Hi,
I picked the following message up from another list and thought it
might be of interest to the Caddell researchers.
George
Hello everyone,
I've transcribed more records from the Alms House Admission
Foreigners & Nativity Records ( New York City, NY)
These records apply to immigrants to Quebec, Montreal, New
York, Philadelphia, New Orleans and Boston.
In the early 1800's port cities in the USA bore the burden of
immigration. By the time they arrived, so many immigrants were
tired, hungry and poor they ended up in the City Almshouse.
The new records are from the years 1855 to 1858 and include the
name of the ship each person sailed on (if they remembered it),
the date they arrived, the ports of departure and arrival,
their age, their place of origin and more.
http://www.rootsweb.com/~ote/ships/ny_alms1855.htm
I'm transcribing the records as best I can but the originals
were only in fair shape, and some of the writing is almost
illegible. They are in a very cramped hand, it seems the clerks
had little room to make their entries in these ledger books,
and some of the writing is so tiny that it is difficult if not
impossible to read!
Here is an example of the kinds of information found in the
Almshouse records:
In Mar 1856 John Coleman, age 15, single, from Ireland applied
for relief. He told the clerk of the Almshouse that sailed from
Liverpool on the Ship Ontario, arriving on 19 Dec. 1855 in New
York. He didn't know the Captain's name, and had no one to
vouch for him from New York City. It was his first time 'on
the island" (meaning applying for relief). He was discharged in
April 1856
Sometimes comments were added in the column for death or
discharge dates. For example, poor Bridget Connor applied for
relief on Apr 30, 1855. Bridget, 26, a spinster from Ireland
told the clerk she sailed "about 20 months ago" from Tralee to
Quebec.
Bridget gave her ship name as Payoo or Payne, Captain
O'Donohan commanding. This was her third time on the island,
and the clerk recorded "Stupid" beside her discharge date of
16 Jan. '57 (If you find an ancestor with such a notation, or
"insane" as I have also seen, don't be alarmed - sometimes not
knowing how to add was enough to be labelled as "stupid"!)
One poor man was noted as having run off and eloped to Quebec!
There are many entries for individuals sailing to Quebec and
Montreal, mainly from Ireland, so if you are looking for an
elusive ancestor arriving in Canada in the time period 1850-
1858 you will want to check these records.
The ports of arrival so far are New York, New Orleans, Quebec,
Montreal, Philadelphia and Boston.
Places of origin are Ireland, England, Germany, Netherlands and
Switzerland, with the majority being Irish
For New York arrivals, this is a wonderful addition to help
with those UNindexed years.
The index to the records can be found at
http://www.rootsweb.com/~ote/ships/ny_alms1855.htm
This set of records adds to the existing records I have already
transcribed and put online for the NYC Almshouse for 1819-1822
(with 1823 to 1840 to follow) starting at
http://olivetreegenealogy.com/ships/ny_alms1819.shtml
I hope you enjoy this set of records; it's great fun reading
and transcribing these wonderful entries!
**Please feel free to forward this message to anyone you think
might be interested**
Lorine
Lorine McGinnis Schulze
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