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THE FRAMPTON IRISH,
A STUDY IN CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY by Dennis McLane Any study of genealogy includes some study of geography. A collection of names and dates of vital events that does not include the locations in which the events occurred seems to lack much in terms of telling the story of a family's history. Many years ago in college, I remember learning the differences between physical geography and cultural geography. Physical geography is all about the features found in nature such as oceans, mountains, forests, prairies, rivers, lakes, streams, and the influence of weather on the land. Cultural geography is all about the changes humans make to the physical environment as well as the many features they superimposed on it. Political geography is part of cultural geography. Open any average atlas and you will be immediately confronted by political geography. All the maps in the atlas are generally organized by political boundaries that define the various countries. Political geography is all about the lines and boundaries placed upon the lands by governments, political entities, and to some extent ecclesiastical authorities. In nineteenth century Ireland the political geography was the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the division of Ireland into provinces, counties, parishes and townlands. In nineteenth century Quebec the political geography was about British North America, the Government of Lower Canada, and the division of Quebec into counties, parishes, seigneuries, and townships. The cultural geography of the Frampton Irish is more about the influence of ethnicity, customs, religion, families, relatives, and neighbors. Further it is about how the importance of these factors influenced their choices and served to overcome the obstacles of physical geography and political geography. An examination of the cultural geography of the Frampton Irish reveals where they came from, where they lived, and where they went. Where They Came From I have spent the last few years studying the Irish community of Frampton, Quebec in the nineteenth century. My initial motivation was to learn as much about this community as possible in order to understand the lives and origins of my own ancestors that were once a part of that community. I started my study by compiling an index of the various Irish families by extracting information from numerous Frampton related sources as identified in my September 2003 article in Connections - The Frampton Irish, Ancestors to Many Americans. At first, I thought compiling this index would be a fairly simple and a short task because it seemed that the community was not that large. However, I now have compiled an index of well over 9,500 names and have concluded that this community was much larger than expected. What also emerged was a story of a very tight community that seemed to be bound together more by their cultural ties than any other factor. This proved true even when they migrated away from Frampton. Their migrations often were made in large groups of related and neighboring families to locations where they seemed to have established small colonies of Frampton Irish. What I have discovered is that the Frampton Irish seemed to make many of their choices based upon cultural geography even when it meant that they had to overcome the obstacles created by physical and political geography. My choice to study Irish families was a choice toward cultural geography. I choose to not only study the Irish families that lived within the boundaries of Frampton Township, but also those who lived in the adjacent townships and seigneuries. My study also does not differentiate between the Catholic Irish and the Protestant Irish. Unfortunately, the specific Irish origins have not been identified for the vast majority of Irish families in the Frampton community. Most merely have mention of a birthplace of Ireland in the census and other sources. However, many other sources such as marriage records, notaire records, and family lore have revealed some specific Ireland place names. I have collected much of this information and analyzed it to some extent. I have found a total of 56 Ireland county and place names referenced in various sources. I was expecting that the place names would somewhat narrow the field of possibly Irish origins down to just a handful of counties. Unfortunately, this did not prove to be true. The 56 place names are represented by all Ireland counties except Roscommon and Clare. The 56 place names are referenced to about 125 different Frampton Irish families. Out of these 125 families, 32 have been identified in these sources as being from County Wexford. This appears to be especially true for the earlier (prior to 1830) arriving families in Frampton. The other Ireland Counties that were referenced for at least 5 families each are: Tipperary, Limerick, Kilkenny, Westmeath, Tyrone, Kerry, Offaly, Carlow, and Longford. These counties represent 57% of the families referenced to a specific Ireland origin. I mentioned in my previous article that almost all the Irish families of Frampton arrived before the "famine" immigration of the 1840's. Although, poverty and impoverishment may have been the reason for the immigration for some Frampton Irish families, this seems unlikely for most. A study of the political geography and conditions in County Wexford in the early nineteenth century may reveal a great deal about the immigration of the Frampton Irish. Like most Ireland counties, Wexford was organized through established parishes whose boundaries were determined by political and ecclesiastical authorities. There are 12 specific place names within Wexford mentioned in the various sources. These place names are Ferns, Ballynamuddagh, Ballyhuskard, Oulart, Enniscorthy, Killincooly, Blackwater, Clonegal, Myacomb, Killegney, Kilcormick, and Newtonbarry. These place names happen to all fall into a radius of 12 miles from Enniscorthy. The Enniscorthy area is most famous for the events related to the Rebellion of 1798. In fact, eight significant events of the Rebellion can also be found within the same radius of 12 miles from Enniscorthy. One of the rebellion leaders was Father John Murphy of the Parish of Boolevogue (also within the 12 mile radius). Families with the surname Murphy are among the earliest settlers of Frampton. One of Frampton's most well known settlers was Martin Murphy. In Martin Murphy, Jr., California Pioneer by Sister Gabrielle Sullivan, a quotation is given in footnotes stating: "Both the Bulgers and the Murphys were mixed up in the Rebellion of 1798 which was one of the things that made the country too warm for them." Sullivan provided, "Though peace was restored after 1798, the people of Wexford were still helpless and oppressed." In the first decade of the nineteenth century, there was a significant improvement in economic conditions in Wexford as a result of demand for farm produce during the Napoleonic Wars. So despite some degree of oppression, those who would later immigrate to Frampton stayed in Wexford for several more years to take advantage of this situation. Sullivan further provided that, "Martin Murphy, Sr. was the holder of a fair-sized farm by Irish standards. He was able to provide a decent livelihood for his family and some measure of prosperity as long as the war years kept up the price of his produce." This illustrates that the Frampton Irish families were not necessarily victims of poverty and impoverishment. Rather, it may have been a case that the Frampton Irish families saw their potential in British North America much greater than staying in Wexford. They perhaps could see that the potential decline for them was so significant that it was worth taking the risk of overcoming the physical geography obstacles of crossing the Atlantic Ocean and settling in a new and strange land. I have read many of the local histories on Dorchester County locations (both French and English) that I have been able to find. I searched these for clues as to the Irish origins of the Frampton Irish. Most have very little discussion on the origins of the Irish families. However, Father Jules-Adrien Kirouac in his Histoire de la Paroisse de Saint Malachie, in reference to the Concession of Ballyporreen, stated: "It was Gilbert Henderson who gave the name to the Concession in memory of the towns of Ireland in the Province of Ulster, County of Antrim. The principle towns of that province had the names of Ballycastel, Ballymena, Ballymoney, and Ballyporreen.." He stated further, "The greater part of the Irish emigrants, that arrived in Canada in 1830, came from the counties of Armagh, Limerick, Ardagh, Tipperary, and from Ballyporreen in the County of Antrim." After consulting several sources concerning Irish place names, I have concluded that: (1) there is not a County Ardagh in Ireland, however there is a parish name of Ardagh in Counties Cork, Limerick, Mayo, Meath, and Longford (Ardagh is also the name of a diocese in this county); (2) there are places in County Antrim named Ballycastle, Ballymena, and Ballymoney; and (3) there is not a place named Ballyporreen in County Antrim, however, there is a Ballyporeen in County Tipperary. Kirouac further provided an abbreviated list of early settlers of Concession Ballyporreen. Kirouac's information may fall under the category of "a lot gets lost in translation." In this case from the English speaking Irish families to the French speaking author and from 1830 to the date of publishing of Kirouac's book in 1909. But it is unlikely that the French speaking Kirouac would be familiar with these Ireland place names unless they were given to him through oral history. I compared his list of early settlers of Concession Ballyporreen with my draft index and identified the following Ireland counties for the origins of these named persons: Longford, Kilkenny, Wexford, Limerick, and Tipperary. I did not find any reference to place names in County Antrim. However, there were early settlers in some of the surrounding concessions with reference to Ireland origins in County Antrim. Searching of records in the Antrim parishes of Ballycastle, Ballymena, and Ballymoney may yield some information connected with Frampton Irish families. There were several families in Concession Ballyporreen from Tipperary. Therefore, I have concluded that the name of Concession Ballyporreen was most likely in reference to the place name Ballyporeen in County Tipperary and may indeed be a clue to the origins of the several Frampton Irish families from County Tipperary. I have also concluded that the place name Ardagh was most likely in reference to the diocese of Ardagh located in County Longford. As I stated earlier, the Frampton Irish families have come from almost all the counties of Ireland. However, after analysis, it seems that most of the Frampton Irish families arriving in Frampton up to 1830 were most likely from County Wexford and adjacent counties. Those Irish families arriving after 1830 were most likely from the North of Ireland. This generality is corroborated in the article, Irish Emigrants to Canada: Whence they Came, published in the book The Untold Story: the Irish in Canada. Much like the Frampton Irish emigrants from Wexford, it seems that the emigrants from the North of Ireland were not victims of poverty and impoverishment. The North of Ireland also experienced an economic downturn after the Napoleonic Wars. In reference to the situation in the North of Ireland, Irish Emigrants to Canada: Whence they Came provides: "Anticipating poorer prospects rather than immediate poverty, small farmers-cum-weavers turned to emigration as a solution for their problems." Early in the nineteenth century, trade in timber and lumber became a great boost to the economy of the port of Quebec City. The British Isles were in great need of this commodity and Lower Canada had an abundance. When I visited the Old Port of Quebec Interpretation Center I learned that the Irish were a major part of the work force that cut and milled the trees and worked in the ship building trades in Quebec City. By the number of Irish surnames I have come across in the parish register of Notre Dame de Quebec and the register of Notaire Archibald Campbell of Quebec City, it becomes obvious that Quebec City already had a substantial Irish community by 1810. I found a burial record of Charles Murphy, son of my ancestor Miles Murphy, on June 4, 1810 in the Notre Dame de Quebec register. Irish surnames are found among the following occupations in Quebec City from 1812 to 1819: shoemaker, tavern keeper, navigator, merchant, ship carpenter, clerk, tailor, ship captain, and painter. I have found my own Frampton ancestor, Andrew Murphy recorded in notaire records as a ship carpenter. This was at a time when he was also known to be a farmer living in Frampton. Nancy Schmitz, in her book, Irish for a Day, Saint Patrick' Day Celebrations in Quebec City, 1765-1990, stated: "In Quebec City this Irish presence meant that there were almost a thousand English speaking Catholics in 1819." There was a ready made Irish community, immediate jobs in the timber and ship building trades, and the potential to purchase farm lands in the Irish community of Frampton. These must have been strong attractions for Irish emigration to Lower Canada. Further, for the Irish Catholic emigrant, Lower Canada offered an opportunity of living in a predominantly Catholic province that had some political guarantees of religious freedom. In many general sources on Irish emigration, the main reason given for emigration to Canada prior to the famine is that the fares for ship transportation were cheaper to Canada than to the United States. While that was the case, the other attractions for emigration to Canada must have had much greater influence. The Frampton Irish emigrants choice to come to Canada may have had more to do with cultural geography than purely the cost of a ticket. Where They Lived I have found numerous Frampton Irish marriages in the Notre Dame de Quebec marriage indexes. I have also noted that my own ancestral families seemed to have spent a few years living in Quebec City prior to migrating to the Frampton vicinity. I have concluded that probably most of the Frampton Irish spent some time living in Quebec City prior to settling in the Frampton vicinity. Some may have also occasionally resided in Quebec City during periods of employment there after they established farms in the Frampton vicinity. So ties between the Frampton Irish community and the Quebec City Irish community were strong. The story of settlement of Irish families in the Frampton vicinity was greatly influenced by cultural geography. The major influences on this geography was the French seigneurial system, the English township system, and the establishment of ecclesiastical and civil parishes. All of these influences resulted in the establishment of certain boundaries and the drawing of lines on maps that established the political geography environment. I have found that the cultural geography of the Frampton Irish often over lapped and/or conflicted with this political geography. The practice of the French seigneurial system influenced where and when lands would be available for settlement. The seigneurial grants in the Chaundiere River valley had all been made in the eighteenth century and settlement was well underway by 1810. The road from Quebec City to Ste. Marie de Beauce provided access for the potential settlers. The seigneurie of Ste. Marie was located on the Northeast side of the Chaundiere River while the Seigneurie of Liniere was located on the Southwest side of the Chaundiere River. The Seigneurie of Ste. Marie was further subdivided into five ranges with the first range being parallel and adjacent to the Chaudiere River. The fifth range was on the Seigneurie of Ste. Marie Northeast boundary that was adjacent to the Seigneurie of Jolliet and the Township of Frampton. The ranges were further subdivided into routures (the English equivalent would be lots). The ranges and routures were very irregular and it appears that few maps exist that show the precise locations of the routures. A settler could obtain permission to occupy a routure from the Seigneur and begin settlement of their farm. This was done under the basic scheme of occupying all the routures in the first range and then proceeding to settling the second range and so on. In this way road building between the ranges could occur in an orderly manner. The other significant seigneurie in the Frampton vicinity was the Seigneurie of Jolliet which eventually would include the future parishes of Ste. Marguerite, Ste. Claire, and Ste. Henedine. The subdivision of this seigneurie was very irregular. It was not divided in to neat parallel ranges with sequential numbers. Rather it was divided into more-or-less rectangular segments that were called concessions that were given specific Saint's names. Each concession was then divided into routures or lots. The English township system was a much more organized approach to the identification and mapping of specific locations on the land. It divided a township into parallel ranges of more-or-less equal widths. Then the ranges were divided into more-or-less equal sized lots. A given township map resulted in a grid system where the ranges were numbered across the top and the lots were numbered from top to bottom. When the lot number and range number are given for a certain property, the location of the property can be more precisely located. However, there are three things that run against this approach: (1) because they were used to the French system, census enumerators and notaires did not always include the lot numbers; (2) it was possible for more than one land owner to have property in a single lot (in some Frampton lots, up to four property owners can be found); and (3) some proprietors such as William and Gilbert Henderson designated named concessions (much like seigneurs) that over lapped and conflicted with the township grid system. The establishment of ecclesiastical and civil parishes played a tremendous part in the political geography. The ecclesiastical parish influenced the starting and building of the Catholic Parish church building. This is where a village would soon spring up that became a center of commerce for the parish. The civil parish established the basis for local government for the parish. The boundaries of the ecclesiastical and civil parishes were the same and in many cases these boundaries were set on the boundaries of the townships or seigneuries. The first pioneering Irish families took up land in the Seigneurie of Ste. Marie, prior to the full opening of Frampton Township for settlement. These families were those of John Walsh, Miles Murphy, Edward Melady, William Sloane and William Slevin They lived on farms near each other near the Chaundiere River in the first range of the Seigneurie of Ste. Marie. John Walsh was a notaire and William Slevin was a merchant and may have played a part in providing information to the Irish community in Quebec City in regards to the existence of their fledgling Irish community in Ste. Marie. The settlement of the seigneurie continue in a Northeasterly direction until it reached the Frampton Township boundary. The settlement of Frampton Township was most likely delayed until an adequate access road was developed from Ste. Marie de Beauce. The first land conveyance record I have found for Frampton Township was on December 18, 1812. It was for a lease of land in lots 4, 5, and 6 of range 3 of Frampton Township From Pierre Edouard Desbarats to James Whilong and Terrance Burns. The earliest reference to a resident in Frampton is found in the baptism of Marie Burns, daughter of Patrick Burns and Catherine Hastings recorded on June 23, 1816 in Ste. Marie parish register. The Ste. Marie parish register also contains the following Frampton Irish heads of households prior to 1825: James Bready, Louis Kelly, William Meagher, Andrew Murphy, Thomas Wilson, John Quinn, Denis Kelly, Matthew Reed, Patrick Kelly, Walter Fitzgerald, Edward Brennan, Patrick Devereux, Patrick Fitzgerald, Thomas Keily, Daniel McCauley, John Reed, John Duff, Miles Duff, Michael Fitzgerald, and John Dayley. Using the grid system for Frampton Township, I plotted some of the farm locations of the Frampton Irish who appeared in the 1825 census. I was able to locate 20 Irish family farms all located in the Northwest corner of the Township immediately adjacent to the Seigneurie of Ste. Marie. Access to the Village of Ste. Marie and its parish church were obvious factors in the location of these farms. The land donated in 1825 by Pierre Edouard Desbarats for the first Frampton church became the epicenter of this early Irish community and the 20 Irish farms were all within a two mile radius of this location. In my September 2003 article, I listed the names of the Irish in 1831 that requested the Bishop establish a church in Frampton. Three of the names were residents of the parish of Ste. Claire (later to become Ste. Marguerite) and two of the names were residents of the parish of Ste. Marie. So even by that early date, the Frampton Irish community was already transcending political boundaries. By 1835, there were around 185 Irish family farms in all areas of the township except the extreme Southeast corner. However, the greatest density of Irish farms was in the Western half of the township probably due to the difficulty of access to the Eastern half requiring crossing of the Etchemin River. From a political standpoint the early Irish settlers residing in the part of the Seigneurie of Jolliet that would later become the Parish of Ste. Marguerite were all supposed to be a part of the Parish of Ste. Claire. However, the Frampton church was only about 3 miles to the South and many of their Irish relatives and friends were a part of that parish. So for the most part, their Irish culture superceded the political boundaries and most of their baptisms, marriages, and burials were performed in Frampton rather then Ste. Claire. The Parish of Ste. Marguerite was established in 1831. Several residents of the Southern concessions of St. Alexander, St. Edouard, and St. Thomas made a request to the Bishop in 1833 that these concessions be annexed to the Frampton Parish, but the request was denied. By 1835, 52 Irish family farms were located in the new parish. Twenty-six or 50% of these Irish family farms were located in the Concessions of St. Alexander, St. Edouard, and St. Thomas which were all immediately adjacent to the Northern boundary of Frampton Township. The Irish did have some influence in the placement and construction of the parish church. The first parish church was built on land donated by Marguerite Marcoux. She had purchased that land from Catherine Crane, the widow of James Neville. The Neville's were one of the first Irish families to settle in the Ste. Marguerite area. The contractor who built the church was William Roach, the head of another early Irish family. Christ Church at Springbrook was the first Anglican Church built in the Frampton area. It's location was also influenced by the Irish. Prior to construction of the church, the Irish Protestant families meet at the home of John Ross, the head of one of the families. John Ross's farm was in the third range just a little North of the location of the first Catholic chapel. However, Christ Church was eventually built on land in the fifth range on Springbrook Road donated in 1832 by its first Pastor Robert Knight. The location of Springbrook was surrounded by the Irish Protestant families of Ross, Bartholomew, Morrow, Bradley, Wilson, Hurley, and Pickford. One of Frampton's first school houses was also built on this site. The build up of Irish families in the Eastern half of the township beyond the Etchemin River eventually led to the construction of the St. Malachie church on land donated by the prominent Irishman Michael Quigley in 1845. This land was located in northern part of range 9 where most of the Irish families of East Frampton lived. The establishment of the new parish created a political boundary that divided the Frampton Township into a Western and Eastern half and also divided the Frampton Irish community into two parts. The 1861 census is the first in Dorchester County that included every member of the household that is extant in all the Frampton Irish parishes and townships. It also was the first to include an agricultural census for all these locations. Using this data and some other sources, I plotted the Irish family farms on the various townships and seigneuries. An illustration of the cultural geography of the Frampton Irish in 1861 emerged as follows:
Where They Went A great majority of the descendant families of the Frampton Irish stayed in the Frampton vicinity on into the twentieth century. Most married and assimilated into the French community. However, a significant number of Frampton Irish emigrated to other parts of North America. The migration began in 1841, when Martin Murphy and his family first moved to Missouri and subsequently joined one of the first parties to cross North America to California. Their cultural transition was tremendous in that they went from a French speaking part of the British Empire, to the unsettled lands in Missouri on the frontier edge of the United States, and then on to California which was then a possession of Mexico where Spanish was the spoken language. They arrived in California in 1844 and many settled in what is today Santa Clara County, California. Martin Murphy, Jr. settled in what is today San Joaquin County, California and Martin Murphy's son-in-law James Miller became one of the first to settle in what is today Marin County, California. Obviously the Murphys must have written to their Frampton relatives and friends telling them about the opportunities in California to take up fertile lands and a climate much more favorable than that in Quebec. Another significant wave of migration of Frampton Irish to California occurred in the 1850's. By this time, California had become part of the United States and the preferred route was by ship from New York via the isthmus of Panama and then on to San Francisco. The migration of Frampton Irish to California continued until around 1875. The families that settled in Santa Clara County were: Bulger, Fitzgerald, Franklin, Jordan, Kell, Murphy, O'Connor, O'Toole, Redmond, Wilson, and Sinnott. The families that settled in San Mateo County were: Doyle, Duff, Franklin, and Mills. The families that settled in Monterey County were: Duff and Jordan. From my own family lore, I learned that my ancestors worked in the lumbering industry and were employed at lumber camps in many parts of Canada and the United States while still maintaining farms and residences in the Frampton vicinity. Some Frampton Irish began to migrate to places to their liking around 1869. Many former neighbors and friends from Frampton and Ste. Marguerite found their way to Clark County, Wisconsin. The migration continued to that location until around 1883. The families that settled in Clark County, Wisconsin were: Cassidy, Free, Garvin, Hughes, Meagher, Jordan, Manes, McLane, Murphy, Neville, Wright, Redmond, Fitzsimmons, Ross, and Tackney. Another significant Frampton migration was to the vicinity of the Green Bay of Lake Michigan. This migration started around 1870 and the families settled on the shores of Green Bay in what is today Menominee County, Michigan and Door County, Wisconsin. The migration continued to those locations until around 1888. The families that settled there were: Bagley, Bagnall, Harper, Kell, Kingston, Rutherford, Sargeant, Smith, and Wilson. New England was most likely a choice of many Frampton migrants. The families and locations to that region were as follows: Bearny to Somerset County, Maine; Doran to Grafton County, New Hampshire; Duncan to Hampden County, Massachusetts; Harper, Murphy, and Quigley to Middlesex County, Massachusetts; and Duncan and Fitzgerald to Washington County, Vermont. There were many other places that the Frampton Irish migrated to as follows: Courtney to Meeker County, Minnesota; McNaughton to Ramsey County, Minnesota; Duncan to Rensselaer County, New York; Falls to Warren County, New York; Donahue and Falls to Potter County, Pennsylvania; Coyle to Geauga County, Ohio; Donahue to Whitman County, Washington; Duff to Walla Walla County, Washington and Kent County, Michigan; Joynt and Humphreys to Faulk County, South Dakota; and Falls, Fitzgerald, and Donahue to the Edmonton, Alberta area. The cultural geography of the Frampton Irish stretched from the emerald isle of Ireland to the deep woods of unsettled Quebec to the shores of the Pacific Ocean in Mexican California. The years of the close knit Irish Community of Frampton are long over and the descendants of these families are now widely dispersed throughout North America. There may be some locations that still have several Frampton descendant families living near each other. However forgotten family histories mean some of these families have no idea how much they have in common. It seems that the cultural factors that were so important to the geographic choices of their ancestors are now relegated to the retention of an Irish surname and the celebration of St. Patrick's day. |
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