One note on Mike;s comment about Cape Horn. This was seldom done. Most ships plyed either the Pacific or Atlantic. There was a railroad across the isthmus of Panama at least as early as 1857 when my great grandparents returned to the midwest on that route; quite possibly the RR was much earlier. And there was at least a good road in 1849-51, as the ships would discharge passengers on the Gulf side of the isthmus, and another would take them to San Francisco. Or vice versa on the return. The Cape Horn passage is perilous much of the year and slow compared to the isthmus. Larry In a message dated 12/9/2007 1:17:35 PM Pacific Standard Time, dsmith57701@adelphia.net writes: > Thank you for the probabilities regarding travel to Calif. for the Gold > Rush. Travel in that time period was challenging enough. Just imagine the way > they did it! > > As for my Patrick McGough. He was born in Castleblaney, Co. Monaghan, Ire. I > have studied his life for many years, right up to me. > I'm hoping to go to Ireland this coming spring to Co. Monaghan. > Deanna > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Michael J. McDonald" <m.mcdonald@computer.org> > To: <nyoneida@rootsweb.com> > Sent: Sunday, December 09, 2007 1:39 PM > Subject: Re: [NYONEIDA] Gold Rush > > > >On Thursday 06 December 2007 18:41, Deanna Smith wrote: > >>Patrick McGough, Jr. went west in 1851 to be part of the California Gold > >>Rush. ( He was home soon!) > >> > >>What was the route these Oneida Co. men would take to get to California? > >>Panama? > >> > >>Deanna > >> > >I have several mentions of members of my ancestors family members moving to > >the state of California and Washington from Essex and Clinton Counties, > near > >the Canadian border - I think in the range of late 1850's to 1880's. I > never > >really looked into the particulars, but always asssumed that they took the > >St. Lawrence as far as the Great Lakes. From Oneida County, the Erie Canal > >would have been an option. Does anyone know of canal passenger lists? From > >the Great Lakes it would be possible to get to a wagon train departure > points > >that Larry mentions. Ship travel to the port of New Orleans would have > been a > >possibility. Directly to California around CapeHorn might have been > possible, > >but I think it would have been a difficult voyage. > >The Castle Garden website (http://www/castlegardens.com) seems to only list > >arrivals to New York. As you mention Patrick McGough's early return, it's > >worth a try. My quick check returned several Patrick McGough's in the > early > >1850's. but they all seem to originate in Ireland or Great Britain. I > suspect > >the name 'McGough' has variant spellings. I got hits on 'McGough' and 'Mc > >Gough' > >which is a trivial typographical difference, but it makes a difference to > the > >search engine. > > > >Hope this helps, > >Mike > > > ************************************** Check out AOL's list of 2007's hottest products. (http://money.aol.com/special/hot-products-2007?NCID=aoltop00030000000001)

Glad to know about the train/road details. I suspected the difficult trip around the horn was uncommon. On the point are lyrics from the song "South Australia" performed by the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem: "When we come wallopin' round Cape Horn You'd wish to G_d you'd never been born We're bound for South Australia" Thanks Larry, Mike --- Citellus2@aol.com wrote: > One note on Mike;s comment about Cape Horn. This > was seldom done. Most > ships plyed either the Pacific or Atlantic. There > was a railroad across the > isthmus of Panama at least as early as 1857 when my > great grandparents returned to > the midwest on that route; quite possibly the RR was > much earlier. And there > was at least a good road in 1849-51, as the ships > would discharge passengers > on the Gulf side of the isthmus, and another would > take them to San Francisco. > Or vice versa on the return. > > The Cape Horn passage is perilous much of the year > and slow compared to the > isthmus. > > Larry > > In a message dated 12/9/2007 1:17:35 PM Pacific > Standard Time, > dsmith57701@adelphia.net writes: > > > Thank you for the probabilities regarding travel > to Calif. for the Gold > > Rush. Travel in that time period was challenging > enough. Just imagine the way > > they did it! > > > > As for my Patrick McGough. He was born in > Castleblaney, Co. Monaghan, Ire. I > > have studied his life for many years, right up to > me. > > I'm hoping to go to Ireland this coming spring to > Co. Monaghan. > > Deanna > > ----- Original Message ----- > > From: "Michael J. McDonald" > <m.mcdonald@computer.org> > > To: <nyoneida@rootsweb.com> > > Sent: Sunday, December 09, 2007 1:39 PM > > Subject: Re: [NYONEIDA] Gold Rush > > > > > > >On Thursday 06 December 2007 18:41, Deanna Smith > wrote: > > >>Patrick McGough, Jr. went west in 1851 to be > part of the California Gold > > >>Rush. ( He was home soon!) > > >> > > >>What was the route these Oneida Co. men would > take to get to California? > > >>Panama? > > >> > > >>Deanna > > >> > > >I have several mentions of members of my > ancestors family members moving to > > >the state of California and Washington from Essex > and Clinton Counties, > > near > > >the Canadian border - I think in the range of > late 1850's to 1880's. I > > never > > >really looked into the particulars, but always > asssumed that they took the > > >St. Lawrence as far as the Great Lakes. From > Oneida County, the Erie Canal > > >would have been an option. Does anyone know of > canal passenger lists? From > > >the Great Lakes it would be possible to get to a > wagon train departure > > points > > >that Larry mentions. Ship travel to the port of > New Orleans would have > > been a > > >possibility. Directly to California around > CapeHorn might have been > > possible, > > >but I think it would have been a difficult > voyage. > > >The Castle Garden website > (http://www/castlegardens.com) seems to only list > > >arrivals to New York. As you mention Patrick > McGough's early return, it's > > >worth a try. My quick check returned several > Patrick McGough's in the > > early > > >1850's. but they all seem to originate in Ireland > or Great Britain. I > > suspect > > >the name 'McGough' has variant spellings. I got > hits on 'McGough' and 'Mc > > >Gough' > > >which is a trivial typographical difference, but > it makes a difference to > > the > > >search engine. > > > > > >Hope this helps, > > >Mike > > > > > > > > > > ************************************** > Check out AOL's list of 2007's hottest > products. > > (http://money.aol.com/special/hot-products-2007?NCID=aoltop00030000000001) > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email > to NYONEIDA-request@rootsweb.com with the word > 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and > the body of the message >