Its a Long Long Way to Tipperary.
- Jessica Knoch
- Apr 27, 2024
- 9 min read
Updated: Apr 28, 2024
Mary Sheppard Lewis (~1800 – ~1871).
4th Great Grandmother.
Early Irish Immigration to Canada.
Long before the Irish Famine brought waves of Irish migrants to North America, communities of Irish immigrants, primarily Protestant, began appearing in the newly formed Upper Canada, (established in 1791). Eager to establish a strong Protestant presence in the province of Upper Canada, the British Government began offering land grants to British settlers, including Protestant Irish, in exchange for populating and developing the region.
A (Very) Brief Overview of Irish Protestants in Ireland.
The reason for immigration for these early Irish Protestant settlers is extensively documented in Bruce S. Elliot’s “Irish Migrants in Canada’s: A New Approach”. In a (very unacademic) summary: Oliver Cromwell, the head of state during the brief stint of the Commonwealth of England, harboured strong animosity towards the Irish, and sought to bring Ireland completely under British control. He launched a campaign to achieve this, which, by today’s standards, would be considered ethnic cleansing. Irish Catholics were displaced from large areas of Ireland, and huge tracts of land were granted to the English gentry. When it came to working this land, the English preferred to employ their own rather than the Irish Catholics. They brought over English, Welsh, and Scottish labourers to work on the farms.
Over the next hundred years or so after Cromwell’s campaign, these lands were further subdivided among families, leaving little to go around. Additionally, The Irish Catholics were rebuilding social and political power and rightfully sought to reclaim their land.
Mary Sheppard Lewis Enters the Story.
It was in this economic and political climate that Mary Sheppard was born in North Tipperary in 1800. Details of her early life are scarce. North Tipperary was known for its strong presence of Irish Protestants, and the area was known for its fertile land and skilled farmers. The surname name Sheppard is thought to be of Welsh origin, and its likely that her ancestors were either descendants of Cromwell’s soldiers who stayed in the area or were amongst the wave of protestant labourers brought into the country to work on English estates in the early 18th century.
While Mary’s birth year is estimated to be 1800, later Canadian census records indicate she may have been born in the late 1790s. It's also unclear precisely which area of North Tipperary she came from. Bruce S. Elliot suggests that other migrants on the ship she travelled on were primarily from the Borrisokane or Cloughjordan areas of North Tipperary. Others have speculated that this family may have come from nearby Queen’s County (now County Laois). Parish records for all denominations in this area are not available until the 1820s at the earliest, making it challenging to trace her family roots before her emigration to Canada.
Given that she emigrated with other Protestants and declared herself a member of the Church of England throughout her life, it is likely she came from a Protestant family. As a Protestant, she may have enjoyed certain privileges and access to education and opportunities not readily available to Catholics. Born around the time of the Irish rebellion and the later Act of Union which merged Ireland with Great Britain, she would have also experienced the broader political unrest that accompanied the 1801 Act of Union. Depending on her family’s personal beliefs, she might have been exposed to loyalist sentiments or sympathetic to movements advocating for Irish Independence. Several of her grandsons and grandsons-in-law were heavily involved in establishing the Orange Order in Canada, suggesting that her family’s beliefs leaned towards the former.
The exact date of Mary’s marriage is unclear. Her immigration record indicates she was 18 when she boarded the ship to Canada in 1818, pregnant with her first known child, John Lewis Jr. However, the 1861 Census of Canada notes she was married to John Lewis Sr. in 1814, with an estimated birth year of 1795. Whether the immigration record or the census record is accurate remains uncertain.
Leaving Tipperary for Canada.
What we do have a clearer picture of is her journey to Canada. Mary and John were part of what’s become known as the Talbot Party – one of the first groups of immigrants to come en masse to Canada following the issue of land grants offered to British citizen of Protestant Descent wishing to resettle in Canada.
Thomas Talbot, the leader of the Talbot Party, was an influential figure in the settlement of Upper Canada. A former soldier in the British Army and a member of the minor gentry from King’s County Tipperary (now Offaly County), Talbot wanted to immigrate to Canada, where it is believed his brother lived. In 1817, the British Colonial Office began sponsoring group settlements if a responsible party was able to gather a group of potential colonists. By May of 1818, Talbot had gathered over 200 potential settlers in Cork, where they awaited passage to Montreal. The Talbot settlers were Protestant, loyal to the British crown and were known to possess rudimentary literacy skills. Most were yeoman farmers who would not have been able to afford passage to Canada without the subsidy from the British government. They all paid the required deposit of £10 to board the ship and most are known to have brought £50 - £100 with them to aid them on their journey and to start their new life in Canada. Most were granted 100 acres of land upon arrival to start their lives.
John and (newly pregnant) Mary Sheppard Lewis were among the party. It is unclear how they connected with Talbot or why they decided to start a new life in Canada, but the rest of their journey, meticulously recorded by Talbot, was eventful. An administrative delay in Cork meant they did not leave the cove of Cork until 11:00 am on June 13. They sailed on the Brunswick, a merchant ship known to have made several passages from Cork to Quebec to bring Irish immigrants under this sponsorship scheme. The journey took 43 ½ days, average for this era, and saw the loss of 12 children at sea and another 11 children in the St. Lawrence. The arrival of the Brunswick, as well as another ship, was noted by Quebec Gazette on July 29. Settlers were welcomed by cannon fire. It must have been an exciting welcome for young Mary and the rest of the party, relieved to see home after a long journey. The cannon fire welcome wasn’t for them, however – the new governor of Upper Canada, the Duke of Richmond, was also in the party.
After 5 days in Quebec, and discussions about whether they should stay put in Montreal, Talbot and the settlers chose to carry on to Upper Canada. The party left on August 3 by a steamer, the Telegraph, headed to York (Toronto) - a voyage of over 500 miles. A stop at Lachine saw the death of the first adult of the party, and 15 families decided to accept the offer of land grants in a military settlement which had just been organized in Richmond on the upper Canadian side of the Ottawa river. Perhaps these settlers were angry with Talbot for the long and expensive wait at Cork and did not want the uncertainty of still not knowing where they were going to settle.
Mary and John may have decided to stay for another reason: Mary was now eight months pregnant with her son, John Jr., who was due in mid-September. The decision to stay was wise. The party that continued experienced a shipwreck on Lake Erie, another death, and an over-wintering in Westminster and Yarmouth before they could continue their journey to the London Township, southwest of what is now Toronto. Those that stayed with the Lewis’s in the Ottawa Valley primarily settled in the northwest corner of the township of Goulbourn, where Mary and John lived out the rest of their lives.
It’s a Long Long Way from Tipperary*.
Goulbourn would have been an ideal location for new settlers. It was established in 1818 by the British Military as part of the Rideau Canal construction project in nearby Ottawa, and the area had attracted many soldiers who remained in Upper Canada following the War of 1812, hoping to establish their lives there. The Talbot settlers would have seen a rudimentary but established townsite, with some amenities already in place in Goulbourn and nearby Richmond. St. John’s Anglican Church, for example, was established in 1818, with a formal structure built in 1823.
The record of Mary’s remaining life plays out through census records. The 1822 Census of Goulburn indicated that the household of John Lewis included one female adult and one male child living with him. This aligns with the birth order of the children, with John Jr. born in 1818 and Jane in 1822-23.
The 1842 Canada West Census indicated that there were two natives of Ireland living in household, 7 natives of Canada of British origin. The family had lived a total of 23 years in the province, and the entire household worshipped at the Church of England. In the previous year, the family had 100 acres. Wheat and Barley were the main crop the family grew. They owned six cows, seven sheep and no horses. They had produced 150 lbs. of potatoes, 6 lbs. wool and 14 yds. flannel or wool cloth. The amount of food and creation of cloth, even 23 years after settlement, indicates how isolated the family was from modern conveniences and how strongly they relied on the land to provide them with what they needed.
The 1851 Census of Canada East, West, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia indicated that Mary would be turning 52 at her next birthday, suggesting a birth year of approximately 1800. John, her husband, had a next birthday listed at 65, indicating a birth year of 1785-1786. They lived in a one-story stone building.
The 1861 Census of Canada noted she would be 66 at her next birthday, this time putting her birth year at 1795 or 96. It is unclear why there is a discrepancy between the 1851 and 1861 census. The census indicates that the family now lives in a one-and one-half stone building, and that two families live in the house. It is likely that the youngest son Sheppard and his family lived with the couple at this time. In this area of the province, tradition indicated that the farm was handed to the youngest son to take over.
In 1871, Mary is noted to be 79 years old (suggesting a birth year of 1792-93). She is widowed, and living with or near eldest son, James.
We have no record of Mary’s death or burial place. Record keeping at this time was still rudimentary, and despite a thorough search of formal government records and cemetery records for all nearby churches and cemeteries, her exact date of death and burial site is still unknown.
During her life, Mary had seven children that lived to adolescence or adulthood. John Jr., who was in utero during the voyage to Canada, was born in 1818. A daughter, Jane, was born in 1822, followed by William in 1823, James in 1827, Ellen in 1828, Sheppard in 1834 and Margaret in 1837. Birth, marriage, census and death records for all children are more readily available, including records for WIlliam Lewis, my 3rd Great Grandfather.
As a woman, her legal status would not have changed much in her lifetime, and she no doubt experienced the ongoing physical and emotional hardships that came with settlement, childbirth and childrearing. It's very hard to know what kinds of interaction she would have had with local Algonquin, Anishinaabe and Haudenosaunee populations whose land her family was occupying. Finally, while documents are sparce, it’s fair to say she likely played a role in the social and spiritual life of the community of Goulbourn.
A Witness to the Birth of Canada.
As an early pioneer of Canada, Mary would have saw significant growth, change and nation building in Canada. The Rebellions of 1837-1838 brought greater autonomy for Canada, the Act of Union in 1841 brought Upper and Lower Canada together into the Province of Canada and in 1867, she would have witnessed Confederation and the birth of the County of Canada. Her lifetime also saw the completion of a cross-Canadian railway – the same railway that would bring her granddaughter, Catherine, to Saskatchewan where the Prairie chapter of this family’s life would begin.
*It’s a Long Long Way to Tipperary is an English Music Hall song, used as a marching song among soldiers in the First World War. Written from the perspective of an Irish worker in London, missing his home county of Tipperary, I’d like to think that Mary Sheppard would have found some solace in the lyrics when she too was missing her home county of Tipperary.
Direct Line Context: 4th Great Grandmother Mary Sheppard Lewis >> 3rd Great Grandfather William Lewis >> 2nd Great Grandmother Catherine Lewis >> Great Grandmother Emma Price Lapointe >>Grandmother Marie Lapointe Best >> Mother >> Me
Sources.
1822 Census Goulbourn Townships, Carlton County, Ontario. Ontario Family History. (n.d.). Granny's Gardens. Retrieved from https://ontariofamilyhistory.org/family_sites/grannysgardens/Granny2/goulb2.html
"Canada, Upper Canada Census, 1842." Database with images. FamilySearch. http://FamilySearch.org : 4 December 2023. Public Archives of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario.
"Canada Census, 1851." Database. FamilySearch. http://FamilySearch.org : 27 June 2023. Citing Board of Registration and Statistics. Public Archives, Ontario.
Ancestry.com and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 1861 Census of Canada [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2009.
"Canada Census, 1871." Database. FamilySearch. https://FamilySearch.org : 4 December 2023. National Archives of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario.
Ancestry.com. U.S. and Canada, Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc, 2010.
ELLIOTT, BRUCE S. Irish Migrants in the Canadas: A New Approach. Kingston and Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 1988. 371p.
Mitchell, B. (1988). A Guide to Irish Parish Registers. Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Publishing Co.
Patton, C. (2019). Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records: A Guide for Family Historians. Pen and Sword Family History.
Goulbourn Historical Society. (n.d.). Home. Retrieved from https://goulbournhistoricalsociety.org/
Ontario Heritage Trust. (n.d.). St. John's Anglican Parish. Retrieved from https://www.heritagetrust.on.ca/plaques/st-johns-anglican-parish
Wikipedia contributors. (n.d.). Brunswick (ship). In Wikipedia. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brunswick_(ship)
Wikipedia. (n.d.). Goulbourn Township, Ontario. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goulbourn_Township,_Ontario
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