Thursday, June 23, 2016

From Carlow and Wexford to Canada, 1817 and 1818

In November 1817, officials from the British Colonial Office began to organize for hundreds of families to emigrate from Counties Carlow and Wexford to British North America. The families were to travel to Quebec in Spring 1818. Two lists were compiled, one Roman Catholics and the other Protestant, and they provide the head of household names and the number of family members for 710 Protestant and 281 Catholic families.

First page of Roman Catholic list[1]

First page of Protestant list[2]

The lists survive in the papers of the Colonial Department and Colonial Office, CO 384 at the National Archives in England. These papers have been digitized and are available to view in the database Canada, Immigration and Settlement Correspondence and Lists, 1817-1896 on Ancestry. They have been indexed, but they are part of thousands of other folios that comprise the collection. The relevant papers can be browsed by selecting Canada, Immigration and Settlement Correspondence and Lists, 1817-1896 → Year Range 1871-1851 → (Volume 001) North America Settlers, 1817 image 182 (Protestant list) / image 192 (Roman Catholic list).

Transcriptions of these lists are available to view elsewhere online. The Ship List has transcribed them and also provide a small amount of analysis to help researchers.

It is important to remember that these lists provide information about families that intended to emigrate. They may never have actually emigrated or other families could have also travelled.


[1] United Kingdom, War and Colonial Department and Colonial Office, Emigration Original Correspondence 1817–1857 and 1872–1896, CO 384/1, p. 188, A Release of Roman Catholic families preparing to emigrate from the counties of Carlow and Wexford in the insuing Spring [New] Ross 29th November 1817; digital image, "Canada, Immigration and Settlement Correspondence and Lists, 1817-1896," (http://www.ancestry.com), Ancestry, accessed 18 June 2016.
[2] United Kingdom, War and Colonial Department and Colonial Office, Emigration Original Correspondence 1817–1857 and 1872–1896, CO 384/1, p. 178, A Release of Protestant families preparing to emigrate from the counties of Carlow and Wexford in the insuing Spring [New] Ross 29th November 1817; digital image, "Canada, Immigration and Settlement Correspondence and Lists, 1817-1896," (http://www.ancestry.com), Ancestry, accessed 18 June 2016.

6 comments:

  1. Jos, Thank you very much for posting this! I'm pretty sure my great great grandfather, Jonathan Love, is on this list. :)

    James Lewis
    Head of the North Jersey History and Genealogy Center
    Morristown-Morris Township Library
    Morristown, New Jersey

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