Oliver Williamson

Bruce,

You ask why your ancestors might have left Ireland. I am sure they left for the same reasons that millions did. To find work, or better paid work. Ireland has very few natural resources (no oil, coal, iron ore etc) and so did not benefit from the industrial revolution in the 1800s, the way Scotland, England, the US, Canada & Australia did, which created hundreds of thousands of comparatively well-paid new jobs in new industries (coal mining, steel making, railways, ship building etc). So that was a big pull factor. There had also been a huge population explosion in Ireland going up from about 3 million people in 1750 to 8 million in 1830. There simply weren’t jobs for all those people. In much of Ireland the only employment was subsistence farming topped up in Ulster and one or two other areas with a bit of linen weaving. And then the straw that broke the camel’s back, along came the famine, numerous times throughout the 1800s. The worst period was when the potato crop failed almost completely 3 years in a row in the late 1840s, and then partially several more years after that. 

There was a massive tide of migration all through that century. Approximately 8 million people left Ireland between 1801 and 1920 - the equivalent of the entire pre-Famine population. The population today is only around 6 million.

Other factors encouraged emigration, eg early mechanisation on farms. With new machines to turn the soil and plant seed, farmers no longer needed an army of agricultural labourers to help on the farm. So those jobs were rapidly disappearing. Likewise mechanisation had led to linen factories being set up in places like Belfast. These made home weaving uneconomic and so also upset the labourer’s family economy. Agriculture was the biggest single employer in Ireland, but it was mostly a barter economy. Few people had any ready cash save what they could make from weaving or any government sponsored work such as building new roads. So when the opportunity arose to get jobs with a regular wage packet, as opposed to a few pence from your father each week, the decision to migrate wasn’t really all that hard to make. So it was as much about economic betterment as anything. 

In addition, the British Government often placed adverts in the press encouraging people to migrate to take advantage of land that was available overseas. (I have attached as an example an article from the Belfast Commercial Chronicle of 1st November 1828 offering lands in Upper Canada).

An additional factor in your Williamson family’s case is that they are highly likely to be descended from English or Scots who settled in Ireland in the 1600s. I looked at the 1901 census for Monaghan and without exception all the Williamsons were Protestant (mainly Presbyterian but some Church of Ireland).  So that, plus the name not being a native Irish name, indicates they are likely to have been incomers. Probably from Scotland I would reckon given the predominance of Presbyterianism in their ranks. (A lot of Scots are known to have settled in Co. Monaghan). Academics such as Dr William Roulston have commented that the fact that these plantation families, having uprooted previously, were fairly philosophical about moving on again to North America or further afield.

You ask what ports your ancestors might have gone from. There were sailings from all around Ireland. Ports that regularly had departures in the early 1800s were (in no particular order) Dublin, Belfast, Larne, Portrush, Newry, Dundalk, Londonderry, Sligo, Galway & Queenstown.  In addition, a lot of migrants left via Liverpool which acted as a sort of clearing house for migrants from all over Europe. It had far more departures than from Ireland. Competition for the business was strong and shipping agents often threw in passage to Liverpool as part of the price of the whole package.

Newspapers from that period were crammed with adverts for travel to North America, Australia and so on. Every large town had agents on commission who could sell tickets and help with all the travel arrangements.

You ask what the land in Ireland was used for. If you were a farmer you might grow potatoes, hay, oats, barley, flax in some parts of Ireland, plus there were cattle and some sheep. Most farms fattened a pig or two and kept chickens.  Labourers in rural areas might have a small piece of land (2 or 3 perches perhaps) with their home. That was used to grow potatoes. Potatoes generally grow very well in the Irish soil and climate. You can get more to an acre than from any other crop (crucial on an island where there was no spare land). They are also low maintenance meaning the labourer was usually free to take other work if available.  Most families were large and so potatoes had become an essential part of their diet. They mostly lived on potatoes boiled in a stirrabout pot, plus a little buttermilk or oats. The total dependence on potatoes was one of the key reasons for the high level of death when potato blight arrived on numerous occasions in the 1800s. (Blight also hit potatoes in Britain, Scotland and the Maritime Provinces of Canada but there were other sources of food available there so the impact wasn’t so devastating as in Ireland, where most labourers were one crop dependent).

The 7th son of a 7th son is supposed to be lucky. In Ireland you could have a charm, as it was called, and you may have been believed to have special gifts (forseeing the future or having healing powers). The number seven has always had a certain special character in literature and the bible (eg 7 deadly sins). So being the 7th son of a 7th son obviously upped the stakes considerably. And of course there’s a huge amount of respected scientific research and high quality evidence which supports these beliefs. So it should be taken very seriously indeed.

Elwyn, thank you for your very quick response. The information is helpful. I am writing an account of my great great grandfather called "Oliver, A Life Twice Charmed" The information I was askiing was to give context to his early life prior to coming to Canada. I was in Clones in 1998 having bicycled from north of Dublin. I stayed at a B & B on the Diamond as I believe it is called. More questions will come up. It is good to know there is this resource. Bruce 

I am searching for the names of parents for Thoms Williamson born about 1793 in the Parish of Killeevan. He married Ellen Laird and had four children in Ireland before leaving for Canada.in 1819. I would also like to know the occupation of his father and of Thomas. Also helpful would be whether they were Presbyterian or Church of Ireland. In Canada they were Church of England but Presbyterians did attend the Church of England  in the absence of Presbyterian clergy. Bruce