From Ulster to Canada
Subtitle: the life and times of Wilson Benson 1821-1911
By: Cecil J. Houston, William J. Smyth
Contributors: Smyth, William J., 1949-; Benson, Wilson, 1821-1911
Publisher: Ulster Historical Foundation
Published: 2015
Place of publication: Belfast
Language: eng
Number of pages: 138
ISBN-13: 9781909556331
Subjects: Emigration and immigration; Irish; Biography; History
Description: "No country contributed more to the establishment of Canada than Ireland. And of the 500,000 souls who arrived there in a constant stream in the generation before the Great Famine, the vast majority originated in Ulster. Canadian identity continues to be characterised by this significant Ulster cultural contribution. In Ontario particularly, the Ulster presence was evident throughout a broad swathe of land stretching almost 1,000 kilometres from the Quebec border to the USA frontier at Detroit. These two great stories, of Ulster migration to and settlement in Canada, unfold intriguingly in this scholarly and accessible book. Recently-married Wilson Benson emigrated from Co. Armagh in 1841, lived for another 70 years in Ontario and left behind a detailed autobiography. It recalls, firstly, his youth in Ulster and goes on to narrate in engaging detail his varied and indomitable attempts to establish himself in his New World, an absorbing tale that amply informs our understanding of the nineteenth-century migration experience. Wilson Benson's perceptive life history is of value not only to emigrant and family historians but is also a near-unique account of both Ulster society on the cusp of the trauma of the Famine and the emergence of early modern Canada" -- Publisher's description.
Notes: Includes facsimile reprint of: Benson, Wilson. Life and adventures of Wilson Benson / written by himself. Toronto : Hunter, Rose & Co., 1876.

Includes bibliographical references and index.