Irish Traveller Americans

An estimated 10,000 people in the United States are descendants of Travellers who left Ireland, mostly between 1845 and 1860 during the Great Famine. However, there are no official population figures regarding Irish Travellers in the United States as the US census does not recognise them as an ethnic group. The research of Romani linguist Ian Hancock suggests Travellers have made their way to the America's since the 1600s. While some sources estimate their population in the US to be less than 10,000, others suggest their population is 40,000. According to research published in 1992, Irish Travellers in the US divide themselves up into groups that are based on historical residence: Ohio Travellers, Georgia Travellers, Texas Travellers, and Mississippi Travellers. The Georgia Travellers' camp is made up of about 800 families, the Mississippi Travellers, about 300 families, and the Texas Travellers, under 50 families." Other communities exist in the Memphis, Tennessee/Southaven, Mississippi metropolitan area; Hernando, Mississippi; and near White Settlement, Texas; where the families stay in their homes during the winter, and leave during the summer, while smaller enclaves can be found across Georgia, Alabama, New York, and Mississippi. == Language ==

In his 1986 paper The Cryptolectal Speech of the American Roads: Traveler Cant and American Angloromani, Ian Hancock describes Irish Traveler Cant spoken in the United States as being a mix of primarily English and to a lesser extent Shelta, the language spoken by Travellers in Ireland. ==Social issues==

While the Irish Travellers have communities that prosper more socioeconomically, such as that in the one in Murphys Estates, South Carolina, their average median income is unknown as the U.S. Census does not consider the Traveller ethnicity to be recognized, and may often be conflated with the Irish American category, or simply Caucasian American. However, Travellers have been covered in Dallas-area news for accidents and deaths that have occurred in their community. In Tarrant County, Texas, where a Traveller community exists, several major incidents have occurred in the 2000s. In January 2000, five Travellers boys, ages 13-14, were killed in a car accident; the pickup they were riding in flipped over a median on Interstate 30 in west Fort Worth and landed upside down on another truck. A father of a boy killed in the wreck would be sentenced to 3 years in prison for scams that occurred in California, Texas, Alaska, and other states in 2005. The woman was said to be from the Greenhorn Traveler group that has wintered in the Fort Worth area since the 1800s. In November 2024, Irish Travellers once again were in national news, connected to an incident where former NHL player and hockey personality on the Barstool Sports podcast Spittin' Chiclets, Paul Bissonnette intervened in a drunken restaurant dispute in Scottsdale, AZ and was assaulted; the perpetrators were later connected to the Irish Traveller community. == References ==