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Archiver > Scotch-Irish > 1999-10 > 0940734983


From: linda Merle <>
Subject: Re: Passenger ships
Date: Sat, 23 Oct 1999 20:16:23 -0700


Hi Carol,

>Mac McCutchan recommended that I ask you if you still have lists of
>passengers that came to Boston in early 1700's.

Still? I wish they existed in the first place. Perhaps he meant the
Belfast Newsletter index. Here is the URL though now (8 PM Sat night)
it doesn't work. Perhaps the system is down for maintenance:
http://www.ucs.usl.edu/bnl/

(I take that back... it's just extremely s---l---o---w!)

I'd check for all the clues you can in Boston first. The story about
ship lists in the 1700's is that before 1820 the US didn't have any laws
requiring that ships make lists of people. In colonial times, neither did
the British government. Do we make lists of people moving from Oklahoma
to California? Naw! Well we were just nice, friendly British citizens. The
British were concerned about foreigners like those Germans. So we do
have lists of Germans. They arrived on the same ships as our ancestors.

However there are accidental lists, and hearsay. Most of that is published.
So you go first to Filby who is indexing everything he can find where immigration
is mentioned. There are also various lists that are published. Often the larger
collections are on CD. Many at www.familytreemaker.com .

What religion was your Hustons and Elders? I recognise them as being
in the Covenantor community in North Antrim. Were they Reformed Presbyterian?

>but most from our
>line, WM. HUSTON b. 1675 moved up to Maine.

Hmm..... sounds like an Ulster Presbyterian putting space between himself
and the Puritans.

>What records still exist for ports along the Mass. and Maine coast? Did
>Falmouth keep passenger records? I only know the families came from Co.
>Antrim. No mention of parish or town was ever found.

Don't think you will find much on records in ports. Dickson's book "Ulster
Emigration to America" (Ulster Historical Foundation) talks a lot about
these ports. Check the bibliography. All these are other places to look.
Also if you haven't read Charles Knowles Bolton "Scotch Irish Pioneers
in Ulster and America", republished by Heritage Books, you should. It's
the classic on these folk and again its bibliography shows you where to go
next. It lists James Houston of Maghera, Derry, William of Clough, Antrim,
and William of Ballymagra . And Thomas of Ballyeaston, Antrim.
You have Samuel Elder of Burt, Donegal, and Thomas of Ballyrashane,
Antrim. This book is hard to do "lookups" in because the addenda are
not indexed. This is info just from the one addendum. Maybe you already
have the info.

Also there is more information available now than when these books were
written. Both in the USA and in Ulster, so don't dispair. However to cover
the same territory quickly use the bibliographies of these books, then
strike out into new territory. Houston was an important Covenantor name
so you might be able to find some stuff down that road.

Best of luck,

Linda Merle

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