Forgotten Stories From Atlantic Canada S Past

Backyard History unearths the often hilarious, mostly mysterious, always surprising untold tales of Canada’s East Coast, as only a Maritimer can spin them. This extraordinary collection gathers the very best from Andrew MacLean’s popular newspaper columns, podcast, and television show, now enhanced and extended with fresh insights and discoveries. Running the gamut from lost cities to rodent invasions; from rum runners to teenage heroines; from monstrous sea creatures to circus riots these true forgotten stories from Atlantic Canada will astound readers of all ages. Combining meticulous research with vivid storytelling, captivating anecdotes, and a human touch, Backyard History takes readers on an entertaining and exhilarating ride detailing the rich, undiscovered past of a region which has long been renowned for its storytelling.

Backyard History unearths the often hilarious, mostly mysterious, always surprising untold tales of Canada’s East Coast, as only a Maritimer can spin them. This extraordinary collection gathers the very best from Andrew MacLean’s popular newspaper columns, podcast, and television show, now enhanced and extended with fresh insights and discoveries. Running the gamut from lost cities to rodent invasions; from rum runners to teenage heroines; from monstrous sea creatures to circus riots these true forgotten stories from Atlantic Canada will astound readers of all ages. Combining meticulous research with vivid storytelling, captivating anecdotes, and a human touch, Backyard History takes readers on an entertaining and exhilarating ride detailing the rich, undiscovered past of a region which has long been renowned for its storytelling.

This great collection of stories strange but true is for every reader who loves history -- and mystery. Edward Butts weaves true tales -- the wreck of the Francis and the weird connection to Edward, Duke of Kent; the sea voyage of Charles Coghlan's coffin; Captain Jack Randell the rum-runner; Al Capone's gunman Bugs Moran and more! This collection offers the lore and legend of some of the greatest stories of Atlantic Canada's history.

This is the story of the valiant Canadian Nursing Sisters and particularly the fourteen sisters who drowned when the Hospital ship Llandover Castle was torpedoed on June 27th., 1918. Many were from Atlantic Canada and have great stories to tell.

During the WWI, more than 80,000 Chinese labourers were secretly transported from China across Canada to the Western Front where they built bridges and roads, repaired tanks, unloaded supplies, and then, after the war, cleaned up the grisly battlefields. Though the use of Chinese labourers for the war has been known, the story of their journey and their work, and the role of Canadians in recruiting and transporting them, has not been fully told — until now. In Veil of Secrecy, Dan Black describes the perilous journey taken by the Chinese labourers from their remote villages in China, across the North Pacific, the vast country of Canada from Vancouver to Halifax, and across the North Atlantic to the battlefields of Europe, and then back again. For political reasons and to prevent them from escaping, the Chinese labourers were locked into cattle cars and forbidden to disembark during the journey. The Canadian public, too, was kept in the dark about the trains. But their experience is indelibly evident — in graves across the country from Vancouver Island to Thunder Bay, and Petawawa to Halifax. One Canadian plays a central role in this story — Captain Harry Livingstone, a small-town doctor from Listowel, Ontario. Livingstone joined the Canadian Army Medical Corps in 1917, at the age of 28. His first assignment was to go to northeast China to a recruitment depot, where he examined poor, young Chinese men to ensure they were fit for service. He later joined them on their journey across the North Pacific to a quarantine station on Canada's West Coast. Drawing on the diaries written by Livingstone, and the letters of the Canadian missionaries who served as temporary officers with the corps in Europe, Dan Black traces the experience of the Chinese Labour Corps and sheds new light on the mistreatment and racism they faced in Canada and in wartime Europe.

Challenging the commonplace view that the Irish immigration saga was primarily driven by dire events in Ireland, Lucille Campey’s groundbreaking work redraws the picture of early Irish settlement in Atlantic Canada. Extensively documented, and drawing on all known passenger lists of the period, the book is essential reading.

The story of early English Canadian immigration to Canada is finally told in detail. Ignored but Not Forgotten is a compelling and moving account of one of Canada’s foremost immigrant groups: the story of the great migration of English people to Canada that peaked during the early twentieth century. Based on wide-ranging documentary and statistical sources from both countries, it sets out the various events that propelled this immigration saga, which begins in the seventeenth century with the influx of English people to Atlantic Canada, moves on a century later to Ontario and Quebec, and continues into the late nineteenth century with the arrival of the English in the golden West. The great stream of English people who came to the Prairies and British Columbia in search of land and job opportunities represents one of the most iconic periods of Canada’s pioneering history. Widely ignored in the past as an immigrant group, the English are now being given the attention they deserve. The author reveals their outstanding contribution to Canada’s settlement and subsequent development and challenges the assumption that English Canadians were a privileged elite. In fact, most came from humble backgrounds. This is essential reading for genealogists and general readers wishing to appreciate why the English immigrated to Canada and the enormity of their achievements.