In the late 18th and early 19th centuries the Marshall family farmed in the townlands of Tullymurry, Buskhill and Annaghbane, in Donaghmore, where they played an active role in parish life through the Donaghmore Farming Society and the local Vestry. In 1839, 24 year old Andrew Marshall left this familiar world behind and emigrated to America. His letters home describe the journey, the challenges he faced, and the opportunities he sought across the Atlantic.
By the 1830s rising trade between Britain and the United States had brought down the cost of trans-Atlantic travel, making emigration more achievable for families like the Marshalls. Andrew travelled first from Newry to Dundalk and then onwards to Liverpool, where he boarded the packet ship George Washington. The vessel arrived in New York on 2 September 1839, after a voyage lasting 38 days. Packet ships such as the George Washington were built for speed and rough seas, carrying mail, cargo and passengers. Andrew reported comfortable accommodation and a crowded vessel that included 30 cabin passengers, 30 steerage passengers, a sizeable crew, and even a small menagerie of livestock.
The ship sailed north via the North Channel, giving passengers striking views of the coasts of Ireland and Scotland. But the beauty of the early voyage soon gave way to danger. On 7 August a violent storm struck, which Andrew described as “a real four hour hurricane”. A blast of wind threw the ship on her side, water poured over the decks, and the sails were shredded. Women fainted, chains sparked in their casings “like a large fire”, and the crew worked through the night to regain control. By the next morning the storm had passed, leaving the deck littered with torn canvas, “like rags for a papermill”. Weather continued to delay them with days of calm, sudden shifts of wind, and encounters with porpoises, dolphins and sperm whales. Yet their passage proved faster than most that season, arriving a full eight to ten days ahead of other July packet ships.
After a brief quarantine at Staten Island, Andrew set foot in New York, which he found astonishing in scale and prosperity: “Take 20 Newry’s put together, and they would be nothing to it.” He remarked on the absence of beggars and the independence of local farmers, who paid no rent or tithes and received good prices for produce. These observations hint strongly at the economic motivations behind his decision to emigrate. New York, however, was not without its troubles: numerous fires kept him awake at night to the sound of alarms. From the city he travelled north to Watertown, Jefferson County, a journey of 350 miles by steamboat, rail and stagecoach. The entire trip from Donaghmore to Watertown cost £8.14s.6d, roughly equivalent to £787 today.
Andrew’s early letters reveal the emotional challenges of settling abroad. He learned shortly after arriving that his sister Essy had died while he was at sea, and he struggled with the extremes of North American weather: intense summer heat, early snow, and a long “Indian summer”. He boarded with fellow migrants and quickly became part of a network of Irish settlers who kept each other informed through newspapers such as the Old Countryman. Locals were eager for Irish stories - some true, some not - and Andrew found himself fielding questions about a hoax involving a man “sleeping on his spade” in Lurgan. Watertown was still feeling the aftershocks of the recent Upper Canada Rebellion and Patriot War. Some rebels had been jailed locally for burning the Canadian steamship Sir Robert Peel, and Andrew observed that the border tensions were far from forgotten.
The final surviving letter is from Andrew’s sister Isabella in July 1845. By then Andrew had moved to Ontario, married Margaret Lowry, and started a family. Isabella planned to join him, seeking new prospects in Toronto. Her desire to emigrate was influenced by changes at home, her brother Joseph’s marriage and the knowledge that the family farm would eventually pass to him. It is not known whether Isabella completed the journey, but by 1851 Andrew, Margaret and their children were firmly established in Durham County, Ontario.
The Marshall letters offer a vivid personal account of pre Famine emigration and the chain migration that encouraged families to follow one another abroad. Their story mirrors that of many local people recorded in the diaries of James Harshaw, who chronicled the steady outflow from Donaghmore to America in search of opportunity and independence.
New exhibition at Newry and Mourne Museum
