Irish Research

 A good place to start researching the Irish who came to Canada, is the Library and Archives Canada site at http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/immigration/history-ethnic-cultural/Pages/irish.aspx 

 

They say that ‘Canada's most recent census returns list the Irish as the fourth largest ethnic group in Canada with almost four and a half million Canadians claiming either some or full Irish lineage. Indeed, this bond between Canada and Ireland has been in existence for centuries’.

At this site, they have the Genealogy and Family History section, where they list under the headings of Research at Library and Archives Canada, Research in Published Sources, and Research at Other Insitutions and Online sources that may hold answer to your Irish research. 

So if you have Irish anscestors, this may be a good place to start your Irish research.

Check the Canadian Week in Review every Monday morning for the latest in Genealogy, Heritage, and History news in Canada.

If you missed this week’s edition, it is at http://genealogycanada.blogspot.com/2015/03/canadian-news-in-review-09-march-2015.html

It’s the ONLY news blog of its kind in Canada!

It has been a regular post every Monday morning since

April 23, 2012.

Call for Speakers - Irish Genealogy

 

Gwyneth Pearce, the Secretaryof the Toronto Branch, Ontario Genealogical Society has sent me the following press release -

'Toronto Branch is planning a one-day workshop on 19 September 2015 on Irish genealogy and family history with a specific focus on Ulster. Historian Dr. William Roulston and genealogist Chris Paton have agreed to lead this workshop as keynote presenters, and we are now seeking other speakers with Irish expertise who would like to be part of the team. We invite proposals for presentations at either a beginner or more advanced level aimed at family historians researching ancestors in the nine counties in the historic province of Ulster'.

They have detailes at their call for presentations at http://torontofamilyhistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Call-for-Speakers-Irish-Genealogy-Workshop-Sept-2015.pdf.

The deadline to submit a proposal for this workshop is Saturday,18 April 2015.

Their Facebook page is at https://www.facebook.com/TOFamilyHistory

Their Twitter account is @TOFamilyHistory

Check the Canadian Week in Review every Monday morning for the latest in Genealogy, Heritage, and History news in Canada.

If you missed this week’s edition, it is at http://genealogycanada.blogspot.com/2015/03/canadian-week-in-review.html

It’s the ONLY news blog of its kind in Canada!

It has been a regular post every Monday morning since

April 23, 2012.

Irish Genealogy Workshop at Heritage Mississauga

Heritage Mississauga—in conjunction with the Halton-Peel Branch of the OGS—will present an all-day Irish Genealogy Workshop with Ruth Blair on Saturday, February 21st, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Robinson Adamson House, 1921 Dundas Street West in Mississauga.

Topics will be -

Taking Your Irish Ancestors Back over the Pond

and

Researching your Irish Family History From Afar

The cost is $25, and registration must be paid in advance by calling Heritage Mississauga at 905-828-8411, ext. 0 or by email info@heritagemississauga.org.

Heritage Mississauga was stated in 1960 by a small group of volunteers. Known then as the Toronto Township Historical Foundation, the charitable organization supported the move of the Bradley House to its present location, and worked to open the as the area’s first museum.

From its offices known at "The Grange"—the historic Robinson-Adamson House (1921 Dundas Street West, Mississauga)—the Heritage Mississauga provides the community with a comprehensive Heritage Resource Centre.

A little-known online resource is Heritage Profiles, where you will find over 50 local residents who have written profiles at http://www.heritagemississauga.com/section/?section=17.

They also have a cemetery map at http://www.mississauga.ca/portal/residents/cemeteries, and another online resource, Mississauga; A City of Many Villages at http://www.heritagemississauga.com/section/?section=7, where one can download a map of the villages.

Their website is at http://www.heritagemississauga.com

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Check the Canadian Week in Review every Monday morning for the latest in Genealogy, Heritage, and History news in Canada.

If you missed this week’s edition, it is at http://genealogycanada.blogspot.com/2015/01/canadian-week-in-review-26-january-2015.html

It’s the ONLY news blog of its kind in Canada!

It has been a regular post every Monday morning since April 23, 2012.

Ireland Canada Monument Project

Every so often, I hear from the Ireland Canada Monument Project in Vancouver, British Columbia by receiving their newsletter.

The Monument project is an historic endeavour to give recognition to those of Irish birth or descent who have given or continue to give to Canada, its provinces and the City of Vancouver.

They say that “The core work for the project is basically complete and general agreement has been reached between the Monument Society and Vancouver Parks Board on site details. Once a new site is agreed upon, the Monument Society looks forward to finalizing the site layout with Parks Board staff.”

They have a blog at http://irelandmonumentvancouver.com and you can be placed on the newsletter distribution list by writing to irelandmonumentcanada@gmail.com 

Their Facebook page is at https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Ireland-Canada-Monument/103460626418488

FREE access to immigrant roots to end soon

Free access to select immigration records ends at midnight Eastern Daylight Time, today, Sunday, March 17th. 

So come to Ancestry.com right now to learn about an ancestor's voyage to America in passenger lists. Or find out if they traveled by land in border crossings records.

Go to http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/18142230/family

Irish Canadians

Almost 1.2 million Irish immigrants arrived in Canada from 1825 to 1970. By 1867, they were the second-largest ethnic group in Canada and comprised 24% of Canada's population. About one-half settled in Ontario. One-third was Catholic, and two-thirds were Protestant.

While many immigrants came as farmers with such settlement schemes as cheap (or free) land, some of the immigrants came to work on the infrastructure of the country, such as canals, roads, railroads, and in the lumber industry in Ontario.

I have been reading the new book, Researching Your Irish Ancestors at Home and Aboard by OGS member Dr. David R. Elliott, and have excerpted a part of it in the May issue of Families, of which I am the editor.  

This book is written from the point of view of getting your research in order at home before going to conduct research in Ireland.  By using, the approach outlined in the book, it should give the researcher a degree of satisfaction in finding your Irish roots.

This book can be purchased at the Ontario Genealogical Society at http://ogs.on.ca/ogscart/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=1502&zenid=aq9j832c6ok4khsr02obnar5b6

To refresh your knowledge of the Irish in Canada, you can go to the Library and Archives Canada at www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/genealogy/022-905.005-e.html

Celebrating Our Irish Roots Day

On Wednesday, March 20, 2013, there will be a meeting of the Quebec Family History Society from 1:30 pm to 4:00 pm at the QFHS Heritage Centre and Library, 173 Cartier Avenue, Pointe-Claire (Montreal), and you are asked to come and celebrate your Irish roots.

Join QFHS members Sharon Callaghan and Kelley O'Rourke for coffee, tea, and informal conversation to talk about Ireland and our ancestors who came from there.

Sharon is a lecturer and author of the book, Paths of Opportunity, a portrayal of the Irish Montreal experience of one family who arrived in Quebec in the 1840s at the start of The Famine. Kelley was a member of a small group of dedicated volunteers who played a significant role in restoring the St. Columban Cemetery, a predominantly Irish cemetery in the Lower Laurentians.

Come browse the books from our Irish collection. If you are new to genealogy, talk to our members about how to start researching your family history.

Bring a coffee mug, a friend, your own favourite books and resources on Ireland that have helped you in your research, or just bring yourself.

Everyone is Irish on Irish Roots Day, so join us.

Open to our members and the public. Admission is free.  Visit  www.qfhs.ca/events.php

Film Screening of the Coffin Ship Hannah

On Wednesday, March 13, 2013 at the Enoch Turner Schoolhouse,106 Trinity Street,Toronto, there will be a special screening of The Coffin Ship Hannah which recounting the extraordinary tale of an Irish coffin ship.

In 1849, while carrying Irish immigrants fleeing to Canada from Ireland’s potato famine, the Hannah struck ice off the coast of Newfoundland, and was shipwrecked.

The film was produced in 2011 by Galafilm, in association with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and Radio-Canada.

The doors open at 6:30 p.m., and the film screening will be at 7 p.m. Discussion will follow the screening at 8:45 p.m.

Tickets for this special event are $10 for adults, $8 for students, seniors and Enoch Turner Schoolhouse Foundation members, and free for children 13 and under.

For more information, or to buy tickets in advance, please visit Enoch Turner Schoolhouse, call 416-327-6997 or email enochturner@heritagetrust.on.ca. Tickets will also be available at the door.

To go to the website, click on www.enochturnerschoolhouse.ca

To go to the Hannah website, click on the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hannah_(1849_shipwreck)

London & Middlesex County Branch of the OGS Holds Meeting

On the 5 February 2013, David R. Elliott will speak on "New Strategies in Irish Parish Register Indexing". 

David is a professional genealogical researcher, historian, author, has spent several summers recording church records in Ireland.

The Annual Meeting of the London & Middlesex County Branch, OGS, will also be conducted.

The website is http://londonmiddlesex.ogs.on.ca

PostScript: David ‘s latest book Researching Your Irish Ancestors at Home and Abroad has just been released, and it will be excerpted and a book review will be in the May2013 issue of Families.

The Ontario Genealogical Society website is at http://www.ogs.on.ca

SCHOOL OF CANADIAN IRISH STUDIES

On Friday, November 23, 7:00 p.m. at the Concordia University, School of Canadian Irish Studies located at the Hall Building, 1455 de Maisonneuve W., Room 1070 (10th floor). Montreal, they will be holding the 7th Annual St. Patrick’s Society Lecture .

The topic of the lecture will be “The Irish Decade of Commemorations: Some Reflections” and the speaker will be Catriona Crowe, National Archives of Ireland.

Catriona Crowe is Head of Special Projects at the National Archives of Ireland. She is Manager of the Irish Census Online Project, which has placed the 1901 and 1911 censuses online free of charge over the last 4 years. She is an Editor of Documents on Irish Foreign Policy, which published its seventh volume, covering the period 1941-45, in November 2010. She is editor of Dublin 1911, published by the Royal Irish Academy in late 2011.

She is Vice-President of the Irish Labour History Society, and a former President of the Women’s History Association. She is Chairperson of the Irish Theatre Institute, which promotes and supports Irish theatre and has created an award-winning website of Irish theatre productions.

I have heard her speak on many occasions and she has a dedication to her subject that is commendable. So if you are near Montreal, and have Irish ancestors, this is a lecture your should not miss. .

The website of the School of Canadian Irish Studies is http://cdnirish.concordia.ca

Lucille Campey at BIFHSGO Conference

On Saturday and Sunday, September 15th and 16th, I attended the British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ottawa's Conference, and heard Ottawa native, Dr. Lucille Campey, give three talks about emigration from the British Isles to Canada.

Since I am deeply interested in emigration, I had waited impatiently since first hearing that she was coming to speak at the conference, so I had to make sure that I did not miss any of her talks.

The first talk was “Lord Selkirk and the Settlement of Scottish Highlanders in Canada”, and Lucille says that he is a favorite of hers to write about because he had such a strong personality, and such a commitment to bring Scottish Highlanders to Canada to settle in Red River, Manitoba; Baldoon (Wallaceburg), Ontario; and Belfast in Prince Edward Island.

Her next talk on Sunday was “Seeking a Better Future: The English Pioneers of Ontario and Quebec” in which she challenged the commonly-held idea that people were running from poverty in the homeland. She found out in her research that the English came to Canada seeking greater freedoms and a more attractive style of life than they could find at home.

Her third talk, “The Scots in Ontario – a New Look at the Data”, looked at Ontario census data to explain why Scottish people settled in the area where they settled. She showed genealogists why people such as weavers and kelp farmers settled in particular areas in Ontario. It was an interesting talk for me because it showed the patterns of settlement, and the reasons why people settled in one area, and not in another.

You should check out her books on emigration at Dundurn Press http://www.dundurn.com/authors/lucille_h_campey, and the interviews that were done with her by BIFHSGO at www.bifhsgo.ca/upload/files/Conference%202012/Campey.mp3 In addition, there is an interview with Lucille Campey, Chris Paton, and Patricia Whatley by Ottawa's Austin Comerton on his radio show, The Gaelic Hour (CJLL 97.9 FM) www.thegaelichour.ca. To listen to the interview, click here - www.thegaelichour.ca/20120916.m3u

You can visit her Scottish website at www.scotstocanada.com, and her English website at www.englishtocanada.com

Podcasts at the LAC

Sylvie Tremblay, the Manager, Content Delivery and Coproduction Services at the LAC has just announced the following -

“Library and Archives Canada (LAC) is pleased to announce the release of our latest podcast episode: The Shamrock and the Fleur-de-Lys.

In this episode, we consult a panel of experts about the massive immigration of Irish settlers to Quebec in the 1800s. We examine the journey they made in order to establish their new lives on foreign soil, as well as the cultural bond that formed between the Irish and the Québécois.

Subscribe to episodes using RSS or iTunes, or just tune in at: Podcasts – Discover Library and Archives Canada: Your History, Your Documentary Heritage”.

I have listened to the podcasts, and have read the transcript, and have found them to be very good.

People are interviewed including Sylvie from the LAC, Jo-Anick Proulx from Parks Canada, and Simon Jolivet, a history professor from the University of Ottawa each with their own knowledge in the area. And you get a good, rounded view of the Irish as they came to Canada – and many of them were sick and died at the Grosse-Île Quarantine Station just beyond Quebec.

It deserves a listen.

Go to http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/news/podcasts/Pages/shamrock-and-fleur-de-lys.aspx 

Canadian Emigration: Parliamentary Papers of 1826

The following press releases was received from FindMyPast, and it says, in part -

“This parliamentary paper publishes the correspondence and extensive supporting documents of the British government with the Governor-General of Canada concerning the settlement of poor Irish in the Newcastle District in 1826, or 'Mr. Robinson’s Emigrants' as they became known. This was the result of a Commons request to be furnished information on the settlement as it had been publicly funded.

The official title of this parliamentary travel and migration record is:

Return of the Assessed Value of the Townships in the Newcastle District in Western Canada, which were settled by Pauper Emigrants from Ireland, between the years 1825 and 1828 at the public expense: Of the number of various Emigration Societies formed in Canada in 1840, by Canadian Proprietors desirous of Settling Emigrants from Great Britain and Ireland upon their Estates. (1848)”.

Initially the Governor-General just sent updated valuations of the relevant townships (Ashpodel, Douro, Dummer, Emily, Ennismore, Ops, Otonabee and Smith) which had since be designated as part of the District of Colbourne. But following further demands for information, he sent a detailed breakdown of every plot settled by Irish paupers in 1826 by Peter Robinson.

The details listed include:

- Name of the 1826 settler
- Number in the settler’s family
- Lot number
- Concession
- Acreage
- Number of acres cleared by 1847
- Number of horses and horned cattle on the plot
- Name of present occupants on lot
- Relationship of occupants to settler
- Other critical pieces of information

In total, around 260 plots are covered, giving details of over 700 people. While this is a short publication, it is an essential migration resource for those who became known as the Robinson Irish settlers, and indeed, for anyone in Southern Ontario with an Irish family history.

The information is at http://www.findmypast.ie/