In 1886 William Gilmer found himself contemplating leaving Ireland. Gilmer, a member of the Church of Ireland who farmed sixteen acres at Mullaghanee in County Monaghan, was motivated to move by deteriorating local and national economic conditions. As he complained vociferously to his brother Robert in New Zealand, ‘Ireland is a very miserable place. We have not had more than 2 or 3 dry days at once all this summer. Harvest is ripe & no dry weather to cut it. The potato crop is a failure. Things are looking very bad indeed’ (Gr 2). Official reports confirmed that in Monaghan in 1886, ‘The yield of the potato and oats crop is far short of what it was last year. This is owing to the late spring, too much rain during the summer, and a want of ripening in the autumn. The heavy rain of last month had the effect of diminishing the oat crop considerably, and damaging the potato crop.’ This mounting malaise in Monaghan prompted a disheartened William to reconsider his future: ‘I’ll have to do something else than farming in Ireland, working & spending money for nothing’ (Gr 2). Another of William Gilmer’s New Zealand-based brothers, Samuel, commiserated about the disturbing circumstances in Ireland: ‘I can imagine all there is to be done on a few acres of Irish soil is not much after all said and done’ (Gr 1).

Disgruntled with his situation in Ireland, William considered his options. Australia as well as New Zealand was obviously in his mind for brother Samuel queried cheekily, ‘As for you going to new south wales is new zealand not large enough for you.’ Samuel then suggested, ‘Would you not have been better here only for your health’ (Gr 1). Just as crucial as William's wellbeing, however, was his wife's employment opportunities: ‘If I had only middling health I wd not stop long in Ireland, altho, I’ve fair health lately. If I thought my wife could get a situation as teacher, I wd very soon leave here’ (Gr 2).

Unlike many correspondents in Ireland, William Gilmer had already spent a period of time in New Zealand where five of his six brothers had settled, their staggered chain migration seemingly following the settlement of their maternal uncle, John Hamilton.