Irish Emigration and Canadian Settlement: Patterns, Links, and Letters

Terry A. Crowley is an associate professor of History at the University
of Guelph and author of For All Times: A Centennial History of St. James
the Apostle Anglican Church.

The stereotype of nineteenth-century Irish immigrants to Canada as a
tattered, flea-infested, and ignorant peasantry is shattered in this
broad-ranging and thoughtful study. While previous work by historians
has been fragmented and limited, Houston and Smyth cast their net
broadly across Canada and the United States throughout the first
three-quarters of the century. They clearly show that Canada was the
preferred destination for Irish coming to North America from 1815 to
1855, although many stayed only temporarily. Most came from Ulster and a
few areas in the south of Ireland. By 1871, about 60 percent of
Canada’s Irish were Protestant. The 1847 Famine emigration, although
different, was insufficient to disrupt the pattern. Whatever their
religion, the Irish-Canadian experience in the early nineteenth century
was rural rather than urban: like most Canadians, they became
agriculturalists.

While much of this interpretation is not new, this book is important
because it pulls together many loose strands. Possessing a sound grasp
of conditions on both sides of the Atlantic, it charts people’s
movement from their departure through to their adjustment to Canadian
life. Unfortunately, it relies too heavily on a few examples to
characterize the settlement process; and, considering that 40 percent of
English emigrants in the late nineteenth century returned to Britain, it
neglects the failures. Included, though, are some delightfully
informative and readable letters written to people back home.

Although it pays insufficient attention to the urban setting, this
study will stand for some time as the chief reference on Irish
emigration to Canada.