Voyage To America - (1765-1827)

Sailing Ship Hannibal - James Fulton Pringle (1788-1847)

The ship Hannibal creaked and groaned as she made her way across the wide Atlantic Ocean. Plunging waves, storms and swells were the norm as she plied her regular route between New York and Liverpool. A sailing ship of 440 tons she combined her cargo with a small but growing number of passengers. Four formal cabin passengers were increasingly supplemented by emigrants placed in the grim “steerage” area of the ship. On this leg of the route between Liverpool and New York there were ten passengers in steerage including three children aged between 1 and 6 years travelling with their unaccompanied mother. Emigrants travelling in steerage were frequently in a desperate situation, trying to escape poverty with the chance of finding a new life in places like the United States of America. Among these passengers in May 1827 were Henry Blackbourn and four members of his family…….

Origins

When Richard Blackbourn and his wife Martha uprooted their family from the North East of England in 1765 they did so for a distinct purpose. They needed to free themselves from hunger and ensure a future for their children. Conditions were not good for the urban poor in the centre of Newcastle. Richard had word that general workers were required to work in the burgeoning textile industry in the hill towns to the east of Manchester.

The new factories had begun to mechanise the upstream processes of cloth making, rather than the yarn spinning and weaving of the final product. The cleaning, scouring, fulling (thickening) and carding (combing wool straight) processes were the first to be mechanised at scale. Consequently unskilled workers were required to operate the factories. It was these roles that Richard Blackbourn was targeting as he set off with Martha and their one year old son Henry and Journeyed to Ashton-Under-Lyne in Lancashire.

Richard became known as a”Clothier”, a generic term for anyone who worked in the cloth industry. His move south proved a success and he and Martha had five further children by 1779. Moving eastward up the river Tame to a town called Mossley, with the expanding family moving further east to an area known as Saddleworth.

Saddleworth was a little outpost of Yorkshire inside Lancashire until boundary reorganisation in 1973. Similar in climatic and agricultural conditions to the eastern side of the Pennines it had the requirements necessary for the early woollen industry. That is abundant clean water and little alternative occupations but sheep farming. The Tame and its tributaries provided the clear running water needed in the cleaning processes and also the power to drive the first simple machines. By 1792 there were 72 water wheels powering processes along the Tame.

A group of small towns made up Saddleworth, Denshaw, Greenfield, Uppermill, Dobcross and most significantly Delph. At Delph the major employers were Lumb Mill and the Rasping Mill at Gatehead. The Rasping Mill was part owned by Thomas Buckley and involved the early part of carding, separating and straightening the wool fibres. The Buckleys had been landowners in the area since early middle ages, and were now part of the new breed of entrepreneurs.

Delph Mills Map                                  Grotton Hall c. 1800 - Home of the Buckley Family

Henry Blackbourn, son of Richard, had entered the wool textile trade and worked at mills in Mossley, Greenfield and Slack Cote, just outside Delph. Slack Cote was again part owned by the increasingly prominent Buckley family, this time by Robert Buckley. So influential did they become that “Buckley”became a popular first name choice, including one of Henry’s sons born in 1807. Henry was involved in the carding process and was known as a “slubber”. He had married a local girl Catherine (Kitty) Oldham in 1784 six months after getting her pregnant. The marriage was to last, however, and Kitty bore 13 more children up to 1813.

Life in Saddleworth continued to develop for the Blackburn family, the cloth industry providing everyone with a living and the increasingly important Methodist Chapels providing spiritual guidance. John Wesley had visited the district in 1780 and the first chapel was built in Delph behind the Rose and Crown Inn the following year. Which is where Henry and Kitty had their fourteenth and final child baptised in 1813. The family name of “Blackbourn” which Henry and his parents had brought down from the Northeast was quickly changed to the local and more guttural pronunciation and spelling of “Blackburn” with the baptism of Henry’s brother Christopher in 1767.

By 1823 the original migration of three individuals from the Newcastle/ Gateshead area in 1765 had blossomed to 36, living in the Saddleworth district and involved with the textile industry.

Disaster

The Buckleys in the form of James Buckley had established a bank with a partner named John Roberts in Saddleworth in 1813. This quickly merged with Harrop & Co Bank of Dobcross in 1814 to form Buckleys, Shaw & Co. The bank aided the financing of textile businesses successfully until in 1825 there was a run on all banks in the Saddleworth area.

In 1825 and 1826 the Yorkshire and Lancashire textile industry was suffering from a serious business downturn. Many of the mills in Saddleworth were forced to close. The business owners were drawing on the banks to rescue both their companies and save their fortunes.

To compound this situation a severe drought in the summer of 1826 had reduced the river Tame to a meagre trickle with insufficient water to power the water wheels.

The resulting effect for the workers in Saddleworth was dire. The Poor Law records of this time show the distress of many families as they were forced to seek assistance. Of the mills which stayed open many paid their workers in vouchers which could be exchanged for goods in some of the local shops.

Henry Blackburn’s older children had established families of their own and had more experience to offer in the woollen trade. His younger children, Mary-Ann 23, Henry 21, Thomas 20 and Buckley 19, were without work and the family were struggling.

Message From America

In America a textile industry had been developing which was virtually a mirror image of the British industry. A British Mechanic, Samuel Slater had founded the first cotton spinning mill in America at Pawtucket, Rhode Island in 1790. He had emigrated to America in 1789 having worked for Jedediah Strutt and his famous business partner Richard Arkwright. Arkwright had invented the water powered cotton spinning machine (The Water Frame) and a carding engine for use prior to the spinning process. Combining with Strutt to create the worlds first water powered mill at Cromford, Derbyshire, England.

Arkwrights Water Frame Spinning Machine

It was these technologies which Slater used to progress his businesses in the United States. Entrepreneur Moses Brown had been looking for a mechanic who knew about the English production processes. They formed a company, Almy, Brown & Slater and mills were constructed in Massachusetts and Connecticut in addition to Rhode Island.

Slater was not alone in developing the textile industry in New England at this time. Francis Cabot Lowell established the Boston Manufacturing Company in Waltham, Massachusetts in 1813. His innovation was to use power looms to not only spin the yarn but to weave the cloth. Lowell came to dominate the industry and in 1826 founded the city of Lowell on the banks of the Merrimack river. Six businesses were created there and a model system of accommodation for the largely female workforce.

These developments had served to develop a substantial centre for textile manufacture in New England and Massachusetts in particular. The importance of a good supply of water for power and cleaning processes led to clusters of businesses along the Merrimack at Lowell, Andover, Haverhill and Amesbury.

The United States government were interested in developing their industry. They sponsored a centre for textile manufacture in New Jersey but this folded in 1796. They did not abandon support, however, and in 1816 introduced 25 percent tariffs on imported wool and cotton products.

In 1826 the New England textile businesses were doing very well, in stark contrast to those in the Saddleworth area of England. American industrialists were in need of labour and they ensured their representatives passed that message on during visits to England.

The Voyage

At the end of the summer of 1826 Henry Blackbourn and his four youngest children were struggling to find work. Subsistence on the Parish handouts, even when combined with help from the wider family was difficult.

There had been representatives of American industry in the area, however, looking for experienced factory workers willing to travel across the Atlantic. It became known through Henry’s 32 year old daughter Martha, who had married a Joseph Broadbent, that six members of the Broadbent family, local to Saddleworth and headed by John Broadbent, 48, were to travel on the American sailing ship Colossus to New York and then on to the area of Boston, Massachusetts. The four male members of the party were all to work as “clothiers”.

This was of great interest to Henry as a potential solution to his families woes, but time was short as the Colossus was due to sail at the beginning of October. It was decided that his son, 21 year old namesake, Henry, would join the collection of clothiers on the Colossus and send word back home as soon as he could as to the potential for the rest of the family to travel.

The Colossus was a 399 ton sailing ship which carried general cargo and some passengers depending on demand. When the time came for Henry to travel to Liverpool and join the ship five more fellow workers had joined the passenger list, and of the sixteen passengers on the voyage twelve were engaged in textiles.

The ship arrived in New York on the 1^st November having taken just over a month to make the journey. It took six days to reach the destination on the outskirts of Boston near Framingham. The newer stagecoaches with constantly refreshed teams of horses could do the journey in three days, but these were beyond the means of Henry and his fellow passengers. Henry and the other travellers were quickly engaged in factory work, as promised by the emissaries who had toured Saddleworth, and he felt confident enough to send a letter back to his father in England.

Christmas had passed in Saddleworth before Henry received the letter in early January 1827. It described how the clothiers from the Colossus had all found work around Framingham and outer Boston. There was even the opportunity for women and girls to be employed in the new method mills of Francis Lowell in nearby Waltham.

Henry had to make plans for himself, Kitty and his three remaining youngest children to leave Saddleworth and travel 3000 miles across the ocean to start a new life.

19th C. Liverpool Docks

It would not be very difficult to extricate the family from the rented cottage, but he would talk to Martha and Joseph Broadbent about the Shipping companies departing Liverpool, and their cost.

There were a number of shipping lines regularly transiting between Liverpool and New York. Including the Packet Company and the first regular service, the Black Ball Line. These companies ran ships which carried a combination of cargo and passengers. The Packet ships originally carried mail packets which derived their name.

Henry found an American sailing ship which was travelling to New York in mid April, the Hannibal. Like most ships she was carrying cargo with a minimum of space for passengers. There were four cabins priced at £6.00 each (£810 in 2025 prices). That price was not in Henry’s reach, but it did not matter much as they were already booked. The passage available to Henry and his family was in Steerage.

Steerage was the lowest class of accommodation on ships and was commonly used by economic migrants who were too poor to afford anything but the cheapest available. It was generally housed in a common area in lower decks towards the rear of the vessel. The price available to Henry was still enormous, it was £4 10 shillings per person (£608 in 2025 prices). They would sell the horses, wagon and everything they could not take with them in order to pay for the journey.

A carriage ride took the party of five the 53 miles to Liverpool. The port was bustling as they unloaded at the dockside. Amongst the forest of masts and tangle of dockside equipment and cargo it was difficult to find their ship, the Hannibal. Eventually, having asked many dock men and officials they located the vessel. The boarding clerk was located on the dockside at the foot of the gangway to the ship. After checking their tickets they were led by a member of the crew to the steerage deck.

At first there was an element of shock and perhaps dismay. The deck was deep inside the aft of the ship with little natural light and even less fresh air. It was an open space within the exposed ships timbers and any chance of privacy was minimal. They laid their baggage down in a space within the cross beams supporting the deck above. Their baggage and some rough benches would form their furniture for the voyage. A simple stove in the centre of the deck area supplied heat and the possibility of rudimentary cooking.

On some vessels steerage class entailed supplying your own food for the voyage. The fare that Henry Blackbourn had paid gave access to a section of the galley set aside for the 10 steerage passengers. The ticket provided a set amount of food amounting to 456 grammes a day per person for the six weeks voyage. The food comprised of bread, oatmeal, flour, pork, sugar, molasses, tea and water. Specifically there were no vegetables made available.

19th C. Print of Steerage Passengers on an Atlantic Voyage

Of the 10 steerage passengers Henry’s party made up five. Henry and Kitty, both 63, Mary-Ann 24, Thomas 21 and Buckley 20. Travelling with them and known to them was nineteen year old Edward Broadbent, part of the Broadbent clan that had travelled on the Colossus voyage with Henry junior. Edward was also looking to use his skills as a clothier.

Struggling to maintain their dignity and provide the fundamentals of life were the remaining passengers. Elizabeth Barber, 36, was travelling to become reunited with her husband who had emigrated looking for work some months earlier. Travelling with her were her three young children, daughter Mary, 6, son John, 3 and young Elizabeth, 1. It was difficult keeping the two older children occupied and safe, but the youngest was not much more than a babe in arms and survival on the meagre diet was of much concern. Young Elizabeth was still taking breast milk, which provided essential nutrients, while oatmeal, bread and molasses pastes gave bulk.

Helping with Elizabeth’s children became a main focus for Kitty and Mary-Ann. Having reared 14 children there was not much Kitty didn’t know on this subject. Thomas and Henry strung up some blankets along the beams and spars to provide some elements of privacy and separation.

The Hannibal was making distance over the water at just under 3 nautical miles an hour (3 knots) which accounted for the six weeks to cover 3000 miles. Regular exercise walking around the open decks was essential to maintain health and escape the stifling conditions below. Parading round the deck, filling their lungs with salt air and staring into the horizon beyond was a major part of keeping body and soul together.

After passing an age of repetitive days a horizon was spotted, drawing steadily closer it was not a mirage. Eventually they passed through the Verrazzano Narrows and into the bay of New York Harbour. They had arrived in America.

The Master of the ship, James Watkinson, was happy to declare his manifest to the collector of customs at the Port of New York on 27^th May 1827. His 440 ton vessel, cargo and all 14 passengers (cabin and steerage) were delivered safely to the United States.

Postscript

All of Henry Blackbourn’s children that emigrated to America in 1826-27 found work in the textile industry and followed its migration from Boston to settlements up the Merrimack River. Quickly marrying into their new society:

1829 Henry (jr.) married Selina Huntington Woodward in Framingham, Middlesex, Massachusetts

1830 Buckley married Olive Janvrin in Amesbury, Essex, Massachusetts

1830 Mary Ann married Thomas Walwork in Andover, Essex, Massachusetts

1831 Thomas married Anna Jackson in Framingham, Middlesex, Massachusetts

Old Henry Blackbourn did not find it easy to reset his life in the new country. Kitty had failing health and the cumulative strains her body had undertaken began to take their toll. They made the decision to travel back to England and be with their older children in Saddleworth. Kitty died in May 1833 back home in Delph. Henry lived with older son John and his family at Gatehead in Delph until 1845 when he passed away in February at the age of 78. Through his journey, however, he could be assured that he had done his utmost to ensure the best chance in life for all his children.