Based on my wife's family history, many of the Irish who came over in that time period ended up working on the railroads, which were undergoing a construction boom. According to another family researcher, experienced railroad hands were being recruited in Ireland, especially in the Armagh area, which I gather was a railroading center itself. Some Irish who ended up in Canada in the pre-famine years were pensioners of the British army who were given land after their years of service to the crown during the Napoleanic War.  Considering the then recent (1798) uprising in Ireland  with the aid of the French,  it probably seemed prudent to give these old soldiers a reward far away from their ancestral lands and to help settle Lower Canada (Quebec)  with English speaking peoples. Doug, Lyndonville, VT Date: Fri, 07 Nov 2008 10:32:03 -0500 From: mmurphy917@aol.com Subject: Re: [VERMONT] Irish Emigrants To: gc-gateway@rootsweb.com, vermont@rootsweb.com Message-ID: <8CB0F051E506F6B-1608-2B0F@FWM-D34.sysops.aol.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" What was the work in Canada for Irish emigrants? In the era of 1842-1850? Was it railroad-mining or lumber? Who employeed the Irish? My ancestors landed in New Brunswick in 1842, were married that same year in April in St. Sylvestere's Parish, Quebec, then spent about 8 years doing what? They ended up in VT and farmed from 1850 on, because of the holdings of land that they held in VT I gather they must of had some money "put away". Thanks