As the Records Show
Back to the British Isles
by Sherry Irvine, CGRS, FSA Scot

Not all who left were gone for good. Some returned to visit, on business, for education; and others moved back permanently. Perhaps some returned with less honest motives. During the Fenian unrest, which occurred in Ireland and some other parts of the British Empire, the British government took particular interest in the passengers aboard inbound vessels.

Looking for Those Who Journeyed Eastward
In the family of my paternal grandmother there were fairly regular visits between Upper Canada and southern England through the 1800s. I have found several people, both direct ancestors and collaterals, temporarily resident in the homes of English cousins in various census returns.

With today's databases it is possible to spot check for traveling relations. Two types likely to help are census returns and lists of ships passengers. Some UK census databases include in their search tools a field for the subject's birthplace. As for passenger lists, we may find multiple trips for one person using inbound lists, and there is a new resource, which focuses on people who sailed back to British ports from America.

On the Ancestry.com UK Census search page, both the ranked search box and the exact match search box include fields for specifying a birthplace.

At FamilySearch (www.familysearch.org), when searching the 1881 British census, you can insert Canada, United States, Australia, or another country into the birthplace field, and the Origins Network site (www.originsnetwork.com) permits the selection of the names of numerous countries from a drop down list.

The new resource is a CD-ROM, Returning Home, compiled by James P. Maher (Eneclann, 2004). It is derived from lists of passengers made by the British government during the time of the Fenian troubles and covers a period from December 1858 to June 1870. There are over 42,000 names of people traveling from North America to several different ports in the British Isles.

The Passenger Act of 1855 included clauses to facilitate the recording of incoming passengers. The Fenians supported violent uprising as a means of gaining Irish independence. They had raised a lot of money and support in America and in 1866 launched three unsuccessful attacks on Canada. It is not surprising that the British authorities wanted to keep watch for potentially troublesome inbound passengers. There is more about the Fenians and the gathering of the passenger lists in Dublin on the CD.

A Few Search Tips
I know from contact with so many of you through lecturing and teaching that it is simply too much fun to pop names into databases. I am always encouraging you to hold back, choose databases carefully, assemble facts and have a purpose in mind. In the case of returning travelers, this is a search I encourage you to play with--try out the census databases and this new CD.

In advance of your search, examine your files and know the names (and variants), date ranges, and geographic clues that are important to identifying a direct ancestor or collateral. It would be helpful to know the occupation as well because the census and the Returning Home lists include it.

As with any search there are pitfalls. There can be problems with transcription, and you may run into errors in place names. The warning then is to follow through from the index and examine images of anything noted. Also, you need to know that if you use the ranked search at Ancestry.com, results will include people born anywhere not just those born in the country specified in the search. On the positive side, the various indexes seem to do a pretty good job of interpreting your input (e.g., United States or Canada, even where the actual entry has the name of a state or province and not the country).

As for the CD Returning Home, be cautious about the information on the passengers. There is no way of knowing if they told the truth or how many of them stayed in the UK. Look at dates of sailing and check against census returns in countries at either end of the voyage. By the way, be sure to examine all the information on the CD--you can look at the names of everyone on a ship and find details of the ship and its voyage (ports of call, number of days, etc.)

Conclusion
Searching for those who went back, briefly or permanently, provides another opportunity to check for strays, to check for collateral lines, or to find out whether you ancestors ever made the sea voyage home for a visit. It is a strategy worth trying for any migrant family.

Sherry Irvine, CGRS, FSA Scot is an author, teacher, and lecturer specializing in English, Scottish and Irish family history. She is the author of Your English Ancestry (2d ed, 1998) and Researching Scottish Ancestry (2003), and she is a contributor to several publications. Since 1996, she has been a study tour leader, course coordinator, and instructor for the Institute of Genealogy and Historical Research at Samford University. She teaches online at MyFamily.com. Recently she served a two-year term as president of the Association of Professional Genealogists.

In April Sherry is presenting all-day seminars at three British Columbia locations:

• March 9th
  at Victoria, (www.victoriags.org)
• March 20th
  at Vernon (www.vdfhs.com)
• March 23rd
  at Castlegar (emcraft@shaw.ca)

In May, Sherry will be teaching two online classes at MyFamily.com:

• Irish Research Class ($29.95)
  21 April 2005
• English Research Class ($29.95)
  5 May 2005

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Ancestry Quick Tip
Ancestry Quick Tip Jamboree

It's time for this week's Ancestry Quick Tip Jamboree! Thanks to everyone who has sent in a Quick Tip. Please keep them coming so that we can keep this tradition going. You can send your tips to ADNeditor@ancestry.com.

Quick Tips may be reprinted, with credit to the submitter, in other Ancestry publications, so if you do not want your tip included in a publication other than the Ancestry Daily News and Ancestry Weekly Digest, please state so clearly in your message. Have a great day!

Juliana

On February 16, we ran a tip on a map collection from the University of Alabama's website. Because the site uses frames, the URL provided takes you to the main page.

From there you need to select "alabamamaps" and then "Historical Map Index." This is a marvelous collection of maps from not only the Southeast, but all over the world. Definitely worth a look!

We received several other related tips in response to Carolyn's tip, so we're running a selection of them in today's Quick Tip Jamboree.

In researching ancestors in Europe and Russia, I have found that boundaries and city names often change. When I find an ancestral site on an older map, I note the longitude and latitude of such place. That way I can see on other maps which country controlled that area during many of the exchanges of ownership over the last five or six hundred years. My third great-grandfather came from Germany, but the census stated he was born in France. This always confused me but in looking at the map I found that a small part of what is now Germany was claimed by Napoleon, thus France, at the time in history when my ancestor was born. Mystery solved. Perhaps this will help others doing research in areas overseas.

I do so enjoy the tips and have learned many good ideas from them. Keep them coming. Thanks to those who have shared those ideas.

Deanna Greenwald

Speaking of maps, the following site has county formation maps for the northeast and the southeast: www.genealogyinc.com/maps/uscf.htm.

Choose a state, then the year, and it will show you the county boundaries. There is also a "movie" version.

This site shows the county boundaries for the census years: www.mycensusmaps.com.

Diana Nelson

Here are a few more map sites that can be useful in family history research:

• Oddens' Bookmarks "The Fascinating World of Maps and Mapping" (http://oddens.geog.uu.nl/index.php)
• U.S. Geological Survey, National Mapping Information
  (http://geonames.usgs.gov/pls/gnis/web_query.gnis_web_query_form)
• Library of Congress' Map Collection, 1500-2004
  (http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/gmdhtml/gmdhome.html)
• Perry-Castaneda Library (University of Texas at Austin)
  (http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/index.html)
• Color Landform Atlas of the United States
  (http://fermi.jhuapl.edu/states/states.html)
• David Rumsey Historical Map Collection
  (http://www.davidrumsey.com)
• MapQuest
  (www.mapquest.com)

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Clipping of the Day
New York, Feb 10
From The Ohio Repository (Canton, Ohio), 22 February 1838, page 3

The scenes of misery and distress in this city, arising from want of employ, by the laboring classes, beggar description. New York, I am pained to write, begins to display scenes of suffering hitherto unknown to these United States, and known only in the hard money capitals of continental Europe. What an empty boast was that of Gen. Jackson, not one year ago. "I leave this great people prosperous and happy."

The following statement is one of much importance to the nation and members of Congress:

Value of imports at the port of N. York, for the first three quarters of 1837, $60,403,836

Do. for the 4th quarter (estimated) 8,132,864

___________

68,536,700
Value of import in 1836, 118,886,194

____________

Difference of '37 compared with '36 $50,349,494
Duties accrued in 1837, $9,480,124
Do. do. 1836, 17,114,305

__________

Difference comp. with '36 $7,634,181

Thus you see how gloriously we gather the fruits of the experiment; a diminution of imports from one year to another of over fifty millions, and a decrease of the revenue in one city of over seven and a half millions. "I leave this great people prosperous and happy."

ADN Editor's Note: You can read more about the Depression of 1837 at:

• Six Year Depression, 1837-1843
  (http://thehistorybox.com/ny_city/panics/panics_article6a.htm)
• The Panic of 1837
  (http://www.landandfreedom.org/ushistory/us8.htm)

Subscribers with access to the Historical Newspapers Collection can view this clipping.

Subscribe to the Historical Newspapers Collection at Ancestry.com.

Fast Fact
Immigration and Naturalization Research

The time comes when you want to trace your ancestors' migration across the ocean. Join expert genealogist and author George G. Morgan in his "Immigration and Naturalization Research" class at MyFamily.com. Each of the online Genealogy Training Workshops is four weeks long, during which you will have eight lessons, optional group chats to discuss the materials, a message board on which to exchange information and questions with the instructor and your classmates, and access to the appropriate premium Ancestry.com databases that relate to the class--all for $29.95!

George's "Immigration and Naturalization Research" class focuses on the "push and pull" effect of events, geography, and our ancestors' personal circumstances as an impetus to emigrate from Europe to the American colonies, Canada, the Caribbean, and Australia. He reveals major documents and obscure resources, along with proven research methodologies, and a host of Internet resources for the immigration process. The lessons culminate in class information concerning immigration policies and documents, particularly in the United States, since 1790.

Click here to learn more about this and other online Genealogy Training Workshops.

Product Spotlight
Your English Ancestry and 1870 Worchester County Massachusetts Maps

		Your English Ancestry: A Guide for North Americans, by Sherry Irvine, CGRS, FSA (Scot) Normally this book retails for $19.95, but today you can buy it in the Shops@Ancestry.com for $14.95.
		1870 Worchester County Massachusetts Maps (CD) Normally this CD retails for $44.95, but today you can buy it in the Shops@Ancestry.com for $39.95.

Thought for Today
Charles de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu

"I have never known any distress that an hour's reading did not relieve."