1847, Grosse Ile: A Record of Daily Events

Olaf Uwe Janzen is an associate professor of history at Memorial
University, reviews editor of The Northern Mariner, and editor of
Northern Seas.

These two books emerged out of the research undertaken in developing the
Grosse Оle and the Irish Memorial National Historic Site. Their
publication marked the 150th anniversary of a terrible typhus epidemic
that contributed to a horrific mortality rate of nearly 20 percent among
emigrants arriving through the Port of Quebec City in 1847.

The Register comprises two lists of emigrants (one taken from church
records, the other from newspapers) of almost every passenger who died
trying to enter British America through Quebec City. The lists include
the name, age, and date of death of the deceased, his or her dates of
embarkation and arrival, and the ship’s name and port of origin. These
data might be used to analyze in various ways the more than 4000
individuals identified here. There is some background material, but a
richer source on conditions and events is provided in 1847, Grosse Оle,
a chronicle of events that “[paints] a realistic picture of daily life
on the island.” Perhaps. But together, these books have a remarkably
antiquarian quality to them (though the authors freely admit that they
offer no analyses).

There is far too little background to provide either a context or
guidance for the details found here. We are told nothing about the
circumstances that caused the quarantine station to be established in
1832. We are told next to nothing about the procedures for inspecting or
quarantining ships. (Was every ship quarantined? Only passenger ships?
Only passenger ships from particular points?) Nothing is said about the
swell of migrants that peaked in 1847, or the regulations that governed
the passenger trade so inadequately. There are no bibliographies, no
suggestions on essential readings on the history of migration to British
America (curiously, neither book cross-references the other), no source
references. Despite offering an abundance of information, these books
have remarkably little to say by way of helping to make sense of a
traumatic episode in our past.