Mary Ann Agar leaves Ireland
Mary Ann Agar was born in Knockulard, Carlow County, Ireland on July 29, 1940. She was 5 years old when the Irish potato famine began in 1845 which lasted until 1852, devastating her homeland. Her father James Agar was a prosperous nail maker, so perhaps the famine didn’t really affect them, there are no family stories about the Agars suffering from the famine. At the end of the famine her father James Agar emigrated to America in 1852, when she was twelve.
Two years later, in the Fall of 1854, James sent money to Mary’s mother for the family to emigrate to America. It is believed they traveled from Liverpool, England to America on the ship ‘Antarctic’. I have found no history on this ship, other than it is listed as an emigrant ship. For Mary Ann and her family it was one of the many ‘coffin ships’, with 87 passengers dying of “ship fever”. Mary’s mother Eliza and her younger brother James, just 5 years old, fell victim to this dreaded death. This description of the disease is found in the book entitled, “The Ocean Plague — A diary of a coffin ship voyage” by Robert Whyte, who sailed from Liverpool in 1847.
“The first [symptom] is usually a reeling in the head, followed by a swelling pain, as if the head were going to burst. Next came excruciating pains in the bones, and then a swelling of the limbs, commencing with the feet, in some cases ascending the body and again descending before it reached the head,
stopping at the throat. The period of each stage varied in different patients, some of whom were covered with yellow, watery pimples, and other with red and purple spots, that turned to putrid sores.”
After watching her mother and brother succumb to this, she then watched them both hurled over the side of the ship, being buried at sea.
So, at fourteen Mary Ann was left with the task of caring for her sister Bessie age 8, and brothers John age 10, Benjamin age 7, and Thomas age 3, until they reached New York and her father James, where he first learned of his great loss. That in and of itself is overwhelming in the least.
But that was only one of the many hurdles that she and her family had endured. The voyage to North America was long and treacherous, lasting anywhere from six to twelve weeks, depending on the winds and weather. But before leaving Liverpool, they first had to get there. I have no way of knowing what route they took to get to Liverpool, however reading histories and diaries from various sources, I imagine they left from Queenstown Harbour in Cobh County, Cork Ireland, as it was popular and may have presented itself as the easiest way to go.
From 1848 – 1950 over 6 million adults and children emigrated from Ireland – over 2.5 million departed from Cobh county Cork Ireland, making it the single most important port of emigration. Cork was the major emigration port, although every port in Ireland was used as a point of emigration at some stage. —GENi.com
Cork is 120 miles from Carlow County and by car is only a couple of hours away, however by horse or oxen drawn wagon or carriage that would have taken days.
Once they were in Liverpool the process of emigration began. “The first order of business would be to buy their Passage Contracts. If their passage has not been prepaid for them by kind friends in New York, payment for their journey is now due, and emigrants can make their best deal with the passenger-brokers.” James had sent money for passage, perhaps he sent a prepaid passage which would have made it much easier. If not there was long and arduous process , which you can read more about here, I have quoted from that source to paint a picture of what Mary Ann and her family went through. According to what I read they would proceed to the Medical Inspector’s Office and then would finally be able to embark.
By the terms of the New Passenger Act, 12 & 13 Vict, c. 33, “no passenger-ship is allowed to proceed until a medical practitioner appointed by the emigration office of the port shall have inspected the medicine-chest and passengers, and certified that the medicines, etc. are sufficient, and that the passengers are free from contagious disease.”
The master, owner, or charterer of the ship is bound to pay the medical inspector the sum of £1 sterling for every 100 persons thus inspected. When the emigrant and his family have completed this process, their passage-ticket is stamped.
They have nothing further to do until they go on board. They now make their own private arrangements and provide themselves with outfits, or with such articles of luxury or necessity as they may desire over and above the ship’s allowance.
The scene at Liverpool’s Waterloo Dock, where all the American sailing packets are stationed, is at all times a very busy one. But, on the morning of the departure of a large ship, with a full complement of emigrants, it is peculiarly interesting and exciting.
Of the passengers that passed inspection, many take up quarters onboard the ship twenty-four hours before sailing, as they are entitled to do by the terms of the act of Parliament. Many of them bring, in addition to the boxes and trunks containing their worldly wealth, considerable quantities of provisions.
You can read the whole article at Glenwick-Gjonvic Archives — GGArchives.com
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