Last year I wrote two articles about immigrant
groups in Willimantic as well as the French-Canadians and the resultant
Canadian Conventions. This and the next 2 articles will take a quick
look at the immigrant populations in general before narrowing down to
the reasons for and purposes of the Canadian conventions. For those who
would like a more detailed history of the Irish, French-Canadians,
Polish or Italians in Willimantic, I’d suggest Allen B. Lincoln’s “A
Modern History of Windham County” or many of Tom Beardsley’s excellent
articles and books. Taking a quick look at immigrant groups coming to
Willimantic, the Irish appear to be the earliest group. In August, 1873,
an article in the Willimantic Journal said that, “"twenty destitute foreigners" arrived
in Willimantic in the summer of 1847 to work for the Windham
Manufacturing Company.”
Allen B. Lincoln wrote that, “Willimantic's population in 1847 was
primarily Protestant Yankee. The Willimantic Yankees were horrified that
Catholics were now in their midst, and a long difficult period of
struggle and accommodation began. “ The Journal article, however, went
on to talk about how far the Irish immigrants had advanced and the new
Saint Joseph’s Church, writing, “Twenty six years later, Willimantic’s
Irish population, the
destitute foreigners, built a
magnificent edifice in town”. The Irish quickly became
Willimantic businessmen, served in the Armed Forces and entered local
politics. Irish Organizations were founded and the Willimantic Fire
Department’s Montgomery Hose Company Number Two was comprised mainly of
Irish citizens and was named after an
early Irish patriot, Richard Montgomery. (Today’s
photo) The Montgomery Hose Dramatic Club performed many Irish dramas on
the stage at Franklin Hall. In 1897, Oscar O. Tanner became
Willimantic’s first Irish-American mayor. A few years later, he was
elected to a second term and was followed in 1905, by “Danny” Dunn who
was elected as Willimantic’s second Irish-American Mayor. He went on to
serve six terms and prior to his fifth mayoral race, he was so popular
that 50 different Republicans refused the opportunity to run against him
before a challenger accepted. Moving on, the next wave of immigrants was
the French-Canadian influx in the 1860s. Allen B. Lincoln says,” they
were a frugal, industrious, hard-working class of people and became good
citizens”. As did the Irish, the French-Canadians soon became
businessmen, entered into politics and served in the Armed Forces. In
1896, there were at least 16 French-Canadian owned businesses in town
and it was said of the French-Canadian businessmen that their patronage
was “largely other than from their own people” and that their firms were
some of the most enterprising in the city. I have to admit a good deal
of pride whenever I read Lincoln’s words about my great grandfather. “Few
men among the French-Canadians have been more highly esteemed than was
Michel Laramee, known primarily as a skillful shoemaker, but widely
popular as a sportsman and genial companion. His recent unfortunate
death by accident was deeply deplored.” In
1903, the French-Canadians broke away from Saint Joseph’s Church and
established their own church and school. Interestingly, the school
building had been built as a Baptist Church, had been purchased and
moved in 1857 to Jackson
Street by Saint Joseph’s parish as their first church and was moved to
Valley Street in 1872. By 1901, French-Canadian names began to appear in
the listings of “City Officers”. Their number, as well as the number of
Irish City Officers continued to grow as the years went by. 1923,
Hormisdas Dion became Willimantic’s first French-Canadian mayor. His
grocery store and bakery on Ash Street became the largest in
Willimantic. Allen Lincoln’s words proved true that the
French-Canadians, “take a natural pride in their separate
church and parochial school, but from these there proceeds no narrow
influence affecting their broader relations to community life. Apostles
of discontent and reactionary feeling find no response among the
French-Canadians.” When the French left Saint Josephs, the
remaining Irish were concerned that Saint Joseph's would perish because
of lack of funds, but the departed French-Canadians were replaced by an
influx of Polish and Italian immigrants. Their story next week.
Click on photo for larger version
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