Unveiling of Monument to Original Irish Settlers in St. Columban, Quebec
Descendants and friends of St. Columban, Town of Saint Colomban
July 3
-- 11 a.m.
Location:
Catholic Cemetery, Saint-Colomban, Quebec.
Information: After almost five years of planning, fundraising etc., the descendants and friends of St. Columban (now spelled as Saint Colomban) are pleased to announce that they will unveil their monument to the original Irish Settlers.
St. Columban, located not far from St. Jerome, was settled in the 1820’s almost
exclusively by Irish immigrants to Canada. In October 2005, the descendants of these settlers discovered that a number of tombstones related to these settlers, and from the local Catholic cemetery, had been broken and discarded. A group was formed, and it was decided that since many of these stones were broken beyond repair, that they would build a series of walls (3), and insert the fragments of the stones into these brick walls. Without any aid from any cultural or heritage department within any level of government, and after almost five years from concept to completion, these descendants were able to raise the funding needed, mainly from within the Montreal Irish Community, and were able to complete the project.
On July 3, 2010, the town of Saint Colomban will holding a general celebration of their 175th anniversary and the unveiling of the wall monument has been scheduled to coincide with the town celebrations.
A visit to our site at WWW.STCOLUMBAN-IRISH.COM provides full details, including photos, of our efforts to-date, as well as, other interesting information concerning the original settlers.