See Query below -- Nee means "born," used to indicate the maiden name of a married woman. Irish left Ireland from ports of Londonderry, Belfast, Newry, Drogheda, New Ross, Wexford, Waterford, Youghal, Cork, Tralee, Kilrush, Limerick, Galway, Westport, Sligo and Donegal, some sailing directly to the USA and Canada, many crossed the usually turbulent Irish sea first to Liverpool. By 1850, the residents of New York were 26% Irish. "In a very short time there was nothing but stillness, a mournful silence in the villages, in the cottages grim poverty and emaciated faces...The tinkers...fled to the cities, the musicians...disappeared and never returned. Many of the residents too made their escape at once, finding employment or early graves elsewhere...There were no more friendly meetings at the neighbors' houses in the afternoons, no gatherings on the hillsides on Sundays, no song, no merry laugh of the maidens. Not only were the human beings silent and lonely, but the brute creation also, for not even the bark of a dog, or the crowing of a cock was to be heard." -- .Hugh DORIAN describing Donegal during the famine. On the first day about the "Washington" 900 passengers lined up on deck to receive their water ration of six pints each, as prescribed by law. Thirty filled up their cans at the barrels when suddenly the ship's mate who was supervising ordered: "That's all, no more." Bewildered, 870 Irish emigrants turned away empty-handed and dry-mouthed until a few hours later when they were again called out for their water allowance. This time, 30 received water before the rest were again turned away and roughly herded back to their steerage accommodation by brutal and abusive mates who kicked and cursed the passangers without provocation. As it turned out, water was not the only commodity in drastic short supply on board the "Washington." She left Liverpool on Oct. 27, 1850, bound for NY on what would become infamous voyage. For, by a stroke a luck, an enterprising passenger, Vere FOSTER, kept a diary of events which he later published on his return to Ireland, provoking a public outcry and debates in Parliament. Vere FOSTER was a rich, well-connected and well-intentioned philanthropist who took a special interest in the plight of the Irish emigrants. He had already helped several reach America by paying their fares. Concerned about bad reports of emigrant travel, he resolved to discover for himself the quality of life aboard a Famine ship. On board the "Washington," he kept a meticulous diary of events. Though FOSTER campaigned valiantly, and took positive steps to reform practices on board emigrant ships, the political and legal climate was unhelpful. Famine emigrants continued to suffer at the hands of corrupts captains, owners or agents. Prosecutions were rare and when made, were often quashed in the absence of evidence. Yet, on returning to Ireland, FOSTER did manage to publish a helpful guidebook for emigrants. Entitled "Work and Wages or The Penny Emigrant's Guide," published London, 1854, it offered many usual tips for surviving on board and on shore. "You have stated that, after getting to sea, the two privies on deck were destroyed?" "Yes...they were put up temporarily...the day before she sailed.." And that there were none below?" "Yes. None below." "What was the remedy?" "There was no remedy..." "In consequence of that there was a very bad smell below?" "You could not stand below." -- Testimony of Mr. Delany FINCH, Minutes of Evidence Taken Before the Select Committee on Emigrant Ships, 1854. "...It may be thought that the immolation of so many wretched starvelings was rather a benefit than a loss to the world. It may be so, Yet -- untutored, degraded, famished and plague-striken as they were; I assert that there was more true heorism, more faith, more forgiveness to their enemies, and submission to the Divine Will, exemplifed in these victims, than could be found in ten times the number of their oppressors. ...Historians and politicans will some day sift and weigh the conflicting narrations and documents in this lamentable year, and pronounce with or without affection, how much is due to the inclemency of heaven, and how much to the cruelty, heartlessness or improvidence of man. The boasted institutions and spirit of the empire are on tirial. They are weighed in the balance. -- Robert WHYTE, "The Ocean Plague, or A Voyage to Quebec in an Irish Emigrant Vessel, Embracing a Quarantine at Gross Isle in 1847, with notes Illustrative of the Ship Pestilence of that Fatal Year," pub. Boston, 1848, Copy in Library of Congress. If any class deserves to be protected and assisted by the government, it is that class who are banished from their native land in search of the bare means of subsistence...The law is bound, at least on the English side...to put an end to that system by which a firm of traders in emigrants purchase of the owners the whole 'tween decks of a ship, and send on board as many wretched people as they can get hold of on any terms they can get, without the smallest reference to the convenience of the steerage...or anything but their own immediate profit..." -- Charles DICKENS, "American Notes." "I was called on deck to smell the land -- and truly the change was very sensible...It was the breath of youth and hope and love." -- Diary of Mary GAPPER. "New York is a very brillant city. To give the bet idea of it I should describe it as something of a fusion between Liverpool and Paris -- crowded quays, long perspectives of vessels and masts, bustling streets, gay shops, tall white houses, and a clear brilliant sky overhead." -- EARL OF CARLISLE, "Travels in America." -- Excerpts, "Paddy's Lament," Thomas & Michael Gallagher & "The Famine Ships," Edward Laxton ---- Original Message ----- From: "Teresa m Bell-Figueroa" <tcm36@juno.com> To: <IRELAND-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Saturday, May 25, 2002 2:48 PM Subject: [IRELAND] Fw: Quann & O'Neill > > Subject: Quann & O'Neill > > Can someone tell me what the nee means before a persons name? > > and > > If anyone left Ireland b/t 1853 - 1858 and headed for America what state > would they of come into first?? And can anyone tell me the process that > they would of gone through to be allowed to leave Ireland to get on a > ship headed for America? > > Thank you, > Teresa > >