In the early 1820’s England was overrun with emigrants from Ireland and Scotland due to high unemployment and hunger in those countries. The British government developed a plan to fund assisted emigration programs for Irish folk desperate to leave Ireland for a better life. Peter Robinson (1785-July 8, 1838), a Canadian politician who served as Lieutenant-Governor of the Province of Ontario, was selected to lead the expeditions. The advertisement which announced the emigration plan stated that only a limited number of settlers would be chosen to emigrate to Upper Canada. Robinson became known for his work in organizing the migration and settlement of what is now Peterborough, Ontario.

Most of the emigrants were chosen from the northern area of Cork and from the estates of a few landlords, presumably from the southeast of Ireland. Landlords from those areas chose 307 families to make the journey to Canada in 1823. Emigrants were required to be peasants and Roman Catholic, although several Protestant families were chosen. No person over the age of 45 was accepted. Each emigrant family was to be given 70 acres of land which would be subject to an annual payment to the British government. Over 182 families were brought to Canada in that year. Robinson opened and settled much of the Ottawa Valley.

By May 1825, the problems in Ireland had not resolved themselves and once again, Robinson, as Superintendent, loaded 2,024 people onto nine very crowded ships and set sail for Canada. This event began the journey of members of the Carew clan to Canada and eventually to the United States. My paternal grandmother, Grace Carew, was born into this family in Wisconsin in June 1889.

Michael Carew, born in Donaskeagh, County Tipperary, Ireland in 1785 was the first of his Carew family to emigrate to Canada. He was the first-born son of Jeremiah Carew Sr. and Bridget Devine. Michael was reputed to have been a man of considerable means and had a comfortable home in County Tipperary, Ireland where he had a caretaker and other domestic help. He was an educated man and was inclined to write seething articles of disapproval of the British curfew rule that applied only to Catholics. This may be the reason he and his family were allowed to leave Ireland.

Michael married Ann Hogan, born in 1787 in Ireland, daughter of John Hogan and Margaret Dunne. (See Ann Hogan’s baptismal record, Ireland Catholic Parish Registers 1655-1915 below.)

Michael and Ann became the parents of five children while living in Ireland. On May 15, 1825, Michael, his wife Ann and their five children, Bridget (14), Patrick (8), Michael (6), John (4) and William (2), boarded the ship Fortitude at Cork, bound for Canada.

Ann was pregnant when the family left for Canada. She gave birth to a son, who died on board the ship. Michael and Ann named their son Lewis Fortitude. The name Lewis came from the ship’s captain and Fortitude was the name of the ship.

On June 16, 1825 the ship arrived in Ontario where the Carew family would make their home. Michael and Ann had two more children, James born June 1830 and Ann December 25, 1835. Both were born in Ennismore, Victoria, Peterborough County, Ontario Canada.

Michael purchased land in Ontario and followed agricultural pursuits until 1852, when accompanied by his wife, sons John and James and his wife Mary Ann Doran Carew, and daughter Ann emigrated to Wisconsin and settled in the Township of Mukwa in Waupaca County.

The Carew’s were some of the earliest settlers of that area which had been opened for settlement by a treaty made between the United States government and the Menominee Indians in 1849. Wisconsin became the thirtieth state on May 29, 1848.

James was my Grandmother Grace Carew Fitzgerald’s grandfather and my great grandfather.

The photo in this post shows a replica of the Ship Fortitude on which the Carew family sailed to Canada in 1825.

Sources:

(i) Bethsfamilytree2 on Ancestry.com

(ii) Published under the National Library of Ireland’s Terms of Use of Material made available on registers.nli.ie

(iii) Maureen O’Donoghue’s Family Tree on Ancestry.com