Missing Friends Database 1831-1921 Online!

Great news for those searching Irish ancestors!  A new project sponsored by Boston College’s Irish Studies Program and produced by the Office of Marketing Communications
has digitized the Boston Pilot's Missing Friends Column covering 90 years of Irish individuals seeking information their friends or family members who left Ireland for N. America. This explanation from the website:

From October 1831 through October 1921, the Boston Pilot newspaper printed a “Missing Friends” column with advertisements from people looking for “lost” friends and relatives who had emigrated from Ireland to the United States. This extraordinary collection of 41,249 records is available here as a searchable online database, which contains a text record for each ad that appeared in the Pilot.

Back in May 2010 I published a blog post about a new OliveTreeGenealogy.com project called  The Missing Friends Project. My goal was to extract the names of those who immigrated from UK to America or Canada and who were inquired about by family in various 19th Century newspapers.

My Missing Friends Project starts with Lloyd's Weekly Newspaper, published in London England and their weekly column (1886-1900) called "Long Lost Relatives". I also began extracting names of those in the Boston Pilot, published in Boston Massachusetts (1831-1921).

You can search for extracted names from Lloyd's Weekly Newspaper and the Boston Pilot on my ongoing Missing Friends Project .  But don't miss this new digitization project for the Boston Pilot names !    
Search the Missing Friends Database

NEW! Extracts of Names from Surgeons' Journals of 8 ships from Ireland to Upper Canada 1825 online

In 1822, the British Government established a trial emigration scheme for Irish paupers to Upper Canada. There were two waves of emigration, one in 1823 the second in 1825.

Peter Robinson arranged for these impoverished Irish emigrants to come to Upper Canada. In 1825, 2024 passengers on board nine ships - Fortitude, Resolution, Albion, Brunswick, Star, Amity, Regulus, Elizabeth, and John Barry - arrived in Quebec. From there the emigrants made their way to Upper Canada (present day Ontario).

Passenger Lists for these ships are available online  but Olive Tree Genealogy has been busy compiling a new project which contains much more information on many of the Irish passengers. The new project is the extraction of names from Surgeons Medical Journals which were kept during the voyages.

There are medical journals for 8 ships and they contain a great deal of information. Olive Tree Genealogy's project contains extracted details of the voyage, the names and ages of each passenger treated by the surgeon, the date they were put on the sick list, where the ship was at the time and the date they recovered or died. Births of children are also recorded as are deaths, sometimes with details as to exact time and location.

You will want to consult these extracts if you think your Irish ancestors were on board the following ships:

Surgeon's Journal of the Transport Ship John Barry between 22 April to 25 July 1825 during which time the said ship has been employed in conveying the Irish Emigrant Settlers from Cork to Quebec.

Surgeon's Journal of the Transport Ship Amity between 5 April to 9 July 1825 during which time the said ship has been employed in conveying the Irish Emigrant Settlers from Cork to Quebec.

Surgeon's Journal of the Transport Ship Elizabeth between 4 May 1825 & 21st July 1825 during which time the said ship has been employed in conveying the Irish Emigrant Settlers from Cork to Quebec.

Medical and surgical journal of the Star transport ship for 6 April to 13 July 1825 by Ninian McMorris, Surgeon and Superintendent, during which time the said ship was employed in conveying emigrants to Quebec.

Medical and surgical journal of the Regulus transport ship for 7 April to 13 July 1825 by Matthew Burnside, Surgeon and Superintendent conveying the Irish Emigrant Settlers from Cork to Quebec.

Medical and surgical journal of the Fortitude Emigrant Ship for 28 April to 1 July 1825 by Francis Connin, Surgeon and Superintendent conveying the Irish Emigrant Settlers from Cork to Quebec.

edical journal of the Brunswick, emigrant ship, for 5 April to 27 June 1825 by John Tarn surgeon and superintendent, during which time the said ship was employed in conveying emigrants from Cork to Quebec

Medical and surgical journal of the Albion Convict Ship, for 4 April to 4 July 1825 by John Thomson Surgeon and Superintendent, during which time the said vessel was employed in conveying emigrants from Cork to Quebec.

The surgeons' journals contain much detail both on the illnesses of each passenger and on the journey itself. Some surgeons recorded their thoughts about certain passengers so they are a very interesting read.

Two of the ships medical journals are available online as a .pdf file at the National Archives UK website. The other medical journals are available for a fee from the National Archives UK website. All source files are provided so you can enjoy reading the entire journals or ordering ones of interest.

Warning: Some of the journal entries are very distressing to read.

Weekly Featured Database: Irish Famine Migration to New Brunswick, 1845-1852

Announcing a new website that is chock full of incredible Irish records. This is my Featured Weekly Database for this week.

In the Wake of Dark Passage: Irish Famine Migration to New Brunswick, 1845-1852

Don't be misled by the title! There are records here that pertain to other geographic locations.

The website includes the following searchable records. I have just spent an enjoyable half hour searching the Passenger Lists and Almshouse Records. I was amazed to find that in the ships passenger lists, each individual entry is linked to the actual images of the original manifest.

When I glanced at the Immigrant Letters database I was struck by the geographic locations - many in the USA as well as of course Ireland and New Brunswick.

* Saint John Almshouse Records
* Brenan Funeral Home Records: Traces of Ireland
* Fitzwilliam Estate Emigration Books 1847-1856
* RS555 Provincial Secretary: Immigration Administration Records
* Immigrant Letters
* Newspapers
* Passenger Lists
* Teachers Petition Database
* Irish Immigrants in the New Brunswick Census of 1851 and 1861

Death Or Canada (Irish Famine Immigration to Canada)

The History Channel is showing the film Death or Canada on Monday, March 16 at 8 PM. If your ancestors came to Canada during the time of the Irish Famine, you will want to see this production.

Death or Canada is the compelling tale of how in 1847, the British Colony of Canada gave refuge to tens of thousands of Irish famine victims, who in turn were responsible for the building of North America as we know it today.

Set in 1847, the darkest year of the Irish Famine, it follows the true life story of the protestant family, John and Mary Willis who, along with their five children, abandoned their home in the west of Ireland and gambled everything on finding new lives in North America. They flee Ireland on a coffin ship and together with over 100,000 other Irish in 1847, they make their way to Canada.

Penetanguishene's Discovery Harbour was used as background in a movie. Some of the
scenes were shot there and local people were used as extras during the filming. Look for Tim Mallon, Museum Board Chairman, in the part of "Mr Pearce", an immigration
officer. He makes his appearance in the second hour and should be easy to spot in his "train conductor" costume.