1847: Deaths at Sea from Ireland

[TreeFlyingSquirrel]

I'm trying to find some sort of record of the ship that was taken and the people on board regarding a family that left Ireland in 1847 and ended up in Canada.

Andrew Harron was the father and his wife Margaret died on board as well as their daughter catherine.

The rest of their children survived and settled mostly in Canada.

Is this enough to find them on a passenger list or port of arrival / departure or something? So far I am striking out.

[Janet in Yorkshire]

1847 was bang in the middle of the potato famine, when thousands sailed from Ireland. I think you would be very lucky indeed to find any record of passengers on a specific sailing.
If you're not familiar with the history of that period, this site gives a good introduction to events, and the section headed "coffin ships" has details of the conditions of the ships and the health of the passengers.

http://www.historyplace.com/worldhistory/famine/

Jay

[Karamazov]

I'm trying to find some sort of record of the ship that was taken and the people on board regarding a family that left Ireland in 1847 and ended up in Canada.

Andrew Harron was the father and his wife Margaret died on board as well as their daughter catherine.

The rest of their children survived and settled mostly in Canada.

Is this enough to find them on a passenger list or port of arrival / departure or something? So far I am striking out.

Do you know where in Ireland they originated from and therefore can hazard a guess as to which port they might have sailed from? Also, where in Canada they disembarked? To quote from this first link

http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/immigration/immigration-records/immigrants-before-1865/Pages/introduction.aspx

In 1803, the British Parliament enacted legislation to regulate vessels carrying emigrants to North America. The master of the vessel was required to prepare a list of passengers and to deposit it at the port of departure. Unfortunately, few lists remain today so there are no comprehensive nominal lists of immigrants arriving in Canada before 1865.

There are also miscellaneous 1820-1850 Canada lists here:

http://www.olivetreegenealogy.com/ships/tocan1820-1850.shtml

If you've got the time and inclination you could trawl through everything on the above. However, if you could add any further info to this thread on place of origin in Ireland and port of arrival in Canada, or even where in Canada they eventually settled, it could be helpful.
I wasn't clear from the wording in your original post whether they actually landed in Canada. Could they have sailed to NY or Boston, for instance, and then migrated north to Canada? (Although, for what it's worth, I'm guessing that US to Canada would be less likely than crossing to the USA from Canada - several of mine sailed from Ireland to Montreal, Quebec, or New Brunswick and then migrated south to settle in the USA.
Good luck...

[TreeFlyingSquirrel]

Thanks for the suggestions.

The Harrons were from Drumhory, Donegal, Ireland.

Also, my wording wasn't clear as to the route by which they entered Canada. I don't know if they landed in the US first and went north, but I agree with you that that is a bit less likely than landing north and going south.

However, the father had a brother already in Philadelphia, so I've tried to include the US ports in the scope of my search.

However, I am treating the Canadian destinations like Grosse Ile and the maritime provinces as the most likely.

[Janet]

You could well be thinking of the Coffin Ships of this era, which voyages have been well documented as per website below.

http://www.historyplace.com/worldhistory/famine/coffin.htm

I think you will find that many of those sailing from Ireland at this time usually went via Canada first, (Quebec mainly) before going on to the USA during the 1840's and 1850's. The reasons were varied, USA was very anti catholic and Canada more pro Cathoic and passages to Canada were cheaper, but the ships not as good as the American ones. Few Irish people wanted to settle under the English flag in any case. Around the 1860's/1870's most went straight to the USA, through Baltimore, Castle Garden and then Ellis Island, rather than going via Canada, if that was where they were heading.

Janet

[Sylvia C]

More immigrants actually landed in Montreal at that time than in NS or NB

[Sylvia C]

sorry for duplicating Janet's post



Have you found them on any Canadian census?

Some of the censuses, especially later ones, can tell you how long they have been in Canada, and sometimes also say if they came from the US

for example, there are 2 Andrew Harrons showing in the 1851 Census, which unfortunately does not say how long someone had been living in Canada.

http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/census/1851/Pages/results.aspx?k=cnsSurname%3a%22harron%22+AND+cnsGivenName%3a%22andrew%22

1. Andrew Harron age 12, in an Agricultural Census


2. Andrew Harron, age 54, born in Ireland, living in Mornington, Perth County, ON

Also showing are Joan Harron, age 25, Mary age 22, Hugh, Thomas, Mary, William, Ezebell (???), and Elizah (??)

If I have the correct Hugh, the 1891 Census says that he was born on 24(?) May 1832 in Ireland and arrived in Canada in 1848 ....... although he then says arrived in 1847 on the 1911 Census


I'm disappointed :( .............. some of the entries for OH's ancestors in AB and BC have shown how they entered Canada, and sometimes given the US land entry point.

[TreeFlyingSquirrel]

sorry for duplicating Janet's post



Have you found them on any Canadian census?

Some of the censuses, especially later ones, can tell you how long they have been in Canada, and sometimes also say if they came from the US

for example, there are 2 Andrew Harrons showing in the 1851 Census, which unfortunately does not say how long someone had been living in Canada.

http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/census/1851/Pages/results.aspx?k=cnsSurname%3a%22harron%22+AND+cnsGivenName%3a%22andrew%22

1. Andrew Harron age 12, in an Agricultural Census


2. Andrew Harron, age 54, born in Ireland, living in Mornington, Perth County, ON

Also showing are Joan Harron, age 25, Mary age 22, Hugh, Thomas, Mary, William, Ezebell (???), and Elizah (??)

If I have the correct Hugh, the 1891 Census says that he was born on 24(?) May 1832 in Ireland and arrived in Canada in 1848 ....... although he then says arrived in 1847 on the 1911 Census


I'm disappointed :( .............. some of the entries for OH's ancestors in AB and BC have shown how they entered Canada, and sometimes given the US land entry point.

Your Family labelled (2.) with Andrew Harron age 54 and kids is the family in question. The kids all line up, though there is naturally a lot of leeway for things like Joan / Jane, Ezebell / Isabell, etc.

Those are the people that came over on the coffin ship I am trying to learn more about. Good work.

[Janet]

Those are the people that came over on the coffin ship I am trying to learn more about. Good work.

There were many coffin ships at this time, not just one. Finding a specific ship is most probably unlikely, but learning about coffin ships in general, and their role in transporting thousands of Irish across the seas, is a fascinating topic, and you will glean much information from the general knowledge, that will help you understand what may have happened to your own family.

Janet