Irish Emigration and Canadian Settlement : Patterns, Links, and Letters / William J. Smyth, Cecil J. Houston.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Houston, Cecil J., author.

Smyth, William J., author.

Series:

Heritage

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Irish--Canada--History--19th century.

Irish.

Canada--Emigration and immigration--History--19th century.

Canada.

Ireland--Emigration and immigration--History--19th century.

Ireland.

Genre:

History.

Electronic books.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (370 pages) : illustrations

Place of Publication:

Toronto : University of Toronto Press, [1990]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

In mid-nineteenth-century Canada, the Irish outnumbered the English and Scots two to one. Yet they have been much less studied than their US counterparts, even though their experience was very different. Irish settlers arrived earlier in Canada, formed a larger proportion of the founding communities, and were largely rural-based; more than half were Protestant. The Famine provided only a rather late part of the Irish emigration to Canada, which took place principally between 1816 and 1855. The authors evaluate both emigration and settlement and present as well revealing personal documents about intense, often painful experiences of the settlers. Part I explores the geographical links - particularly the phenomenon of chain migration - that shaped decisions to leave Ireland. Part II examines patterns of settlement in the new land. Part III, with biographies of immigrants and collections of letters written home, chronicles personal and social life in the new land and the abiding interest in family and friends in Canada and back in Ireland. The documents illustrate links and patterns revealed in the earlier analysis of emigration and settlement; they also offer an additional, intimate perspective on a key phase in the cultural history of Canada and Ireland.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Acknowledgments

1. Introduction

Part One: Links in Emigration

2. Emigrant Origins

3. The Emigrants

4. The Emigration Process

Part Two: Patterns of Settlement

5. Settling In

6. Social and Religious Life

7. The Geography of Settlement

Part Three: Lives and Letters

8. Nathaniel and Joseph Carrothers: Upper Canadian Pioneers

9. Jane White: Townswoman in Upper Canada

10. Alexander Robb: Adventures in British Columbia

11. Conclusion

Notes

Index

Notes:

Includes index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 19. Feb 2019)

ISBN:

9781487590284

1487590288

9781487599676

1487599676

OCLC:

1022954563