Finding Molly Johnson by Mark G Mcgowan

Finding Molly Johnson by Mark G Mcgowan

Ireland's Great Famine produced Europe's worst refugee crisis of the nineteenth century. More than 1.5 million people left Ireland, many ending up in Canada. Among the most vulnerable were nearly 1,700 orphaned children who now found themselves destitute in an unfamiliar place. The story Canada likes to tell is that these orphans were adopted by benevolent families and that they readily adapted to their new lives, but this happy ending is mostly a myth. In Finding Molly Johnson Mark McGowan traces what happened to these children. In the absence of state support, the Catholic and Protestant churches worked together to become the orphans' principal caregivers. The children were gathered, fed, schooled, and placed in family homes in Saint John, Quebec, Montreal, Bytown, Kingston, and Toronto. Yet most were not considered members of their placement families, but rather as sources of cheap labour. Many fled their placements, joining thousands of other Irish refugees on the Canadian frontier searching for work, extended family, and the opportunity to begin a new life. Finding Molly Johnson revisits an important chapter of the Irish emigrant experience, revealing that the story of Canada's acceptance of the famine orphans is a product of national myth-making that obscures both the hardship the children endured and the agency they ultimately expressed.

"This book is one of the most interesting and powerful examinations of Irish Canadian history in recent memory" Jane McGaughey, Concordia University

"Finding Molly Johnson is an excellent example of the traditional historian's craft, providing a meticulous exploration of the Irish Famine migrations and the impact they had on the hundreds of Irish children who were orphaned at its height. McGowan successfully brings the orphans themselves, as individuals with particular stories, to the foreground." Lisa Chilton, University of Prince Edward Island

"McGowan is measured and thoughtful, and his book is at its best when it shreds the myth of universal generosity toward the vulnerable. Finding Molly Johnson is an important account of the vulnerability of migrants — and a fitting reminder not to trust self-serving mythologies." Literary Review of Canada

Mark G. McGowan is professor of history at the University of Toronto and principal emeritus of St Michael's College. He is the author of several books including The Imperial Irish: Canada's Irish Catholics Fight the Great War, 1914–1918.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780228022992
ISBN 10	0228022991
Title	Finding Molly Johnson
Author	Mark G Mcgowan
Series	Mcgill-Queen's Studies In The History Of Religion
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	McGill-Queen's University Press
Year published	2024-09-15
Number of pages	252
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.