Kathy, Thanks. I figured that somehow at least some of my family may have taken the Erie Canal and that is why I was wondering if there were any existing passenger records for my time period. What is kind of funny is that I have this family in Outagamie County, WI and in Co Tipperary, Ireland with baptismal records and all, but can not find any record of them in between - neither emmigrating nor living and working in NY for a time "while they earned money to move on the WI". There were at least two children born in NY about 1851 - but I don't know where. I am amazed that you have found specific families and how they traveled to Wisconsin. Anyway, this helps and thanks again. Sandy On 10/31/2010 2:14 PM, Kathy wrote: > Sandra J Hawley wrote: >> my Irish ancestors didn't come to the US until 1847-1854. I am just >> trying to figure out which route they may have taken from NY to >> Wisconsin. > > I've researched many families who settled in Wisconsin in that time > period. All arrived in New York, with one excepton (Boston). Given that > there weren't any long-distance trains yet (e.g., from NY to Chicago), > by far the most common route was to take the Erie Canal, then a steamer > across the Great Lakes. Sometimes passengers departed in Detroit, took a > train across Michigan, and then a steamer across Lake Michigan to > Milwaukee or another port. This was primarily post-1850 when the > railroad crossed the entire state of Michigan. Otherwise passsengers > could continue on northward through Lake Huron and then southward > through Lake Michigan, where the steamer stopped at several ports, > ending up at Chicago. > > There are a lot of websites that describe the trip or provide > first-person accounts. Here are a couple: > http://www.norwayheritage.com/articles/templates/great-disasters.asp?articleid=33&zoneid=1 > > http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/eriecanal.htm > You can find pictures of Great Lakes steamers here: > http://www.bgsu.edu/colleges/library/cac/page38714.html > > Good luck! > Kathy > >