Irish-American History

Lesson 7: What did happen?

Destination USA

The majority of the emigrants were heading for USA , where many of them already would have friends , relatives or at least some knowledge from previous emigrants. Even if they landed in Canada , they headed South.

The Tenth General report of the Colonial Land and emigration Commissioners of 1850 found that of 253,224 emigrants to Canada and new Brunswick , more than 73, 000 went at once to the United States and an overwhelming majority eventually found their way to New England.

For many , the goal was new York . No American port approached New York in terms of emigrant trade. Its geographical position was an important factor. The distance from Irish ports was shorter than to other ports further south. It was an affluent city , meaning greater opportunities for employment for emigrants. Before 1845 , the largest Irish community abroad was in New York . The Famine Emigrants , like everyone else preferred to go where they could find friends or relatives.

There were problems for the emigrants in the New World. New York , in particular , was a hotbed for ‘scams’ . ‘Runners’ met the ships on arrival. Some ship captains sold off his passengers to the runner giving him the biggest bribe. Runners had a variety of tricks. They might simply steal the emigrant’s luggage. Secondly , they could commandeer the luggage and direct the emigrants to boarding houses and demand a direction fee. They were also likely to be on a fee from the owners of the boarding houses. They sometimes bought onward tickets on rail , river or canal into the interior of the country and charged an exorbitant fee . In some cases . ‘runners’ had been known to have joined the ship on its outward voyage , so he could identify if any of the passengers had anything worth stealing. Finally , when the emigrant got a chance to look around , he might find a notice offering employment with the abbreviation NINA. He had arrived in the New World , and found NO IRISH NEED APPLY. But at least there was hope here.

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