[Image: Cropped map of 1871–1914 Europe; Text: Irish-Danish-German Heritage]

(Europe, 1871–1914)

Irish Emigration

Irish–Danish–German Heritage

Pictures | Data | Irish Potato Famine | Reference list

Pictures

The following pictures show emigrants from Ireland:

Irish Emigrants Leaving Home—The Priest’s Blessing.
[Image: Rural people leaving in horse cart]
Irish Emigrants Leaving Their Home for America—The Mail Coach from Cahirciveen, County Kerry, Ireland.
[Image: Crowd of people and horse-drawn mail coach]
Emigrants Leaving Queenstown for New York.
Full
[Image: Irish immigrants waiting to board ship]
Close-up
[Image: Close-up of Irish immigrants waiting to board ship]

Source: Reproduced from image of magazine pages with two-page engraving, Emigrants Leaving Queenstown for New York, in Harper’s Weekly, 26 September 1874, 796–797, http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/92513178/; image straightened and cropped of black background, main caption in the original.

Note: Queenstown, County Cork, Ireland is now called Cobh (an Cóbh).

New York City.—Irish Depositors of the Emigrant Savings Bank Withdrawing Money to Send to Their Suffering Relatives in the Old Country.
[Image: People in bank]

Source: Reproduced from image of wood engraving, New York City.—Irish Depositors of the Emigrant Savings Bank Withdrawing Money to Send to Their Suffering Relatives in the Old Country, in Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, 13 March 1880, 29, http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2012646222/; caption in the original.

The Irish Remedy—Emigration to America.
Full
[Image: Irish immigrants on disembarking ship]
Close-up
[Image: Close-up of Irish immigrants on disembarking ship]

Source: Reproduced from image of engraving by Charles Joseph Staniland, The Irish Remedy—Emigration to America, in Ridpath 1898, 418; caption in the original.

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Data

The two tables below show that in the 91 years between 1820 and 1910, inclusive, 4,212,169 immigrants to the United States (15.09% of immigrants in that period), were from Ireland:

Immigration to the United States from Ireland by decade, 1820–1910
PeriodImmigrants from IrelandTotal immigrantsPercentageAverage from Ireland per year

Source: Data calculated from table, Table 9.—“Immigration to the United States, 1820 to 1910 [By Country of Origin],” in Immigration Commission 1911, 14–44.

Note [combined from two notes in the original]: Compiled from official sources. For 1820 to 1867 the figures are for alien passengers arriving; for 1868 to 1903, for immigrants arriving; for 1904 to 1906, for aliens admitted; and for 1907 to 1910, for immigrant aliens admitted.
1820–183054,338151,82435.79%4,939.82
1831–1840207,381599,12534.61%20,738.10
1841–1850780,7191,713,25145.57%78,071.90
1851–1860914,1192,598,21435.18%91,411.90
1861–1870435,7782,314,82418.83%43,577.80
1871–1880436,8712,812,19115.53%43,687.10
1881–1890655,4825,246,61312.49%65,548.20
1891–1900388,4163,687,56410.53%38,841.60
1901–1910339,0658,795,3863.86%33,906.50
Total4,212,16927,918,99215.09%46,287.57
Immigration to the United States from Ireland by year, 1820–1910
YearImmigrants from IrelandTotal immigrants

Source: Data from and calculated from table, Table 9.—“Immigration to the United States, 1820 to 1910 [By Country of Origin],” in Immigration Commission 1911, 14–44; footnotes in the original.

Note [combined from two notes in the original]: Compiled from official sources. For 1820 to 1867 the figures are for alien passengers arriving; for 1868 to 1903, for immigrants arriving; for 1904 to 1906, for aliens admitted; and for 1907 to 1910, for immigrant aliens admitted. The years from 1820 to 1831 and from 1844 to 1849, inclusive, are those ending September 30; 1833 to 1842 and 1851 to 1867, inclusive, those ending December 31; 1869 to 1910, those ending June 30.

  • aFifteen months ending December 31.
  • bNine months ending September 30.
  • cSix months ending June 30.
18203,6148,385
18211,5189,127
18222,2676,911
18231,9086,354
18242,3457,912
18254,88810,199
18265,40810,837
18279,76618,875
182812,48827,382
18297,41522,520
18302,72123,322
18315,77222,633
1832a12,43660,482
18338,64858,640
183424,47465,365
183520,92745,374
183630,57876,242
183728,50879,340
183812,64538,914
183923,96368,069
184039,43084,066
184137,77280,289
184251,342104,565
1843b19,67052,496
184433,49078,615
184544,821114,371
184651,752154,416
1847105,536234,968
1848112,934226,527
1849159,398297,024
1850a164,004369,980
1851221,253379,466
1852159,548371,603
1853162,649368,645
1854101,606427,833
185549,627200,877
185654,349200,436
185754,361251,306
185826,873123,126
185935,216121,282
186048,637153,640
186123,79791,918
186223,35191,985
186355,916176,282
186463,523193,418
186529,772248,120
186636,690318,568
186772,879315,722
1868c32,068138,840
186940,786352,768
187056,996387,203
187157,439321,350
187268,732404,806
187377,344459,803
187453,707313,339
187537,957227,498
187619,575169,986
187714,569141,857
187815,932138,469
187920,013177,826
188071,603457,257
188172,342669,431
188276,432788,992
188381,486603,322
188463,344518,592
188551,795395,346
188649,619334,203
188768,370490,109
188873,513546,889
188965,557444,427
189053,024455,302
189155,706560,319
189251,383579,663
189343,578439,730
189430,231285,631
189546,304258,536
189640,262343,267
189728,421230,832
189825,128229,299
189931,673311,715
190035,730448,572
190130,561487,918
190229,138648,743
190335,310857,046
190436,142812,870
190552,9451,026,499
190634,9951,100,735
190734,5301,285,349
190830,556782,870
190925,033751,786
191029,8551,041,570
Total4,212,16927,918,992
Percentage15.09%100%
Average per year46,287.57306,802.10

The next table shows the percentage of the United States population in the second half of the 19th century that was born in Ireland:

Population of United States, 1850–1900, born in Ireland
YearIreland-
born population		Foreign-
born population		Percentage of foreign-
born from Ireland		Total populationPercentage of total from Ireland

Sources: Data from and calculated from:

  • Forstall 1996, (PDF) 3–4.
  • Table 9.—“Foreign-born Population of Continental United States, by Country of Birth: 1850 to 1900,” in Immigration Commission 1911, 416.
  • a[in Immigration Commission 1911] Not including Indian Territory.
1850961,7192,244,60242.85%23,191,8764.15%
18601,611,3044,138,69738.93%31,443,3215.12%
18701,855,8275,567,22933.33%38,558,3714.81%
18801,854,5716,679,94327.76%50,189,2093.70%
18901,871,509a9,249,54720.23%62,979,7662.97%
19001,615,45910,341,27615.62%76,212,1682.12%

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Irish Potato Famine

The Irish Potato Famine (The Great Famine, An Gorta Mór) of 1845–1849, caused by a blight that destroyed potato crops, led to the deaths of a million people from starvation and disease. It also led to perhaps two million people emigrating from Ireland in the late 1840s and early 1850s (Mokyr n.d., “Great Famine”).

The Irish Famine—Scene at the Gate of the Work-house.
[Image: Crowd of sickly people outside walled compound]

Source: Reproduced from image of engraving, The Irish Famine—Scene at the Gate of the Work-house, in Ridpath 1907, 309; image straightened, caption in the original.

The table below shows that the annual number of Irish immigrants specifically to the United States climbed to as high as 608.83% of the pre-famine, 1840–1844 five-year average of 36,340.80:

Increase in immigration to the United States from Ireland at time of Irish Potato Famine
YearImmigrants from IrelandPercentage of 1840–1844 5-year avg. (36,340.80)

Source: Data from and calculated from table, Table 9.—“Immigration to the United States, 1820 to 1910 [By Country of Origin],” in Immigration Commission 1911, 20–26.

Note [adapted to abridged date range from notes in the original]: Compiled from official sources. The figures are for alien passengers arriving. The years 1840 to 1842, inclusive, are those ending December 31; 1843 is 9 months ending September 30; from 1844 to 1849, inclusive, are those ending September 30; 1850 is fifteen months ending December 31; 1851 to 1858, inclusive, those ending December 31.
184544,821123.34%
184651,752142.41%
1847105,536290.41%
1848112,934310.76%
1849159,398438.62%
1850164,004451.29%
1851221,253608.83%
1852159,548439.03%
1853162,649447.57%
1854101,606279.59%
185549,627136.56%
185654,349149.55%
185754,361149.59%
185826,87373.95%

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Reference list

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