over—crowded and which did not provide anything close to the basic 
     
     necessities of life to those had already experienced severe hardship and 
     
     deprivation. During this period, the population of Ireland dropped by 
     
     more than 25 percent. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Although the oppressive penal laws which denied most basic rights to 
     
     Catholics were repealed in 1829, many throughout Ireland continued 
     
     looking to the new world for greater opportunity and more religious 
     
     freedom. Because of their relative proximity, the eastern shores of North 
     
     America were favoured destinations. A large number of Irish people 
     
     settled in Newfoundland with its bountiful fisheries resources. Still others 
     
     were drawn to Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island. 
     
     A vanguard of Irish Protestants had settled in Prince Edward Island 
     
     before 1800. Those Irish Catholics who did manage to emigrate to Prince 
     
     Edward Island remained subject to the same kinds of discriminatory 
     
    
   
   
    
     legal penalties they faced in Ireland. (Roman Catholics could not vote in 
     
     Prince Edward Island before 1830.) 
     
    
   
   
    
     According to Brendan O’Grady, who documented Irish immigration to 
     
     Prince Edward Island in his book EXiles and Islanders — the Irish Settlers 
     
     of Prince Edward Island, the second phase of immigration took place 
     
     between 1810 and 1835. They came from all 32 counties in Ireland 
     
     and were fleeing civil strife, agrarian discontent, sectarian struggles 
     
    

    
     and widespread poverty. The largest single group of Irish immigrants 
     
     came from County Monaghan with the encouragement of Rev. John 
     
     MacDonald, whose family had acquired large landholding in Prince 
     
     Edward Island. The Monaghan settlers, some 10,000 in all, established 
     
     themselves in places such as Fort Augustus, Kinkora, Kelly’s Cross 
     
    

    
     and Emyvale. They were largely cohesive groups who quickly adapted 
     
     themselves to the challenges of the new world. 
     
    
   
   
    
     On the other hand, those who came from County Cork were not as 
     
     close. O’Grady writes that hundreds of Island—based settlers boarded 
     
     vessels in Cork’s eXtensive basin at the mouth of the Lee river headed for 
     
     destinations around the world. Of those who came to Prince Edward 
     
     Island, O’Grady said they came largely on their own and paid their 
     
    

    
     own passage. 
     
    
   
   
    
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