We all love to complain about how badly we’ve been treated but if you want to see bad treatment, have a look at the ancestors of most Canadian immigrants. Whether war, economic depression, disease, pandemics, drought – all faced tough times. If they came from Europe, Eastern Europe – Britain – the U.S.A. – Africa, South Asia or Asia; they all faced challenges.
Today we live in relative comfort. That was not the case for most of our ancestors.
The study of Genealogy sheds light on family history and, in the end, helps us understand the challenges and successes – and failures – that confronted our ancestors who migrated to Canada.
Genealogy is more than just who was born where and when. When cross-referenced with historic events it becomes vibrant. Take the settlement of Hungarians in Saskatchewan. Cross-reference that with the history of Europe and one understands why they left. Same for Ukrainians from the Galicia Region. They didn’t want to be forced into the Austro-Hungarian Army. Or like the Jewish settlers in Wapella, Saskatchewan. They fled religious persecution.
Today many South-Asians come from Gujarat State or the Punjab in India. Like so many immigrants who came before them, they are looking for opportunities not available in their country of origin.
Opportunity
The common denominator for migration is opportunity. The Irish, like my Montgomery side, along with 2 to 3 million others, left Ireland during the Great Potato Famine of the 1840s. Starvation was the order of the day – exacerbated by the wealthy British land owners who put their own financial interests first.
Family Branches
Within any family, there are branches. A recently search of another Irish side from Parry Sound District in Ontario, led back to Irish immigrants who came in 1770 and fought for the King in the American War of Independence. They lost and were put on ships and expelled from the United States – with most, first going to New Brunswick. (Sound like what happened to the Acadians? Or what happened to those sent to Australia against their will?)
A search of a cemetery in the Parry Sound District indicated that my Great-Grandmother and several of her children died in the diphtheria epidemic in 1908.
My Great-Grandfather’s sister, Great Aunt Jemima married a dude by the name of Frederick French. She died at age 27 – probably of TB. Fred didn’t sit around. He married, one assumes, a charming lady. After surviving the diphtheria epidemic of 1908 and they headed West.
They settled at Simpson, Saskatchewan, had some children; life was good until 1918 when almost the entire family died in the Spanish Flu Pandemic.
Life was difficult. Women often died in childbirth and children often died young. This is some of my Great Aunt’s crew.
Family Folklore
Family Folklore is also fun. In the quest to find out who was born when, I discovered my mother’s cousin was the last man hanged in the jail in Sault Ste. Marie. He and his son robbed a bank in Northern Ontario, shot the manager and fled – you got it – to Saskatchewan, where they were captured.
Is Genealogy more fun than Golf?
During a Saskatchewan winter it is. The Genealogy Society meets at the Moose Jaw Library once a month – during the cold season. Check it out.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the position of this publication.
