Hi Terry I am NO expert either....but since I have been reading up on a lot of books in ref to N Ireland....something I highly recommend to anyone researching.....My family lines were in the counties of Monaghan, Fermanagh and Tyrone. Some of them came from Scotland in the time during or after the Ulster Plantation, when lands were given to the Scots. This was in the 1640s. Then there was the Rebellion and a lot of bloodshed followed this time. Then you have religion as a reason. My family were becoming and following Methodism....in the early to mid 1700s. An exert I found in a book in ref to my Hendersons (from Monaghan) said that the children were following the preaching of Methodism and their parents were so mad that they would...not feed them, lock them in their rooms and beat them. This didn't deter them BUT you can imagine then the feelings at that time. By the 1840s or could've been sooner came the famine where people died on the streets. I posted on Fermanagh-gold list a story where a man went to his neighbors house and found the whole family dead of starvation...mother, father and 7 children. Or where a young boy came to their home begging for food, they fed him but as he left he fell dead not feet from their door. Or how poorhouses were so full they turned people away. It is a very heart wrenching time to read about. People were dying on the roads , whole families, and many times just buried right there, with nothing to mark who they were. To ask this simple question unfortunately isn't THAT simple. It depends very much on the status of your ancestors, where they lived, their religion, etc. I see by your address you live in the US (I assume) if so email me off list and I will send you the "google book" site. There you can read incredible stories and histories....that at times will make you "cry". BUT you will have a much better understanding of "why" your relatives risked everything. Remember too....if others had gone before...they wrote back praising a new and free life. So many took the chance. This was part of a reason for my relatives leaving.....also....a relative of mine besides hearing from his brother already in Ohio, the richness of the land, he had a son who was severely asthmatic and they were told that in America it would be better for him. So they left! See...it could've been ANY reason! Sue in NY **************It's only a deal if it's where you want to go. Find your travel deal here. (http://information.travel.aol.com/deals?ncid=aoltrv00050000000047)