Dear Helen, Your note to the Scotch-Irish discussion group on communication and migration is interesting and raises some important questions that all of us need to address in order for us to better understand our roots and to help us make the connection to the other side of the Atlantic. Could you please let me know the names of your folks who came from Stewarton, Ayrshire, Scotland in 1850 ? My gr-gr-gr-gr grandfather and grandmother had their banns of marriage read at the Stewarton parish church in 1773 (James Fulton b 1739 Dalkeith/Mussleburgh area, Scotland, and Agnes/Nancy Cunningham). They migrated to NY in 1782/1783. In America, they belonged to churches commonly referred to as Covenanter Churches. When analyzing their migration path, family and connections to friends played a critical role in their travels to seek a better life. I am very fortunate that James created a few pages of autobiographical material a month before he died in 1824 that helps me to better understand his life in the late 1700s. Blood ties were very strong, but so were friendships in the religious community. I know that my James lived in the Dalkeith,Scotland area, worked as a shoemaker in Edinburgh on Leith Street, made a trip to Northern Ireland to visit with the family of his half-Uncle in Londonderry, migrated to NYC, made a special trip from NY to Philadelphia to search out a cousin who had traveled from Northern Ireland to PA about 20 years before. Unfortunately the cousin had died. James was illiterate, but through verbal communication with the family, he was able to keep track of his extended family. But how did my James in Dalkeith and NY maintain connections - he could not write ? I believe it was through verbal communication with an extended network of family, friends and the Church. His initial contact in NYC was through a "letter of introduction" he brought with him to a friend of his wife's family, James Duane. The ship had been blown off-course and first landed in Bermuda and delayed his trip to NYC. By the time he reached NY, he had no money and James Duane provided my James Fulton and his large family a house and free rent for one year to help him become financially solvent again. My James said he initially worked as a laborer in NYC and Kingston, NY to rebuild buildings that had been damaged during the Revolutionary War. I have wondered how did my James Fulton track down the information about his half-cousin who had settled in Lancaster,PA 20 years earlier. There was a James Fulton, the wealthy merchant in Philadelphia, who maintained extensive business ledgers. Although this is not my Fulton line, he seems to have played a key role in maintaining communication across the Atlantic. I believe that this merchant was my James' key contact in Philadelphia when he was searching for his cousin from Londonderry, although his business in Philadelphia had been burned down during the War and he was retiring. James Fulton, the literate merchant in Philadelphia, ran a shipping trade between Philadelphia, ports on the eastern seaboard of America and Londonderry. The business ledgers of James Fulton, the Philadelphia merchant, demonstrate an extensive communication between him and folks on the Western frontier of PA because of the movement of his merchandise. A transcript of 200 of his business transactions from 1760 thru 1772 are available at the Lancaster Historical Society. Merchant James Fulton, his brother John Fullton of Rathmelton, Ireland (near Londonderry), and Ephraim Campbell were partners in the shipping business. When I visited the library in Londonderry in 1995, they had an index to "The Londonderry Journal & General Advertiser", an old newspaper, that advertised the shipping/merchant business of this family that was located at Bishop Street (entries for 1772-1773). They engaged in a lot of trade between Boston, Phildadelphia, Ireland, Scotland, and England. They even owned their own ship, the "Hibernia". The Ulster American Folk Park has the microfilms of these newspapers. In James' ledgers, there are numerous entries for folks in PA, but also some entries for others in New England. His business was widespread. One of the entries mentions a James Fulton, surveyor. An entry in the day book, 12 Nov 1767, charged James Fulton surveyor, in Halifax, with sundry surveying tools and supplies shipped to him via the ship "Charming Nancy", John Maloney, Master. The charges included the standard 5% commission to merchant James Fulton. In about 1950, Herbert L Leister, a professional accountant and Fulton researcher analyzed these ledgers and made the following notation: "Please see my letter 6.15.46 to Dr. William R. Fulton, re tradition in his line from William Fulton, Fawn Twp., York County - two Fultons came over; one stayed in Penna. - one went to Nova Scotia." So this just gives a brief example of the type of communication that took place among "extended network of friends and businessmen". Another type of communication that was very extensive occurred through the Covenanter churches. As I study the Fulton migration paths, it appears that the ministers of their communities had solid communication with other communities up and down the eastern seaboard as early as the 1760's. The communication also extended to Northern Ireland and Scotland. I believe it was because the church "synods" met on a regular basis, and ministers moved to serve different parishes. And in the early days, they requested ministers from the synods in Scotland. I recall reading that one of these ministers in New England had a brother who was a shipmaster who frequently sailed to Northern Ireland. This facilitated communication between the communities that led to others making the voyage. It is a fascinating area of study, but takes a lot of time. As all of us share information on these discussion groups, the answers to these broader questions will begin to unfold and crystalize. Roberta R. (Fulton) Hirth Harriman, New York 10926 listowner fulton-l discussion group FULTON web page at: http://www.frontiernet.net/~elisa96/hirth/fulton.htm