Hi Jude, 1844 seems a little early for the usual "cattle boat" stories. I imagine it was a sailing ship (versus steamship), so wonder if a cow was carried for milk? I'm not sure if many cattle "emigrated" in the sailing ship era. They certainly did in the later steamship days. A lot of ships carried both cattle and emigrants. For example, for 1884 Canada http://www.theshipslist.com/ships/Arrivals/cattle1884.html I think a lot of those 1884 cattle might have been breeding stock rather than *food* or *dairy* cattle. Canada quickly became a cattle exporting nation, so then the cattle were going in the other direction. Many "family oral histories" have ancestors arriving on Cattle Boats, often related as a hardship, but as so many passenger ships did also carry cattle and horses, I wonder if that rememberance falls into the same category as "I walked 5 miles to school, barefoot, in the snow ..." etc. <grin> Sue -- TheShipsList Website http://www.theshipslist.com/ At 09:39 AM 2008-07-08 -0400, JFW wrote: >Hello, TSL Listers: >I just found information that my emigrant ancestor, Nicholas FORD[E] came to >the US "on a cattle boat" around 1844. The info says he came from "Kings >[Offaly] and Dublin." I'm thinking that he may have come "from" Offaly but >left Ireland from Dublin. I haven't been able yet to find his >naturalization papers, though I know he was naturalized. My question is >whether there is any place where I could find out more about "cattle boats" >as a way for emigrants to work their passage. I'm thinking this might either >be a "fourth class" booking--one below steerage or a "working" ticket--some >sort of "water cowboy" who minds transported cattle????? Any thoughts would >be appreciated. > >TIA >Cheers, >Jude