Aileen and Jamie, It would have been most unusual--read "virtually unheard of"--to take the body of a decedent from Scotland to Ireland in the mid-nineteenth century. Bodies of ordinary people were very often not embalmed in that era, and the trip under sail and across land on roads that scarcely qualified for that description would have taken a lot longer than it would today. The dates to which you make reference, as well as the occupations of the people in question do not suggest that the family shuttled back and forth from Ireland to Scotland. 1845-1852 was the Famine period, and those who were lucky enough to be out of Ireland at the time were most unlikely to want to return to starvation and a high risk of death from the fever, famine dropsy, or typhus. Most would not have had the means to go in any event. A wool merchant was probably just what that sounds like--a sort of wholesaler who bought wool from farmers and sold it to end users. Unless your ancestor, Aileen, was quite well off, he would almost certainly not have had the resources to acquire land on which to run sheep in any quantity--especially in the Scots lowlands, which were already quite highly developed agriculturally and in the hands of large landowners. There was a considerable movement of Famine-era emigrants from Ireland to the Scots lowlands--especially Peeblesshire and East, Mid, and West Lothian, because there were jobs to be had there. Most Irish emigrants did end up working in the woolen mills at least for a time. Often these emigrants did not go to Scotland directly from their county of origin. In the nineteenth century, younger sons who had no reasonable chance of acquiring leases on arable land often migrated initially to the Avoca area of County Wicklow and worked in the mills there. When the Famine struck, they were less affected by it because the mills continued to function, so they were more likely than many to be able to afford passage across the Irish Sea. In addition, they had at least some woolen-trade skills to offer employers in lowland Scotland and the north and midlands of England, where textile manufacture was a growth industry. The best single source for tracing Irish emigres of this period who were in Geat Britain is the 1851 census. Church records are little bit dicey under these circumstances, because Catholic emigrants were often married by itinerant priests from Ireland, who may or may not have kept accurate records and whose records, such as they were, may or may not have survived. Nancy Gray -------------- Original message from "mike mertle" <michael.mertle@comcast.net>: -------------- > http://www.channel4.com/learning/main/netnotes/sectionid100663986.htm > article on irish migration to Scotland > -------Original Message------- > > From: James Mercer > Date: 07/11/07 10:13:55 > To: acoogan182@earthlink.net; irl-longford@rootsweb.com > Subject: Re: [IRL-LONGFORD] Longford to Scotland > > That I would like to know too as my ancestors came from Longford and resided > in Edinburgh. > > Jamie > > -----Ursprüngliche Nachricht----- > Von: irl-longford-bounces@rootsweb.com > [mailto:irl-longford-bounces@rootsweb.com] Im Auftrag von > acoogan182@earthlink.net > Gesendet: Mittwoch, 11. Juli 2007 16:03 > An: IRL-LONGFORD@rootsweb.com > Betreff: [IRL-LONGFORD] Longford to Scotland > > I was wondering if anyone could suggest places where I might find > information on the people who moved from Longford to Scotland back in 1840s, > early 1850. Did they often go back and forth between Ireland and Scotland? > If a family patriarch died, would it have been unusual to take him home for > burial at that time? > > My ancestor, Daniel McGrath was born in Longford, then left for Scotland > where he married in 1850. His obituary says he was a wool merchant from > Longford when he came over from Ireland to Scotland which I assume means he > had a few sheep and sold their wool. When in Scotland some of the family > worked in the Woolen mills. Was there a shift of workers for Ireland to > Scotland in the wool business? > > Any help anyone could give me would be greatly appreciated. > > Aileen Coogan > acoogan182@earthlink.net > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > IRL-LONGFORD-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > IRL-LONGFORD-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > -- > No virus found in this incoming message. > Checked by AVG Free Edition. > Version: 7.5.476 / Virus Database: 269.10.2/894 - Release Date: 7/10/2007 > 5:44 PM > > . > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > IRL-LONGFORD-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes > in the subject and the body of the message