Methodism in Ireland

Asenath Nicholson

Ireland's Welcome to the Stranger

1847

Chapter IV (2) | Start of Chapter

Sabbath evening supped at the house of Mr. Burke, a Methodist clergyman. His companion was one of those prudent wives who are from the Lord. Her children were educated by herself (the proper business of mothers), and their becoming deportment testified that the pruning-knife had been applied in season. Mr. Burke told me that the Methodists now numbered in Ireland about 29,000 members, and 100 preachers. Certainly these indefatigable laborers have done no small business to make their way through Popery, Prelacy, Presbyterianism, and Independency. They are instant in season and out of season. Went to Arklow at seven, and found a plain chapel, with a plain man in the pulpit, and heard a plain sermon preached to a plain people, all in accordance, with every nail fitted to its place.

Ireland’s Welome to the Stranger is one of the best accounts of Irish social conditions, customs, quirks and habits that you could wish for. The author, Mrs Asenath Nicholson, was an American widow who travelled extensively in Ireland on the eve of the Great Famine and meticulously observed the Irish peasantry at work and play, as well as noting their living conditions and diet. The book is also available from Kindle.

Featured Books

An American widow’s account of her travels in Ireland in 1844–45 on the eve of the Great Famine:

Ireland’s Welcome to the Stranger

Sailing from New York, she set out to determine the condition of the Irish poor and discover why so many were emigrating to her home country.

Mrs Nicholson’s recollections of her tour among the peasantry are still revealing and gripping today.

The author returned to Ireland in 1847–49 to help with famine relief and recorded those experiences in the rather harrowing: Annals of the Famine in Ireland.

See more of our books »

The Ocean Plague: or, A Voyage to Quebec in an Irish Emigrant Vessel is based upon the diary of Robert Whyte who, in 1847, crossed the Atlantic from Dublin to Quebec in an Irish emigrant ship. His account of the journey provides invaluable eyewitness testimony to the trauma and tragedy that many emigrants had to face en route to their new lives in Canada and America. The book is also available in Kindle.

The Irish in America by John F. Maguire provides a substantial and invaluable account of the extreme difficulties faced by pioneer Irish immigrants in North America during the 19th Century. The book is also available in Kindle.

The Scotch-Irish in America tells the story of how the hardy breed of men and women, who in America came to be known as the ‘Scotch-Irish’, was forged in the north of Ireland during the seventeenth century. It relates the circumstances under which the great exodus to the New World began, the trials and tribulations faced by these tough American pioneers and the enduring influence they came to exert on the politics, education and religion of the country.

Show fewer titles