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