{"id":12769,"date":"2016-03-15T11:01:44","date_gmt":"2016-03-15T15:01:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.genealogybank.com\/?p=12769"},"modified":"2017-02-22T11:23:09","modified_gmt":"2017-02-22T16:23:09","slug":"what-was-her-1850-voyage-from-ireland-to-america-like","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/what-was-her-1850-voyage-from-ireland-to-america-like.html","title":{"rendered":"What Was Her 1850 Voyage from Ireland to America Like?"},"content":{"rendered":"

I wanted to know about Mary Winifred (Shortall) Ryan\u2019s trip to America as a 14-year-old with her family on board the brig Falcon<\/em> in 1850. So I turned to GenealogyBank\u2019s Historical Newspaper Archives<\/a> to learn more.<\/p>\n

I found a real treasure: Mary\u2019s first-person account in a 1916 newspaper article.<\/p>\n

\"article<\/a>
Sun (Baltimore, Maryland), 16 July 1916, page 8<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This article was full of details about what that 1850 voyage across the Atlantic was like.<\/p>\n

Cabin?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Why, we didn\u2019t have cabins at all. We had rough beds divided with boards. The forward part of the boat was for the men, the stern for the women, and the families slept in the centre. Sea chests lashed to a beam served as our dining table.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"article<\/a>
Sun (Baltimore, Maryland), 16 July 1916, page 8<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Cooking<\/strong><\/p>\n

We did our own cooking and provided our own food.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Interesting. I never thought of how that worked. I guess I thought there was a centralized area where the ship\u2019s crew cooked and provided the passengers and crew with their daily meals. I didn\u2019t know that they had to bring enough food to last them for the nearly two-month voyage.<\/p>\n

There was one fire for the men to cook on and one for the women. Although I was then only 14 years old, I cooked for the family, my father, mother and brother when my mother got sick\u2026 I was a pretty good cook then. I remember I could make shortcake, which is more than many girls of 14 could boast of doing in these days. But very soon there wasn\u2019t much cooking to do, for we all, on account of seasickness, could eat nothing but gruel.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"article<\/a>
Sun (Baltimore, Maryland), 16 July 1916, page 8<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Terrible Storm<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mary remembered:<\/p>\n

There was only one big storm during the voyage, but that was terrible. The hatches were down and we were all on our knees praying. We thought we were going to the bottom any minute. In the midst of the uproar a wag flung a shoe at a man praying, and he thought then that the end had surely come!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"article<\/a>
Sun (Baltimore, Maryland), 16 July 1916, page 8<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Did Mary\u2019s family save this newspaper clipping and pass it down in the family? Did the family pass down her memories of the trip over to America, or her return voyage and experiences in County Wexford 60 years later? Does someone in the family still have the old family photo that was published in that 1916 newspaper article?<\/p>\n

For too many of us the sad answer is no.
\nWe know that the family came from Ireland or another country \u2013 and probably not much more than that.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a good thing that GenealogyBank<\/a> has been digitizing and putting online the nation\u2019s newspapers from 1690 to today, ranging from passenger lists<\/a> to articles like the one above and beyond. Now with nearly 2 billion records online, we can find the stories of our ancestors.<\/p>\n

They are not lost.
\nIt\u2019s a Great Day for Genealogy!<\/p>\n

Related Irish American Genealogy Articles:<\/strong><\/p>\n