I am a bit confused about some of the Erie Canal proclamations. My ancestors were not Scots-Irish, they were not civil engineers and we believe they worked on the Erie and other canals. They ended up in Iowa as laborers and farmers. This would be the early 1850s.

Many ships landed in Quebec, and very many in New Brunswick, especially at first because of the trade of carrying big timber to England and then having basically empty ships. Those were prime coffin ships because they were absolutely unsuited to human transportation..they would just rig up some bunks, have no accomodations for toilets, and were generally awful. Many people took them with no other recourse, and ended up walking through Vermont I believe and on to the Niagra Falls area and further south.

Ellis Island came later. There was Castle Gardens before...mg