Montreal Famine Irish annual walk to the Black Stone Memorial

MONTREAL – Montrealers gathered in Pointe-Saint-Charles Sunday for a mass followed by a two-kilometre walk to the Irish Commemorative Stone.
Victor Boyle, president of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, said the walk  is a tradition that dates back more than 150 years.
The stone, known as the Black Rock, is a tribute to the immigrants who landed on the shores of Montreal starting in 1847.
 

 
Most were Irish immigrants who fled hunger and poverty in Ireland only to die of typhus contracted on their overseas voyage.
An estimated 6,000 dead are believed to be buried under the stone and include not only Irish immigrants but also those who cared for the sick.
”Remembering how much they suffered to get here pays homage to our own heritage,” Boyle said.
The annual event isn’t only about honouring the dead, it’s also about recognizing the contributions of the Irish to Quebec society.

“The Irish came here in 1847 under the worst possible conditions,” Boyle said. “But they were still able to survive and influence the city of Montreal, the people of Montreal, the people of Quebec in general. We’re part of the fabric of this society.”

The monument stands near the Victoria Bridge between two stretches of  Highway 112.
Members of Montreal’s Irish community have been pushing to have the area surrounding the Black Rock turned into a green space, arguing that a memorial park would be a more fitting tribute.
But that is a fight for another day. Participants in Sunday’s march were heading back to Pointe-Saint-Charles for a reception in the church basement.
“After the ceremony, we come back and have some food and drink,” Boyle said. “Which is a typical Irish tradition.”
 
Montreal Irish Memorial Park Foundation
 
Copyright ©2016 Linda Sullivan-Simpson

Canadian History Notes

I found this little booklet called Canadian History Notes by George E. Henderson in a thrift store in the southern United States, a long way from it’s home. It was sitting in good company among the obscure likes of Hudibras in three parts by Samuel Butler, Esq. 1810,  Gibralter and its Seiges 1884, The Copperhead by Gerald Frederic, and Sense written by Brick Pomeroy 1867.


The internet archives has a copy you can read here.



Copyright ©2016 Linda Sullivan-Simpson

Father Charles-Emile Gadbois In The News

Seminary de St. Hyacinthe

In 1937 Father Gadbois bought an electric printer machine that could pull 1000 copies per hour. Ten songs had been published and Le Bonne Chanson was on its way.

Father Gadbois older sister, Rose Alma who became Sister Saint Charles de Jesus with the Congregation of Notre Dame in Montreal.




Father Gadbois with the Dionne Quintuplets, Emilie, Yvonne, Annette, Cecile, and Marie.


Copyright ©2016 Linda Sullivan-Simpson

La Bonne Chanson

In my last post I introduced you to an accomplished cousin, Father Charles-Emile Gadbois who founded La Bonne Chanson. I have one of the little song books called Les 100 plus belles Chansons.

It contains 100 songs, in the French language, some are folk songs, children's songs, ballads, such as Canada terre de nos aieux, Le Petit Mousse, Les Cloches Du Hameau, Partons La Mer Est Belle, La Feuille D'erable and more.

My little song book featuring two songs, Le Lac des Amours and Le Soir sur l'eau that Father Gadbois wrote music and lyrics, there were many, many more.

Copyright (C)2016 Linda Sullivan-Simpson

Charles-Emile Gadbois

Father Charles-Emile Gadbois
1906 - 1981

Father Charles-Emile Gadbois was a publisher, composer born in St-Barnabe-Sud, near St-Hyacinthe, Quebec on 1 June 1906 and died in Montreal 24 May 1981.

He studied piano with Telesphore Urbain ( organist at St-Hyacinthe Cathederal),

violin with Maurice Onderet, and harp with Juliette Drouin.

After his orination as a priest in 1930 Father Gadbois began teaching, and for five years was the director of the band at the St-Hyacinthe Seminary.

In 1937, influenced by the Congres de la langue francaise held in Quebec City, Gadbois established La Bonne Chanson to assemble and publish the best French and French-Canadian songs. A tireless promoter of 'la bonne chanson,' he organized festivals, contests, and congresses, including those at the Montreal Forum in 1942 and the Quebec Coliseum in 1943 and in Lewiston, Maine in 1944.

La Bonne Chanson is a publishing company dedicated to the dissemination of French and French-Canadian songs of quality. It was founded in St-Hyacinthe, Quebec after the 1937 French Language Congress in Quebec City, which emphasized the value of song as a vehicle for the preservation of culture and language.

Father Charles-Emile Gadbois, the company's founder began publishing the words and music of songs of France and Quebec in albums. Eleven albums (550 songs) were published in this manner. La Bonne Chanson also prepared the series Madeleine et Pierre for young people and adapted several programs of solfege and singing for the schools: La Bonne Chanson a l'ecole, a collection of 50 sacred and secular songs for Christmas; Chants pour le temps des Fetes; and finally Cent plus belles chansons. A collection entitled Vingt choeurs a voix egales, enjoyed considerable success, as did books of accompaniments for many songs.

In 1939, for the Bluebird label of RCA Victor, Father Gadbois produced some 50 78's for the record series issued under the name La Bonne Chason. Performers for the series included Francois Brunet, P.-E. Corbeil, Jeanne Desjardins, Jules Jacob, Marthe Letourneau, the Alouette Vocal Quartet, the Bonne Chanson Vocal Quartet, David Rochette, and Albert Viau.

The radio program 'Le quart d'heure de la Bonne Chanson,' on CBC and CKAC in Montreal 1939 - 1952, contributed to the popularity of the heritage of song. 

Les Amis de la Bonne Chanson founded in 1942, also assisted in the promotion and distribution of the published songs.

He composed some 60 songs and wrote about 20 folk song arrangements. In collaboration with Conrad Letendre, he launched Musique et Musiciens, a review which appreared monthly 1952 - 54. He received the golden cross of St-Jean-de-Latran in May 1943 for his dedication to 'la bonne chasson'.

His papers are held at the St-Hyacinthe Seminary. The Foundation Abbe-Charles-Emile-Gadbois, established to 'perpetuate his heartfelt wish to instill a love of song in all levels of society,' awarded its first scholarships in 1988.

Finding out Father Charles-Emile Gadbois is my 1st cousin twice removed is attributed to a cousin I met through Wiki Tree that shared a photograph of Father Gadbois with me. We knew he was related to the Gadbois' of St. Hyacinthe but we didn't know how, a little sleuthing has turned up a heartwarming history of a kind and generous man who we are both very proud to call our cousin.

  

The Coves of Sillery

The Coves of Sillery

During the mid to late 1800's many of the Irish lived and worked on the timber coves along the waterfront of the St. Lawrence river near Quebec City as stevedores, ship laborers, riggers, timber towers, cullers, and booms men.

Some of the coves names were O'Brien's Cove, New London Cove, Union Cove, Dobel's Cove, Sillery Cove, Bower's Cove, Point pizeau Cove, St. Michaels Cove, Woodfield Cove, Harbor Cove, Spencer Cove, and Wolfe's Cove where my maternal great-grandfather, George Burns, worked as a stevedore for John Roche.

Lumber barons were to name a few, Sheppard, Gibb, Gilmour, Price, Sharples, Dobell, Burstall, and Roche.

Managers were, Fitzpatrick, McInenly, Nolan, Bogue, Timmony, O'Connell, Bowen and many more.

Spencer's Cove, between Wolfe's and Woodfields Cove had 75 houses and work for 100 men. 1852 census states 62% Irish 34% French.

Woodfields Cove had work for 100 men. 1852 census states 56% Irish 39% French.

St. Michael's Cove has a good number of hands in the summer, generally speaking there are few homes, thinly inhabited but comfortable. 1852 census states 94% Irish 4% French.

McInenly Hill Cove aka Sillery Hill boasts the same numbers.

Wolfe's Cove of 810 souls, 625 were Irish.

Many of the workers may have belonged to the Quebec Ship Laborers Benevolent Society established in 1852.

Houses in Sillery - 1863

Quebec City, where the Irish dominated the work on the timber wharves.

Quebec City Disastrous Rock Slide Sept 1889

Quebec, Sept. 20. -- 

The work of excavating at the scene of the landslide is still going on.

Among those who are missing and who are supposed to be beneath the ruins are MR. and MRS. CHARLES ALLAN, MRS. STEVENS, MRS. HENRY, RICHARD MAYBURY and wife, MRS. R. LAWSON, R. KEMP and family, MICHAEL B. LEAHY, and a number of children. The loss sustained by the surviving victims of the disaster is very great. Some of the workingmen who are deprived of their homes lost all their furniture and other effects, even their Summer earnings, and many are left virtually penniless at the commencement of a Canadian Winter. 

WILLIAM POWERS, wife, and child were saved by the men of B Battery, who, aided by a detachment of the cavalry school, effected quite a number of rescues.

The list of those killed and wounded, as far as known, is as follows:

Killed. -- THOMAS FARRELL and three FARRELL children; two children named BURKE; one child named BRADLEY; child of P. FITZGERALD; MRS. BRACKEN; MRS. STEPHEN BURKE; HENRY BLACK; WILLIAM BLACK; THOMAS NOLAN; MRS. READY.

Wounded. -- MR. and MRS. CARLSON; J. O'NEILL; MRS. LUKE KERWIN and child; THOMAS BERRIGAN; JAMES HAYDEN; WILLIAM STEVENS and son; NELLIE DEEHRY; PATRICK FITZGERALD; MARTIN READY; three children named MAYBURY; STEPHEN BURKE and his mother; MRS. FITZGERALD; THOMAS GRAHAM; WILLIAM POWERS, wife and child; MRS. THOMAS FARRELL; DENNIS BERRIGAN.

The members of the BLACK family were buried alive twelve feet below the surface of the debris. On being asked if they were safe MRS. BLACK answered: "My husband is killed at the door. The rest are safe, but we are suffering from wounds and bruises on our limbs." 

Shortly after MISS MAY CAULDWELL, a niece of MR. BLACK, was extricated from MR. BLACK'S house. Her limbs were so stiff from inaction that the least touch on them caused excruciating pains. The next person brought out was THOMAS BERRIGAN, whose wife was taken out of the ruins dead. He was so disfigured that his friends could hardly recognize him. He was removed to the Hotel Dieu Hospital, muttering a prayer of thanks for his miraculous escape. 
The next to follow was an eight-year-old boy, also named BERRIGAN. His left leg was crushed to a jelly. Then came MRS. BLACK. Her bosom, neck, and face were dreadfully swollen.

The scene of the disaster is being visited by thousands, who block up the narrow street and make it a difficult task for any one to move in any direction. There being but one narrow street between the rock and the river, there is a complete stoppage of traffic, except by climbing over the debris. The shipping office in the Dominion Government building has been turned into a temporary morgue, and over twenty bodies are lying in it. It is difficult to identify some of the bodies, so much have they been disfigured and crushed. A complete list of the injured cannot be made up as yet, as they were removed to different hospitals and to friends' houses as soon as they were taken from the ruins.

It is feared that a large part of the rock adjoining the site of the slide will come down, as large crevices have appeared and the rain is still falling, and may repeat the operations which caused last night's disaster. The people are moving out of the threatened houses. There has been no lack of volunteers for work at the mines, but there is a lack of intelligent directions, as there is no person in authority. Citizens are sending in money to relieve any immediate distress among the homeless women and children.

The site of the rockslide is almost identical with that of the one which occurred in 1841, when eight buildings were crushed and thirty-two persons were killed. The houses destroyed last night all stood on the other side of the roadway and were not thought to be in any danger, but the immense mass of rock swept clear across the roadway and over the brick buildings, demolishing them as if they were made of cardboard.
The mass of earth and rock moved is, roughly speaking, about 600 feet frontage by 80 feet in depth. Some of the masses of fallen rock must weigh nearly twenty tons, and there are so many huge blocks that it makes the work of clearance very difficult.

In addition to the list of killed given the bodies of RICHARD LEAHY, MRS. READY, and MISS LANE have been recovered from the ruins.
Preparations are being made for the funerals of the killed, who will be buried at the joint expense of citizens and the local Government.
Among those buried by the rocks are a young couple named NOLAN, who were married a few weeks ago. NOLAN could have escaped, but he lost his life in trying to get his wife out of the house.

It is thought that the King's bastion on the citadel will have to be removed, as it is now near the edge of the rock, with unsafe crevices in front of it. As a precautionary measure all communication with the bastion has been cut off and the morning and evening guns will no longer be fired from it.
About twenty thousand persons have visited the scene of the disaster during the day. It has been decided to use small charges of powder to break up the huge boulders covering the roadway, as it is certain there can be nothing living beneath them.

The horrors of this dreadful day are still succeeding each other. While the workers were busy clearing away the debris of the crumbled buildings, faint groans were heard at intervals from under huge piles of rocks. The efforts of the volunteers were concentrated to that point, and after three hours' hard work the bleeding body of JOE KEMP was extricated from the mass of rock. The poor man is in a most pitiable condition. Both legs are broken at the knees, the left arm is fractured above the elbow, and several ribs are fractured. He cannot live many hours. Two hours later his wife's body was taken out of the wreck. Her head was almost severed from her body.

Further away there was another hideous spectacle -- the corpse of a young woman (MRS. LAUSON) who had been admired in her lifetime for her beauty. Her body had been crushed almost flat. Shortly after viewing her remains her husband became a raving maniac. It is doubtful if he will recover his reason.

A man named MICHAEL BRADLEY, who had gone almost crazy when told that all his family had perished in the landslide, discovered, while working over the wreck of his house, his five-year-old daughter still alive. His joy was indescribable. It is thought the child will live.

Up to this time the number of corpses found is twenty-five and the number of wounded eighteen.
The city is thronged with strangers, coming from all parts of Quebec district to witness the effects of the terrible avalanche.

The New York Times New York 1889-09-21

The reason this was an important event for my family is my great-grandfather, George Burns, a stevedore, heard about the landslide and immediately went to help. My great-grandmother Elizabeth Williamson said when he returned he was worn out and never really returned to good health, he died 2 years later of inflammation of the lungs. My grand-mother always thought all the dust and debris of the landslide contributed to his death. 

There were probably many more people who went to help and ended up among the casualties.