My family bible states an ancestor going to America jan 1848 and returning apr 1850.How do I find out more...?

Question

about this and what his business was over there. He also went to Australia in July 1852

Answer 1

UK answer.

Anthony suggested on line ships passenger lists, here's a link to a site that has such information.

http://rmhh.co.uk/passen.html

Could it be that your ancestor sailed to the USA with th intention of re-locating there? my 4 xgr grandad did but came back less than a year later, or your ancestor may have been looking for exotic fruits or other produce to sell.

Hope this helps.

Answer 2

try online ships passenger lists

Answer 3

Try www.cindislist.com

The very best online genealogy website. It has links and advice for most countries, including shipping lists.

Answer 4

1848 is too early for American passenger records to tell you a whole lot of information. The most you'll find is his name, nationality, occupation, name of the ship, date his ship sailed and the date he arrived. We weren't good at keeping detailed records at that time because it was during the Irish Potato Famine and there were too many immigrants and not enough people to do paperwork on them. Nor did we particularly think it important to keep detailed records then. That's why doing genealogy on Irish and English Americans is so very difficult before 1875. The only thing that might help you is if he stayed here past June 1, 1850 and was counted on the census. But even then, information was "skimpy". It's the Dark Ages of American genealogy because of how bad record-keeping was back then.