Interesting family history, thanks for sharing it.
In the Carribean fields, Irish “indentured” and African slaves worked side by side. There was an object lesson in slavery vs “indentured servitude”.
In many ways Irish “indentured servants” were treated worse than slaves. Look at the economic incentives: a servant for a time is not an asset you can profit by taking care of and improving; he or she represents a prepaid expense. The incentive is to completely expend their strength by the end of the contract. And they did work and starve indentured servants to death.
And lets don’t kid ourselves, the English (especially then) hated the Irish. They weren’t trying to help them “get on their own feet”.
About seven million Irish survived the potato famine, one million of them by moving to America, a handful at best by moving to England. (My gr-gr-grandfather came in 1860, and he almost immediately joined the Army to fight to free the slaves.)