I'm quite interested in scouting out examples of such texts...
I guess "colonial" isn't entirely accurate. Let's say colonial-to-Civil War Era ..
I'm interested in just about anything. Letters, records, journals, autobiographies, maps, poetry, manuscripts, etc.
I'm most interested in Irish Gaelic, for the moment. Both because it more closely coincides with my language studies and because the whole "Scottish Gaelic in America and it's sources and significance" thing is too confusing a can of worms for me to handle right now. (That isn't to say I'm NOT interested in it. Just that it isn't my main focus, at this time)
I'm pretty well acquainted with the history of Ireland and Irish emigration/diaspora during the given time period. I'm also reasonably well acquainted with where it was spoken, by who, the decline, the revival(s), etc...
What I'm not very up-to-speed on is investigating. Dragging up documents. Digging around... This is my first attempt ever at such a thing aside from rather modest family history related efforts.
I'm down for the time and work. But I'm looking for any and all tips on how to effectively search for such things.
Specifically the first "migration" from the time period of (and often with) the earliest Scots-Irish migrations up to a couple decades post-("second", more famous)famine. I'll just broaden that and say 1720-1880, give or take. Not sure if the time period matters in regard to tips.
And please don't try to "correct" me in regards to my referring to the Irish Language as "Gaelic". It is Gaelic. It is classified as a Gaelic Language. It is even called "Gaelic" by those speaking it. I appreciate the way it was framed and the reasons it happened that way. All that jazz. Yes, It's Irish. But... alas.. it is Gaelic.
I would've probably just called it "Irish" to avoid the potential annoyance of folks attempting to correct me on it. And these past 2 paragraphs. But when speaking about multiple languages within the Insular Celtic realm(geographically or linguistically) I feel the need to be specific.
Not trying to come off as a know it all, either. I'm not. Just saw it happen on a couple other reddit threads and figured I'd establish off the bat I'm not here asking for help so people can play me with that fake woke s%@t lol i certainly can appreciate the Irish Nationalism and such behind it. But it seems to me there is a lot of work to do before you start coming at people for calling a language a thing that... it actually is, without question or exception....
Any help would be much appreciated. Extra points for PA, WV, Ohio Country, western NY etc specific tips. Thanks.
I found what appears to be a unique example of written Irish/Gaelic from 1875 (outside your period - sorry). It comes from Virginia City, Nevada, in the American West. A salutation was inscribed from a man to his uncle on the back of a photograph. The article on this, Ronald M James, “Timothy Francis McCarthy: Life of an Irish Immigrant Worker on the Comstock,” Nevada Historical Society Quarterly 39:4. Winter 1996, appears at this link. My article starts on page 48 of the PDF; the Irish/Gaelic text begins on page 52; an image of the inscription appears on page 56.
The text, transliterated, is as follows: "A dhearbhrathair dilis ma mhathar ionmhaina, Taidhg; is me mac do dhearfear-Riobard." The translation reads: "To Taidhg [Timothy], the dear brother of my beloved mother; I am the son of your sister-Riobard [Robert]."
I had always suspected that there were Irish/Gaelic speakers in Virginia City since most of its Irish emigrants were from Cork, specifically from the Beara Peninsula of the far west, where there were underground mines and where the indigenous language was strong. This photograph and inscription is the only example I found of the language having been recorded.
This is outside your specific period, but I thought you might find it of interest because it is far removed from the places where people usually think the Irish settled.
edit: I saw that my taking the quote from the PDF resulted in a reading error; it has been corrected