Email From Gary Aden to Gary Aden
Email Dated 8/11/2001       

     I have finally returned home from the OLD WORLD where I spent a
few extrra days in Ireland around Limerick and Connaught Province trying
to ascertain whether there was any chance that Major John Barkley was
simply an indigenous Irishman as opposed to "Scotch-Irish" by virtue of
descendancy from Sir Francis Barkley who had been sent to Ireland by the
Crown where he was appointed Provost-Marshall for Connaught(Connacht)
Province on July 15, 1585. It will be recalled that the Barkleys were
one of the families who divided 1000 acres land confiscated from the
Fitzgeralds and Earl of Desmond during the reign of Queen Elizabeth
I(1558-1603). 

      I have already described the perilous, haphazard process those of
my pedigree endured emigrating and braving the North Atlantic to sail to
America. "Voyages to the West" by Bernard Bailyn describes the
tribulations of the Hogg party seduced by tales of wonders by earlier
emigrants to relocate from Scotland across the ocean to North Carolina
where they would resume their farming-ranching operations in 1773-1774.
The leader of the party of 51, James Hogg,  was a lowlander disgusted by
the recently encountered lawlessness and bad crops  in his homeland.
Financing the trip required liquidating their entire estates plus
borrowing from relatives already settled in the New World. The group
were mostly "farmers free of foul and infectuous disease" of "proven
good character" and "able to pay". They booked the Bachelor, a 260 ton
vessel out of Edingurgh receiving the "good seats"-cabins of sorts while
the remaining 213 passengers had to pay four pounds each for the luxury
of riding in "steerage" or "the hold". The plan was to set out Thurso
(northern Scotland) during midsummer 1773 and to arrive in North
Carolina in early fall. Due to delays, the ship did not sail until
September 14th due to various delays and was set upon by vicious storms
which blew it backward to the Orkneys where leaks had to be repaired.
The second try resulted in 90 miles headway before another storm blew
them back all the to the Shetlands and smashed the shiip against the
rocks. The Shetlanders provided refuge for the winter to the passengers.
Then Smallpox spread through the children in passage while another storm
ripped the ship from its anchorage and nearly destroyed it. The Bachelor
traveled under distress into Leith Scotland the following spring where
the steerage passengers were dumped and the Hogg Party secured separate
passage the following summer and James Hogg himself  joined a brother
who had emigrated a decade earlier and had 12,000 acres in North
Carolina. An interesting sidelight is that this poor farmer from
Scotland two years later was negotiating with the likes of John Adams
and Thomas Jefferson at the Continental Congress meeeting. He was also
there on July 4, 1776. Thank the Lord, my trip home from the British
Isles was so short and uneventful and not like the Hogg party. 

      Those who undertook the journey from the Old World in the 17th and
18th centuries were acclimated to  an uncomfortable stormy trip with six
weeks of eating oatmeal, molasses, fish, biscuits and the like. Those
who could not afford "good seats" and were forced to accept "steerage"
anticipated discomfort. The ships were simply cargo vessels that had
been retrofitted for passengers. In my pedigree, the progenitors who
likely encountered conditions such as these  were those of the
HUNSUCKERS, MECHLINGS, LAUERS, CAMPS, OLDHAMS, TARPLEYS, RAGSDALES,
BARCLAYS, BURLESONS, ALLENS, OLLIVERS, MARSHALLS, IMMELS, WISES, GREYS
and BIDDLECOMBES  just to name the lines I can be reasonably certain
emigrated during that time period. Those in this category arrived at
unregulated ports of entry where boardinghouse runners, tavern keepers,
pimps and peddlers were allowed on board to make bargains directly with
newcomers. With no police interference, immigrants were often cheated of
money, sold tickets to wrong destinations at inflated prices and bilked
by all manner of merchants.  

      With the invention of the steam engine in the 19th century, the
trip was shortened from six sickening weeks to ten days. Those who were
so fortunate in my pedigree were those of the ADENS, HABBENS and WILTS
lines. Those in this category encountered New York's Castle Garden which
had become the first American immigrant receiving station. Its original
purpose(Ft. Clinton) had been to defend New York from the British.
Arriving immigrants would stop at Staten Island for a medical, then pass
through Castle Garden where there were translators, ticket booths, a
hospital, information booths, etc.. Solicitors were not allowed to board
incoming vessels. The present day land location of Castle Garden is in
Battery Park at the foot of Manhattan. Records of those passing through
Castle Garden burned in the great Ellis Island Fire of 1897.
Genealogists rely upon emigration records from abroad or the LDS library
to research disembarkation during the period of Castle Garden's
existence from  1855 to 1890. 

      In 1890, Ellis Island was built, burned down(in 1897) and was
rebuilt. Insofar as I can determine, none of my pedigree's branches or
twigs likely came through Ellis Island. Nonetheless, I think I will get
in the spirit of my NEW WORLD genealogical quest and site visit by
visiting Ellis Island to see if they have put up a  memorial plaque to
Heye J. Aden gifted by my son, Geoffrey and his wife, Catherine to me
for my birthday.  That requires a trip to Battery Park where I can catch
the ferry to Ellis Island at the Verrazano memorial statue and also see
if there is some kind of memorial or exhibit relating to Castle Garden. 

      Gary Carl Aden 8/10/2001