When I was twelve I left Dublin, Ireland. I had eight siblings: Erin was ten and a half, Caitlin was nine, Molly was eight years old and Charlotte was seven. The twins Collin and Hannah were five. My sister Lara was three and my youngest sister Abby was 1 year old. We traveled, the eleven of us, to Canada including my mother, father and grandmother. Sadly, my youngest sister, Abby, died from cholera before the ship set sail. My family buried her in a pauper's grave near our home. It was heart wrenching to leave her behind.

The year of 1846 was the Great Irish Famine. The Irish Famine was thought to be the time "when the Irish came to Canada." This was a terrible human disaster. I went to bed starving each night because Ireland's potato crop fell. The city was devastated because there was no product to sell...