History is intrinsically bound with geneology. While we can read as many academic treatises and texts about the history, our own history is found in our own families, from whence they came, why they came and how they in fact helped to mold the community we live in.
I live in the province of New Brunswick in Canada. More specifically, I reside in a small town called Dalhousie, New Brunswick. How did my family come to exist here and where did they come from?
Walsh is the fouth most common Irish name. Dennis Walsh has an excellent site explaining the history of the Walsh family. What is important to me is why the Walshes in Canada left Ireland.
It is well documented that most Irish who came to Atlantic Canada actually arrived before the famine. This did not mean they were not fleeing persecuation or circumstances in which injustice flourished. Ireland was not a friendly place for Irish Catholics in 1825, when my ancestors came to Canada. They were not allowed to vote, could not practise their religion, were forbidden to attend school and certainly could not hold public office. Mind you, when they arrived in New Brusnwick, a province under the British colonial system, those laws still applied! Still, by that year, things changed and they were granted more rights.
My Walsh ancestors arrived in the Miramichi region of New Brunswick in 1825. This was just in time for the Great Miramichi Fire of 1825. I am not sure what is "great" about a fire but this is how it is referred to in so many of the history books. Legens has it that the Walshes came in a schooner. After the fire, one of the two brothers left the Miramichi to settle in Escuminac, Quebec. I still have to documnet much of this information but it does make an intersting story.