Username: Password:
Welcome! Please Sign In or Register

Your First Immigrant Ancestor

reviewed by irishgit

The Age of Discovery was also the dawn of a mass migration of humanity to the Americas, parts of Africa, and Australia. Born several centuries ago or perhaps several decades ago, your first immigrant ancestor was motivated to leave his or her home for the chance of a better life or was forcefully uprooted as an enslaved servant.

irishgit
11/04/2009

Your First Immigrant Ancestor 5

I guess I could ask the mercenary bog-trotter what he was thinking when he packed his kit, but since he left a detailed journal, I already know.

An eye on the main chance, and the high road out of Donegal.

Add your vote! 5 Helpful / 0 Funny / 0 Agree / 0 Disagree
Showing 5 Comments
You must be logged in to comment. login now.
Lena commented 32 days ago.
Wow...that journal sounds fascinating.

irishgit commented 32 days ago.
Most of it is. A fair bit is mundanity, however. I don't think he was thinking of writing for posterity. If he was, he probably wouldn't have included his shopping lists, which he does at least a dozen times.

Lena commented 32 days ago.
Hah...gotta remember it somehow

Sounds like he carried it with him _everywhere_ and possibly documented things in a more personal way than he may have if it was specifically written for posterity. I wish I had something like that from my ancestors. Not many pack rats on the Italian side of my family, which means there's very little left to go through. If someone did keep a journal, it's long gone by now.

irishgit commented 32 days ago.
He clearly wasn't a very introspective man, and my comment in the review is based on implicit rather than explicit evidence. He expresses only slight interest in the family he left behind (there are a couple of references to receiving letters) and he is very detailed as regards money. There are also fairly long gaps in it, one of more than a year, so either he lost it and found it again, or lost interest in writing. It dates from 1853, and ends abruptly in 1862 (he died in 1888 so if he did any more writing, it has been lost) It has some interesting stuff in it.

jedi58 commented 31 days ago.
@Lena you could probably find your ancestors on a passenger manifesto or maybe even records of pre-American ancestors in Italy depending on whether local churches/towns kept records
Showing 5 Comments
About This Reviewer
By the Numbers