In 1820 and 1821 more than 3,000 emigrants boarded ships for this journey. Though the accommodations varied slightly, none of this was Carnival Cruise. This was more than a month at sea with your wife and small children. The quarters were sparse, and the food wasn’t the best.
Consider the fact that Peter McLaren was forty-one years old at the start of his voyage in July of 1820 and his wife, Janet, was forty-two; their children, four girls and three boys, ranged in age from ten months (youngest daughter, Christina) to fifteen years (eldest daughter, Isabella). Peter’s older brother, John, started the same journey in April of 1821 at the age of forty-six. John’s wife, Margaret, was forty-one and their children, three boys and a girl, ranged in age from two (son Peter) to twenty-one (son Findlay).