The Invisible Irish
Finding Protestants in the Nineteenth-Century Migrations to America
An exploration of the enduring historical puzzle of the nature and scope of Irish Protestant migration.
Description
In spite of the many historical studies of Irish Protestant migration to America in the eighteenth century, there is a noted lack of study in the transatlantic migration of Irish Protestants in the nineteenth century. The main hindrance in rectifying this gap has been finding a method with which to approach a very difficult historiographical problem. The Invisible Irish endeavours to fill this blank spot in the historical record. Rankin Sherling imaginatively uses the various bits of available data to sketch the first outline of the shape of Irish Presbyterian migration to America in the nineteenth century. Using the migration of Irish Presbyterian ministers as "tracers" of a larger migration, Sherling demonstrates that eighteenth-century migration of Protestants reveals much about the completely unknown nineteenth-century migration. An original and creative blueprint of Irish Presbyterian migration in the nineteenth century, The Invisible Irish calls into question many of the assumptions that the history of Irish migration to America is built upon.
Reviews
“The Invisible Irish is a serious advance in research in Irish emigration and an important contribution to the field of Irish studies, especially in its treatment of questions about the Irish diaspora and Irish identity.” - Brian M. Walker, Queen’s University of Belfast
"Irish Presbyterians were a tight-knit community. Faced with the threat of government persecution and sectarian violence, they turned inward. And this church-centric community persisted when members moved to America. This feature of Irish Presbyterianism gave Sherling his “ah-ha” moment. If he could not track the community as a whole, he would trace the hundreds of Presbyterian who migrated to America to tend to New World congregations. Sherling’s ingenious approach – to follow the clerics – and his hard slog through the data has produced some surprising results … it shows the extent to which the horrors of the Great Famine were visited on Catholics and Protestants alike. One piece of the Irish diaspora puzzle is no longer invisible." – The Scotsman
“Rankin Sherling’s study adds massively to our knowledge of the great Irish migrations.” - Don MacRaild, Ulster University