Hi Karen, That's great! Dear ol' Ontario. From what I've read, the canals were largely dug by the unfortunate Catholic Irish because it did not involve skilled labor. Because the Catholics were denied schooling and often had no access to the trades in Ireland, they did not emigrate in large numbers during colonial times. People wanted indentured servants who were highly skilled according to this book I have. So even if they had wanted to come, it was difficult for them to find someone to pay their passage except for the Government, of course! No doubt many came as prisoners. America was a penal colony before Australia. Odd... no one ever claims descent from them <grin>!!! Ahem.... One very useful book to read is Timothy J Meagher's "Inventing Irish America". He largely deals with a single New ENgland town but he also discusses all kinds of topics and sheds light on a lot. For example he discusses the regional variation in emigration from Ireland which seems to be largely based on the skill set of the people there. PEople of all religions from the ind ustrialized north and east had the skills to succeed in colonial and post colonial America. People from the west and south did not, so their emigration was delayed. They left when forced by the Famine and often when aided by landlords and when the opportunity for unskilled labor was available in the new world. One of the early waves of Catholic, unskilled labor was the building of the canals in the 1830s. There was a labor shortage in the USA and no doubt Canada, which brought over this early wave. What happened was was happened to later waves who built the railroads and then dug the coal: They did the work and they were overseen by Protestant Irish who had often emigrated in earlier generations. An example is a collateral line on my ANDERSON side. The man worked as an overseer on the canals, banked his salary, and went to med school. There's a number of folk songs about the hard work on the railroads and canals and the coal mines and the archetypical figure of the Protestant boss figures large in the folk consciousness. This continues into the 20th century when immigrants from Poland, Ireland, etc, dug coal in the coal mines under Protestant bosses. My grandfather moved to Western PA at the instigation of his brother who was part owner in the Kinloch coal mine to help run it, but he would never take any position that would have caused him to have to resign from the union. In my childhood we were constantly reminded that you never, ever, discriminated against anyone due to their race, color or creed because that is how the owners divided and conquored you -- as any history of the labor movement will attest. Of course some first generation Protestant Irish men did labor side by side with Catholics, but often they quickly rose in the ranks. So if our Catholic cousins (and they are our cousins) seem bitter -- they got good reason to be. Linda Merle ________________________________________________________________ Sent via the WebMail system at mail.fea.net