Ulster Emigration to Colonial America, 1718-1775
Description
First published in 1966, R. J. Dickson’s Ulster Emigration to Colonial America, 1718–1775 remains the acknowledged work of scholarship on the eighteenth-century movement of families and individuals from the north of Ireland to the New World. This important book provided for the first time a balanced and professional study of the entire emigration phenomenon and carefully examined the economic, social and political context of emigration. At the time of publication, both Dickson’s approach to the subject and the results of his extensive research represented a major historiographical achievement.
Complementing the essay prepared by Graeme Kirkham for the 1988 reprint, this fiftieth anniversary edition includes a specially written Introduction by Dr Patrick Fitzgerald of the Mellon Centre for Migration Studies in which he considers recent developments in the study of emigration from Ulster. In reviewing Ulster Emigration to Colonial America, 1718–1775, Dr Fitzgerald acknowledges ‘the enduring debt we owe the author for his professional, careful and often painstaking historical research.’ There is no doubt that whatever new documentation and fresh analyses may yet reveal about this subject that Dickson’s study will continue to provide a firm foundation for students of the relationship between Ulster and America.
Contents
Introduction (to the 2016 edition) by Patrick Fitzgerald vii
Introduction (to the 1988 edition) by Graeme Kirkham xvii
Author's Introduction (to the 1966 edition) xxix
Abbreviations used in the footnotes xx
- The Background 1
- The First Phase: 1718-1720 19
- Religion and Emigration: 1721-1730 32
- The Middle Years: 1731-1769 48
- The Climax: 1770-1775 60
- The Emigrants 82
- Ports and Agents 98
- The Activities of Land Promoters 125
- The Official Attitude to Emigration 181
- The Voyage to America 201
- Arrival in America 221
Map of Ulster 106-7
Appendices
A Number and tonnage of emigrant vessels, 1750-1775 229
B Discrepancies in the tonnage of emigrant vessels 231
C Number of emigrants carried in certain vessels 234
D Synopsis of emigrant shipping advertisements, 1771-1775 238
E Destination of emigrant vessels, 1750-1775 282
F Newspaper accounts of the voyages of two emigrant vessels 288
CRITICAL NOTE ON AUTHORITIES 292
BIBLIOGRAPHY 298
INDEX 312