Tuesday 21 January 2014

New book tells Derry's emigration story

A new book, Derry~Londonderry: Gateway to a new world, has been published. Written by well-known genealogist Brian Mitchell MAPGI, who heads Derry City Council's Genealogy Service, the book is subtitled The story of emigration from the Foyle by sail and steam.

Having taken Brian some thirty years of research to compile, the book outlines three centuries of Irish emigration through the port of Derry.

The dust-jacket explains: "Derry remained a major Irish emigration port throughout all significant phases of emigration: such as the 18th century outflow of Ulster-Scots to colonial America; pre-Famine, Famine and post-Famine emigration to North America and further afield; and cross-channel migration to Britain via Glasgow and Liverpool.

"In the age of sailing ships, from 1680 to 1860, Derry was the port of departure for the peoples of Derry, Donegal and Tyrone. In the age of steamship and railways, from 1861 to 1939, migrants from Ulster, north Connacht and north Leinster left Ireland through Derry.

"The journey for some 9 million of the Irish Diaspora, now living in Great Britain, USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, began in Derry. This is where the story of their new life began: for example, their ancestor may have boarded a sailing ship at Shipquay Place; or stopped at Gweedore Bar, Waterloo Street on their way from west Donegal to Glasgow on the Scotch Boat; or arrived in Derry by rail, lodged in Bridge Street and then headed down the Foyle, on a tender, to connect with a transatlantic liner at Moville."

The book costs £3. ISBN is 978-0-9515977-2-9.

UPDATE 14 May: The book is now available in the USA via Genealogical.com.