Update on the Story of

Thomas Dukelow’s Immigration to the United States

[Published March 14, 2010] [Updated March 20, 2010]

 

Background:

Our ancestral grandfather Thomas Dukelow / Ducklow left Durrus Ireland and came to America in about the 1841 via Canada. He was 29 years old and acted as the father-figure escorting his then widowed stepmother Nancy Ann Dukelow, along with her eight young children, to a new land.  After traveling by ship for two or so months, Nancy, Thomas and the eight children arrived at Port Hope, Ontario by way of the St. Lawrence River.  After a short stay in there, the group crossed Lake Erie and initially settled near Rochester, New York.  It was in Rochester that Thomas married Elizabeth Nicholson and there they started a family.  This sketch of Thomas’ immigration story has been described in pervious posts and has solid source documentation.

 

A Richer Understanding:

Recently shared information from fellow Dukelow family researchers have shed more light on what might have been Thomas and his stepmother’s motivation to emigrate from Ireland. They were part of a much larger exodus of the Dukelow clan [footnote 1] to Canada and America. Scores of inter-related cousins, aunts, uncles, parents and grandparents left Ireland in the late 1830s and early 1840s. [footnote 2] The Dukelow clan immigration may have occurred from a “perfect storm” of events: (1) the collapse of home-based textile industry, (2) receipt of compelling letters from young pioneering cousins describing opportunities in America and (3) the advent of affordable fares on sailing ships crossing the Atlantic. Let me expand on each of these elements in some detail:

 

Collapse of Textile Cottage Industry

In reviewing the history of emigration of families around Durrus in the early 19th century, one can infer that some members of the Dukelow clan made their living, at least in part, from home-based manufacturing of textiles [footnote 3]. Prior to the late 1700s, nearly all textiles were made by cottage-industry businesses using manually powered looms and other manual equipment.  But by the early 1800s textile manufacturing became highly industrialized with the introduction of steam- and water-powered looms— and part of a broad technology change called the "industrial revolution."  Factory-based manufacturing became highly efficient and eventually caused the collapse of home-based textile businesses.  As more and more factories opened in the 1800s, small manual labor-based makers could no longer compete.  This economic transition no doubt caused real hardship on some, if not many, members of the Dukelow clan.

 

Letters Home

Two clan members who were effected by the  poor economy of the 1830s were John and William Connell (brothers). In a biographical sketch of her grandfather William Connell, Elsie McFarland wrote that the brothers became “frustrated with lack opportunities” in Ireland [see footnote 4].  So in 1837 John and William, at ages 29 and 23, left Western County Cork and eventually arrived in New York State.  Upon arriving the brothers had success finding work helping build the Erie Canal.  And by 1839 William had saved enough money to travel to Wisconsin to purchase government homestead land in what later became Washington County.  William and John both sent letters back home describing their freedoms, land purchases and work available for industrious men. From Elsie's biography on William, "no tyranny, no oppression from landlords and no taxes" [footnote 4].

 

No doubt their letters also expressed their sadness over missing family.  Elsie's biography expressed as, “… his heart was heavy and he longed to see the dear ones.  He would like to have his family have the chance he was having so he sent glowing letters home about this wonderful country.  These letters were eagerly read not only by his own family but by the aunts and uncles and cousins.”   William and John’s letters were apparently compelling as many in the clan chose to leave the ever more difficult economic environment in County Cork and join them in America. Again from Elsie’s biography, “A large group decided to come based on these letters.  No doubt that the group was not just William’s family, but [Martha] Elizabeth’s too.”

 

In August of 1842 William Connell married our ancestral grandfather’s half-sister, Martha Elizabeth Dukelow in Rochester, New York. After they wed, they moved to William’s homesteaded land and are reported to have been one of the first 16 pioneer families to establish themselves in Washington County, Wisconsin [footnote 4].

 

Affordable Fares

One would expect the cost of having many family members and belongings transported across the Atlantic to be prohibitively expensive.   But starting the early 1820s it became affordable due in large-part to Ireland’s need for timber [footnote 3 and footnote 7].  Ireland’s domestic supply of timber was becoming scarce and demand high and rising. In the 1800s wood was not only used for building homes and shelters, but also an energy source for heating and cooking, and the raw material for making tools and furniture.  And as factory technology developed, wood demand rose even further as a supplement to coal as fuel for steam-powered machinery. To meet the demand, trees were harvested and shipped from Canada, which like Ireland, belonged to the British Empire.  Timber cut in the forests of Quebec and Ontario came to Ireland via sailing ships that traveled the St. Lawrence River and then across the Atlantic Ocean.  Owners of the vessels made good money on the delivery their timber cargo but made little or nothing on nearly empty return trips to Canada. So, with encouragement by the British government in supporting  landlords wanting to rid themselves of impoverished  tenants, ship owners offered affordable fares [see footnote 7].  This strategy was successful filling ships holds with many emigrates.  It became so successful that ship owners began making more money sending emigrates west than they did in bringing timber east [see footnote 6].

It seems possible that our ancestral grandfather Thomas, and his stepfamily made their voyage to Ontario on such a timber ship.  One vessel in particular is noted as carrying Dukelows to Canada. The ‘Dealy Brig’, a ship built in 1839, sailed from Bantry in West Cork, near Durrus [footnote 3].  Thomas’ arrival in the United States was in about 1841 matching well with the operations of this particular timber ship, although the typical North American destination of this ship was apparently St. Johns, New Brunswick [see footnote 5].  It would be great to locate records showing Thomas and family on a specific voyage.  The quest continues.

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Footnotes:

(1) Various family surnames names associated with the Dukelow clan include Clark Attridges, Bakers, Skues, Swantons, Sweetnam, Capithorn, Connell, Kingstons, Vickeries, Roycrofts, Shannons and Salters; all members of the protestant Church of Ireland.

 

(2) Notably, the Dukelow clan’s exodus in the late 1830s and early 1840s was prior to the potato famine years of 1845 to 1852 when an estimated one million Irish to America in what were called "Famine Ships" to avoid starvation.

 

(3) Either inferred or quoted from Pat Crowley’s “History of Durrus District, Barony of West Carbery, Western Division.”  Mr. Crowley lives in Dublin, Ireland and has become an expert historian of the Durrus area.  He has shared the text of this self-published work.

 

(4) Elsie Barbara Kingston McFarlane wrote an eight-page biography of William and Elizabeth (Martha) Connell in 1948 when she was 67 years old.  Elsie’ biography is based upon her early memories of her grandparents.  She was eleven years old when her grandfather William passed away in 1892 and 27 years old when her grandmother Elizabeth (Martha) passed away in 1908. Elizabeth was the oldest of John and Nancy's children, and was a half-sister to ancestral grandfather Thomas. The biography is not dated. But the date can be inferred from a reference she makes in the biography that the Bank of Chilton (founded by William Connell) was in business for 57 years.  The bank was founded in 1891 and so the date of 1948 can be determined.  

 

(5) “What Happened to the Good Ship Dealy?,” http://www.dalyclan.org/Brig/brig.htm


(6)  "The Famine Ships," by Edward Laxton, page 7


(7) Steerage fares are reported to have been £3 and 10 shillings in the 1850s.  An estimated equivalent value in 2010 US dollars is roughly $250 (based on 3% inflation over 160 years). While not cheap, it seems it was not an impossible price to pay.

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Esther Northfield Ducklow Passes
[Published March 11, 2010]

Esther Northfield Ducklow, one of my genealogy mentors on the Ducklow family, passed away on March 9, 2010.  She was 94.  Esther came into the Ducklow family when she married Willis Ducklow in 1935. She became very interested in genealogy research for both her family (Northfield) as well as the Ducklow family.  She likely started digging into Ducklow history when Willis was still living, prehaps as early as 1970 and continued until the last few years of her life.  Her 40 years of search resulted in a treasure trove of information on Ducklows that she freely shared with me.  Esther was comfortable using both "old school" methods of research by digging through microfilm of newspapers, writing letters, and walking cemeteries and "new school" methods of hunting for information on rootsweb and emailing other genealogists using a computer.  She was the only person I knew above 90 years old that seemed really comfortable with a computer.  I will miss her sharp wit, directness in comments and overall feistiness. 

You can find her on-line obituary here.

Peace, Sweat Peace Esther.


Pedigree: Esther married Willis Ducklow.  Willis > Frank > George > Thomas & Elizabeth Ducklow.