Canadian Convention - Part 2 by Pete Zizka 7-22-2023 |
I recently discovered a sizeable document, written in
French, that detailed a series of Conventions held by Connecticut’s
French-Canadian citizens. Interestingly, the idea for these conventions
came from French-Canadians mainly clustered in Windham County and with
Willimantic and Putnam being the focal points. Yet, even though these
conventions and the document speak about the French-Canadian experience
and hopes, I believe that immigrants of other nationalities shared the
same experiences and settled in to their new community in much the same
way. It is a fact that the first groups of Irish and French-Canadian
immigrants met with some discrimination. The discrimination may have
stemmed from the fact that the immigrants spoke a different language. As
Historian Richard Bayles’ said, speaking of Windham County factory
towns, “they (long-time residents) see throngs of foreigners crowding
the streets on a Saturday night, and hear a Babel of alien tongues (and)
may fancy themselves in a foreign land.” In some factories, the
“foreigners” outnumbered those of New England origin three or four to
one.
Bayles also pointed
out that the “foreigners” also tended to have large families. This was
certainly true of the Irish, the French-Canadians and the Italians but,
as another historian, Allen B. Lincoln, says, the families, “acquired a
good command of conversational English and, with their normally numerous
children making creditable records in the public schools, were well on
the road to absorption in American life”. There were hardships for all
the immigrants regardless of nationality. But they endured, they
established themselves in the workplaces and in trade and adapted
themselves to the ways of their new country. But they also formed what
were known as “benefit societies” and other fraternal societies so that
they could maintain their traditions and their mother tongues. Early
1900s Willimantic City Directories list one Irish Society, four
French-Canadian societies, and churches for those of the Swedish
Evangelical Lutheran and the Russian Orthodox faiths.
The French-Canadian Conventions document provides a
fascinating look at the experiences of as well as the hopes and
aspirations of Willimantic’s Canadian transplants. The Canadians of
Danielson and Willimantic were the primary organizers of the convention
and, in 1885, issued a “summons”. “Considering the urgency that there is for the
Canadians of Connecticut to take the means to get to know each other
better in order to walk more safely and more efficiently towards
progress and national advancement: It is proposed … that measures be
taken to evoke a convention of the Canadians of the State of
Connecticut, to be held at Willimantic….(We will) discuss the most
effective means to achieve the progress of Canadians of this state.”
The convention’s
planners noted that Willimantic had advantages which no other town could
offer. Willimantic’s Canadian social groups reached out to similar
groups around the state and invited them all to come, ready to discuss,
“questions concerning national virtues and ready to rival each other in
their enthusiasm”. The societies went so far as to offer delegates a
meal dear to the heart of French-Canadians. “As recompense for this
intellectual sustenance, we promise to take care of their (the
delegates’) material existence with the following dishes: 1) First off,
for each delegate, a nice bowl of white pea soup in beef broth. 2) For
the main course, fricasseed onions with grilled ham steak. Finally, for
dessert each delegate shall receive a maple croquette made with local
syrup, without even mentioning the spruce beer and resin gum, which will
not disappoint.” Now that the invitations had been sent out, the
community had to choose those who would represent Willimantic. The
city’s convention planners listed businesses owned by French-Canadians
in Willimantic and found that there was a pharmacy, two grocery stores,
one delicatessen, three bakers, two restaurants and one hotel. Other
businesses were one clothing store, one tea (and coffee) shop, one paint
store, two blacksmiths, one livery, seven farmers and a valet. There
were also two Canadian doctors and the total French-Canadian population
was 1,500. (We’ll look more at immigration to the City and the Canadian
convention in some future articles). The sign on the Town Hall says “Welcome”.
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