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The Kingston Connection
So what did happen to some of the Irish after they left Grosse Ilé (Canada's Quarantine Station)? At least 1,400 died in Kingston, Ontario and were buried in a mass grave on the grounds of Kingston General Hospital (KGH). This huge mound consisting of several layers of Irish remains, each layer covered in lime, lay overgrown for nearly 50 years. An Angel of Mercy monument was placed at the mass grave site in 1894 by Archbishop Cleary, inscribed thus: --"In memory of his afflicted Irish compatriots, nearly 1,400 in number, who, enfeebled by famine, in 1847-48, ventured across the ocean in unequipped sailing vessels, in whose fetid holds they inhaled the germs of the pestilential `ship-fever' and on reaching Kingston, perished here, despite the assiduous attention and compassionate offices of the good citizens of Kingston. May the Heavenly Father give them eternal rest and happiness in reward of their patient suffering and Christian submission to His holy will, through the merits of His divine Son, Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen."--
Several thousand Irish, sick with typhus, were crammed into hastily erected fever sheds on waterfront land at Lower Emily St. (near Murney Tower in Macdonald Park) and at KGH. They had survived a perilous journey across the Atlantic in the hold of a coffin ship, survived the horrors of Grosse Ile, and endured the slow trip on an overcrowded barge only to die painfully in a Kingston fever shed. Hundreds of Kingstonians, of many denominations, stricken while helping the Irish immigrants in their hour of need, also died of typhus. However, some influential government officials based in Kingston were as heartless in the pursuit of policies and as indifferent to the extreme sufferings of the Irish immigrants in Kingston as they were to the needless deaths of the Irish in Ireland.
In 1966 KGH moved the Angel of Mercy monument and some of the remains of the Irish victims to a corner of a cemetery in the north end of the city, approximately 2 miles from the original site (St. Mary's Cemetery on Division and Kirkpatrick Streets.) The mass grave was disturbed in order to accommodate expansion of KGH. KGH is situated in a downtown built-up area on the shores of Lake Ontario (King St. E.)
However, on Friday the 27th of April 1990 (C1. P19) Kingston's Whig Standard newspaper reported - More Bones Discovered at KGH Site. "Excavation workers found the remains of two more bodies yesterday. Workers had discovered a skull and other human bones while excavating on Wednesday. `There was a marsh area and that's where a large number of typhus victims were buried,' says Susan Bazely, Staff Archaeologist with the Cataraqui Archaeological Research Foundation. `The immigrants were quite poor and, in many cases, entire families were wiped out by the disease,' she said. As a result, bodies were buried in common graves since no one was left to pay for the funeral. The Foundation was called in during the police investigation into the discovery."
Nearly 50,000 Irish, fleeing Án Gorta Mór arrived at Kingston's wharves.
They arrived at the then town (pop. of approximately 10,000) with very strong links to Ireland. The first Mayor of the Town of Kingston (also Mayor in 1847) was a Southern Irish Protestant, Thomas Kirkpatrick. As well, 17 of 22 of his Aldermen/Councilors were Irish. The town's response to the 1847-48 Irish immigrants was a shining example of interdenominational co-operation.
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