Just finished a great book on the Irish Potato Famine of 1845 -- 1850.
'The Black Potato' by Susan Campbell Bartoletti.
A horrible 5 years for millions of Irish families. The population of
Ireland is approximately 4 million today, as compared to 8 million in
1845. Either starved to death or emigrated.
Of those who emigrated to Canada, and the US, many died of ship fever
(Typhus), either on route or after disembarking.
Bill
http://www.angelfire.com/ny/views/grosse.html
THANKS for stopping by, I do my best to acknowledge when someone leaves a comment,you do not have to be a member here & everyone is welcome. Ps: This site is monitored but not actively posting on a regular basis. Mostly these are stories & some photos saved from a defunct site known as Verdun Connections which was on MSN Groups initially then on a social network called Multiply.
14 comments:
If you enjoyed that book you might also like a book recommended a long time ago by McCourt - Angela's Ashes - very sad - by the end of the book I wanted to choke the father.
Shirley, I have read two of the Frank McCourt books (Angela's Ashes and
Tiss) I also enjoyed one of his brother Malachy McCourt's books (A Monk
Swimming), and they are all interesting. But Angela's Ashes is by far
the greatest. I like anything Irish including of course the classics.
Bill
"Kwitchyerbellyakin."
- Irish saying
En faisant des recherches sur mes ancêtres Irlandais du côté de ma mère (Slavin, Slevan), j'ai découvert plusieurs faits intéressants. Un fort contingent d'immigrants Irlandais se sont établis dans St Colomban dans le comté de Deux Montagnes au début des années 1820, incluant St Augustin, St Benoit et autres communautés environnantes. Ils s'établierons le long de la rivière du Nord et occuperont au fil des années tout l'intérieur des terres. Ils formeront la majorité de la population jusqu'à la première guerre mondiale. Plusieurs de ces Irlandais s'int챔grerons avec les Canadiens Fran챌ais et adopterons le Fran챌ais comme langue premi챔re. While tracing my ancestry, I discovered many interesting facts about the Irish on my mother's side (Slevan, Slavin etc.). A strong contingent of Irish immigrated in the St Colomban area in Deux Montagnes county at the beginning of the 1820s.They will colonise the area along the Rivière du Nord and the interior of the lands. They will form the majority of the population up to the first world war. This area includes St Augustin, St Benoit and surrounding communities. Many of these Irish inter married with the French Canadian community and eventually adopted the French language.
Here is a link to a review of the movie "Angela's Ashes" based on the book by McCourt. http://www.cinephiles.net/Angelas_Ashes/Film-Synopsis.html
Thanks Maggie for the review. I watched this movie a year or so ago.
Tragic living conditions indeed.
It is incredible the amount of classic english literature from Irish
writers (William Yeats, James Joyce, C.S. Lewis etc.) when you consider
only a few Irish could speak english during the time of the famine. The
great majority of the 8,000,000 Irish at the time spoke only Irish.
Bill
Btw Malachy McCourt wrote 5 or more books, including a text on the
History of Ireland.
Love cures people--both the ones who give it and the ones who receive
it.
--Karl Menninger
Aw Bill my lad - sure I was expecting an Irish quote. May those that love us love us and those that don't may God turn their hearts and if he cant turn their hearts may He turn their ankles that we may know them by their limping. How is that.
May the road rise to meet you,
May the wind be always at your back,
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
The rains fall soft upon your fields
and, Until we meet again
May God hold you in the palm of His hand
- An Irish Blessing
My all time favourite Irish toast, and I "brought down the house" with it at a recent wedding is, "As you both slide down the bannister of life.........................May all the splinters be facing in the right direction!" art
Ouch!!
"Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another:
What! You, too? Thought I was the only one."
- Clive Staples Lewis
If you can do a search for 'Grosse Island' in the St. Lawrence . You'll
see all the names of Irish who died there of Ship Fever during the
!800s. You won't be able to click on the URL I posted below for some
reason, but you could accent and save/paste onto a search engine.
There is also the huge Stone Memorial at the foot of the Victorian
Bridge as testament to the thousands who died on the Montreal water
front.
Mr. Sullivan, a V.C. member, posted a bit of interesting history a
while back. Apparently there were hundreds of Irish children orphaned
during this period and French families adopted them and as their own.
They have been integrated into the French culture. Wonderful homes for
these motherless/fatherless children. Thanks also for the input Guy5479
posted in a previous contribution.
I hope I am not being too repetitive with this Irish topic. Btw if
anyone here has inherited the Irish Virus and is a friend of Bill W., I
see you at the Toronto convention June 29th through the 3rd of July,
hopefully.
Bill
http://www.angelfire.com/ny/views/grosse.html
"A bit of perfume always clings to the hand that gives the rose."
- Chinese proverb
Hi Bill (SecondAve) ! The first Irish song I learned at secondary school: When Irish eyes are smiling Melody: http://www.niehs.nih.gov/kids/lyrics/irish.htm Song: http://hataf.brain.net.pk/software/mp3/index.php?q=f&f=%2FFolk%2FMisc Here are some interesting sites on Grosse Ile: Grosse Île and the Irish Memorial National Historic Site of Canada http://www.pc.gc.ca/lhn-nhs/qc/grosseile/default.asp Grosse Ile, Famine Island Irish Memorial http://www.angelfire.com/ny/views/grosse.html Croisi챔res Lachance: http://www.croisiereslachance.ca/ We went to Grosse Ile in 1997. It’s an exceptional site to visit !!! JM
Hey SecondAve. That is a good site you posted. Here are a couple of pics from that site . Steve
Hi ! This subject may interest some people. Gaelic-English ... The School Gaelic Dictionary Prepared for the use of learners of the Gaelic language by Malcolm MacFarlane http://www.clanmacrae.org/documents/gaelic.htm *** English Irish Gaelic translations: This site give you English Irish Gaelic translations for free. You can ask for translations from english to gaelic with this gaelic online translator. These free gaelic translations are given by many native Irish speakers. http://membres.lycos.fr/irelandirish/content/irish-gaelic-intro.php *** Irish Proverbs (Seanfhocail) http://www.irish-sayings.com/ JM
Roots Beneath the Pavement a Tribute to Verdun By One of Her Reluctant Children 1930s 40s
Buck, M. Laurel
Post a Comment