Irish emigrant connections with North America

The Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI) and the Ulster Historical Foundation will host a presentation by Dr Linde Lunney on the subject of emigrant connections with North America on Friday 15 November from 1-2pm.

The book is on sale at BooksIreland.org.uk, £9.99.

Dr Lundy is one of the editors, along with James Quinn and Dr William Roulston, of Transatlantic Lives: the Irish Experience in Colonial America, which was published this summer by UHF.

The book features 60 biographical essays from the Royal Irish Academy’s Dictionary of Irish Biography and details the careers of a selection of Irish emigrants to Northern America including both the USA and the British territories that would later become Canada.

The individuals chosen are a representative sample of some of the more notable figures among these emigrants. Colonial administrators, soldiers and clergymen predominate. Among clergymen, Presbyterians (of various hues) are the most numerous, but space has also been found for Methodists, Quakers, Anglicans and Catholics, all of whom made their contribution to shaping the religious culture of the colonies.

The selection, however, also includes educators, doctors, writers, artists, printers, merchants and even a (female) pirate to give some sense of the diversity of such emigrants, and their varying contributions to the economic and cultural development of the colonies.

Most of these people stayed in the colonies, but a sufficient number returned to Ireland, providing some evidence for the contention that emigration to the colonies was not always an irrevocable decision.

If you'd like to attend the lunchtime presentation at PRONI, you'll need to book your tickets at Eventbrite. They are free, and all are welcome.