One of my favourite Irish Montrealers put together this terrific reading list about the Irish in Quebec.
Callaghan, Sharon. Paths of Opportunity. Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, Quebec: Shoreline Press, 2009. If your Irish ancestors lived in Montreal from the 1840s to 1930, this book . This book portrays the Irish Montreal experience of one family among many who helped make Montreal what it is today. If your Irish ancestors lived in Montreal between 1840 and 1930, as mine did, this book will help you gain a better understanding of how they lived.
Collard, Edgar Andrew. The Irish Way: This History of the Irish Protestant Benevolent Society. Montreal, Quebec: Price-Patterson Ltd., 1992. This was published under the auspices of The Irish Protestant Benevolent Society in Montreal. In the preface, Collard indicated the book could also be about “…the contribution of the Irish Protestants to the life and development off Montreal, and even of Canada.”
Conroy, Patrick. Robert Whyte’s 1847 Famine Ship Diary. Dublin, Ireland: Mercier Press, 1994. This is a chronicle of an Irish coffin ship journey.
Dinan, J.J. St. Mary’s Hospital: The Early Years. Montreal: Optimum Publishing International, 1987. This book is about the history of an institution that was the dream of in particular the Irish community, following the earlier closure of St. Patrick’s Hospital.
Doyle Driedger, Sharon. An Irish Heart: How a Small Immigrant Community Shaped Canada. Toronto, Ontario: Harper-Collins Publishers Ltd., 2010. The small community refers to Montreal’s Griffintown, though on the cover leaf it refers to Irish migration to Canada and building a new way of life.
Grace, Robert J. The Irish in Quebec: An Introduction to the Historiography. Quebec: Institut québecois de recherché sur la culture, 1993. This is an incredible resource of the demographic and social profile of the Irish in Quebec. About half the book is a huge bibliography of literary resources on the Irish in Quebec as well as other pertinent areas.
Mackay, Donald, Flight from Famine: The Coming of the Irish to Canada. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1990. This is the moving story of the mass migration that brought a million Irish men, women, and children to Canada in the first half of the 19th century.
Mangan, James M., F.S.C. The Voyage of Naparima. Sainte-Foy, Quebec: Carraig Books, 1982. This is the tragic story of an Irish family group in 1847. Also available in French as La Traverse du Naparima.
O’Gallagher, Marianna. Saint Patrick’s Quebec, 1824-1834. Saint-Foy, Quebec: Édition Carraig Books, 1981. This is about the history of the development of the parish and community in Quebec City.
If reading fiction is more your cup of tea, I recommend:
Urquhart, Jane. Away. Toronto, Ontario: McClelland & Stewart, 1993. This story traces a family’s journey from Ireland to the quarantine station at Grosse-Île and then to Port Hope, Ontario, and Montreal.
Have we missed any books?
Bonne lecture!
Who was the Montrealer that put together the list, Gail?
Quebec land and notarial records expert and author Sharon Callaghan put together the list, although I added her book to it. Sharon’s book, “Paths of Opportunity,” is an excellent read about her Irish family in Montreal.
Thanks, Gail.
Tracing my Callaghan Family from Ireland. ..(..I just noticed Sharon name….lol…..same ad mine……) anyway hearsay was they came through Quebec. .I can fine no proof of this ….I first fine the Callaghans in Prince Edward County. ….Baptism records at Holy Name in Marysville. ….Hoping to find answers…thinking maybe the book from Sharon is for me to read.
Can’t believe their is two of us …Sharon Callahan. .my dad dropped the g……..
Sharon Callaghan’s website — https://sharoncallaghan.wordpress.com