http://home.clara.net/tirbach/HelpPageemigration.html

Best of luck
Cheers Dave

[Robert B. Croman]

Dear Kate and Dave,

Many thanks for your replies.    Just yesterday I was playing with Ancestry.com and stumbled upon the following immigration data:
Family:
Thomas Barrowes age 51   laborer
Mary   wife    age 43   [listed as wife in 1860, 1870, and 1880 PA USA census records]
John    age 2   (children?)
Arrival Date   24 May 1858
Departure Port:  Liverpool
Arrival Port:  New York
Ship:  City of Washington
Origin of family:   Great Britian.   
Of course I would feel better if the origin had been listed as Wales, and better yet if it had listed Wrexham, but at least this is a possibility and it fits so far with the data I have.
I hope I am not building a fanatasy but after my Thomas Barrow's wife Ann died, I hypothesize that he married a Welsh widow, Mary (possibly Lewis) and removed his family to Lancashire between his father's death date of 1856 and his departure in 1858.    There is some credibility to this in that in the 1861 Lancashire census records I find three young single domestics, all born in Wrexham as Margaret Barrow (b. 1838), Martha Barrow (b. 1840), and Ann Barrow (b. 1841) and these young girls correspond nicely with the three daughters in the Brymbo household of Thomas and Ann Barrow as listed in the 1851 Denbighshire census.
Of course I could be just kidding myself.
Again many thanks for your replies.
Best regards,
Bob Croman

[davierj]

Happy New Year Bob
Thanks for letting us see the information, which was most interesting.   Don't give up hope about your Welsh ancestry as it was very common in the 19th century for officials in this country not to distinguish between Welsh and English.   It was a time when Wales was undergoing a great deal of social pressure from England to relinquish Welsh language, customs etc.   So it was a pretty safe bet for an American official to state Great Britain as the point of origin.
Liverpool was the usual port of embarcation and people would tavel by train from south Wales - not a small undertaking in those days.

Best of luck in your searching, Dave