There is an old ugly Irish phrase for people have moved here from another country -
‘blow ins’.
I was called one several years ago and my retort was that every person in Ireland is either a blow in or historically related to one.
The first known group of people who arrived here at the end of the last ice age were the Palaeolithic people, they were followed in turn by the Mesolithic, Neolithic Bronze Age and Iron Age people-the Celts. The Vikings,The Welsh and much later the Welsh-Normans followed by the British and were all of them, ‘blow ins’.
I must mention that there was a great flow of people moving out from this island to other parts of Europe throughout those times too.
DUNBRODY
A three masted barque.
Dunbrody's figurehead with bowsprit above.
Between the years of 1843 to 1850 great distress fell on Ireland caused by the potato blight which brought about starvation, illness and the death of a million Irish people.
The migration of another two million departed and left Ireland with a depleted population.
Dunbrody and her reflected image.
A great proportion of the migrants travelled to the USA from a variety of ports in England and Ireland. They left on ships such as the Dunbrody, a replica of which is moored to a wharf at New Ross in Co Wexford. Here the River Barrow flows through the town on it’s way to join the sea at Waterford and it was to New Ross that we drove on Saturday to view the three masted barque Dunbrody.
A monument to those who emigrated
The Emigrant Flame
The link below is an Irish emigration database though this is not exactly correct as it covers all of the emigrant sailings to America from English and Irish ports of that period. Detailing the ages, names, occupations, nationalities and the destinations of people who emigrated to the USA are shown here. I found over five hundred people with my last name and a few had historically known first names from my branch of the family so I include the link here for you to do your own research.
You can also find much more information about the Famine times and all about the sea journey from viewing www.dunbrody.com
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