The more I read the guestbook references and see the amount of personal family connections that a graciously volunteered there the more I realise what an enormous task it would be to link everyone up.

Several things seem to emerge:

1) Predominately Irish roots with Scotland running a reasonable second. There are fewer from England and vitually nothing from anywhere else.

2) As there is an extensive "tribe" of "English" Caldwell's I presume that the lack of migration from this area must mean that the social conditions that drove people to emigrate were not as strong in England. There were also probably more Caldwell's in Scotland than there were in Ireland but again social pressures boosted the flow of immigrants from Ireland.

3) In Scotland Weavers were relatively well off until about the time of the Napoleonic Wars after this time they suffered badly due to the mechanisation of the weaving process during the industrial revolution. Coal Mining was initially better paid (Industrial Revolution again) but later in the century coal mining once again became poorly paid (and the conditions were always awful). Consequently pre-1800 social migrants would have likely been off the land, or migrating for religious tolerance reasons. Early 1800's might well have added displaced weavers and others afffected by the industrial revolution, later into the 1800's coal mining became harder and they were added to the flow. This is hardly definative and someone with better information might like to take this argument up. I am especially talking about the Lowlands from whence the Caldwell's would have come and not referring to the Highland Clearances which would not have directly affected our family.

(to be continued)