Thank you all for the discussion on Great Lake Ports. Something I have heard is sometimes they may enter thru Canada's St. Alban's, that this is a possibility for those researching Great Lake Ports. It looks as though there are fewer records for Great Lake Ports. Again, thank you all. Alice kathy metzen wrote: > > Joe, > Montreal was a "popular" Canadian destination. From there, the immigrants who really wanted to go to the United States would head south to Vermont, or go west to Ottawa or Toronto, & beyond. Toronto is close to Buffalo. An easy crossing would be Niagara Falls Ontario to Niagara Falls, NY. (Look at the proximity of Niagara Falls to Buffalo.) > 1847 happened to have been the worst year of the "Famine" in Ireland. I have 2 Irish ancestors who came in the late 1840s, who I suspect of coming through Canada. I have a book on the Irish "death ships". There was a small mention of a few "Germans" being on some of the ships. The majority of the "Irish" ships left Europe from Liverpool. > It would have been easy enough to go to Liverpool to take a really cheap route to the new world. They could have taken a ferry from Oostend or one of the Flemish ports to England. > Kathy Metzen > > Kathy Lenerz [email protected] > > Kathy, Thanks for your insight. I would like to pose one more related > question. An ancestor of mine settled in Jefferson County WI in 1847. He > stated in his first papers (citizenship) that he entered the US in "Buffalo, > NY". One cousin suggests he must have actually disembarked in NY and taken > the Erie Canal westward, as your typical route suggests. I have my doubts! > I wonder if he might have immigrated via Canada (Port of Montreal?) then > entered US at Buffalo. Since I haven't found any sources for "Buffalo > immigration" this remains a mute point! Would someone who actually arrived > in New York then traveled through Buffalo declare that he first entered US > at that port? I would appreciate any insight! Thanks, Joe Schmitt (CA) > > aellis wrote: > > "I do not know what port my Grandfather, John Biever/Biewer left from near > Borg, Prussia, however, he came through the Port of Detroit in June 1873. > He was on his way to Wisconsin. Since Detroit is on the Great Lakes and > borders Canada, I assume he came down the St. Lawrence River. Was there a > special reason why they came through Great Lake Ports. > Alice" > > Alice, > Since the St. Lawrence Seaway wasn't built until the 1950s, it was not > possible for trans-Atlantic ships to travel to Detroit in 1873. Usually > passengers who took the water route to the Midwest disembarked in New York, > took a steamer up the Hudson River to near Albany, then took the Erie Canal > across New York to Buffalo. There they caught a Great Lakes steamer, which > typically stopped in Detroit, Milwaukee, and Chicago. This was the typical > route in the 1850s, however by the 1870s trains were a better and more > frequent option for most immigrants. > Hope this helps, > Kathy Lenerz > > ==== TRIER-ROOTS Mailing List ==== > Going on vacation longer than 4 days? Go to > http://lists.rootsweb.com/index/intl/DEU/TRIER-ROOTS.html > to unsubscribeGet more from the Web. FREE MSN Explorer download : http://explorer.msn.com > > ==== TRIER-ROOTS Mailing List ==== > Going on vacation longer than 4 days? Go to > http://lists.rootsweb.com/index/intl/DEU/TRIER-ROOTS.html > to unsubscribe