Laurie McKeown's blog

By: Laurie McKeown

Where do you come from? Why did your ancestors move and why did they choose that particular place to live? How and when did they get there?  So many questions but too few answers. In 1825, James Skelly of County Westmeath was offered a land grant in the Seigneurie of Lake of Two Mountains from Father Jackson of the Sulpician Order of Montreal. Like many of his fellow countrymen, Skelly and his family suffered from severe poverty at this time in Ireland. Deciding to stay put in his homeland, Skelly’s three sons accepted the land grant and left for a better life in Quebec. A few years earlier in 1823, William McManus left his Irish home in County Tipperary for Lower Canada. Crossing the Atlantic for these Irish immigrants was a hazardous trip, a potential tragedy waiting to happen every day during those long seven-weeks. The ship went as far as Quebec City and from there they had to find their own way west along the St. Lawrence River. Steamboat companies bound for Montreal loaded up their boats with as many as two hundred men, women and children and at the end of this week-long voyage, they disembarked in Lachine to avoid the rapids and continued the rest of the way on foot. But, their arduous journey wasn’t over yet. Both the Skelly brothers and McManus would now have to find room on another steamer or large river raft to continue their journey up the Ottawa river.

The Skelly family were part of the many Irish migrants who left Ireland to escape poverty in the early 19th century. The tragic circumstances of the rural Irish – like those who began to settle in St. Colomban in the 1820’s and the promise of a better life in the States or the colonies gave hope to the Irish people. Despite the many difficulties and potential tragedies that lay ahead, storms, disease (cholera) and dysentery, they boarded the ship in quest for a better life. 

In Montreal about 1817, a member of the Gentlemen of St. Sulpice, Father Richard Jackson noticed the presence of the Irish at Notre-Dame de Bonsecours Church. He was an assistant at the Church at the time and quite astute to their needs. Not only did he open a school for the children of these Irish migrants in the Recollect Convent, Father Jackson offered these immigrants the opportunity to carve out a farming community in the Seigneurie of Lake of Two Mountains, which, like the island of Montreal, was held by the Sulpician Order. As early as 1819, a first group of Irish settlers, along with a few Scots and some French Canadians, settled on a Rivière du Nord concession. Two years later, in 1821, four Irishmen were allocated lots in the midst of the dense forest of the lower Laurentians. They were Hugh O’Reilly (spelled Hughes Reilly in the Quebec records), Andrew Cowan and John Mullin. They were the first Europeans to settle in what would soon become the Parish of St. Colomban. Four years later in 1825, a second wave of settlers, mainly from the South East of Ireland, began to arrive under the aegis of another Sulpician, Father Patrick Phelan from Ballyragget, Kilkenny. Until his departure for Upper Canada in 1842, Father Phelan was responsible for the Irish communities of both St. Colomban and Montreal.

This simple recipe never gets old.

By: Laurie McKeown

Do you know the history behind this classic Irish staple?  Irish soda bread was first crafted in the late 1830s when sodium bicarbonate (also known as baking soda or bread soda) was first introduced to Ireland. The Irish population at this time was experiencing extreme poverty and relied heavily on the potato as their main food source. This humble no yeast bread became an affordable necessity which required only four basic ingredients, flour, baking soda, salt and soured milk. Ireland’s climate is suitable for growing a soft variety of wheat, which does poorly with yeast but is perfect for non-leaven breads. Along with the lack of ovens in most Irish households, this bread recipe allowed the flexibility to be cooked in a cast iron pot or on a griddle over an open flame.

Different areas of Ireland have their own recipes for soda bread. Brown soda bread is made from whole flour. Whole flour in the 19th century was less refined and less expensive. The color of the flour lent its name to what is known as brown bread.

White Soda Bread was made with more refined, more expensive white flour and was originally only made for special occasions. Additives like seeds, raisins, nuts, and herbs can all be added to the bread recipe but are not considered traditional ingredients.

Before cooking, a deep cross is cut into the top of bread. While this cross enabled the bread to cook more evenly, it has acquired the folklore explanation of ‘blessing’ the bread but more importantly don’t forget to poke the 4 round corners to let the faeries out!

Soda bread stays fresh for up to 3 days at room temperature in an airtight container. It can also be frozen up to 2 months.

Auntie Bunny's Irish Brown Bread (also known as Wheaten Bread)