Prince Edward Island was settled mainly by the Scotch and French, and yet many Irish names are to be found among its old families.  It was ceded to Great Britain in 1763, and the first Governor appointed was Captain Walter Patterson, whose niece, Elizabeth Patterson, was married to Jerome Bonaparte in Baltimore in 1803.  Captain Patterson was so ardent an Irishman that through his influence he had an act passed by the Assembly changing the name of the island to New Ireland, but the home Government refused to countenance the change.  At this time the island was known as St. John’s, and the name Prince Edward was given to it in honor of the Duke of Kent in 1789.  One of the most popular governors of the island was Sir Dominick Daly, knighted while in office.  He was a member of a well known Galway family, and first came to America as secretary to one of the governors.  He afterwards became provincial secretary for Lower Canada.

Canada suffered from the aftermath of the revolutions which took place in Europe during the early part of the nineteenth century.  The year 1837 saw two revolutions, one in Upper, the other in Lower, Canada, though neither of them amounted to more than a flash in the pan.  As might be expected, there were not a few Irish among the disaffected spirits who fostered these revolutions.  Their experience at home led them to know how little oppressed people were likely to obtain from the British Government except by a demonstration of force.  There were serious abuses, especially “the Family Compact”, the lack of anything approaching constitutional guarantees in government, and political disabilities on the score of religion.  However, most of the Irish in Canada were ranged on the side of the government.  Sir Richard Bonnycastle, writing in 1846, said “The Catholic Irish who have been long settled in the country are by no means the worst subjects in this transatlantic realm, as I can personally testify, having had the command of large bodies of them during the border troubles of 1837-8.  They are all loyal and true.”  Above all Bonnycastle pledged himself for the loyalty of the Irish Catholic priesthood.

One of the Irishmen who came into prominence in the rebellions of 1837 was Edmund Bailey O’Callaghan, the editor of the Vindicator, the newspaper by means of which Papineau succeeded in arousing much feeling among the people of Lower Canada and fomented the Revdlution.  O’Callaghan escaped to the United States and settled at Albany, where he became the historian of New York State.  To him, more than to any other, we owe the preservation of the historical materials out of which the early history of the State can be constructed.  Rare volumes of the Jesuit Relations, to the value of which for historical purposes he had called special attention, were secured from his library for the Canadian library at Ottawa.