Theme no. 2 of the exhibit “The Irish Presence in Rawdon, Yesterday and Today,” held at the Centre d’interprétation multiethnique de Rawdon, Saturdays and Sundays, between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m., from March 2 to 30, 2025 (except March 22).
The arrival of Irish immigrants
The majority of Irish immigrants arrived at the port of Québec in the 19th century. Hundreds of thousands reached the province between 1815 and 1870; many decided to put down roots here seeking to escape the religious and political conditions in Ireland that were later exacerbated by the Great Potato Famine (1845-1852).
Several rebellions have shaken Ireland over the centuries, but the one in 1798 captured the imagination and contributed to the exodus. Society was divided, and opposing clans sowed terror. The Rebellion was put down by the British, but in its wake, 30,000 people died in a single summer. It was the bloodiest episode in Irish history. County Wexford, in the province of Leinster, was the epicenter. The tragedy shook up politics, but above all the daily lives of families.
Brennan Lake has an Irish name in honour of its developer and is typical of the many lakes scattered across the northern sections of the township that have been used for boating and fishing and at times connected to lumbering. In this modern photograph, there are automobiles, but the lake has remained unchanged.
Settlement in Rawdon
The trunk on the above picture went with them to Upper Canada and was with a family member in Mount Forest, Wellington County, Ontario.
Several Irish settlers in Rawdon township experienced the aftermath of the 1798 Rebellion. Such was the case with the family of John and Ann Eveleigh, originally from Scarawalsh, County Wexford. An Anglican Protestant who had served in the British infantry, John Eveleigh was among the first to obtain a Ticket of Location. Like many Irish immigrants, Protestant or Catholic, the Eveleigh family was looking for a new life. Rawdon offered them a fresh start.
John Eveleigh registered his claim in Montréal in 1816 but had to wait several years before obtaining a lot. The colonial bureaucracy was slow and uncoordinated. In 1821, the colonial government finally granted them lots 21 and 22 in the 6th Range.
Irish provinces and counties
Many of Rawdon’s founding families originated in the Irish provinces of Ulster and Leinster, which include the counties of Laois, Wexford and Cavan.
Irish heritage in the region
The toponymy of Rawdon and its region reflects Irish origins, with townships and villages names recalling those of Ireland, as well as streets and roads paying tribute to the Irish founders.
The county of Montcalm was long known as Leinster (between 1791 and 1854). The Lanaudière townships of Kildare (1803), Kilkenny (1832) and Wexford (1852), neighbours of Rawdon, were also marked by their Irish origins.
Today, the villages of Saint-Ambroise-de-Kildare and Sainte-Marcelline-de-Kildare refer to the former township of the same name. Sainte-Marguerite-du-Lac-Masson, Estérel and Entrelacs are part of the former Wexford township, while Saint-Calixte is located on the territory of the former Kilkenny township.
Streets, roads and lakes pay tribute to Rawdon’s Irish founders.
James Edmund Burton, an Irish Protestant born in Galway and educated at Trinity College Dublin, left his mark on Rawdon by founding the first Anglican parish and the first multi-faith schools. A street pays tribute to him. The streets Mary-Daly, Hugh-Greene, Robinson, Rowan, Saint-Patrick, James-Skelly and Docteur-Smiley also bear witness to the same Irish heritage, as do Daly Falls and several roads including Chemin Lane, Chemin du Lac Brennan, Chemin du Lac Gratten, Chemin du Lac Morgan and Chemin du Lac à Shields.
This photograph illustrates why the Irish felt at home in Rawdon, as the landscape is reminiscent of the green fields of Ireland. – Collection Renald Breault
