How many of us have ancestors that left Ireland during the great famine or maybe even before or after, in search of better opportunities to take care of their families? How many people have issues tracing their ancestor path? Such as I have found my ancestors in Ireland and the United States, Australia, etc… but the time between leaving and arriving is really large. Have you stopped and wondered about if they may have first gone to Scotland?
Many Irish were seasonal workers in Scotland.
In the early 1800s it was not uncommon for unskilled workers to go over to Scotland and work on a contract or as a seasonal worker during harvest times and then go back to Ireland. However as things got harder prior to and especially during and after the great famine this mass exodus to places such as Motherwell and Dundee in Scotland grew. Many of the emigrant men continued to work unskilled jobs and women worked in the weaving industries. In some areas of the country the Irish emigrants made up half of the workforce.
Many Irish used work in Scotland to help them on their way to their ultimate destination.
Why is this information genealogically important? If your ancestors used Scotland as a stopgap you need to know where to look for the records. Even the 1841 census had a question asking if you were a foreigner or from England or Ireland. So where to start? Of course we all know that Ancestry and FamilySearch will have some records but there are Scottish research tools, too. The site ScotlandsPeople has a system where you buy credits so you can see statutory and parish records as well as census records and valuation rolls. They also have some record sets you can search for free. There is also the National Archives of Scotland Research Guides. These can tell you about specific family history holding of the archives. The Emigration Records section gives details about different emigration schemes. The coal mining records might come in handy if you think your ancestors may have gone to Scotland to be a miner. Finally, newspapers are great for finding information and the National Library of Scotland has many you can look through.
Checking Scottish records might help you track down your Irish ancestors.
While your ancestors may not have moved to Scotland first it is a good first step when looking into large gaps in time between homeland and new home. Many families are finding this happened with their ancestors. First, they may have been going to Scotland for work beforehand, second it was still close to home but had better job opportunities and finally a good starting point to save money to make the trip to where they were ultimately hoping to make a new start in life. It may seem like just another step but imagine how exciting it would be if your ancestor did do this and you find the missing link.
If you need any help finding your ancestors, just let us know.
