Lucille H. Campey - Ontario and Quebec’s Irish Pioneers: Farmers, Labourers, and Lumberjacks

ALSO BY LUCILLE H. CAMPEY

Atlantic Canadas Irish Immigrants:
A Fish and Timber Story

Ignored But Not Forgotten:
Canadas English Immigrants

Seeking a Better Future:
The English Pioneers of Ontario and Quebec

Planters, Paupers, and Pioneers:
English Settlers in Atlantic Canada

An Unstoppable Force:
The Scottish Exodus to Canada

A Very Fine Class of Immigrants:
Prince Edward Islands Scottish Pioneers, 17701850

Fast Sailing and Copper-Bottomed:
Aberdeen Sailing Ships and the Emigrant Scots They Carried to Canada, 17741855

The Silver Chief:
Lord Selkirk and the Scottish Pioneers of Belfast, Baldoon and Red River

After the Hector:
The Scottish Pioneers of Nova Scotia and Cape Breton, 17731852

The Scottish Pioneers of Upper Canada, 17841855;
Glengarry and Beyond

Les cossais:
The Scottish Pioneers of Lower Canada, 17631855

With Axe and Bible:
The Scottish Pioneers of New Brunswick, 17841874

Copyright Lucille H. Campey, 2018

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise (except for brief passages for purpose of review) without the prior permission of Dundurn Press. Permission to photocopy should be requested from Access Copyright.

Cover design: Laura Boyle
Front cover image: Merrickville, Montague Township (Lanark County), on the Rideau River. This watercolour, painted in 1838 by Philip J. Bainbridge (18171881), shows immigrants in a small boat rowing towards the Merrickville settlement, having arrived in the Rideau Canal steamer shown on the left. Merrickvilles population was predominately Irish at the time and remained so for many decades. Courtesy Library and Archives Canada Acc. No. 1983-47-60.
Back cover: Gravestones of Irish settlers at Saint-Columban, north of Montreal. Photograph by Geoff Campey.
Printer: Webcom

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Campey, Lucille H., author
Ontario and Quebecs Irish pioneers : farmers, labourers, and lumberjacks / Lucille H. Campey.

(The Irish in Canada)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Issued in print and electronic formats.
ISBN 978-1-4597-4084-6 (softcover).--ISBN 978-1-4597-4085-3 (PDF).-
ISBN 978-1-4597-4086-0 (EPUB)

1. Irish--Ontario--History. 2. Irish--Qubec (Province)--History. 3. Immigrants--Ontario--History. 4. Immigrants--Qubec (Province)--History. 5. Ontario--Emigration and immigration--History. 6. Qubec (Province)-- Emigration and immigration--History. 7. Ireland--Emigration and immigration--History. I. Title. II. Series: Campey, Lucille H. Irish in Canada.

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We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, which last year invested $153 million to bring the arts to Canadians throughout the country, and the Ontario Arts Council for our publishing program. We also acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Ontario, through the Ontario Book Publishing Tax Credit and the Ontario Media Development Corporation, and the Government of Canada.

Nous remercions le Conseil des arts du Canada de son soutien. Lan dernier, le Conseil a investi 153 millions de dollars pour mettre de lart dans la vie des Canadiennes et des Canadiens de tout le pays.

Care has been taken to trace the ownership of copyright material used in this book. The author and the publisher welcome any information enabling them to rectify any references or credits in subsequent editions.

J. Kirk Howard, President

The publisher is not responsible for websites or their content unless they are owned by the publisher.

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To Geoff, with all my love

Reference Map of Ireland When United with Great Britain (pre-1922)

Reference Map of Upper and Lower Canada

Loyalist Placements Along the Richelieu River, 177585

Loyalists in Upper Canada

Loyalists in the Gasp Peninsula

Irish Communities to the North and South of Quebec City, 1851

Irish Concentrations in the Eastern Townships, 1851

Irish Communities to the North of Montreal, 1851

Irish Communities to the South of Montreal, 1851

Irish Concentrations in the Ottawa, Gatineau, and Rideau Valleys, 1881

Irish Concentrations in Argenteuil County, Lower Canada, 1881

Irish Concentrations in Durham, Hastings, Northumberland, Peterborough, and Victoria Counties, 1881

Irish Concentrations in Addington and Frontenac Counties, 1881

Irish Concentrations in Simcoe, Ontario, York, Peel, Halton, and Wentworth Counties, 1881

Irish Concentrations in Lambton and Middlesex Counties, 1881

Irish Concentrations in Huron, Perth, Wellington, Bruce, and Grey Counties, 1881

*All maps are Geoff Campey, 2018

Irish Immigrant Ship Arrivals at Quebec in 1847

Immigrant Arrivals at Quebec from Irish Ports During the Famine Years

Vessels Used by Landlords Who Assisted Their Irish Tenants to Emigrate to Upper Canada, 184151

Immigrant Arrivals at Quebec, 182955

Immigrant Arrivals at Quebec from Irish Ports by Region, 181740

Vessels Taking Landlord-Assisted Irish Immigrants to Quebec, 184251

Frequently Used Passenger Ships: Numbers Carried and Ship Quality

Ontario and Quebecs Irish Pioneers is the second book in the Irish in Canada series. It describes the great influx of Irish people to Ontario and Quebec during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and identifies the push/pull factors that were at work. It reveals the considerable pioneering achievements of the Irish and describes the ships that they sailed in, while debunking the victim-ridden interpretations of more recent times.

I was fortunate in having access to Cecil Houston and William Smyths Irish Emigration and Canadian Settlement, which provides an excellent grounding on the subject. Donald MacKays Flight from Famine and Bruce Elliotts Irish Migrants in the Canadas were invaluable as general reference books. On a provincial level, Robert Graces The Irish in Quebec, containing bibliographic references to the many Irish settlements that were founded, was of immense help. The Untold Story: The Irish in Canada, edited by Robert ODriscoll and Lorna Reynolds, is another invaluable source, particularly for regional and township studies. Much has been published on Irish settlements in different parts of Ontario. Donald Akensons