Introduction

During the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, 250,000 to 500,000 Irish people who were extremely devoted to their Protestant religion, settled in the New England part of the United States (“Irish-American” 3). The other Irish groups of people who settled in this part of America during these centuries were southern Irish Anglicans and Quakers, in which more than three fourths of these people were Scotch-Irish Prebysterians from Ulster (“Irish-American” 3).

Northern New England in the United States is also known as the “Coastal New England” (“New England” 30). The coastline parts of New England are more urbanized as compared to the Western parts of New England (“New England” 30). Therefore, it is quite believed that Irish immigrants in early times in the northern parts of New England strived hard to market their businesses to merchants in urban areas, thereby, equipping them more with higher profits. These immigrants are also believed to have developed more social habits than Irish immigrants in other parts of New England due to extensive interactions with various types of people which urban areas can only bring.

The urbanized characteristic of the northern New England’s area materializes basically because of numerous historical events, which included among them the settling of Irish immigrants or explorers in the region (“New England” 30). The original explorers mostly immigrated in the Massachusetts Bay coastline (“New England” 30). Therefore, numerous explorers or immigrants of Irish descent can also be found along that coastline. One of the most prominent people in America whose ancestors were Irish immigrants that settled mostly in

Massachusetts were the members of the Kennedy clan. This clan is made up mostly of American politicians that included former US president John Kennedy.

In 1931, half of the 1,230,000 Irish immigrants to Canada settled in the eastern province of Canada called Ontario (“Irish-Canadian” 1). The other provinces in the eastern part of Canada where numerous people of Irish descent are also residing are in Quebec and Nova Scotia (“Irish-Canadian” 1). People with Irish descent in Quebec make up 406,085 numbers of the population, while people in Nova Scotia belonging to this descent make up 193,365 numbers of the population (“Irish-Canadian” 1).

The Irish people established both residences in the urban and country areas of Quebec (“Irish-Canadian” 13). People of Irish descent build most of their residences in the province in Pointe-Saint Charles, Griffintown and Goose Village Montreal (“Irish-Canadian” 14). Their own churches, schools and hospitals are established through the aid given by Quebec’s Catholic Church (“Irish-Canadian” 14).

Starting in the 17^th and 18^th centuries, Irish immigration to Ontario has become rampant (“Irish-Canadian” 18). They initially migrated to the province in small quantities and as missionaries, soldiers, geographers and fur trappers in order to be of service to New France (“Irish-Canadian” 18).

United States Irish Immigration History

Most of the Irish immigrants in the United States during the colonial times belongs to the families from the Ulster province, and were later known as “Scotch-Irish” (“Irish-American” 2). They belong to the ancestry of Scottish and English tenant farmers who established a new life in Ireland in the 17^th century Plantation Of Ulster (“Irish-American” 2). Between 1720 and 1775, a quarter of a million Irish immigrants from Ulster established their new residences in America (“Irish-American” 2).