Series 3 - Patrick Nowlan letters

137pp

Photocopies of the Patrick Nowlan letters presented here were obtained bu Kerby A. Miller from the Public Archives of Canada, now Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa, where they are catalogued as MG-24, I-122. The original manuscripts are part of the Nowlan Family Papers, housed at Acadia University, Wolfville, Nova Scotia.

Materials related to five letters written to Patrick Nowlan, who emigrated around 1818 and settled in Nova Scotia, by his father John Nowlan Sr. and brothers James and John Jr. The letters were written primarily from Newtownbarry (now Bunclody), Co. Wexford between 1830 and 1847. Per Kerby A. Miller: 'The Patrick Nowlan letters illustrate the socioeconomic plight and, hence, desperation to emigrate, among many members of the Irish Catholic petit bourgeoisie, who suffered greatly from the economic depression of the early 19th century, and whose political activities on behalf of Daniel O'Connell made them vulnerable to landlord retaliation. [...] These letters illustrate as well the dependence of lower-middle- and working-class Irish on advice and remittances from relatives in North America, to enable them to emigrate. But the letters also reveal that Irish Catholic' opportunities for personal advancement in the New World sometimes encouraged or required them to convert to Protestantism and reduce or cut their ties to Ireland.' Also of note is the Nowlans' discussion of the temperance movement and the emotional letter written by John Nowlan Sr. during the 'Black '47', which gives a harrowing account of Famine conditions during the period. Included in the collection are photocopies and typed transcripts of the letters, Miller's research and correspondence, notes from Miller and colleague Bruce D. Boling, and photocopied pages from secondary sources on Irish settlements in Canada.