1848 - Margaret,18, Co. Tipperary, Ireland
Your family members live as tenant farmers in County Tipperary until the Great Famine of 1845–49 leaves them destitute. When you are 13, they decide to emigrate to Boston. Your father and mother travel first, with several of their eight children. Your mother and infant brother die during the journey to America. You stay behind in Ireland, living with an aunt and training to be a seamstress while saving money for the passage.
1853 - The journey After five years, you’ve saved up enough to rejoin your family in Boston. Your brother and his family are also emigrating, but they live far away in Liverpool, England. Though you’ve been warned about the dangers of travelling alone, this is a chance for independence that would rarely be available to young, unmarried women in Ireland.
What should you do?
