My first ancestor to come to America was Abbán and Ethna McElhinney. Their story is one of many twists and turns. It started back when my ancestors were scam artists. They floated through Ireland stealing from the rich and taking from the poor. No one was safe from the Bandits of the Ire; a name they gave them self lightheartedly. Until one day, the couple was lounging around a small fishing town named Potrush. Over the hill came the kings men, looking for our heroes. Luckily for them, James Seamus, a fisherman and friend, was standing by with their ship, the destination: Scarba Scotland.
Richard Hill, the owner of this island was a long time friendly rival, and willing to let them stay for a while. One day in late April, Gael Richard Mcelhinney was born. Even today the family swears up and down that she was born in Ireland, but the dates don’t match up. Ricahard’s son Aonghus became betrothed to Gael. A few other families resided on the island and our heroes prospered. After some internal struggle (unknown to me due to lack of specifics) the land was taken from the Hill clan. Most families left except the direct descendants of Aonghus and Gael.
A short time later, the land was given back to the family, deriving the family name Givens. It had been about 20 years since the retreat from Ireland, so the Givens decided it was time to go back. Another twenty years or so, the Givens resided in Ireland. Occasionally they would resort back to their ancestors thievery, at one point attempting to steal from the richest family in rhe area. This family used all of its political influence to have the givens forced to leave Ireland. This time Risteard and Bébhinn Givens travelled to America. Their name was actually Dado meaning given in English.
It wasn’t until they reached America their names were Americanized. Bébhinn became Vivian and Risteard became Richard. Vivian and Richard Givens. They boarded a ship that left from an English port headed for Boston, where they settled down. Both were young about 25 years old and childless when they first came over. They scammed their way onto the ship, pretending to be a sad couple looking for their lost child. The descendants of RIcahrd and Vivian continued to move west finding work on the rail road until they became inn owners in California. The family has lived there since.
The inn can still be found, named the Give Inn, but I was unable to find it with the amount of online research I could obtain, and the inn no longer belonging to the family. They were you’re basic cheap Irish laborers, They were well like and about every other generation or so was blessed with the family “Silver Tongue. ” Story goes there was no trouble at Elis Island, but the facts are unknown. It’s is difficult to analyze the push and pull factors which forced my ancestors to immigrate due to the special circumstances which caused their movement.
Instead of normal reasons, my family was kicked out of the country. The immigration was in fact not an example of expansion diffusion. It could be considered chain migration by the fact that the amount of migration moving from the United Kingdom area, but their migration was not and did not directly cause any other migrations. My subject was forced international migration. It was forced due to the unification of the country which was beginning at the time of this occurance.
Once they arrived in America, due to the fact that most migrant workers had the same Irish background, their culture remained consistent throughout the ages, eventually becoming mixed with the Germans and an unknown time. The biggest political obstacle was the Irish law. They did own much political influence, but unfortunately, their crimes caught up with them. All of the favors couldn’t get them out of the situation they were in. However their influence did assure them safe passage to America, which allowed the family to prosper. Ravenstein talks about how men would immigrate first to find jobs, but more recently it has flipped.
Because my subject came over as a family, it does not fit Ravenstein’s generalities due to the fact that jobs weren’t top prioity in venturing to America. My subject does fit Zelinsky’s model, but not his reasons. They did not migrate because of the model, it’s merely coincidence. My subject was not a typical immigrant. The others were looking for freedom or livliehood, my family got kicked out and had to find a new home. I do believe the move was worth it. They moved to a place where immigrants were welcome, and if one worked hard enough, he could make a living.
