As previously noted on this blog, my research on British North Americans in the Mexican-American War will be appearing in the International Journal of Canadian Studies. I appreciate the opportunity to bring greater attention to cross-border migrations in the 1840s. I recently had the pleasure of speaking with genealogist Sandra Goodwin, host of the Maple […]
Continue readingCategory: Immigration
Why Franco-American History?
Good luck finding a French Canadian who has no personal connection to the grande saignée, the wave of emigration that afflicted Canada from 1840 to the Great Depression. I, for one, could mention my own great-, great-, great-, great-grandparents, Joseph and Dorothée Royer, who spent several years in the United States around 1830. Wave after […]
Continue readingThose Other Franco-Americans: Exeter, N.H.
Much has been made of unconventional Franco-American experiences and stories, on this blog. (See here, here, and here, for instance.) Franco-Americans living in rural parts of New England and New York State are perpetually in the shadow of those who settled in industrial cities and worked in factories. A similar neglect is apparent when it […]
Continue readingMaska, Mexico, and Pre-Civil War Migrations
It’s a long way from the lowlands of the St. Lawrence to the Valle de México. As someone who once spent eleven hours simply trying to cross Montana, I can vouch for the almost unimaginable size of this continent. So too will anyone who has crossed North America by land. It is all the more […]
Continue readingQuebec and Hinterland Canadians
In several weeks, I will have the privilege and pleasure of sharing my work on Franco-Americans at a colloquium on Quebec Studies at my dear alma mater, Bishop’s University. Below is a sneak peak, which may touch on themes familiar to friends and frequenters of this blog. Though Franco-Americans in the hinterland were typically not […]
Continue readingStories of a Sick Country? Emigration from Canada, 1849-1857, Part II
This is the second part of an essay on nineteenth-century emigration reports. Please find the first half here. In retrospect, the great demographic hemorrhage that weakened Canada in the 1840s might come as little surprise. There was a clear disparity between available labor, at a time of tremendous population growth in the St. Lawrence River […]
Continue readingStories of a Sick Country? Emigration from Canada, 1849-1857, Part I
In the United States and much of Europe, immigration and nativism have provided ample fodder for the front page in recent years. So it has often been. When it comes to geographic mobility, politicians and policymakers worry far more about those who cross into their country than about those who leave. In Canada’s case, such […]
Continue readingResources: Scholarly Journal Articles on Franco-American History
Last week, on this blog, I listed ten major surveys and monographs on Franco-American history in hopes of providing a basis for preliminary research. Equally important are studies published in scholarly journals. I have selected the following ten partly because of their effect on the overall scholarly conversation, but also because they address topics sometimes […]
Continue readingResources: Monographs and Surveys of Franco-American History
With the publication of a series of “Image of America” tomes and David Vemette’s landmark work on Franco-American history, scholars and history enthusiasts alike have reason to be excited about the state of the field.[1] In hopes of helping researchers who are starting on the subject, I am offering here a beginner’s guide to secondary […]
Continue readingProsper Bender from Quebec City to Boston
Several months ago I provided a brief glimpse of the life and times of Prosper Bender (1844-1917), a Quebec-born physician, littérateur, and intercultural broker. Bender spent much of his life championing unpopular causes. Though he may have delighted in being a contrarian, there is little to suggest that he was a girouette, a weather vane. […]
Continue reading