Ancient Order of Hibernians & Trip to Grosse Île
On our Montreal Irish Monument Park Foundation FaceBook site, a few people have been asking about a Trip to Grosse Île and thought some people on our Web Page might be also interested.
Grosse Ile was, of course the quarantine station where the ships carrying the Irish immigrants of 1847-48 were stopped for inspection. Anyone that appeared sick was removed from the boats and sent to the fever sheds on Gross Île – often dividing up families where the for example the mother was taken off leaving the father and children on the boats; or other similar combinations of removing one or both parents, or only the children etc.
At any rate, the system was simply not prepared for the major influx of people and since they really didn’t know the indication of the Typhus fever with its strange incubation period; many immigrants were “deemed well” and sent on to Québec City and Montreal and further points West. The end result was that an almost identical number of immigrants died and were buried both at Gross Île; and at Montreal around the Black Rock – approximately about 6,000 died at each of these locations (as well as others died at Quebec City, and further on to Kingston, Toronto etc.,)
Each year the Ancient Order of Hibernians arrange a visit to Grosse Île and this year, I think they are tentatively planning the trip for the weekend of August 22nd 2015. In the past depending on the number of people that join this trip, the AOH has rented buses, arranged for a boat from Quebec City to Grosse Île etc. Since the AOH has been so involved with Grosse Île since the beginning – for example, raising all the funds to build the great big cross on the island; they know a great deal about the history an sometime have access to areas not generally seen by other visitors. So if you are planning to go to Gross Ile, it is worth considering going with the AOH.
So if you might have interest in joining this year, please contact Victor Boyle, the President of the AOH Canada, & a Director of our Park Foundation, his e-mail is: vp_boyle@sympatico.ca and his phone number is 514.928.7196
More about the trip is available on the AOH site.
Read more about Grosse Île and the Irish Memorial.
(Of course, you could also join our FaceBook Montreal Irish Monument Park Foundation too at: https://www.facebook.com/groups/Blackrockmemorial/ )
