Although Franco-Americans are a comparatively little-known cultural minority, from the perspective of U.S. ethnic and immigration history, resources on their past and present abound on the web. The list of links below—granted, not an exhaustive one—is intended as a starting point for those undertaking research on Franco-Americans, or those who may not have the time […]
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Franco-American Religious Controversies: The Corporation Sole
When the Irish men arrived they saw themselves displaced by the French who were occupying their usual pews. This situation did not endure for long, as the French worshippers, offering only minimal resistance, were forcibly dragged out into the aisles. – Philip T. Silvia, Jr., “The Spindle City: Labor, Politics, and Religion in Fall River, […]
Continue readingFranco-American Religious Controversies: Cahensly and the Lay Catholic Congress
The importance of Catholic societies, the necessity of union and concert of action to accomplish aught, are manifest. These societies should be organized on a religious, and not on a race or national basis. We must always remember that the Catholic Church knows no north or south, no east or west, no race, no color. […]
Continue readingFranco-American Religious Controversies: The Flint Affair
[T]heir singular tenacity as a race and their extreme devotion to their religion, and their transplantation to the manufacturing centres and the rural districts in New-England means that Quebec is transferred bodily to Manchester and Fall River and Lowell. – “The French Canadians in New England,” New York Times (June 6, 1892), 4. By no […]
Continue readingProsper Bender’s American Dream
I am not without hopes, however, that later some one may assume this task, and cause the social and literary activities of those days, and the participants therein, to live over again. – Prosper Bender, Quebec Daily Telegraph, June 29, 1907 As the son of a prominent attorney in Quebec City, young Prosper Bender could […]
Continue readingHistory and the Intangibles of Canada–U.S. Relations
Today marks the 176th anniversary of the Webster-Ashburton Treaty, a defining yet often overlooked moment in Canada–U.S. relations. In 1842, after years of border disturbances and legal controversies, British and American statesmen renewed their commitment to peaceful intercourse. They understood the necessity of restraining passions on both sides of the border, as it was in […]
Continue readingEarly Canadian Migrations to the United States
As previously noted on this blog, it was not the call of political liberty that drew great numbers of French Canadians to the United States in the nineteenth century, but economic opportunity (if not, sometimes, economic necessity). Life in ethnic clusters, in the shadow of gargantuan textile mills, was but a small facet of this […]
Continue readingLa Saint-Jean-Baptiste in New England, 1873-1890
This week, in connection with Quebec’s “national” holiday, la Saint-Jean-Baptiste, we see how budding Franco-American communities celebrated the day in nineteenth-century New England. Until the mass emigration of Catholics to the region, only Masonic lodges had attributed any significance to June 24. The arrival of French Canadians fashioned St. John’s Day into a semi-official holiday […]
Continue readingMignault and Son: A Transnational Story
Revolutionary War veteran Clément Gosselin was not alone. Basile Mignault, too, fought in the ranks of the Continental Army. Both would spend the better part of the post-war period in Canada, although Mignault could claim a more settled existence. Indeed, while Gosselin travelled as far as Yorktown, where he was injured, his counterpart’s war was […]
Continue readingThe Canadians of Clinton County: The First Franco-Americans
Some six years after the end of the American War of Independence, Clement Gosselin, a veteran, sought the support of President George Washington. Appeals to the highest executive office were not usual, but Gosselin’s letter, written in French and alluding to a “common enemy,” merits special attention. The veteran, born on l’Ile d’Orléans near Quebec […]
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