Transcript A History of French-Canadians in Rhode Island

Period
Canadian
Emigration
Rate of
Emigration
(%)
Quebec
Emigration
Rate of
Emigration
Quebec as
% of
Canadian
Emigration
1840-1850
75000
4.3
35000
5.4
47
1850-1860
15000
7
70000
7.8
47
1860-1870
300000
10.7
100000
10
33
1870-1880
375000
11
120000
10.1
32
1880-1890
450000
11.3
150000
11.3
33
1890-1900
425000
9.7
140000
9.6
33
1900-1910
325000
6.4
100000
6
31
1910-1920
250000
4
80000
40
32
1920-1930
450000
6
130000
5.6
29
1930-1940
25000
0.3
-
-
-
1840-1940
2800000
-
900000
-
32
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During 1840-1860 emigrants came to:
Northern New York State
Vermont
New Hampshire
Maine
It was not until the 1870’s and 1880’s
that the industrialization progressed
in New England, and railway ties
between Quebec and the north
eastern United States became more
solid that immigrants shifted to the
Northern New England textile towns
of Massachusetts, Rhode Island and
to Connecticut.
State
Population
In 1860
% of French
Distribution
Population
In 1880
% of French
distribution
Maine
7,490
20.0
29,000
13.9
New
Hampshire
1,780
4.7
26,200
12.6
Vermont
16,580
44.3
33,500
16.1
Massachusetts 7,780
20.8
81,000
38.9
Rhode Island
1,810
5.0
19,800
9.5
Connecticut
1,980
5.3
18,500
8.9
Total
37,420
100.0
208,100
100.0
Rhode Island’s connection to
French-Canadian culture date
back to 1524 when French explorer
Giovanni de Verrazano explored
to the area around Block Island
and Newport.
Explorer Giovanni de
Verrazano
BORN IN
TUSCANY,
ITALY, IN 1485
DIED IN 1528
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Was a Florentine explorer under French
Flag.
Made several discoveries including New
York Bay, Block Island and Narragansett
Bay.
Was the first European to sight New
York and Narragansett bays.
Farmhands
Lumber
camps
Textile mills
Factories, requiring no skills and
often employed children and
women.
WOONSOCKET IMMIGRANTS WERE TEXTILE
WORKERS INSTEAD OF FARMERS.
Because France forbade non-Catholic
settlement in New France from 1629.
French settlers of Canada were Roman
Catholic. In the United States, some
French Catholics have converted to
Protestantism. Until the 1960’s, religion
was a central component of French
Canadian national identity.
The generations born in the United
States would eventually come to see
themselves as Franco-Americans.
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Political reasons
Young men trying to evade military
conscription during the First World War.
Rebels who had chosen to side with
American patriots during the American
Revolution.
Economic reasons.
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Can be found in unequal levels of industrial
development,
Standards or living between Quebec and New
England and Canada and the United States.
The industrial gap
And also climate
Economical, emotional and cultural costs.
French Canadian emigration has
left an enduring mark upon French
Canada and New England.
Historians have yet to accurately
measure the cultural and economic
impact of the repatriation of those
who chose to return to Quebec.
They introduced new Anglicism's like
facterie (factory/usine) into the French
Canadian language and new dishes
like the ‘Pate chinois (shepards pie,
called chinois because it had been
encountered in China, Maine) into the
French Canadian diet. The emigrant
became one of the prime vessels of
transmission for American culture
within French Canada.
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They strengthened its Catholic
institutions,
Participated in its industrialization
process,
The Credit Union movement began.
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Marianopolis college library
Wikipedia.org
Woonsocket.org
American-French genealogical society
Italian historical.org
United states census bureau
Academy of political and social science
University of Toronto press
The French-Canadian Heritage New England
University press of New England.
Dictionnaire genealogique des familles canadiennes.
Ethnic Identity: The Case of the French Americans. University
Press of America.