Finding William Greene & The Courage of our Immigrant Ancestors

Uncle!
First let me thank you and the other ancestors who made last evenings success possible, even though it was in the midnight hour. I am not complaining! I am so excited!

I've located my 3x Great-Grandfather, William Greene, in the immigrant records of passenger ships.  How long have I chased this particular record? Long enough to cause great consternation.

How did I find him? I used Ancestry.com, found the record, decided it wasn't my kin, used Google, used NARA, used ships lists, looked through some Irish history websites- most of which I'd been to before, found a website that dealt with the famine that had a story.

The main point that I came away with- in regard to my particular search last evening -was that the majority of the ships that came to America carrying the Irish emigrants departed from Liverpool, England and landed in New York. I had dismissed New York  as a point of entry feeling that in 1851, the very end of the famine ships, anyone leaving Ireland with intention of coming to Boston would take the ship going to Boston.  Shame on me for “figuring”.

I went back to my notes on William and there it was, 1851 plus /minus 5 years.
I’d tried to figure when I thought he may have immigrated based on his marriage in Massachusetts (1853) and the first census that he appeared in (1860).
NARA had a record of William Green, age 24, departing from Liverpool on the Emma Fields in 1851, and landing in New York on 13 November. So then I had to find a ships list that had the passenger list, and then proceeded to find a copy of a NY Times notification of ship arrivals for that date. Then just to be absolutely sure, I found a ships list transcribers site that had transcribed the Emma Fields passenger list.

After that I was pretty much right there with my William. But before I leave you I must leave you with a link to a letter that was sent by a young man who came by ship to America. He tells of his voyage across the sea.  Please read this letter. Then you will understand just how courageous these ancestors were.

http://www.old-merseytimes.co.uk/leavingofliverpool.html

Fondly,
Your Niece
NARA Info: Display Full Records  http://aad.archives.gov/aad/record-detail.jsp?dt=180&mtch=2&cat=SB302&tf=F&sc=17169,17170,17172,17189,17177,17180,17190,17181&bc=sb,sl,fd&txt_17169=Greene&op_17169=0&nfo_17169=V,20,1900&txt_17170=William&op_17170=0&nfo_17170=V,19,1900&rpp=10&pg=1&rid=591636&rlst=52131,591636
File Unit: Famine Irish Passenger Record Data File (FIPAS), 1/12/1846 - 12/31/1851 in the Series: Records for Passengers Who Arrived at the Port of New York During the Irish Famine, created 1977 - 1989, documenting the period 1/12/1846 - 12/31/1851. - Collection CIR Brief Scope: These materials identify 604,596 persons who arrived in the Port of New York, 1846-1851, and the ships on which they arrived.

Ships List Info:TheShipsList info for William Greene

Emma Fields (of Bath), [Captain]Snow, Liverpool, 28 ds.,[at sea for 28 days] mdse [merchandise] and 429 passengers to master [acting as agent]. Died on board, W. L. Baker,seaman, of Baltimore.

NY Times Info:

From: (Harry Dodsworth)
Subject: [TSL] Five arrivals, NY, November 13, 1851
Date: Wed, 16 Jul 2003 19:41:25 -0400 (EDT)
New York Daily Times, November 14, 1851 (microfilm)
IMMIGRANTS - The following Immigrant ships arrived at this port yesterday [all from Liverpool]
Ship Telamon 561 [persons on board]

Ship Martha J. Ward 400
Ship Emma Fields 429
Ship Constance 600
Ship Universe 600
Total 2,590 [persons]
The Constance was reported as the Constantine in the arrival notices.
I think Constantine was the correct spelling.

Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild - Emma Fields

Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild - Emma Fields