Pictou

John Francis Maguire
1868
CHAPTER I (17) start of chapter

The necessity of taking passage at Pictou for Prince Edward's Island brought me to that town, which is prettily situated on the shore of the harbour. The Irish do not, at least as yet, form any considerable proportion of the population, the Catholic congregation being little more than one hundred in number. But it would be difficult to behold anywhere a more remarkable instance of generous devotion to their faith than the Catholic Irish have displayed in this place, where they are so numerically weak. To the stranger entering the harbour the most striking object is a well-built brick church, with lofty spire surmounted by a gilded cross. This imposing structure—the first actually built in the town, though a handsome Protestant church was being erected in the October of 1866—is the work of the small Catholic congregation, whose zeal and liberality may be estimated from the fact that it has cost about 2,000l., the greatest portion of which was supplied from their own narrow resources.

The Irish in America, first published in 1868, provides an invaluable account of the extreme difficulties that 19th Century Irish immigrants faced in their new homeland and the progress which they had nonetheless made in the years since arriving on a foreign shore. A new edition, including additional notes and an index, has been published by Books Ulster/LibraryIreland:

Paperback: 700+ pages The Irish in America

ebook: The Irish in America