I'm a descendant of immigrants myself (1890s) so Irish-born can correct me, but I think life in Ireland was fairly hard for all but the upper classes in the 1830s. Those who emigrated before the famine of the 1840s tended to be Protestant because they could better afford the fare, while once the famine set in, landlords were happy to help their tenants, Catholic and Protestant alike, to emigrate rather than feed them in poorhouses. So it was tough for most in the 1830s, with a great chasm between rich and poor and a relatively small middle class, but even the poor could generally feed themselves and emigration was generally a choice at that point. Knowing your ancestors' class and religion would tell you more about what their lives were like and why they probably left. Diane Diane