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Is there any real definitive resource available that chronicles goods imported from Ireland both prior to and during the war? I'm interested in obtaining a book if available but an on-line source would prove useful as well. I've been piecing together bits and pieces of information from numerous places recently, but I'm finding the scattered odds and ends frustrating.
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Re: Irish imports...
There is a book on "Peter Tait A remarkable Story" published by Milnford. ISBN 0-9550379-0-5 ( or 1-3) One of the problems is that a lot of goods, wherever it was manufactured, ended up being transported to Liverpool, or elsewhere, prior to shipping, even one of Tait's shipments.[SIZE="2"][/SIZE][FONT="Comic Sans MS"][SIZE="3"]John Hopper[/SIZE][/FONT]
[SIZE="2"][SIZE="1"][SIZE="2"]Winston Free-State/First Confederate Legion/AoT
Member of The Company of Military Historians[/SIZE][/SIZE][/SIZE] -
Re: Irish imports...
Bryan -
The mention of Liverpool reminds me that American Consuls in the 19th Century including among their duties the inspection and certification of shipping documents, etc for vessels engaged in trade with the United States. (Liverpool brings this to mind, because Nathaniel Hawthorne was once Consul there and complained that the Consuls and Agents in Belfast and Londonderry - among others - were 'poaching' on his fees by carrying out certifications that should have been done in Liverpool. Since he received no salary but was to support himself from the fees he collected, Hawthorner felt that this was the equivalent of picking his pocket.)
If you can find some library, archive, or center that has copies of the records of Consular officers and agents in Ireland, you would find some indication of what goods were being shipped to the United States. There may also be some indications of this in trade and economic reports prepared by the census bureau. I believe that some of this data also shows up in period statistical reports that I have found via Google Books.
Robert A. MosherComment
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Re: Irish imports...
John,
Thanks for the great book recommendation. I will surely be picking that title up. I noticed, however, that Tait is said to have manufactured Confederate uniforms. Did he produce Union ones as well? I should have specified earlier that I am more interested in Union imports than Confederate ones.
Robert,
Thank you for some great advice; it is some that I will most definitely heed. As an aside, living in Salem, MA I really can think of no better place to reside when it comes to gathering Hawthorne information. One of his former homes is merely blocks away from me as well as the customs house in which he spent some time working.Comment
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Re: Irish imports...
Bryan, just Confederate, I had a guess that you meant Federal, but as I have had the same sort of issues tracking down Scottish, and in particular, Border exports, woollen items, cloth, etc. I also thought that ny info was better than none.
It may pay to try and google into Irish papers of the period, or find a way of getting info out of local newspapers. Public Libraries in Dublin, Belfast, etc. Tait went to great lengths to manipulate the media, as the book by his Grandson shows, and the local press carried many a story of his "succes's". I have no doubt many others did the same.
I have had a lot of info out of the Greenock , Aberdeen and various Scottish publications, so it is a good scource.
Happy hunting.[SIZE="2"][/SIZE][FONT="Comic Sans MS"][SIZE="3"]John Hopper[/SIZE][/FONT]
[SIZE="2"][SIZE="1"][SIZE="2"]Winston Free-State/First Confederate Legion/AoT
Member of The Company of Military Historians[/SIZE][/SIZE][/SIZE]Comment
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