Cotton Handloom Weavers of Maybole

[Craghead]

Can you help??

I have ancestors in Maybole from about 1830 till 1851.  They were all cotton handloon weavers or involved in the industry.  The parents and the elder children were born in Ireland and then moved to Maybole.

I am trying to trace the Millan (Mellan) the 'e' was swapped for 'i' on the census, Murphy and O'Neil families back to their roots in Ireland.  I do know that the Mellan name is common to Tyrone.

I have looked at the census for 1841 and 1851, what I am trying to do is find out where in Ireland they were from.  It is amazing just how many families on the Maybole 1841 census were born in Ireland.  There is not much information about this industry or about Maybole and its Irish work force.

Were there any immigration records or did they just arrive from Ireland.

Are there any book about the subject of handloom weaving.

My family of Millan had left Maybole by 1851 and arrived in Australia in 1863.

If anyone is interested in viewing the 1841 or 1851 census for the whole of Maybole it is available on the Maybole website at:
http://www.maybole.org/history/index.htm.

Any suggestions would be very welcome

Cheryl

[Elwyn Soutter]

There are no migration records for people moving from Ireland to Scotland. It was all one country and so just a question of moving from one county to another.

[GR2]

If you want some somewhat stereotypical comments on the Irish handloom weavers in Maybole, look at the New Statistical Account of Scotland for Maybole. It was published in 1845. You will find it on-line at
http://stat-acc-scot.edina.ac.uk/sas/sas.asp?action=public

Graham

[Skoosh]

These folk would be linen weavers in Ireland. Maybole also attracted Irish shoemakers for its boot & shoe industry.

Skoosh.

[mikayla]

Hi,Have you thought of looking at the records for immigrants coming through Ardrossan,many came to ayrshire via ardrossan,some records in north ayrshire libraries or archive,i know these records were transcribed.

[Skoosh]

Scotland, Ireland & England were all the one country, there were no records of emigrants, these people were internal migrants. Weren't we all?

Skoosh.

[mikayla]

There are records of ships/boats which docked in ardrossan from ireland,have a friend who found an ancestor from carrickfergus in these records,wish I could remember the exact name of them,a couple of folk from the LDS church filmed them for records.

[Elwyn Soutter]

Whilst there may be records of boats arriving in Ardrossan, passenger records have never routinely been kept on sailings from Ireland to Britain. It's just a short domestic ferry crossing like the Southampton to Isle of Wight ferry. Your friend must have been very lucky to find anything on Ancestry for this route.

A possibility to check are Ayrshire Poor Law records. If the Millan family made a poor law application (in this case 1845 - 1851) then details of their parish and family in Ireland would usually be recorded. It can be a very helpful source (30% of all Scottish Poor Law applications were made by people from Ireland). Ayrshire Poor Law record information:

http://www.ers.north-ayrshire.gov.uk/localfamilyhistory/localfamilyhistory_genealogy_poorrelief.cfm

[Craghead]

No luck.

Can you tell me what would have been the closest ferry port to Maybole in the early 1800's and where in Ireland would the ferry have sail from to meet up with that port.

I think it would be easier if I start with the areas around that port and then go further afield.  I cant find any records for any of my Mabole families in Scotland.  I have Mellan, Murphy,O'Neil, Tate and now Hampton there in the mid 1800's .