The Search for Irish Immigrants Through the Boston Pilot, 1847 and 1848

Ruth-Ann Harris, Principal Investigator

Data Abstract & Bibliographic Information

Table of Contents

Bibliographic Information

DPLS STUDY NUMBER

SC-513-001-1-1-Ireland-DPLS-1847-1.

CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION

Harris, Ruth-Ann.

The search for Irish immigrants through the Boston Pilot, 1847 and 1848. [machine-readable data files] / collected by Ruth-Ann Harris. --1st DPLS ed. --Madison, WI : University of Wisconsin-Madison, Data and Program Library Service [distributor], 1997.

2 data files (2504 + 2134 logical records) + accompanying documentation.

Summary: As of November 1997 there are individual records for some 29,360 persons in the entire collection. All data have been coded from ads placed in the Boston Pilot newspaper beginning in 1831 and now coded through 1862. Data currently available via this on-line archive include those where persons were reported to have left Ireland in the years 1847 or 1848, or arrived in North America in 1847 or 1848, and ads placed in 1847 and 1848. 1847 and 1848 were years when conditions were the worst of the five years of famine (1845-1850).

ABSTRACT OF CONTENT

The data files contain records derived from ads for finding missing Irish persons placed in the Boston Pilot during 1847 and 1848, and ads where the missing persons are identified as either having left Ireland or arrived in North America during 1847 or 1848. Coded variables include date of ad, name of missing person, gender of missing person, county, parish, townland, barony, and poor-law district of origin, description of missing person, ship and port of departure of missing person, name of person placing ad, relationship of seeker to sought.

DESCRIPTORS

Ireland, immigration, emigration, nineteenth century, missing persons

REFERENCE MATERIALS

Codebook produced by the DPLS with the assistance of the Principal Investigator. Also, see the individual volumes of Ruth-Ann Harris (ed.) The Search for Missing Friends Vol. I-IV (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society).

ACCESS CATEGORY

Unrestricted.

ARCHIVE LOCATION

Data and Program Library Service
3308 Social Science Building
1180 Observatory Drive
University of Wisconsin--Madison
Madison, WI 53706

CONTACTING THE PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Ruth-Ann Harris can be contacted at: ruthann.harris.1@bc.edu (as of 5/04).

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Data Abstract

DPLS SOURCE

Ruth-Ann Harris.

DATES OF STUDY

1847 and 1848.

DATE OF ENTIRE DATA COLLECTION

1832 - 1862 (Note that only data for 1847 and 1848 are available).

ORIGINAL DATA SOURCE

Boston Pilot newspaper.

UNIVERSE TO WHICH DATA PERTAIN

Ads placed in the Boston Pilot in attempts to search for missing Irish immigrants in North America.

NUMBER OF DATA UNITS

2504 + 2134 logical records (1847 and 1848, respectively).

NUMBER OF VARIABLES

49.

MODE OF DATA STORAGE

On-line, various media.

STRUCTURE OF DATA

ASCII: Rectangular, fixed format; also available in other formats (Dbase, SPSS, Excel).

CONDITION OF DATA

Collected by Ruth-Ann Harris. Note that much of the data are sparcely populated due to the nature and content of the source material. In addition, most of the variables are alphabetic in nature. Users are advised to review carefully the contents of the file prior to any use.

Return to Table of Contents

Return to main Search for Irish Immigrants archive page.

Email: disc@mailplus.wisc.edu