march 2005
From Inistioge to Newfoundland:
By Colette Gibson©
Brought to my attention by Billy Kerwan, Inistioge's true historian.
In the beginning ships from England's west country on route to Newfoundland in springtime collected salt provisions and passengers from Ireland's south east coast.
By1740 Protestant ship owners in New Ross were themselves availing of the lucrative trading opportunities by employing local mariners and fishermen and sending their own shiploads of essential foodstuffs.
Barrels of pork, beef and ale, tons of bread oats and butter were carried along with the 104 passengers recruited for the summer fishing. The trade expanded rapidly. Although centred in Waterford, the port of New Ross in adjoining County Wexford, because of its proximity to the river basings of the Barrow and the Nore continued to be important.
From Inistioge, the river village beyond which commercial navigation of the Nore could not be made viable, there came the trickle of people who would, over the space of a century, create the new parish of St.John in the image of home 2,000 miles across the sea.
By road or boat they and others from atleast as far as Thomastown, further up the river, became part of the migratory stream who would join with those who travelled down the wide waters of the Barrow to Passage East or New Ross.
The young men who went with the salt provisions in the springtime as fishers of cod, returned in the autumn in the same ship, which carried cod-oil and fish from Newfoundland. As well as their accumulated earnings, returning migrants spread news of their ventures, so enhancing the vision of life there.
Recruitment was achieved through the network of suppliers, the growing trade, which was in the hands of a small group of Protestant merchants with growing family business interactions on both sides of the Atlantic. Servants were first recruited in New Ross around 1775 at the request of master-craftsmen, plantersw, merchants and retailers in Newfoundland. Orders were fulfilled with the spring sailing. In the building trade artisands were offered 13£ and labourers 6£ for a seven month period, plus their keep and passage out and back and a guinea in advance for essentials.
Seasonal migration began to taper off during the early 19th Century to be replaced by the emigration of significant numbers. Two vessels that sailed from New Ross in 1815 arrived in St.John's carrying 512 passengers. This was part of a wider pattern of emigration from the south-east, with eight more boats travelling to St John's that spring.
Most fares of five pounds cash, with interest added if borrowed were expected to be paid months after arrival, and were guaranteed by the many agents around the area, supplying provisions and people for the endless demands of the new colony. It was a need that found an echo among the struggling striving population of Inistioge and the country around it.
Inistioge had its own unique quality. At its centre was Woodstock, the largest of the Protestant owned estates, confiscated ofcourse from the Catholic Normans during the Cromwellian invasion. Up to 300 people were employed there, resulting in a large growth in population over the generations.
One hundred men were engaged in the woods alone, hewing wood for construction, for tanneries and barrels to hold provisions. Some were seasonal workers, others worked in lieu of rent. The specialised commercial agriculture that had developed during the migration period, meant that tradesmen of all descriptions abounded, from coopers to nailers, shoe-makers to stone-cutters.
One watchmaker atleast found his way to St.John's. a few of the privileged Protestant class, the holders of large freehold farms duing the 1700s emigrated to join family trading there, presumably because of sectarian attacks on property after the 1798 rebellion, and the growth of the Catholic middle-class who were gradually gaining control of local business.
For most it was a case of relative prosperity leading to eventual poverty and necessity for survival. Small holdings, rented from a middle man, carved up over time to share with the family, meant little for anyone. The choice of emigration to a place that many were already acquainted with was enticing. Women went, too, in smaller numbers. Half of all who were left were born into families of Woodstock tenants.
In St John communities began to form and stabilise. Records for the early 19th Century show most marriages were between those who came from roundabout the same area. Occasionall partners were chosen from the wider south-east. In time, the main surnames of the Inistioge area were all but recreated in St.John's, one or two completely left this area.
For Catholics who formed the biggest group by 1850, the church was the gathering place where they met the new emigrants, and stood in as godparents and bridesmaids for other kin. Although it is recorded that one Irish trader married a planter's daughter, there is little evidence of any other mingling of Anglicans from Ireland with the old English Anglican settlers.
Land in Logy Bay, outside St. John's was free for the taking. All that was required to make it arable was the hard work and tenacity it took to remove the rocks.
Those who had land, back in Ireland, and those who had not, worked their plots alongside each other in a new land with no distinction between them. In spring, after planting, they moved family and livestock to their fishing "rooms" by the shore for the fishing season. A harsh world away from the type of fishing they had done in their native rivers, Nore and Barrow.
Not everyone who left did well in their new homeland. Some broke the law and paid the penalty for it, others had great misfortune there, and became thankful that they could move and try again in some of the many Irish communities forming across the border in America. Those who went later to St,Johns were forced through overcrowding to find other ports to work in the same mould.
The rise and fall in the proliferation of the Inistioge families became less significant with the passing generations. Integration into the wider Catholic Irish community had extended further and further afield with the passing years. Immigration had achieved its purpose. Perhaps, too, it had saved another bit of Ireland and its people from the destruction of the Famine.
Colette Gibson©
| MODERN
TIMES :St.
John's with a population over 100,000 is the
capital of Newfoundland and Labrador. St. John's
is the most easterly port and oldest City in
North America. The city is progressive and has
world-class facilities in marine science and
technology and in offshore oil development. St.
John's is the headquarters those companies that
are exploiting the underwater offshore resources
in the Hibernia and Terra Nova oil fields. The city is surrounded by a mosaic of fishing villages, and hosts several cultural festivals, sports clubs and recreation facilities, to provide big city amenities with "small town" quality of life. The city's music scene is vibrant and eclectic with the Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra, renowned choral groups and a variety of traditional Irish, jazz, and rock performers. Shoppers can stroll the aisles of national retailers or visit charming boutiques along Water Street, the oldest commercial street in North America, with most shops open seven days a week. Our nightlife scene is one of the most vibrant in Canada. St. John's has featured lively pubs and taverns since the 1600s. Featuring 1920s light fixtures and cobblestones, George Street is said to have more pubs per square foot than anywhere else in North America. |