The Prince Edward Island Connection:
Like every other area in the country, Emyvale suffered mass emigration as a result of the Great famine (1845 -
1848). However a lesser emigration took place between 1830 and 1841 and this was to form a unique link
between Emyvale and Prince Edward Island, Canada. The man responsible for this exodus was Very Rev. Canon
Patrick Moynagh, PP Donagh. He encouraged and indeed, in some cases, paid for his parishioners to emigrate to
this fertile island.
Professor Brendan O’Grady, of Charlottetown University, who has carried out so much research in this aspect of
Irish emigration to PEI has written: Of the several thousand immigrants from two dozen Irish counties, who came
to PEI in the first half of the 19th century, the largest group originated in Co. Monaghan. Between 1830 and 1850,
they came out from the baronies of Truagh and Monaghan, deserting their cottages in Donagh, Tydavnet,
Clontibret, Emyvale, Glaslough, Tyholland and Monaghan town,
for
the promise of a better life in Canada’s smallest Province. Here
they carved communities out of the wilderness, cultivated the
clearings, applied their skills in many trades, and made their
mark on the political and ecclesiastical history of a place, once
officially called ‘New Ireland’.
Canon Moynagh was a self-educated man and spent some years
in
Tydavnet before coming to Donagh in 1815. As PP of Donagh, he
resided in a little house in Mullaghbrack. He remained as PP until
his
death in 1860, during which time he also served as Prior of
Lough Derg for 30 years. He built St. Mary’s Church, Glennan,
in1837 and was always very generous to the poor. He was so
revered by the people of the parish that a large vault was erected at St. Patrick’s Church, Corracrin, to hold his
remains. The inscription on the tomb reads: ‘Underneath are deposited the
remains of the Very Revd. Patrick Moynagh, Parish Priest of this parish, and
for
many years Prior of Lough Derg. During his long and laborious life, he was
a
constant benefactor of the poor, and at his death bequeathed the interest
of
all the property he was possessed of, for the annual relief of the poor of
this
parish, which had been so long blessed by his edifying life. He departed
this
life on the 2nd August, 1860, aged 82 years’.
The
first realisation of the close connection between Donagh and PEI came in
the
late 1950's when Professor Brendan O'Grady began his research and
discovered that his wife was descended from a Delany family who resided
in Emyvale, Ireland. The Delanys were stone carvers who had taken over from the MacKays, who were employed
by the Leslie family and originally came from Scotland. Correspondence ensued between Brendan and mainly
three people here - Seamus McCluskey, Bennie Hackett and Fr. Barney McCarney, and Brendan also paid a visit to
Emyvale. However the connection remained on an academic level until the late '80's when the PEI authorities
started to organise Irish festivals and encouraged the links with Emyvale Ireland.
A fresh connection was made to coincide with the island festival - ‘We’re Akin To Ireland Year’ in 1990 and after
many visits by officials both ways, County Monaghan and PEI were twinned Local Councillor, Willie McKenna, and
Seamus McCluskey, played a major role in the re-establishment of the new ties. Since then a big number of
inhabitants from the island have visited Emyvale, and many of them have discovered the ancestral home and have
been introduced to relatives.
Monaghan has also been twinned with The Miramichi, New Brunswick as thousands of Irish and Monaghan people
in particular, landed there on the ‘coffin ships’ and some settled there and others made their way further west.
