Prepaid ticket receipt

Many Irish emigrants travelled across the Atlantic on pre-paid tickets, purchased in the United States by family members or friends. It may have taken years to save the money to purchase a steamer ticket. Companies operated a type of saving scheme, allowing as little as $1 a month to be put towards a ticket. The companies made no charge for this service and guaranteed that all the money collected would be used against the ticket. In this way families did not need to worry about exchange rates, fees for money transfers or sending cash through the post as the process of issuing a ticket was handled entirely by the company. Once the full amount was paid in the US and the date and place of sailing arranged, the passenger received notification from the local agent that their ticket was ready

Ticket receipt scanned courtesy of Maritime Historian Paul Louden Brown