>Your posting caught my eye because of the mention of Black Rock. My >great-great grandmother emigrated from Ireland to Canada in 1840 but the >boat landed at Black Rock which I can't figure out. Do you know anything >from long ago about the area. I wonder why the ship went to NY and if >passengers were then ferried across the lake and if so why. Was there no >port in Ontario large enough for the ships? > >Grace This is quite strange. It is impossible to sail from Ireland to Black Rock without going through a great deal of Canadian territory. What is more likely is that she sailed to New York, then used the Erie Canal to cross NY, disembarking from the canal boat at Black Rock, where there was a ferry to Canada. George

George is correct. The Erie canal was never wide or deep enough to accomodate ocean-going vessels. Today the St. Lawrence Seaway provides that function. Your grandmother would have experienced what we now call intermodal transportation: ocean ship to rail or canal barge to Black Rock. --- George Richmond <[email protected]> wrote: > >Your posting caught my eye because of the mention of Black > Rock. My > >great-great grandmother emigrated from Ireland to Canada in > 1840 but the > >boat landed at Black Rock which I can't figure out. Do you > know anything > >from long ago about the area. I wonder why the ship went to > NY and if > >passengers were then ferried across the lake and if so why. > Was there no > >port in Ontario large enough for the ships? > > > >Grace > > This is quite strange. It is impossible to sail from Ireland > to Black > Rock without going through a great deal of Canadian territory. > > What is more likely is that she sailed to New York, then used > the > Erie Canal to cross NY, disembarking from the canal boat at > Black > Rock, where there was a ferry to Canada. > > George > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' > without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > *:-.,_,.-:*'``'*:-.,_,.-:*'``'*:-.,_,.-:*'``'*:-.,_,.-:**:-.,_,.-* Cynthia Van Ness, MLS, bettybarcode AT yahoo DOT com http://www.BuffaloResearch.com "Everyone claims to want a city, but no one here wants city living. City living by its definition is crowded. It is tolerant of other people. It is dependent on a sophisticated population that makes a hundred compromises daily so that they can benefit from the collective energy that a city generates." --Robert N. Davis, Jr. (1955-2007)

That does make more sense. I couldn't figure out the logistics either but that was the story handed down by 4 generations. Guess they skipped over what she'd gone through to get to Black Rock. I appreciate all of the input on this question. Grace ----- Original Message ----- From: "George Richmond" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, February 26, 2008 3:56 PM Subject: Re: [NYERIE] St. Francis Church on River Road in Buffalo > >Your posting caught my eye because of the mention of Black Rock. My >>great-great grandmother emigrated from Ireland to Canada in 1840 but the >>boat landed at Black Rock which I can't figure out. Do you know anything >>from long ago about the area. I wonder why the ship went to NY and if >>passengers were then ferried across the lake and if so why. Was there no >>port in Ontario large enough for the ships? >> >>Grace > > This is quite strange. It is impossible to sail from Ireland to Black > Rock without going through a great deal of Canadian territory. > > What is more likely is that she sailed to New York, then used the > Erie Canal to cross NY, disembarking from the canal boat at Black > Rock, where there was a ferry to Canada. > > George > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes > in the subject and the body of the message >