From Ulster to Canada: The Life and Times of Wilson Benson 1821-1911
Description
Canada is as much a nation of immigrants as the United States. And what is the link between this, the second largest country in the world, and the province of Ulster? No Country contributed more to the establishment of Canada than Ireland. And of the 500,000 souls who arrived there in a constant stream in the generation before the Great Famine, the vast majority originated in Ulster. Canadian identity continues to be characterised by this significant Ulster cultural contribution. In Ontario particularly, the Ulster presence was evident throughout a broad swathe of land stretching almost 1,000 kilometres from the Quebec border to the USA frontier at Detroit. These two great stories, Of Ulster migration to and settlement in Canada, unfold intriguingly in this scholarly and accessible book. Recently-married Wilson Benson emigrated from Co. Armagh in 1841, lived for another 70 years in Ontario and left behind a detailed autobiography. It recalls, firstly, his youth in Ulster and goes on to narrate in engaging detail his varied and indomitable attempts to establish himself in his New World, and absorbing tale that amply informs our understanding of the nineteenth-century migration experience. Wilson Benson's perceptive life history is of value not only to emigrant and family historians but is also a near-unique account of both Ulster society on the cusp of the trauma of the Famine and the emergence of early modern Canada
Contents
Acknowledgements vi
Illustrations and Tables viii
Introduction ix
- Wilson Benson's Irish World: Population, Economy 1
and Society in Pre-famine Ireland - Making Transatlantic Connection 21
- Settling in: Wilson Benson and the Canadian Frontier, 1840-70 40
- Rural Stability and the Urban Experience 56
- Conclusion 77Index 82
Part Two
Life and Adventures of Wilson Benson 83
(Written by Himself)