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Messages - RabbittIre

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Ireland / Re: Irish Immigrants returning home
« on: Saturday 09 April 11 23:39 BST (UK)  »
Quote from: Elwyn Soutter on Friday 17 December 10 10:03 GMT (UK)
Yes I have an assortment of relatives who emigrated and then returned. It was more common from the US and Canada than from Australia or NZ, presumably because of the cost and time issues.  My observations suggest that if you emigrated in the 1700s and early 1800s it was normally a one way journey, but by the late 1800s and early 1900s, the journey times must have been reducing, sailings become more reliable and a bit more comfortable, the fares becoming more affordable presumably reflecting increased prosperity, and I start to see people coming back, sometimes on more than one occasion.

Difficult to pinpoint any single reason. I have one relative whose wife died in the US when he was about 45 and who returned to Ireland shortly afterwards, where he too died soon after. Ill-health and no-one to look after him in the US? Another worked in Canada for 15 years, and made a 3 month visit home in the middle before returning for good around 1918, having made his fortune (not really, but he was perceived as better off by the rest of the family).  Homesick?

The older you are when you emigrate, it seems the harder it is to settle. Then there must have been issues to do with care for elderly parents, or inheriting the family farm and no-one else to run it. Whilst some emigrants obviously did very well when they emigrated, there must have been some who failed and who decided that going back was the answer, assuming they could afford it.


Elwyn


I think what may also have changed was the ability to read, write and keep in touch.
If you couldn't read and write and the people you wanted to contact couldn't read and write, then when you left, you completely disappeared. Sure you could go back, but you wouldn't have even known whether anyone was still alive or there.

By the late 1800s/early 1900s more people could read and write, and it was possible to post a letter and for it to arrive at its destination. Communication took a long time (post), or was extremely expensive (telegraph), but it was possible, and could be both written and read by those wishing to communicate.

Once people were able to stay in touch, even a little, it made it more likely that they would return.

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Ireland / Re: RABBITT surname
« on: Saturday 09 April 11 22:58 BST (UK)  »
I realise this thread is old, but I said I'd bump it on the off chance before pming the OP.

Just googling my own surname brought me here, unfortunately I'm not much into geneaology
Rabbitt is very much a Galway name, google Rabbitt's pub if you're interested in that aspect.

Family legend has it that some time in the middle of the 19th Century my Great something Grandad emigrated to California from somewhere near Tuam (county Galway) leaving behind a rake of brothers and sisters.

He struck it lucky in the gold rush and came back, only to find that the rest of the family had all emigrated to various parts of the world, and there were no forwarding details.

We are erm, fertile folk however.

Probably too late for you but the 1901 and 1911 Irish Census is online - http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/

The bit about anglicanization of the surname is also a family story I've heard. It was originally a name that sounded like the Irish word for Rabbitt - something like Coinín (pronounced Cuneen)

In terms of record digitization, it's worth searching for Rabbett too. My family's 1911 census comes up as Rabbett when searched, even though the scanned form shows the dot, the looped handwriting makes it look like an e.


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